Sinclair Press & Harrell powder measure

[lefty15]

Good afternoon everyone and a early Merry Christmas.
Currently I use a RCBS beam scale and an RCBS press for my reloading and it has served me well over the years.
I was out at the range a while ago and a gentleman there was showing me his Sinclair hand die kit and Harrell powder measure. This gentleman was saying that he only neck sizes his cartridges and that the powder measure was as accurate as the beam scale.
Do any of you guys have any information about these 2 items or have you used these items and can give some feedback? thx

 

[roninflag]

harrel measures by volume not by weight. commonly used by benchrest guys shooting a 6ppc at 100 and 200 yards. i i would say most or all use it, for that purpose it works great. go to benchrest.com for more.

 

[TOM H]

Harrell powder measure has click adjustment

Classic Culver Measure

Left side of picture is knob with click adjustment and what you normal do fill measure with powder you want to use there be number like 20/30/40 those are the click # and there may be some click between those mine has 3 click. Say you want to drop 27gr/H-322 what you do set click at 40 throw a charge but you need to weight it on a scale find out what 40 clicks weights it may weight 25gr then you need to start adjust click weight till click = 27gr. if you change powder you start all over again. How you raise and lower handle also effect amt of powder also. How I raised and lower handle on mine amt to almost 1gr difference.

The Wilson die
L. E. WILSON Inc.
L. E. WILSON Inc.

I'm set up to load at range and I use Wilson dies and Sinclair press also have Click adjustment powder measure not a Harrell.

There is lot more on the powder measure that I didn't include and when some start looking at the price plus dies/press/bushing then add hand priming tool like a Sinclair you be close to $700.

Click on this some of my Wilson neck dies
Nosler Reloading Forum • View topic - Dies Wilson

Here some of my seater dies

 

[Trickymissfit]

I use the 60 grain Harrell Culver measurer with Sinclair drop tubes (several different sizes and lengths). What it does great is that it will throw ball powders with in a tenth and a half grain window all day long (+/- .075 grain). I keep a log book with the settings for the powder charges I've used in the past. I have no serious idea what they weigh, unless I weigh them. I can go back to a setting I used a couple years ago, and it will be right on the money. The Harrell works best with ball powders. The Harrell is the closest thing I've found to a real Homer Culver built Lyman #55 yet.

I use a K&M arbor press with Wilson dies or custom built inline dies. All neck size and seat bullets only. I chose the K&M over the others because it doesn't use a gear and rack, and the links give a better feel in bullet seating.
gary

 

[TOM H]

I don't have picture of my range set up but this is pretty close even to the tool box and Sinclair sell the hanger for mounting power measure.

The Rifleman's Journal: Reloading: Range Reloading

 

[lefty15]

I guess what I am asking is the Sinclair press (with neck sizing only) and the Culver powder measure and more accurate way to load my shells or I am better sticking with the beam scale and full length sizing?

 

[roninflag]

Lefty- if you are shooting a garand at 600 yards , a 6ppc at 100, 200 and 300; a 6.5-284 at 1000 yards ,or .45 gold cup at 50 yards; they all have their own set of equipment and paraphenalia. you do not say what you are shooting/shooting at- this is a long rangehunting forum and for a remington sendero i would say this: the harrell/culver measures by volume , everyone i know that shoots long range competition measure by weight. they must keep their es as low as possible the remove/limit the vertical spread. the wilson inline dies may have some benefit.

 

[tulku]

Lefty , if you have a tight-necked BenchRest Rifle a straight line Die like the Wilson would be useful . Even if you have a Custom Barreled Rifle like a Gunsmith Accurized Rem 700 ( like I do ) or just a Factory Rifle , I doubt it if you would see the difference . For Big Game or Varmints , and you don't shoot at Long Range , I have seen very little difference in Throwing vs. Weighing Powder . I have seen some difference in Accuracy ..... related to conventional Dies of different Brands . BenchResters are worried about differences in Group Size of Hundredths or even Thousandths of an Inch . Most Shooters are not.

 

[Trickymissfit]

a good experiment is to throw ten charges (ball powder only) with the Harrell, and weigh ten charges (identical in weight). Then seat the bullets identical to each other. They'll shoot the same, as I've been there and done that! Now you goto stick powders, and you need to weigh each charge. I can throw 3031 or 2015 to about a +/- .15 grains, and that's not good enough of course. The real issue is weighing powder at the range. Much harder with the beam scale than you might think, and not all that easy with an electronic scale. I use a small battery powered electronic scale in the shielded box, and that's still a pain! Plus it's a pain to get the beam scale level. There is no really good setup that I've found. But some guys have built boxes out of clear Plexiglas. I tried this, and they work well as long as the sun is not really bright. I found a wooden box worked better. I actually know one guy that weighs his powder at the house and puts in small containers. I'd say if your not developing a load, then build the ammo at home!

As for the press, I tried several (including the Sinclair). I flat hated the B Square, and saw little difference between the Sinclair and a couple others. A guy in Fairland told me to try the K&M, and I never looked back. Has a better feel, but isn't as powerful as some of the others. I never saw an issue neck sizing and lacking power. Another interesting one is the Hood press (no longer in production) that will use threaded dies and inline dies as well. They're kinda pricey, but are really nice.
gary

 

[boomtube]

"...he only neck sizes his cartridges ..."

So what, the question is does it improve his accuracy and that depends on his rig. IF he - and you - have a custom chember that limits case expansion then hand dies under an arbor press can cut groups maybe 10-20 thou, on average. Most factory sporter rifles shoot better with properly FL sized cases.


"...and that the powder measure was as accurate as the beam scale."

Nonsense. All powder measures are volume devices and have no idea of the weight dropped. All a BR type measure does is remove the slop/back lash from the chamber volume adjustment screw so we can return to a previous setting and be assured the chamber volume is the same. Fine powders (ball types) drop very consistanty from any measure and coarse powders (4831) don't.

At ranges of 300 yards or less a few tenths variation are hardly detectable so few 'normal' BR competitors worry about highly precise charge weights. At longer ranges any powder variations smaller than .1 gr will usually be exceeded by normal differences in internal case volumes. IMHO.

 

[lefty15]

Thanks for all the responses guys much appreciated. From what i read here continuing to use my beam scale and full length size my cartridges is the way to go.
I shoot a .300 win mag Tikka varmint stainless all factory at this point. I only use the rifle for hunting and target shooting.

 

[roninflag]

lefty- yer teasing most of us...... a good factory rifle we can't get.