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I am curious about the "tapping" action on the powder dispenser. Does your dispenser have a powder baffle installed?
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That's the one I use. It's actually quite amazing how accurate and consistent it can be.If I could only have one powder measure, it would be the "rotating drum" type.
This is the age-old, tried and true design.
That price disparity was probably a standard model against a bench rest type.
The bench rest type will have a micrometer adjuster.
They usually come with a pistol drum and a rifle drum.
RCBS, Lyman, Redding, Hornady all offer them.
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I am curious about the "tapping" action on the powder dispenser. Does your dispenser have a powder baffle installed?
No. No baffles in any hoppers. I thought about getting some but never made it beyond the thought process.
At $10-$11 each and needing 8 of them... nope. not gonna do it.
I could make my own but considering I have consistency, there is no real need or actual desire to do so.
Lee powder drops suck for stick powder. Then and ONLY then I've wished I had a metal drum to cut the grains easier. Those times are rare.
I turned the standard model stem into a "micrometer" type by grinding the ball end flat, and using the back of my dial caliper, for a reference measurement,If I could only have one powder measure, it would be the "rotating drum" type.
This is the age-old, tried and true design.
That price disparity was probably a standard model against a bench rest type.
The bench rest type will have a micrometer adjuster.
They usually come with a pistol drum and a rifle drum.
RCBS, Lyman, Redding, Hornady all offer them.
View attachment 347266
I am curious about the "tapping" action on the powder dispenser.
The Lyman #55 has always had a knocker. I'll never get rid of mine.
Knockers on powder measures? Very interesting. All I do with the RCBS unit (small drum) is tap the handle for a bit after I put powder in just to settle it in the hopper. Then when I get it set for the amount per charge I push up(TAP), push down (TAP) and work to do it with the same rhythm every time. I fill 10-16 each run and weigh one from each run.
I'd be too distracted if my powder measure had knockers....Mine musta had surgery before I got it. No knocker on her...
They ain't much better! I have an old RCBS rotary drum powder measure and a Dillon on my 550.
The RCBS will chop grains but the hops around when the drum snaps thru granule of powder that it upsets the charge weight. My favorite rifle powder is a stick powder. I, too, throw charges short and trickle charge them into the pan of a balance beam scale. I don't like that the digital scales can "hide" .05 grain. I can watch the needle on my scale and know my charge is precise. Yeah, yeah, yeah, .05 grain is really nothing, but it is one part of the process I can control that closely with relative ease.
When using my turret press and RCBS measure I do like Dyjital does. I tap the loading lever to it's stop a couple of times and throw the charge. Consistency is the key.
When using my Dillon as a progressive, usually handgun ammo, I check the thrown charge weight a handful of times during a batch, but pretty much just keep rollin along.
When you took that data did you gather it after the measure rotated around on the turret four times as it normally does when loading cartridges?I have a Lyman #55 too, with the knocker, but haven't used that since loading rifle/bottle neck stuff many years ago.
Lately the Auto Disc Pro is what I'm using for handgun reloading now, on progressives, and recently read about a weight used on top of the powder in the hopper.
This:
LEE Powder Measure weight | eBay
The guy sells them for every common powder measure.
Being a cheap bastage (I'm a reloader) I thought I'd make a weight and test it, to see what affect it had on consistency.
The inside of the Pro Disc hopper tapers smaller from top to bottom so I cut a wooden disc that would slide all the way to the bottom, as a weight to place on top of the powder.
I didn't make a cover or guide rod like the one in the link, so my concern is the smaller disc can tip/get stuck when it's near the top, have yet to have a problem with the simple wooden disc.
If it does tend to tip in use, I'll add a cap and brass guide rod.
I tested using the weight, with my method of throwing/weighing 10 throws to get an average to establish what a disc is throwing with a particular powder type.
So I threw 10x, weighing and recording the weight, 10 times for a total of 100 throws!
It was HP-38 with the 0.43 disc.
So of the 10 thrown/weighed charges, 7 weighed 44.4 gr, 2 charges weighed 44.5 gr and one weighed 44.3 gr.
I would say that is about as consistent as I have ever gotten from a Disc!!
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That's a valid point.When you took that data did you gather it after the measure rotated around on the turret four times as it normally does when loading cartridges?
Yea, you should test your stuff how it's actually used.