Another mystery to my problem of metering 748.
I found my old Lyman #55 resting in its box where it has been for probably 35 years. Haven't found the B&M yet but if the movers got it here I have it surrounded.
The 55 was stiff to work maybe from the long storage or like me from old age. Clamped it on the bench and poured in some 748 and the first charge dropped took the stiffness out of the rotation -- magic ?????? Threw maybe 80 charges and it kept on working with practically no force needed on the handle -- unlike my other two measures. However, unlike the Lee the light charges of interest it varied up to 8% between charges no matter how I set the three sliders or how I pounded or didn't pound the knocker. Since it wasn't the solution to my immediate problem I didn't try it with other powders but it worked fine for years before I bought the Redding and retired it.
Here is the wieird part. When i unclamped it and dumped the powder it immediately went back to being quite stiff to operate. That made no practical difference since I didn't intend to use it but I was curious. I rotated the drum several times -- no improvement. I looked at the location of the clamp and wondered if when clamped it distorted the housing just a bit but discarded the idea as far fetched since cast iron is a stiff material and clamping didn't involve much force. I clamped it back on the bench and it immediately rotated freely. Off the bench it immediately went back to being stiff. I repeated the off and on bit several times with the same results (what is that about being insane?).
Being an engineer I naturally wanted to measure something. Out came the trigger scale. Several more times on and off the bench. On bench -- less than 16 oz to operate handle. Off bench -- over 4 lbs to operate. To hell with it I have wasted enough time. I'm writing it off as a haunted powder measure leaving the box open so the evil spirit will go away.
I would be interested if any of you have any theories better than it being haunted as an explanation.
John