An obscure and underpaid writer did an article about this in Varmint Hunter a while back, testing the Lyman 1200 digital scale, the Hornady balance scale, a Lee Perfect Powder Measure, and a Hornady measure.

Using ball powder, of the four the Lee was the most repeatable. It beat out all three of the others.

Using Varget, the Lee and the Hornady balance scale tied for first place.

All that said, all four alternatives were completely capable of producing charges as consistent as practically anyone could want.

Because of the non-linear way that standard deviations add, it is a waste of time to individually weigh charges. Also, sometimes the powder measure is more consistent than a good scale.

I have a Lyman #55 That has been in use since 1971. It is one of the old ones that is brass inside for use with black powder. No matter the powder I have tried it runs no more than + - .2 Grain. Perhaps that is because of familiarity but it always works. Fill the hopper, run 10 charges to settle and start with the handle down raise it to fill the reservour and a smooth down stroke to fill or measure. Been doing it that way for 38 years and my Wife also uses it with the same result, (she is GOOD with a powder measure and electronic scale). Bear

This got me curious, so I went out and tested my Harrell measure. Each container of powder was at least half full. When putting on a new container, I threw 2 charges before weighing, and I used the same "technique" with each throw. Weights were measured with a RCBS 505. I also did not change the dial setting on the measure when switching powders. I did get some "crunching" with the "long stick" powders.
I threw 5 charges with each powder.
I didn't figure SD or such, but here are the results:

"long stick"
IMR 4831 - High 34.0; low 33.9; spread 0.1
IMR 3031 - High 31.8; low 31.6; spread 0.2

"short/medium stick"
H4895 - High 34.1; Low 33.9; spread 0.2
RE 15 - High 34.0; low 33.9; spread 0.1

"ball"
AA No5 - High 39.0; low 38.8; spread 0.2
H335 - High 39.7; low 39.6; spread 0.1

Which is the best powder throw set up available today?

Is the lyman 55 still made as well as it was before?

I don`t know what is the "Best" today, but if I was in the market for a fast, accurate way of charging brass I`d concider a digital scale/measure like the Lyman 1200, or RCBS Chargmaster. Nothing I`ve seen in a measure will keep charges of all types of powder to a +/- 0.1gr tolerance . These should be as accurate as the scale.

I can get a Lee with in 5 sticks of 44.7grs of IMR4064 half the time,the other half of the time,it's on. But I'm only using a 5-0-5 scale.But that all depends on my wrist action. The measure has been grahited and the screw adjusted. It's my match load.

How do you graphite the measure?

richard

My Harrell's Premium Powder Measure is a cool tool. I have been testing it extensively and get less than 2% variation on most all of my powders from long stick to fine powder. I weighed every charge with my Lyman DPS 3.

It's a keeper.

Run 1/2 a can of powder through it and the powder will leave enough graphite to coat it. Plus it`s good practice to get your throwing technique down pat.

I am still using mine, and it is very accurate. Mine was produced in the 70s, and I got the vernier tubes...jim