The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Skunkworks > Handloading, Reloading, and Bullet Casting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old October 10, 2012, 08:57 AM   #1
rebs
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 10, 2012
Posts: 3,881
Lee perfect powder measure ?

Does anyone use on and how do you like it ?
Any pro's or con's about it ?
rebs is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 09:29 AM   #2
Zekest Crowe
Member
 
Join Date: June 24, 2012
Location: WA
Posts: 36
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.
Zekest Crowe is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 10:07 AM   #3
Diesel9
Member
 
Join Date: July 13, 2011
Location: Ohio
Posts: 40
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".
Diesel9 is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 11:04 AM   #4
jaguarxk120
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 28, 2008
Location: Michigan
Posts: 2,618
Go on ebay and get a Lyman, Hornady, RCBS anything but what your looking at.
jaguarxk120 is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 11:35 AM   #5
jcwit
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 28, 2007
Location: Upper Indiana
Posts: 609
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.
__________________
U.S. Army Veteran
NRA Certified Range Officer
jcwit is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 11:37 AM   #6
jcwit
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 28, 2007
Location: Upper Indiana
Posts: 609
Lets not turn this into another "Bash the Lee" thread.
__________________
U.S. Army Veteran
NRA Certified Range Officer
jcwit is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 11:45 AM   #7
Diesel9
Member
 
Join Date: July 13, 2011
Location: Ohio
Posts: 40
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.
Diesel9 is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 12:01 PM   #8
jcwit
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 28, 2007
Location: Upper Indiana
Posts: 609
Quote:
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.
Never said or implied you or anyone else was being a Lee Basher.

Was only making a blanket statement asking this thread not be turned into one.
__________________
U.S. Army Veteran
NRA Certified Range Officer
jcwit is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 12:05 PM   #9
jaguarxk120
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 28, 2008
Location: Michigan
Posts: 2,618
If a powder measure leaks any powder what good is it?

I want the powder in the case not on the floor!
jaguarxk120 is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 12:12 PM   #10
jcwit
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 28, 2007
Location: Upper Indiana
Posts: 609
Quote:
If a powder measure leaks any powder what good is it?

I want the powder in the case not on the floor!
Reread sentence number 2 on my post #5 of this thread.

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.
__________________
U.S. Army Veteran
NRA Certified Range Officer
jcwit is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 01:50 PM   #11
jaguarxk120
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 28, 2008
Location: Michigan
Posts: 2,618
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"
jaguarxk120 is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 02:28 PM   #12
nicknitro71
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 5, 2008
Location: DeLand, FL
Posts: 110
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.
__________________
http://nitrorigging.com
nicknitro71 is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 04:18 PM   #13
jcwit
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 28, 2007
Location: Upper Indiana
Posts: 609
Quote:
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"
Some do, some don't, sounds like you may have one that does.

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.
__________________
U.S. Army Veteran
NRA Certified Range Officer
jcwit is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 04:19 PM   #14
jcwit
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 28, 2007
Location: Upper Indiana
Posts: 609
Quote:
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"
How much/often/many cartridges have you charged with it?

They do usually require a break in period.
__________________
U.S. Army Veteran
NRA Certified Range Officer
jcwit is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 05:15 PM   #15
dwhite
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 2, 2007
Location: Wake County, N. Carolina
Posts: 379
Got one. Love it. Accurate. Repeatable.

All the Best,
D. White
dwhite is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 05:30 PM   #16
GTOne
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 28, 2011
Location: IL
Posts: 210
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.
GTOne is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 05:45 PM   #17
wncchester
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 1, 2002
Posts: 2,832
"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.
wncchester is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 06:18 PM   #18
jcwit
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 28, 2007
Location: Upper Indiana
Posts: 609
Quote:
What about the reloader that does not have the mechanical skills to do the "Fix"
Not much harder than screwing in a light bulb. But then there those that--------------------, Oh well!
__________________
U.S. Army Veteran
NRA Certified Range Officer
jcwit is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 07:43 PM   #19
Daggitt
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 11, 2011
Posts: 321
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.
Daggitt is offline  
Old October 10, 2012, 11:34 PM   #20
Arsenal
Junior Member
 
Join Date: October 9, 2012
Posts: 4
Mine works great with W231. No leaking at all.
Arsenal is offline  
Old October 11, 2012, 04:41 AM   #21
Dan Newberry
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 3, 2012
Location: Wytheville, VA
Posts: 216
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
__________________
www.BANGSTEEL.com
Practical Long Range Rifle Courses...
Optimal Charge Weight handload consulting
Dan Newberry is offline  
Old October 11, 2012, 05:32 AM   #22
rebs
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 10, 2012
Posts: 3,881
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 ?
rebs is offline  
Old October 11, 2012, 06:44 AM   #23
nicknitro71
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 5, 2008
Location: DeLand, FL
Posts: 110
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/
__________________
http://nitrorigging.com
nicknitro71 is offline  
Old October 11, 2012, 06:46 AM   #24
A pause for the COZ
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 11, 2012
Location: Braham, Minnesota
Posts: 1,314
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.
A pause for the COZ is offline  
Old October 11, 2012, 07:53 AM   #25
jimkim
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 3, 2008
Location: middle GA
Posts: 326
Quote:
If a powder measure leaks any powder what good is it?

I want the powder in the case not on the floor!
I guess I should toss my Uniflow and LNL. They both leak AA#7 and Red Dot.

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.
__________________
Jan. 4, 2007 gasoline $2.10 gal....HMMM?
jimkim is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:06 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.15356 seconds with 10 queries