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October 10, 2012, 08:57 AM | #1 |
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Lee perfect powder measure ?
Does anyone use on and how do you like it ?
Any pro's or con's about it ? |
October 10, 2012, 09:29 AM | #2 |
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I love mine, it is mounted to a small 3/4 inch thick plywood stand. I place a small block of 2x4 under it, and on top of that block I place my Franklin digital scale allowing me to measure every powder throw.
Yes, I know VOLUME not WEIGHT...I can't get my head around volume measurements. If volume measurements were the answer, I would use the LEE DIPPERS (oh God no, not the Lee dippers!!!). I adjust the "tire gauge" thingy until I have the correct grain measurement, and leave it there. Yes I read the LEE perfect powder measure instructions, as poorly written as they are, and still don't care. A few thousand rounds later, and all is well, so my method works. |
October 10, 2012, 10:07 AM | #3 |
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Just got one recently. Loaded some .357 mag cast loads with Universal (a flake powder) and it worked pretty well. Been loading some .223 Rem with it this week using W748 (ball powder) and it leaks quite a bit of powder around the drum. The powder throws are somewhat inconsistent as well with 748, usually +/- .2 gr but get an occasional throw that is .5 gr or more off the mark. It works OK I guess, but it's not "perfect".
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October 10, 2012, 11:04 AM | #4 |
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Go on ebay and get a Lyman, Hornady, RCBS anything but what your looking at.
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October 10, 2012, 11:35 AM | #5 |
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Got a Lyman, also a Hornady Benchrest Lock & Load, however the measure that throws the most consistance and accurate is the Lee Perfect Powder Measure.
For those that have a leaking problem using ball powder there is an easy fix for that. Its been posted many many times here and on other forums. Two measures that IMO beat the Lee Perfect Measure are the old tried & true Belding & Mull and the Harrell Powder measure, but they are WAY into a different price range.
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October 10, 2012, 11:37 AM | #6 |
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Lets not turn this into another "Bash the Lee" thread.
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October 10, 2012, 11:45 AM | #7 |
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I'm not a "Lee basher" at all. My press and all of my dies (8 or 9 calibers) are all Lee. I think Lee products are generally a good value. I've used my press and dies to make a lot of good ammo. I am a little less than happy with the "Perfect" powder measure, but for 20 bucks it's OK.
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October 10, 2012, 12:01 PM | #8 | |
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Quote:
Was only making a blanket statement asking this thread not be turned into one.
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October 10, 2012, 12:05 PM | #9 |
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If a powder measure leaks any powder what good is it?
I want the powder in the case not on the floor! |
October 10, 2012, 12:12 PM | #10 | |
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Quote:
My second sentence For those that have a leaking problem using ball powder there is an easy fix for that. Its been posted many many times here and on other forums. Using the fix will prevent the powder going on the floor.
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October 10, 2012, 01:50 PM | #11 |
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Why do you have to "Fix" equipment just to use it?
Should work right out of the box! What about the reloader that does not have the mechanical skills to do the "Fix" |
October 10, 2012, 02:28 PM | #12 |
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I use Lee Perfect Powder on my Loadmaster to fill rifle cases with the universal charge die with the rifle adapter. It works great.
For handgun ammo, I use the Lee Perfect Disk so each caliber gets its own powder charge die and disk.
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October 10, 2012, 04:18 PM | #13 | |
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Quote:
Ever buy a new car that wasn't perfect and needed a tweek here or there? I have and most do. Again, lets not turn this into a bashing thread. This seems to be the case whenever Lee is brought up, some people can not seem to accept the value they offer.
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October 10, 2012, 04:19 PM | #14 | |
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Quote:
They do usually require a break in period.
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October 10, 2012, 05:15 PM | #15 |
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Got one. Love it. Accurate. Repeatable.
All the Best, D. White |
October 10, 2012, 05:30 PM | #16 |
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It is a $20 measure made up of injection molded plastic, that does as well or better than almost any other measure out there costing several times the price. A little clean up of molding lines and some polishing compound spun in it will seat it so there is very minimal to no leakage with ball powder(It almost always works fine out of the box for extruded and flake).
I'm not sure why anyone would complain. If I recall from my instructions it does state it needs to be broken in(Again, which can be sped up with a small amount of effort.). Love my Lee stuff, would have never started reloading if I couldn't have bought quality equipment at a great price. |
October 10, 2012, 05:45 PM | #17 |
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"What about the reloader that does not have the mechanical skills to do the "Fix" "
Of course that does eliminate some people. The Lee PPM fix, if it's needed at all, is so simple that anyone with the mechanical skills to reload should easily be able to do it. The PPM isn't 'perfect' but neither are any others. Fact is, it's very good with any powder and just may be the very best with the coarse tubular powders most of us use for rifle loading. |
October 10, 2012, 06:18 PM | #18 | |
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Quote:
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October 10, 2012, 07:43 PM | #19 |
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I have been reloading rifle and pistol cartridges for 15 or 20 years. I have reloaded thousands of rounds. That's the only powder measure I have ever used. It is not perfect. It is certainly more than adequate.
