lyman 55 with drop tube

[Black River Johnny]

does anybody use the lyman 55? why - why not?
Thanks
edit to my question, do you use any type of powder measure or do you measure by hand?

[Ranch 13]

I use the newer bp model. Works real well, and with the drop tube attached if you turn the handle real slow to dump the charge ,you can drop well over 70 grs of 2f in a 45-70 case.

[Dick Dastardly]

The slow trickle down the drop tube, regardless of source, is what you want.  I also like just a little bit of vibration as I drop tube the charge.  I have an old electric tooth brush that gives me just that little bit of vibration.

When I compress my charge I do it with a 1/16" fiber wad over the powder.  So far, I've not had any spring back.  My bullets are hand seated and not crimped.  I mark the rims before I load brass for the first time.  I orient this mark the same every time I load.  Seems to work for me.

DD-DLoS

[john boy]

Johnny - you may want to read this ... http://shilohrifle.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7037
I own and have used them all.  For BPCR - The Lee Perfect Powder Measure.  For CAS - Dillon 550B

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

In the past I used to dip my BP powder charges by hand with a set of Lee dippers. Works fine, but it is a little bit slow. These days I have a Lyman BP powder measure mounted on my progressive press. I do not have the linkage hooked up, so I must reach up and manually trip the rotor for every cartridge. Still, it is much faster than hand dipping. I have bought several old Lyman 55 Smokeless powder measures at white elephant tables various places. The interior rotor assembly is the same as in the BP measure. I keep one rotor assembly set up for my 45 Colt and 44-40 charges. I use the same setting for both calibers. I keep another rotor set for my 45-70 charges. I change out the rotor assembly depending on which cartridge I am loading. This is much simpler than trying to readjust the rotor every time. When loading 45-70 I dump the powder from the powder measure into one of the pans from my powder scale. Then I dump it slowly into a funnel mounted on the top of my drop tube, which is mounted in its own stand.

[Dalton Masterson]

I use one, but have it mounted on a board so I can move it from press to press. With my 45s, I just pull the brass pin out of the bullet seating station, and pull the brass to the Lyman, dump powder and put the brass back in to seat the bullet. Takes a little longer that way, but is a lot faster than hand dipping. It wont mount to my Dillon, as it has the small threads on the Lyman.
I am thinking of getting the Hornady one to mount on the Dillon itself. DM

[Black River Johnny]

I just got done throwing 30 charges with my rcbs uniflow, and they ranged from 73.1 to 73.9 so I don't think that I will spend the money - that range is close enough for me. I did cut a beer can and lined the plastic hopper and took a sharpie and blacked out where it said do not use with black powder

[Dalton Masterson]

The steel inside the measuring chamber is more the problem than your hopper tho. Be careful. DM

[Black River Johnny]

yeah, thanks. when I get back to work, I am going to have a guy make the inside stuff out of brass. He owes me a favor.

[Dalton Masterson]

That will be nice, and would probably be a marketable item if ya do it right. Good luck. DM