The Neil Jones Precision Measure revisited.

Muir

Well-Known Member
Last night I got to charging the 100, .223 cases I'd primed and prepped this past week. My normal measure is the Saeco Seeley Masker unit I've been using for the last 30 years but this time I revisited the Neil Jones Precision measure I'd been using during the Soap Creek Prairiedog Association shoot a couple of weeks ago. The can of H322 was already screwed into the measure and it should have been set for my 22 grain charge.

A quick check with the Ohaus Dial-o-Grain showed it was still set for that charge so I started charging cases. For the hell of it, I weighed each fifth charge and was pleased to note so little variance in weight that is wasn't worth trying to record. Twenty-two charges weighed and there was no appreciable difference in any of them.

The action on the Jones was needle bearing smooth. On only two charges did I get a (faint) sensation of a cut powder kernel and those two were also weighed and found to dead on. The smoothness of the action allows you to be very gentle charging; a nice contrast to the "smack it up, smack it down" action required of many other commercial measures.

The micrometer adjustment is positive and repeatable -a feature that gained Jones his reputation. The precision of the build is such that thirty-seven clicks on my measure with H322 will deliver the very close to the same charge of H322 as thirty-seven clicks on any another Jones measure. BR shooters and builders will often refer to the charge of their load as X number of "clicks on a Jones"

The last feature I like about the Jones is that you can screw the powder can directly into the measure so that it becomes it's own hopper. When you are finished loading, dismount the measure from the bench, invert it to pour the powder out of the mechanism and back into the can and you're done.

As much as I like this measure I will admit that if I hadn't bought it at an estate sale for cheap I probably wouldn't own it. They sell for $500 US new, which seems expensive for a non-competition shooter, but when I look up on my shelf and see a Redding BR-3 "Precision Match" measure that won't hold .2 grains metering the same H322, and realize that worthless measure sells for $265 US, then the cost of the Jones doesn't seem too excessive.

I'll be loading for 30-06, 308, and 6.5x55 soon. I'll let you know how the Jones works with the coarser powders. I'm not expecting anything great but we'll see. ~Muir
 
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Thanks for that, glad it has been working well for you. I would be interested to hear how it fares with H4350 or perhaps H4831sc in the .30-06...
 
As it turned out I was loading some light-ish 30-06 loads for my daughter today and used 47 grains of H-4895. The Jones hit either dead on or +/- .1 grains on the dozen or so I weighed. I think that shows great promise.~Muir

(I should go try it on 4350 this afternoon.... I'll get back to you.)
 
Ok. I got curious and dumped 10 charges of H4350. I had scant little left and my only other tubs of 4350 were unopened as of yet so I just kept dumping the powder back into the Jones-provided hopper.

With the measure set at my 4895 settings of this morning, 10 charges of H4350.

45.5 grns
45.4 grns
45.6 grns
45.5 grns
45.7 grns
45.6 grns
45.4 grns
45.5 grns
45.5 grns
45.6 grns

Averages don't much matter in this instance and standard deviation would be meaningless on such a small sample, I think. Still, not bad: plus or minus .1 grains and a little bit.~Muir

PS: I should add that on the Dial o Grain Ohaus it is possible to discern a part of a tenth of a grain. If it was above 45.5 grains I rounded up, if it was below I rounded down. The 45.7 was actually 45.6 and a little bit. Not quite to 45.7 grains.
 
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Seems he passed some time in the late 90's !

I first heard of him thru some of Ken Waters articles .
 
Seems he passed some time in the late 90's !

I first heard of him thru some of Ken Waters articles .

Yeah, he is one of the old timers. I have one of his measures. It's quite good but the Jones is better with the coarser stuff.~Muir
 
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Ok. I got curious and dumped 10 charges of H4350. I had scant little left and my only other tubs of 4350 were unopened as of yet so I just kept dumping the powder back into the Jones-provided hopper.

