Pistolero
Well-Known Member
I picked up a Lyman 55 measure at a gun show a few years back, I had never owned or used
one before. It had no drop tube/funnel unit on the outlet, so I machined up one from aluminum,
conceptually similar to the screw in plastic ones on my RCBS measures.
I finally decided to use it a couple days ago. I was loading a near full charge of W296 in
.357. My 550 is set up to turn out .38 Spl, and I didn't want to adjust the dies for the
longer case, run 50 or 100 rounds of full power mag loads and then set it back to .38 Spl
moderate loads, so doing this batch on the Redding Turret, single state style.
I have 50 cases all ready for powder in a MTM case holder plate, and after getting the measure
checked carefully, validating the individual throws with a 10 throw test. All was fine.
So I filled up the 50 cases, and for safety, I looked carefully at them......HMM. That last row
looks noticeably more full than the first row I filled. Nah, can't be, BUT, just to be safe,
better check. Dumped the last case filled into the scale pan......a bit over 3 full grains above the
setting. THAT IS SCARY. I think the GP100 might probably have survived, but not
sure about the 586. Checked more. It had slowly increased, about .6 grains per row.
After dumping the cases back into the measure, I poured the powder out to examine the
measure. Looking down inside, the entire drum had moved right a bit, so the free end added
volume to the cavity. Looking more closely at this unfamiliar design - with multiple slides
and various thumbscrews. UH - OH, user error. One thumbscrew on the right side
locks the slides and the other keeps the drum from moving axially.
Lesson learned, all guns and fingers and eyes still intact.
Don't make the same mistake. And dump a sample charge at the end of a run and see if
it is still the same as when you started. Before you put the bullets in. If this had been
a small charge, like my std load in .38 Spl is 3 gr of Clays. Add three to that and things
will be very bad.
Ya'll be safe out there.
Bill
one before. It had no drop tube/funnel unit on the outlet, so I machined up one from aluminum,
conceptually similar to the screw in plastic ones on my RCBS measures.
I finally decided to use it a couple days ago. I was loading a near full charge of W296 in
.357. My 550 is set up to turn out .38 Spl, and I didn't want to adjust the dies for the
longer case, run 50 or 100 rounds of full power mag loads and then set it back to .38 Spl
moderate loads, so doing this batch on the Redding Turret, single state style.
I have 50 cases all ready for powder in a MTM case holder plate, and after getting the measure
checked carefully, validating the individual throws with a 10 throw test. All was fine.
So I filled up the 50 cases, and for safety, I looked carefully at them......HMM. That last row
looks noticeably more full than the first row I filled. Nah, can't be, BUT, just to be safe,
better check. Dumped the last case filled into the scale pan......a bit over 3 full grains above the
setting. THAT IS SCARY. I think the GP100 might probably have survived, but not
sure about the 586. Checked more. It had slowly increased, about .6 grains per row.
After dumping the cases back into the measure, I poured the powder out to examine the
measure. Looking down inside, the entire drum had moved right a bit, so the free end added
volume to the cavity. Looking more closely at this unfamiliar design - with multiple slides
and various thumbscrews. UH - OH, user error. One thumbscrew on the right side
locks the slides and the other keeps the drum from moving axially.
Lesson learned, all guns and fingers and eyes still intact.
Don't make the same mistake. And dump a sample charge at the end of a run and see if
it is still the same as when you started. Before you put the bullets in. If this had been
a small charge, like my std load in .38 Spl is 3 gr of Clays. Add three to that and things
will be very bad.
Ya'll be safe out there.
Bill