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October 10, 2012, 11:34 PM | #20 |
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Mine works great with W231. No leaking at all.
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October 11, 2012, 04:41 AM | #21 |
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I love the one I have... wouldn't think of trying anything else.
If you get fine ball powder leaks, you can tighten the drum screw about 1/8th turn and generally get that to stop. Break in is a good idea... they seem to get "seasoned" after a while, and do even better. Dan
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October 11, 2012, 05:32 AM | #22 |
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I mainly use H335, bullseye, 2400 and unique, how well do these powders work with the Lee PPM ? What size thread is on it for mounting it in a press ?
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October 11, 2012, 06:44 AM | #23 |
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To mount one on a press you need to get get the Lee Universal Powder die that has three internal brass attachments: one for rifle, one for short pistol, and one for long pistol.
The coarser the powder, the better it's going to work as the PPM is mostly used to charge large brass as it's got a ton of capacity. The Lee Rifle Powder die only works best with small rifle cases as big as .308 in length, I'd stick with the universal, it works. For fine powders like bullseye, it means you're loading pistol cases, so I'd go with the Disk Measure instead. They are all cheap enough to have one for each job: pistol and rifle. In case you need some help with Lee Presses go here: http://forums.loadmastervideos.com/forums Years back, I help to built this site to help Loadmaster reloaders, tons of very informative videos: http://manual.loadmastervideos.com/
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October 11, 2012, 06:46 AM | #24 |
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I have a PPM and I find it to be a very accurate measure. Actually the most accurate I have tried. But you need to learn the secret PPM hand shake 1st.
I am on my 2nd PPM. The 1st one I tossed in the trash because it caused me way to much Angst. One grain variances were not uncommon. Especially with flake powder. Since I load a whole bunch of Unique. That was a problem. I had read that the RCBS Uni-Flow was a good measure with flake powders, so I got a used one. Turns out it is a very very good measure with flake powder. Once set up I confirmed a less than a 20th of a grain variance from drop to drop. I found to my dismay that the UNI-Flow is a dog with extruded powders. Sounds like a coffee grinder when in use its cutting so much. Since I was broke and in need of a cheap measure. I gave the PPM another try. Figured I could trickle my low volume rifle loads any way. Once I got it. All the reasons I tossed the other one came back.. But I kept after it. I took a close look at the Uni-Flow and the PPM to see why it performed so badly with flake powder. Lo and behold, Just looking at the two measures you can see why. The problem with flake powder is air space between the kernels from drop to drop. You take out the air space you take out the errors. The Uniflow accomplishes this by being nothing more than a funnel feeding the drop tube. All the weight of the column of powder forces it to self pack taking out the air space. As long as its at least 1/2 full you get good drops. Compare that to the PPM and also the LEE Powder disk measure. They have a small hole that feeds into a small cavity that then feeds the drop. There is no way no matter how much you shine and buff the parts that this will self drop any flake powder with out air space variances. Not going to happen, there is just not enough weight there to pack the powder. Once you know whats causing the errors you can take that out of the equation. If you ever get a error higher than your set wight your not doing it right. If you set the measure at a full packed drop. It is imposable to have a high error. You can not get more in than full. Practice the double tap method: When you raise the lever on the PPM tap the screw at least twice. Good taps too, no petting allowed. What your doing is packing the drop tube. Then when you drop the charge tap it twice more. This forces any stubborn powder to evacuate the tube into the pan. After I used this technique for a while I found my drops were holding weight. I tested this over 100 drops and I found with taking into account how the measure works and following proper technique. I was getting less than a 20th of a grain variance in 100 drops. Plus it works well with stick powder with no cutting. Not to bad for a $19 collection of plastic. |
October 11, 2012, 07:53 AM | #25 | |
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The PPM is my "go to" measure when loading 1.4gr charges of Bullseye. It's the only one I own that will throw that charge. One day I hope to own a Lyman 55. The ones I've seen are excellent. I do the double tap thing with all of my measures and they all drop accurate charges with ball. The PPM is the only one I trust with both flake and extruded powders. My Uniflow and LNL have baffles. Maybe that's my problem. Not enough pressure.
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