Which powder measure to get

[spook1]

Guys as my son now is shooting almost more than me, I am looking to get a powder measure. I have been using my rcbs charge master but would like something a little faster. I want it to be accurate. It will be mostly for small calibers and pistol but would like to be able to use it for 223 as well. I was looking at the Redding 10x. I have heard great things about the Harrell as well but want to keep it as low cost as possible. Any suggestions and even better any leads on a used one would be great lol.

[Hal]

Check at Shooter's Corner they have all kinds of used stuff.

The Accurate shooter forum and Benchrestcentral forum are also worth checking.

The Lee powder measures as well as any but has problems with fine powder.

Hal

[georgeld]

Those Lee measures I've had, about 6 of 'em.,
Everyone leaked all over the place.
I nearly burned the house down one night because of them!

I got a heck of a deal years ago on a full set of drums and Lil Dandy measure
on the old ammobrasstrader.com board. Swapped a large F/R box of .223LC
cases for them. I've made a couple more drums on the lathe for special charges. They get expensive fast if buying very many. I have 26 in all, plus three I've made, one's still a blank yet. I really like it for small charges, it's accurate and don't leak at all. I load lots of 3.5 gr Red Dot, and 9.5gr 1680 with it and never had a problem so far. None of the factory drums held exactly 9.5gr of 1680 is why I made them. Not sure now what the other one was for, too long ago for my feeble mind to recall.

For the big stuff I have a couple of the big RCBS measures, one for each drum. They're not fast, but, I've found loading fast is how things get screwed up. Loading is my winter hobby, takes away from so much reading.
I seldom load less than 500 of anything, and normally up to 5-8000.

[WayneShaw]

The Culver style measure is the most popular for a good reason, repeatability. The "clicks" work well and is consistent from a light to heavy powder throw. I've had others, the etching on micrometer style measures is poor at best, and the measures with inserts give no adjustment. Get a Harrell's Culver type and you won't be sorry.

[Stevo]

When I started reloading I bought a small Lee Kit. It came with the Lee Perfect Powder Measure. It is the only one I have ever owned and works so well I never saw a need to replace it. Actually the only thing I replaced in the Kit I got was the scale. Mind you I only load max 50 rounds at a time and usually it's 20 and I weigh every load. You need to go the same speed up and down every time and it will weigh perfectly. I suspect the RCBS you own now does the same. I did not like the Safety Scale at all and replaced it right away. Leroy had a RCBS 10-10 he wanted to sell and I got his. I love that scale.

[gzig5]

I've used a standard RCBS measure for 20+ years and it has served my needs well. Just bought a RCBS Competition measure with the small drum on clearance and it seems quite accurate and I like the micrometer to be able to quickly reset to different charges. I also have a Hornady measure on my progressive and it has been fine too and you can quickly change the metering inserts if you want. All of these will throw within .1 gr with most short stick or ball powders. The Culver style BR measures are probably a bit more accurate but do cost quite a bit more and I've never found a need for that extra precision with the type of shooting I'm doing. For LR ammo I will dump .3gr short and trickle each charge up to 0.0.

[rick w.]

I have a lot of Lyman 55's, old things bought over the years. Once set up, they seem ok, but lack the micrometer/click adjustments. Always have to set up with a scale in my case.

My favorites are the Culver measures, either large click or small click.

My most used measure is a Redding BR type.

If I had to buy a new scale for smaller calibers, it would be the smaller Harrell's.

Like anything else, you get what you pay for; hard learned lessons I guess in my case.

[22 HORNET]

I got a old RCBS that i have been using 40 years always works good. It was last a life time.

[22 HORNET]

my first set of lyman dies are mark price is $12.50 and they still work

[ben lurkin]

Second the Harrell's measure. The custom 90 measure with serve you well!