LEE "Perfect" powder measure. Can it be improved?

[Elkins45]

You can make a billet aluminum adjustable bar and fit it to the older Lee auto disk measure, this one beats every other powder measure I have used for consistent charges thrown and not a speck of powder spilled anywhere.. My son made this one for me from a drawing I gave him of a bar made by the E. A. Brown company back in the 1990s.

Hey, I recognize that adjustable charge bar!

[Three44s]

I use my Lee PPM for extruded powders. I scale them and then trickle up.

I use other brands of measures for finer grained numbers.


Three 44s

[country gent]

Since buying my harrels measures ( ihave the smaller shutzen model and standard model) My other measures have sat on the shelf. Im thinking of a black powder model here shortly. Alot of measures work well including the Lee PPM if ran consistently everytime. One of the reasons progressive operated press powder measures are consistent is they are operated stop to stop at the same speed force everytime.

[jamo002]

Beautiful machine work! I have an old bridgeport but I couldn't do work like that. How about improving the "perfect" measure. it couldn't be done this way.

[bruce drake]

I throw charges with my LEE PPM. I finish the charge on my Digital scale with a trickler. Its all in how consistent you want your end-product.
same with other parts of the recipe to reload. mix cases versus sorted...different primer manufacturers within the same loading session...same bullet weight but different profiles/ballistic coefficients. Plinker versus Match-grade. If you take your time LEE products will give you match-grade quality.

Bruce

[orbitalair]

I don't have any metal working skills like Doug. What I did was to take the black rotor out that turns in the frame. put a LITE coat of any polishing compound on the tapered rotor. Re-install it in the frame. Turn the rotor a few times in place. Take it apart again clean both the rotor and the housing. You should see where the polishing compound has taken away the highest spots. I kept going through the process until both the rotor surface and the inner hosing surface looked smooth. I think it took me 4 attemts till everything was smooth. Before this process it leaked BLC2 tear-ably. Now It doesn't leak and it is much smoother.

This. I used Turtlewax Deep Scratch remover paste on 2 units. 15 minutes of work each, and both are smooth enough to run on the LM press without leaking powder everywhere. You would think a tool guy like Lee would have figured this out, and made a tool and a QA test for this, but no.....

[jamo002]

Since buying my harrels measures ( ihave the smaller shutzen model and standard model) My other measures have sat on the shelf. Im thinking of a black powder model here shortly. Alot of measures work well including the Lee PPM if ran consistently everytime. One of the reasons progressive operated press powder measures are consistent is they are operated stop to stop at the same speed force everytime.

I have the harrells BR measure and it's worth every penny just to enjoy using it. I currently have 5 powder measures on my loading bench and the Harrell in my field box for reloading the same 20 pieces of brass over and over when shooting my 6 "Talldog" BR Rifles. (not in competetion, just for fun). I have so many other measures because I don't want to keep changing the Harrell from a rifle sized load of N133 or H322 down to an extreme of 3 gr. on Bullseye for handguns. My Redding and 2 Uniflows have smaller rotor chambers that are for handgun loads. Do you think a Harrell can even be used with nin-magnum handgun loads? Is your "Shutzen" measure much smaller than the Harrell BR measure? JAMO

[jamo002]

What a great idea! I knew I was STOOPID. I thought of automotive valve grinding compound but I knew that was probally too coarse for use on plastic and, at best, it would leave the plastic with a matte finish that might not as smooth as it was to begin with. OK, now any good ideas on a simple modification to the charging handle to make it more user frendly??

[jamo002]

What a great idea! I knew I was STOOPID. I thought of automotive valve grinding compound but I knew that was probally too coarse for use on plastic and, at best, it would leave the plastic with a matte finish that might not as smooth as it was to begin with. OK, now any good ideas on a simple modification to the charging handle to make it more user frendly??

[jamo002]

Bruce,

Yup, I have a trickler myself , mostly for working up heavy loads. I havent been to a Benchreast match in years but 10 years ago nobody used anything but a Harrells powder measure I have personally shop .100" groups at 100 yards (on a calm day) with just a powder measure. I would argue that this prooves that trickling and weighing aren't required at all (at least at 100 yards) because, on that calm day, with a $3500 custom rifle that weighs 11 lbs, I think I had removed most other variables EXCEPT the powder measure. ALL BR competetors use really expensive jacketed custom boolets which wouod be much much more consistant that anything we can cast at home. I have seen just the boolets alone open up a group from 1/8" to 3/8" and more.

