need a good powder measure, torn between a culver and 3 br.

[243DH]

My 9 yr old chargemaster has gone tits up. It will now constantly throw .2-.4 gr over and say it is dead on. Sometimes it throws alright, but it has gotten to the point i reweigh every charge. Yes i use a straw in the tube, changed throw speeds, turn it on 24 hrs before use, wipe down with dryer sheets, use clean elec outlet, and no flourescent lighting or cell/cordless phones in the room and no air currents. i have a trickler from the old days and a digital scales. I know that a good chargemaster is quicker then trickling up, but i would rather spend a couple hundred on a good measure instead of that money on chargemaster and be down this road again later. I was looking at the different Sinclair/culver types and my head spins. Also was looking at Redding measures, like the price of the 3br. Is the br30 worth 45.00 more then the 3br? At 200 for the br30 it would be easy to just jump to the Sinclair measure. I load 223(26 gr) all the way to 308(47.5), most of my loading is at the 43-47.5 gr range, all for long range matches. Also powders used are h4895,h4350,imr4350, varget, h4831sc, and norma 203b.

 

[ShootDots]

.243DH, I have the Harrell Premium "Culver" Measure.. It is a nice piece of equipment.. Having said that, it is NOT as accurate as you might think.. With ball powders, you may not need a scale>>it IS that accurate. However, with stick powders it is not quite as accurate.. I use it in conjunction with my Omega trickler and my scale... The "larger" the stick, the less accurate it becomes... With SSC powders it comes pretty close, with "regular" powders it is not that accurate.. Example: with my Dasher, my load is 32.1grs of Varget. I set it so it throws approximately 31.5 and trickle in the balance.. If you are trying to save money, it would be my guess that the Redding Powder measures would be just fine, especially if you are going to trickle in the balance of your load.

 

[Joe Maisto]

243DH;

If I may...no stick powder like the ones you described will throw accurately through any measure inless you use the very tiny stick powders we use for short range BR., like VV , 322 or 2015. Many of us have been there. I got rid of my B&M for that reason, and some guys that have one of them think they have the worlds finest measure. Wrong...
I now use a Harells and advise you to do the same, but with a trickler.

Good luck.

 

[watercam]

If I had not purchased a Redding 3BR first I would have purchased a Harrell's. That said the Redding has loaded tens of thousands of rounds to date and still doing a great job. I load for Long Range, XC as well as hunting. Always predictable. Like every other dispenser one needs to weigh each charge with extruded powder but it is surprisingly accurate with powders like Varget and 4831sc.

 

[Scott Harris]

From a pure functionality standpoint, all the thrower do pretty much the same thing with pretty much the same accuracy. I've owned Harrells, Redding, and Lee Throwers. I only have the Lee now because it is just as accurate and only costs $25. Only weakness of the Lee thrower: does not work well with ball powders.

 

[243DH]

I cut my teeth on a lee with bl-c2&h380, it wasn't too bad. I appreciate everyone's replys and experience. I realize that with my powder selections that trickling up will be required with any measure. One thing, sometimes i will reload 15-20 rds of creedmoor and 15-20 rds of 308, how easy/repeatable are the scales on the Redding3 br and Sinclair units? That ia one thing i will miss about the chargemaster .

 

[nhm16]

From a pure functionality standpoint, all the thrower do pretty much the same thing with pretty much the same accuracy. I've owned Harrells, Redding, and Lee Throwers. I only have the Lee now because it is just as accurate and only costs $25. Only weakness of the Lee thrower: does not work well with ball powders.

Because they are so cheap, I use a couple of Lee measures and a Gempro 250. Except for one set aside for general use, I have a Lee for each of the common calibers I load, with each pre-set to throw just a little under. I do the final trickle-up to the exact charge using the GemPro.

 

[jonbearman]

I use a series of rcbs throwers and trickle up.It is very accurate any way you choose.

 

[BoydAllen]

I have a number of different powder measures. For throwing light and trickling up, they all work just fine. There are features that distinguish them from one another, one being convenience. For me, a measure that has a built in clamp is more convenient, as is one that takes powder bottles, another small issue is that measures that have their drums in direct contact with the main body of the measure will tend over time to build up a coating that needs to be removed form time to time. After I do this, I buff tungsten disulphide into the sliding surfaces and find that this gives really slick operation as compared to bare metal. My Harrell measure has roller bearings and I like that feature because it allows a close fit between drum and measure without any of the issues associated with metal on metal designs. On the other hand, I would not claim that it is more accurate than the best of my other measures , which are SAECO Micro-Measures. I have the Harrell, a couple of SAECOs with stands, a couple of Hollywood measures, and a Lyman 55. Additionally, I have used Redding measures of more than one design, B&M and even the Lee scoops, dipped in a cup of powder and struck off flush with the edge of a credit card. Another thing that I like about the Harrell measure is the adjustment system, the smallest divisions are just about a tenth of a grain, and the markings are easy to see.