With the measure set at my 4895 settings of this morning, 10 charges of H4350.

45.5 grns
45.4 grns
45.6 grns
45.5 grns
45.7 grns
45.6 grns
45.4 grns
45.5 grns
45.5 grns
45.6 grns

Averages don't much matter in this instance and standard deviation would be meaningless on such a small sample, I think. Still, not bad: plus or minus .1 grains and a little bit.~Muir

PS: I should add that on the Dial o Grain Ohaus it is possible to discern a part of a tenth of a grain. If it was above 45.5 grains I rounded up, if it was below I rounded down. The 45.7 was actually 45.6 and a little bit. Not quite to 45.7 grains.


Look at those huge variations, it's rubbish, send it to me I'll pay the postage can't bear to see you wasting your time and effort on this sort of kit :D

John
 
If I had both the time and powder to shoot more regularly at the range this would most certainly be the way to go albeit so-called benchrest standards of case prep remain the limiting factor with little opportunity through product investment to speed this up noticeably as far as I can see.

There is however an outstanding bit of experimenting to be done that is a blind group test of ammo assembled with no post resizing cleaning or prep beyond primer pocket crud removal and those subject to full tweaking, clean, decontamination and polishing regime. Albeit I have a feeling Muir has the dope on that one too!

K
Ok. I got curious and dumped 10 charges of H4350. I had scant little left and my only other tubs of 4350 were unopened as of yet so I just kept dumping the powder back into the Jones-provided hopper.

With the measure set at my 4895 settings of this morning, 10 charges of H4350.

45.5 grns
45.4 grns
45.6 grns
45.5 grns
45.7 grns
45.6 grns
45.4 grns
45.5 grns
45.5 grns
45.6 grns

Averages don't much matter in this instance and standard deviation would be meaningless on such a small sample, I think. Still, not bad: plus or minus .1 grains and a little bit.~Muir

PS: I should add that on the Dial o Grain Ohaus it is possible to discern a part of a tenth of a grain. If it was above 45.5 grains I rounded up, if it was below I rounded down. The 45.7 was actually 45.6 and a little bit. Not quite to 45.7 grains.
 
If I had both the time and powder to shoot more regularly at the range this would most certainly be the way to go albeit so-called benchrest standards of case prep remain the limiting factor with little opportunity through product investment to speed this up noticeably as far as I can see.

There is however an outstanding bit of experimenting to be done that is a blind group test of ammo assembled with no post resizing cleaning or prep beyond primer pocket crud removal and those subject to full tweaking, clean, decontamination and polishing regime. Albeit I have a feeling Muir has the dope on that one too!

K

That has been on my mind lately. I never cleaned cases other than to swipe the crud off of the neck with #0000 steel wool and the primer pocket. I shot good groups. I recently got an ultrasonic cleaner and love it because it spares me from cleaning primer pockets, but the groups are no better. I never polish cases, as such believing that clean brass is just as good as polished brass.

If you can come up with a procedure for the test and the caliber (except 243. I gave mine away) I'll give it a go.~Muir
 
I have to say, my Harrell's powder measure has made mass loading much easier, since I use a lot of smaller grained powder (ball and short cut stuff). Of course the wife is a bit miffed over losing use of the formal dining room table...but hey, we only use it twice a year anyways. No loss...til Thanksgiving. :D
Dining Room table.jpg
 
I have to say, my Harrell's powder measure has made mass loading much easier, since I use a lot of smaller grained powder (ball and short cut stuff). Of course the wife is a bit miffed over losing use of the formal dining room table...but hey, we only use it twice a year anyways. No loss...til Thanksgiving. :D
View attachment 31961

That woman loves you, Amigo. Better hang onto her!~Muir
 
Yep. BTW, that stand I made come out pretty well, I thought...ala scrap bin aluminum, some brass wood screws, some 1/4-20 cap head screws and piece of some odd ball red oak that was taking up space in the garage.

Harrell's on stand1.jpg
 

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