The RCBS Little Dandy Powder Measure

The RCBS Little Dandy Pistol Powder Measure is the simplest measure on the market. There's just one moving part, a steel rotor that transfers a fixed volume of powder from the hopper to the feed tube below. It's also the most consistent and reliable powder measure on my reloading bench, and perhaps surprisingly, one of the cheapest.

That seems like an impossible combination, and the reader is probably thinking that there must be a catch. There is, and that is while the measure itself is only $35, a different rotor is needed for each charge, and rotors cost anywhere from $12-17 each. There are 28 different rotors available, which means that a complete set will run you $336-476. Not exactly cheap.

Of course, you don't really need a complete set. This is not a measure for developing loads for a wide variety of rounds. Rather, it's for delivering a few set loads repeatedly and accurately. I have four rotors for mine, each corresponding to a particular well-established load. For instance, the #2 rotor delivers exactly 2.7 grains of Bullseye, which happens to be one of the all-time favorite .38 Special wadcutter loads, and one I load several hundred of at a time. I still measure and dump a half-dozen charges, minimum, when I start loading, and I still weigh charges before dumping the first one into a case, but I've never had a charge vary more than a tenth of a grain using this measure.