Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada I got the chance to try the Lyman Powder Trickler

Admittedly, I don't have too much Lyman stuff. For many years I think a lot of their equipment was so-so, with a few exceptions. That meant when I was looking for reloading equipment, I generally passed over their site. In store, there wasn't too much around, and I didn't think that I was missing anything.



That changed a few years ago. I was at a show and got the chance to look at the Brass-Smith presses. After playing with the small, cast iron C press, I brought it home. It was tougher than my little aluminum Lee C press, and made a great accessory press for priming, case trimming, cast bullet sizing and a few other things. You can never have too many presses!

The trickler retails for about $40 CDN and has a few features that set it apart from the others I own. I know that more people are using auto powder dispensers, but there are many times when you only need a few cartridges or don't want to spend big bucks for an electric trickler.

What I noticed right away was how heavy it was! 1 lb 10 ounces. The body is made from cast aluminum. The adjustable base is steel. Compare that to the RCBS trickler at 5.8 ounces. It's about 4.5 times heavier and doesn't move around on the bench like the RCBS and plastic Hornady tricklers do.

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It has an adjustable base, with over an inch of up and down travel. You just loosen off a screw and dial the base to the best height. With the other tricklers, I had been putting primer flats under the trickler to get it off the bench top far enough.



The knob is substantial, which is great for anyone with big fingers. And because of the weight, does not move. It stays where you put it.

It holds more powder than either the RCBS and Hornady tricklers, and seems to dispense the powder a bit slower than the others. Some might see that as a problem, but it makes it easier to hit the desired weight with either balance beam or electronic scales.



I haven't heard much about it in my circle which I think is because other reloaders feel the same way about Lyman products. I have changed my opinion.

Yup! I sure like it! Was just using mine yesterday.

Regards, Guy

I started with a Spartan press & still have it. Lyman equipment has always been good to me - expect the older generation dies - I had one set that failed to resize properly (30-06 of all things) and another that had runout issues (270 Win). The .270 die set is what taught me about runout and I bought a RCBS case master because of it. Glad for the lesson.

I started with the Hornady plastic trickler. I upgraded to the RCBS one I found at a gunshow. It was both heavier and had screw threads on the tube. It was head and shoulders above the Hornady. I use beam scales, so I don't need to raise it up.

Early in my reloading hobby, I screwed up my one and only 30-06 FL die. My fault. So I bought another new 30-06 FL die. Since then, I have picked up spares at gunshows so I now have three Lyman die sets. Lyman dies don't have much resell value. Two sets are in the black cardboard boxes and one in a orange plastic box. One of the black cardboard boxed sets is a Deluxe, it has a sleeved bullet seater , sorta like Forster or Hornady. . I'm getting around to put together jig for my Starrett comparator, so I don't know how good they are.

At a LGS they had a used Lyman T-Mag press in the corner. For $23 and it was mine.I took it home and overhauled it. Kubota orange looks much better than the original pastel orange. I had wanted a another press for dirty tasks. It was the 1988 version of the T-Mag turret press. There have been four versions. The current one now has 8 holes and looks to be pretty decent. But mine isn't . It was sloppy and it wasn't from wear. The plate tilted . There was a support post across from the ram,but it wasn't tall enough. Later ones have a screw adjustment. I added some shim stock. Later, I found a used Bonanza Co-Ax, so I doubt I'll ever use the T-Mag for resizing duties.

A dissenting vote: I find tricklers to be a huge nuisance. I much prefer Lee dippers and the lid from a 4-piece box of Russell-Stover chocolates.

. No problem. You sound like someone, and rightly so I would add, who doesn’t need to squeeze every bit of velocity they can out of a cartridge. Bravo!

I still use a dipper, and top up the pan with a trickler.

There is more than one way to skin a cat!

I have a Hornady trickler. I screwed it to a hockey puck to add weight and lift it up a bit over the powder pan.

I got an RCBS trickler about 43 yrs ago with my Rockchucker kit, I don't remember the details exactly anymore, but, I flat out didn't like using it, and wound up using Lee dippers. I found I could trickle just as accurately and probably faster with the small Lee dipper, I was using them to load the scale anyway. I know I gave that trickler to somebody that was starting out. Never had a desire for one since.
Can't say as I ever had any issues with Lyman stuff either, used a 55 measure for a while, went to a BR3, had a L'il Dandy, worked OK. Used a bunch of their casting tools, M dies, a few die sets, and a few moulds, my 20lb elec pot is about 34-35 yrs old, probably done about 35-40k bullets out of it.
Had way more issues with Hornady tools. Their old M scale is good though.

That was a great idea!

Here's another tool I cobbled together ....... That pipe (welder's test coupon) under the Lee powder measure is 4.5" diameter, .0750" thick and 7" high. It weighs over 12lbs and is quite steady while using the measure and still allows me to move it around the bench as required w/o having to attach it directly to the bench in a fixed position.



Here's a couple other Lyman tools I like.

I like the idea of mounting the powder dispenser to the pipe. It's a smaller footprint than what I use. I mounted the dispenser to a 9x11 board.