Redding 3BR powder measure

[Ishallbie O'Cullkillin]

I've read a lot of good things about this measure, but the one I have is very inconsistent. I've had it for 9 months now, and it seems very sensitive to the force with which I dispense. If I hit the handle against the body at all, I get a .1-.2gr increase in charge wt, guaranteed. If I hit it moderately hard, it goes up more. On the down stroke, if I am gentle, powder hangs up in the chute, but comes out in one stroke, or sometimes two. I've used both stick and ball powder. I have a Lyman that really sucked, until I shimmed up the cylinder & now it's very consistent. The only improvement that I can see on the Redding is to die grind & polish the chute so that no powder hangs up. Suggestions?

 

[ksthomas]

Re: Redding 3BR powder measure

MattK287,

You've already answered this one for yourself; operate the measure more smoothly. Even the high end semi-custom Harrells and others of that nature, still have to be operated as uniformly as humanly possible to give good results. By the same token, the RCBS Uniflow, the Lyman or any other measure you can mention will give decent results if it's just operated consistently. You might see about mounting the unit on the wall if at all possible, to isolate it from movements caused by bumping the bench it would normally be mounted on, too. I did this many years ago (mounting the measures permanently on the wall) and it improved the performance substantially. But in the end, it all comes down to consisten operation.

 

[roundrockcrawler]

Re: Redding 3BR powder measure

I had the same powder thrower and had to come up with a consisent movement, it's hard to explane but kinda like two tics up with the handle to load the powder , and two tics down with the handle to despense the powder. The more uniform you get with your handle movements, the more consisent charges it will throw , larger stick powder is harder to cut to throw.

 

[Ishallbie O'Cullkillin]

Re: Redding 3BR powder measure

Ok. That sounds reasonable. I thought I was operating it smoothly. Kevin, the fact that you mounted yours to a wall and saw significant improvement got my attention. The Lyman has a little wrecking ball that I click twice each on the up and down stroke, metering can be done relatively aggressively & still maintain consistency. I could tell right away that the Redding would require a different technique, I just didn't know to what degree. I tried the two ticks on the up & down stroke, at different magnitudes, but was still unable to get consistent. I have sat in front of this measure for many hours trying to get a consistent technique, it is only now that I finally come weeping to the Hide for help.
Thank you.

 

[Sonic Crack]

Re: Redding 3BR powder measure

If you dont have a bench stand for your 3BR get one. I use the Redding bench stand with my 3BR and 10x with good results. Its all about keeping the thrower steady. I try to keep the stroke smooth and give a good tap of the handle on the up and down stroke. Cant say that ive seen more than +/- .1gr even when I put Varget in the 3BR just to see how it would handle it.

Like everyone has said, consistency is the key and keeping the thrower mounted as solid as possible.

 

[Fuzzball]

Re: Redding 3BR powder measure

Every measure has it's own prefered operation technique and many also need different techniques for ball, tubular and flake powders.