Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Powder throws and stick powders - advice please

I've only ever used a couple old RCBS powder throws. They work fine with any of the ball powders and are very consistent. Stick powders like IMR4350 are a different story. The cylinder tends to stick half the time and the weights are inconsistent. Are there any good, none electronic powder measures out there that are better with stick type powders?

Some here will claim the Redding BR 3 is second only to an Angel’s halo & that God himself uses one. Many worship the Lyman powder measure with the same verve. To my knowledge there is one powder drop that will reliably drop consistent stick powder charges & it is quite expensive. Can’t remember the name of it right now. But, I can dig it up if you want it. The Harrel’s measure is quite nice but it will only shear stick kernels which is less than consistent. I have tested the Harrel’s extensively. I really don’t believe any measure was designed for extruded powders.

Believe it or not, the Lee Perfect Powder Measure, Classic Powder Measure, and Deluxe Perfect Powder Measure do better with extruded powders than most. They have a rubberish wiper in the drum that wipes the powder without shearing the kernels. Still not likely to see only .1gr variances but they do much better than conventional measures.

John

The JDS QuickMeasure is very good with stick powders.

The measures mentioned above have been measuring extruded (stick) powders for decades, the shearing is just the nature of the beast. Some longer grained powders are worse in that respect than others. I have used both RCBS Uniflo and Redding BR 3 and don't see a whits worth of defference in the way either handles stick powders. Harrel's and Lyman are not that different in design and I can't see where they would be much different than the RCBS or Redding. I always throw charges a couple grains below weight and trickle up to weight no matter what kind of powder I am using. The electronic measures because most employ a trickler like mechanism are not subject to the shearing problem encountered in mechanical measures.

I agree with part of your post but the Harrell's is a different design and does work much better than a Uniflo

The Belding and Mull is slow and has it's drawbacks, but throws very accurate charges with coarse granule powders.

If I HAVE to load 4831 or 4350 I throw a few grains short with the Uniflow and trickle up. Luckily that is only for a few hunting rifle applications so lots are smaller. Cutting a few grains off won't hurt anything. For larger volumes like on the progressive press find a powder that meters better, there are usually a few options.

Lee measure, as much of plastic junk as it is, its amazing with stuff like 4064 and 4350 4831 and so on. I say that with a pair of Harrels sitting on my bench...

I use a Lee, only 'cause that's all I've ever had. I adjust it to where 2 solid bumps against the stop on the "up" stroke of each charge, gets my weights awfully damned close when measured on the Lee Safety Scale. I don't bother tricklin'. Once I get it set, I might weigh every 8th or 10th charge, to keep it honest. Rarely do I encounter one.

This is probably the point where Mickey Coleman (RIP) would chime-in & call me an, "Uncircumcised Phillistine!", for embracing so crass a procedure.

Hey, I still have all my fingers & both eyes, and I get good groups & velocities.

I'm sure there are better ways to skin this cat, but this is the method I've used to make due with what I've got. And no, I don't bother with the, "bumps" for ball powders.

FC

A few years ago, I did a statistical evaluation of a couple of powder measures and a couple of scales. As Hondo64d said, the Lee Perfect Powder Measure does a very fine job with stick powders.

That’s what I do, not that big of a deal to do.

Me too. I have a Harrell's and I still find myself mostly using the Belding&Mull I've used for 40 years now, but the Harrell's is awfully sweet though.

For those of you who weigh each measured charge- did you ever experiment with simply setting the measure and go without weighing, for a test batch, and do another test batch with charges weighed to perfection? I disabused myself of the weighing each charge nonsense long ago when I found the difference in accuracy to be trifling at worst and nonexistent at best.

Ill make note of that. Thanks for the info

I've used the same Redding #3 for 39 years. It does not like older, long grained stick powders, but does well with shorter cut powders like H4831sc and H4350. Works wonderfully with really fine grained powders like Benchmark and 8208xbr.

I've used the same Redding #3 for 39 years. It does not like older, long grained stick powders, but does well with shorter cut powders like H4831sc and H4350. Works wonderfully with really fine grained powders like Benchmark and 8208xbr.

I may give the Lee a try for the stick powders. I've avoided them in the past based on reviews and personal experience with a Lee progressive. Seems they have an issue with powder leakage with fine powders like most pistol powders, but maybe they would be worth a try for the stick stuff. FWIW I don't load near enough to justify a $200+ throw.

I have a couple of Redding’s. They are great!

I have the reddings too, they are not as good as the lee on big stick powder.

That said I would not dream of using LEE for ball or flake powder. That was a big mess...

I found my ancient uniflow back, and since I don't have a measure in Alaska its flying back with me. I swear there were some upgrades to make it better, like a concave measuring chamber and a baffle but a quick google didn't help.. LOL. Its junk, but it beats lee measure spoons all to hell.

I use the Uniflow that I started out with many years ago. It ain’t perfect, but it’s been working well enough that it’s probably the one I’ll finish up with.