powder dispensers - automatic.

TR Treeman 2 years ago

The lyman 1200 powder dispenser in specific, I am buying one of these tomorrow for R2500. I saw one once in my life, and I have only ever seen one ;D and it was rather a slow thing, but that was 20 years ago.
I often see them for sale and wonder about buying one, but then always remember how slow it seemed and then the bad reviews that crop up with litany of wonder and praise for the thing. The older I get, the more tedious some parts of reloading have become, like measuring out propellent - wouldn't it be so nice if we could like u know, just buy loaded ammunition.
Who of ya all use these fancy thingee's?
How do you find their offerings?

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TR Treeman OP

I got it for 2000, so either way the lesson or gain will be affordable. I threw a few charges and checked them against my scales, dunno if i got lucky or what, but 5 x 100 % matching loads.
We shall see.
Had a little mechanical mishap ;D , so not in good place at moment ::)

TR Tripodmvr

When reloading with my Lyman I complete one round per powder throw. Whilst the propellant is being dispensed I seat the previous cycle's bullet and then have a round that can be fired. With the 223 you have to be on the ball to keep a good rhythm. With larger volumes of propellant it becomes easier.

Electronic devices do have a large effect, but I regularly re-zero the scale. I have had good results on target and am happy to use my dispenser.

22 223

I have found the electronic scales, with or without powder dispensers, to be more unpredictable than any menopausal woman. ;)

I use a powered powder trickler that is attached to my beam scale. It does give me 0.1gn variations if I load a lot of ammo in a hurry, but that's within spec for most hunting and target applications.

With the combination of rotary drum powder measure and auto trickler, I can load significantly faster than all the expensive powder dispensers I have seen so far.

Have you noticed the number of used powder dispensers being advertised on the watsaap and telegram gun groups? That should tell you something...

AG Againstthegrains

I don't think 0.1gr out is a big issue. With an old beam balance, unless you are extremely meticulous, you are normally working to +/-0.1 either side. Further, you are usually still on the node at least 0.2gr either side of the happy spot of a normal hunting load.

TR Treeman OP

I still use mine and 0,1gr is negligible on 40 to 50 grains of propellant.

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.05 % of a 50 gr load I think.
.03 % of a 30 gr load

TR Tripodmvr

I still use mine and 0,1gr is negligible on 40 to 50 grains of propellant.

JA JamesNotBond

Tree, do you really need even one more item in regard to reloading, hunting?
Anita will eventually stop just smiling.

JA janfred

I used one for years. And yes, it is not particularly fast. It suffers from the normal Lyman scale drifting and overthrows a lot by 0.1gr. The unit is also a great way to spread powder over your loading bench because people tend to forget to close the little drain at the back...

Do not wash the hopper and then wipe it down with a dry cloth. That causes static that is a nightmare to get off.

Switch it on at least an hour before your planned start.

Calibrate it at the start of every loading session.

More often than not, it would overthrow by 0.1gr. I used to program in whatever load I wanted -0.1gr. So if it threw what I set it, I just gently tapped on the little pipe to drop one or two more granules to make up the last 0.1gr.

When you finished draining the powder, close the little gate before closing the drain flap. Check it again. Before pouring powder in the hopper, check that the drain is properly closed. Check it again. After you poured powder in the hopper and the level slowly is going down, check the drain!!!