I recieved an older model 55 Lyman powder thrower the other day from a friend. When I got it I noticed that there was some surface rust on the housing and some rust on the charge cylinder (that is the steel part of it). I had decided that I was going to get the thing back into working order. I had just gotten done dunking my carburator from my truck into some parts cleaner chemical and had this gallon sitting there. I figured hell I should be able to do the same with the powder thrower since it is all metal. I did and then cleaned it up. Aside from no longer having paint on it the housing looked new. The steel part of the charge cylender is pitted but not where it should mater. I contacted Lyman by email to see if they thought the charge cylinder should be replaced. Still waiting to hear back from them. Anyhow I took a can of gloss black paint and sprayed the housing and handle. It looks great. For what little bit of work I have put into it I figure it was a great deal. Unfortunatly if I have to replace the charge cylinder I will have to send the whole unit to lyman because they say the parts for the new model 55 are not interchangable for the older model 55. Well at least not all of them.

here is a look at the final product

Yours has a metal container, not plastic?
If so it can also be used with black powder.
Woops the photo finally downloaded, it looks plastic, no good for black powder (static electricity).
As long as there is no drastic pitting in the area the powder drops into and it throws powder consistanly, you have a winner.
Mine's "only" 30 yrs old and still as good as the day I bought it, although it does meter ball and flake type powders better that the extruded type that ADI produces here.

Yeah plastic tube. Well I hope in 30 years that this one looks as good as it does in the picture lol but knowing me probably not. I don't use black powder so the plastic tube is just fine. I have 2 RCBS uniflows and they throw ball and flake type powders better to. I hhaven't gotten the baffles or the micrometer adjustments for them yet though. The extruded type flows okay through them right now but I wish they worked better. The cheapy lee thrower is supposed to work good with all powders but I have never tested one and I would bet that it works pretty much the same as most throwers.

The Lee "Perfect" powder measure, due to its wiper action (rather than cutting) works extremely well with extruded or "stick" type powders but not so well with ball or spherical. The spherical powders tend to leak around the edges and openings.

well thats good to know, I might get one just for the extruded powders I use.