PPM

[larryw]

I constantly hear a lot of crap about the PPM, well, as far
as I am concerned there just fine with the powders they like.
especially after some messaging, & for the price, again
IMHO, cant beat 'em.

Hand lapped my drum until ALL the high & low spots were
leveled out, now the thing is super accurate with every powder
I have tried in it. RedDot, H-110, 2400, AutoComp, Titegroup & more to come.

[Ranch Dog]

I constantly hear a lot of crap about the PPM, well, as far
as I am concerned there just fine with the powders they like.
especially after some messaging, & for the price, again
IMHO, cant beat 'em.

Hand lapped my drum until ALL the high & low spots were
leveled out, now the thing is super accurate with every powder
I have tried in it. RedDot, H-110, 2400, AutoComp, Titegroup & more to come.

Welcome to the forum Larry, I agree and did the same lapping work. It only took a few minutes and mine was running smooth without issue.

[Rooster59]

Pardon me but what is the drum? The tube with the measuring device or the center section? How did you lap it?

[daboone]

Here is a picture of what LarryW discribed:



I was fortunate with the PPM on my bench as it's drum was perfect from the get go. The PPM is probably the very best stick powder thrower out there. I have 7 different measure including the JDS Quick Measure. The PPM drops 4895 with +/- .1g 99% of the time.

[larryw]

Pardon me but what is the drum? The tube with the measuring device or the center section? How did you lap it?

Yep, the center section. you will need some fine valve grinding compound
available at your local auto parts store then lapp away until all the high &
low spots are gone, & both surfaces are the same.
Hope this help's. keep us posted...

[Ranch Dog]

I used 500 grit Clover lapping compound and cleaned it off with denatured alcohol.

[Maximumbob54]

I guess I'm twice lucky now. I have two of them setup one mounted on the case activated die and the other on its stand. I can measure AA #9 in them both which is pretty fine for a ball powder. No leaks and measures very accurate.

[mikld]

Every powder measure that I've encountered had it's quirks. My LPPM doesn't like fine ball powders, it leaks sometimes. Well so does my C-H, and my Hornady Pistol Powder Measure. Unique has been fairly inaccurate charging in any powder measure I've tried to measure it through. I haven't run across any "perfect" measures that measure all powders accurately, but my Lee will hold less than 1/10th grain variation with a lot of powders and with some it likes, much smaller variations.

I've owned two and when new I just dumped some graphite in the hopper and worked it through for quite a few cycles, then 1/4 to 1/2 pound of pistol powder through it. I always kept the drum snug during this "break-in" and never had any problems that I could blame on the Lee PPM.

I'm sure there may be a high $$$ powder measure that will measure every gun powder available accurately, but not that I could ever afford. Lee PPM gets a bad rap I think mostly because it's made of different materials than "classic" cast iron and aluminum...

[larryw]

mikld is right, every measures I have ever heard of has it's likes & dislikes.
& believe it or not, operator rhythm & consistency means everything.
Through repeated use, you will develop A rhythm & timing that you
like & the measures likes, when you do, do things the exact same way
every time.

mikld, Good to see 'ya again. I was looking all over out here for the double sided green
can's of Clover, cant find it anywhere. I used the Permatex stuff in the tube & it work's pretty well.
But Clover has always been my favorite when lapping & polishing valves.

[Rooster59]

You guys got me stirred up so i pulled my PPM off the shelf and tried it again. I got it not long after I started reloading around 8 years ago. I had some trouble getting it throw consistent weights and tried a few tips without good enough results to make me comfortable. I don't remember the exact details about the issues so I won't comment further. I tried the tapping, making strokes consistent, etc.

My volume shooting was mostly pistol calibers with powders that would work well with the Pro Auto Disk so I picked up one of those and have been very happy with it for 2400, Unique, TrailBoss (!), and Lil Gun. I kept on scooping and weighing my rifle loads with IMR4198, IMR3031, RL7, and Leverevolution.

This past weekend I decided I had read enough posts on the drum measures and pulled out my PPM again. Knowing full well that the volume measures are a close approximation to the charge weight you want I adjusted it per Lee's recommendation for 31.5gr of IMR4198 and filled the hopper. After dropping three charges, which I do with my other measure to make sure the measure is filled and flowing, I started weighing. The charges were light as I expected but consistently between 30.2 and 30.6gr over the course of 30+ drops. I cranked the stem out one full turn and started getting 31.2 to 31.6gr which was in the neighborhood I wanted. At that point I loaded 30 rounds with some store bought 405RNFP and called it good.

A lot of folks claim they are getting +/- 0.1gr which I won't argue with. I'd like to hear opinions if my recent results are within the norm or should I expect to get closer ranges after more practice and honing my technique.

FWIW, a 0.4gr range on my loads is slightly over a 1.0% variance. In my opinion shooter error can amount to greater variances in point of impact than a 1.0-1.5% variance in charge weights. I seldom load to the max except on special hunting loads which I weigh each charge anyway.

Why the heck did I wait so long to give it another try???

Jeff