 

[ReedG]

I use both a 3BR and Harrell's BR and there is no difference in accuracy. I also have three Lee's that I keep set to certain charges of certain powders. Wish I could make one measure with some features of all these. The hopper system on the Lee is the best on the market. Being able to turn the hopper, remove it from the measure for dumping is great. If somebody would duplicate the Lee design in aircraft aluminum or stainless it would be worth as much as a Harrell's.

I bought a Harrell's for portability to load at the range using thrown charges. I have thrown tens of thousands of charges with it and cannot trust it to be +/- .1 with any powder. Even H322 and 8208XBR will every so often dump one .2 or .3 off. I still use thrown charges for testing and practice but everything is weighed for competition. The Harrell's is the most repeatable in its settings. The "clicks" are solid and always give the same amount. I throw .2 low and trickle up.

The Redding 3BR is also a good measure, very consistent when you are, and the adjustments are repeatable enough to be useable. I have the Sinclair bottle conversion and like it very much but it is a pain to have to dismount it to change hoppers.

In a throw-light-and-trickle-up world, anything that puts powder in the pan will work. I can verify that either the 3BR or the Harrell's will throw straight from the measure with enough accuracy for all but the most-demanding competition shooting and, even then, may be able to throw better than I can shoot. I'm not certain as I write this exactly what the differences are between the Redding measures as I only have the 3BR, but I would recommend the Redding if money matters. The Harrell's is the ultimate in convenience and flexibility -- at a price.

 

[CatShooter]

The Redding 3BR is also a good measure, very consistent when you are, and the adjustments are repeatable enough to be usable. I have the Sinclair bottle conversion and like it very much but it is a pain to have to dismount it to change hoppers.

I have three Redding measures - the 3-BR (for large cases), the 30-BR (my everyday measure) and the 10-X (for Hornets, .218 Bee's and 221 FBs).

I use the Hornady powder measure stand - it has the lock and load collet built in.

Then I put Lock & Load fittings on all three measures. It now takes 1 second to remove a measure - to switch it, or to dump the powder out of it.

My only complaint is that the colors don't match

 

[dannyjbiggs]

I cut my teeth on a lee with bl-c2&h380, it wasn't too bad. I appreciate everyone's replys and experience. I realize that with my powder selections that trickling up will be required with any measure. One thing, sometimes i will reload 15-20 rds of creedmoor and 15-20 rds of 308, how easy/repeatable are the scales on the Redding3 br and Sinclair units? That ia one thing i will miss about the chargemaster .

Your best bet, IMO, is the inexpensive Lee...that's all I use! Especially it your aim is just to get a reasonable charge in the pan to bring up to weight on a digital scale with a simple, manual powder trickler. But, my primary reason to employ an el cheapo Lee is that it DOES NOT cut powder kernels, even the long kernel type...if anyone uses long kernel anymore? Plus, one might be amazed with the number of throws with the Lee that are spot on in a loading block of 100!

Danny Biggs

 

[DaveWhite]

If I had not purchased a Redding 3BR first I would have purchased a Harrell's. That said the Redding has loaded tens of thousands of rounds to date and still doing a great job. I load for Long Range, XC as well as hunting. Always predictable. Like every other dispenser one needs to weigh each charge with extruded powder but it is surprisingly accurate with powders like Varget and 4831sc.

I too like the Harrell's, but have found that it will vary by up to 0.5 grains with Varget, and one can feel the grains shearing as the load is being thrown. I also really like the Redding 3BR, which I use exclusively for .45 (with ball powder), as it feels good in the hand as I take the power measure to the loading block (with which it will throw 50 rounds of charges in a couple of minutes with great economy of motion.)

 

[Larryh128]

+1 for Danny Biggs, I've owned 2 MUCH more expensve units and sold both. Neither did any better for accuracy in my opinion.

 

[stubbicatt]

I have owned Redding, RCBS, Forster, Lyman, Lee and Harrells. The Lee's did a really good job, but they were not pleasant to use. They just felt gritty and rough.

Of those I have owned, I prefer the Harrell's, it is a pleasure to use. Although none of them are particularly accurate with stick powders, using the throw, weigh, and trickle method, I find that about 8 out of 10 of the charges thrown with the Harrells will scale out the same, before starting the trickle.

Sometimes I think about just throwing the charges, but the 2 out of 10 are sufficiently off that it might make a difference, so I don't do it. Thing is, I cannot tell from the feel which of the charges are the "off" ones...

I guess it is sorta like dating... women like powder measures do pretty much the same things, but some are prettier than others, why not get the pretty one even if she typically costs a little more.