I recently saw a well done comparison test somewhere in the internet and, surprizingly, the expensive, smooth ball bearing Harrell measures like I used for my .100 group didn't even rank on top in accuracy. The would, of course, rank on top for "pleasure to use."

Maybe the guys are using weighed charges at 1000 yards, which has become popular because 100 yard BR has become just a competerion of reading your wind flags. I can remenber when I went to mt first match around 1977. Guys who shot a 1/4" group would have everybody sign the target and then take it home and frame it. Today, anything but a ragged "bug hole" is tossed in the trash can at the range. JAMO

[kelbro]

I have one set up for Varget, one for H4895, and one for IMR4064. They were all lapped with car polish. The Hodgdon powders drop within .1 grain every time. The 4064 is almost as good but not quite. Also does well with H4831 but I just don't shoot enough 270/3006 to justify a measure for those two.

[pathdoc]

My PPM drops the powders I use within as close as my beam balance scale will weigh and I cannot ask for better than that.

[Glassman66]

If any of you guys that have thrown your Lee PPM's in a bucket, I would be willing to pay to have them shipped to me. I have more time than money and am willing to work on them to make them better!



Randy

[kerreckt]

I have nothing but good experiences with my two Lee PPM. I use them to measure the extruded powders (logs) and they do a great job. I have made plastic baffles for mine from coffee container tops. Before the baffles they would throw IMR 4895 and 4064 within .2-.3grns. After the baffles, the throw is as accurate as I can weigh with my balance scale. I do my part by using it exactly the same ways each time when throwing the powder. It is more accurate with these types of powders than either my Lyman 55 or RCBS Uniflow. Great product for less than $20.00, in my world.

[myg30]

If any of you guys that have thrown your Lee PPM's in a bucket, I would be willing to pay to have them shipped to me. I have more time than money and am willing to work on them to make them better!



Randy

Out of curiosity how many have pm' ed you for your address ?
I like my lee's and some powders can measure better than others true. Ford,Chevy, if it works for you and makes you happy cool ! BMW, go for it.
I like to save some money when over spendings not necessary.
Never in a rush to reload or cast ! " It's faster" makes me cringe when I read that in a reloading post.

enjoy, be safe always.

Mike

[Glassman66]

Out of curiosity how many have pm' ed you for your address ?
I like my lee's and some powders can measure better than others true. Ford,Chevy, if it works for you and makes you happy cool ! BMW, go for it.
I like to save some money when over spendings not necessary.
Never in a rush to reload or cast ! " It's faster" makes me cringe when I read that in a reloading post.

enjoy, be safe always.

Mike

Nobody, I kinda threw that out there jokingly! I am just starting out reloading and do not have a powder drop yet. Heck, maybe I don't need one. I don't shoot large volumes so I am probably ok using dippers after I have found a load that works. I did get a trickler the other day though.

I am the kinda guy who likes to take things apart and figure out how they work and maybe make it work better. I would still be willing to pay postage on one that someone doesn't want though! LOL!




Randy

[JSnover]

I've been satisfied with everything I've ever bought from Lee (and I've bought a LOT from them), except the Perfect Powder Measure. Hated it. The action was rough, the mount was like a spring bouncing and chattering when I turned the drum, and it leaked. A lot. I replaced it with a Redding.
Now I don't even use that.
Dip and trickle:
Bought a complete set of scoops. Found one that threw within a fraction of a grain of whatever I was loading that day. Dumped it into my pan and trickled up to weight. Every charge is right on the money.
It takes a few seconds longer per case but I don't have to play around with measures anymore, never worry about bridging or any other hiccups.

[13Echo]

If you lap the moving parts, and the Turtlewax paste should be ideal, the action becomes tolerably smooth if you don't tighten the screw too much. It'll even feed fine ball powder without bad leak. It's no Harrels but it will do the job until you can afford one.

Jerry Liles

[FergusonTO35]

I had a Lee PPM for a long time, used it for pistol powder before I got my Auto Disk. I found that it was either 100% consistent or not at all. It had an annoying habit of drooling powder out from between the rotor and body. I was pretty happy with it for a $20.00 measure. Nowadays I use the Pro Auto Disk and RCBS Uniflow and am very happy with both.

[Kimber bob]

I have found that some powders like 321 and tight group meter very well. Others like unique not so much, of course unique is a much larger flake type.