Dropping Charges and Weighing Each Charge?

[Horse1]

All the time on my Dillon. Just keep pulling the lever and watch ammo come out.

Yep. I check every 100 rounds or so, when it's time to add primers, or anytime there's a "stoppage" like opening another box of projectiles, stopping to add powder, or any time I walk away from the machine.

For lower volume use cartridges, or those with more powder capacity than the Dillon is capable of, I have a couple of Harrells Culver-style measures.

Yes, the beauty of ball powder is it's consistent throw weights as well as very densely filling a case.

 

[sjt18]

I did a first tonight. I've always dropped and weighed each charge and trickled if needed.

For years I've noticed many ball powders are spot on or .01 off when dropping charges.

I decided to load some 6 ARC with Ramshot TAC and drop changes, skip the scale and load the case. I did drop a few charges to get it set up on 27.5 grains and off I went.

Is this the beauty of ball powders? It's much faster. Anyone else loading ball powder chargers without weighing each charge? How are results at the range?

According to an article I found and saved for reference, it is around .9 degrees/fps.

Temperature stable powders

I was loading 243 Win. and 300WSM this summer with IMR4451, H.Superformance and some others such as IMR4350 and tried some W760. Never got the same results. Now for the hunting season and other activities to come I am planning to use 270WSM that finally arrived from gunsmith and would like to...

www.longrangehunting.com

 

[GarBy]

I weighed every charge.....usually loading 40-50 rounds at a time using a beam scale and trickler. I finally sucked it up and bought a charge Master......life changing. Stick, ball, hybrid......all meter VERY accurately.

 

[FireFlyFishing]

I set-up by loading by weight, then set my volume measure to load cases with each pull of the handle. Been shooting F-class for many years this way. It is vastly different internally and stays in the .01g without issue, doesn't cut kernels, bind or half throw ever…

Cheers.

@MagnumManiac, walk me through this in more detail please. I'm not quite following, but interested.

 

[Clem Bronkoski]

I guess I'm just old school. I not only reload to save money but I do it to pass the time so I'm in no hurry.
I weigh every charge when reloading for rifles. All sidearms I just throw and go but with them its W296 or AA#2.

 

[MagnumManiac]

@MagnumManiac, walk me through this in more detail please. I'm not quite following, but interested.

Ok, I use volumetric measures to load my cases, not those calibrated for WEIGHT in grains. My powder measures are in tenths of CC's on the course numbers and .02 of a tenth on the fine numbers.
Once a charge WEIGHT is known, it can then be used to determine additional volumes, it is all layed out when you buy them.
It is similar, but not the same, to dippers.
The factory ammo you buy is not weighed, it is a volume powder measures are in, which is why, often enough, due to automated belts, feeders and linkages, vibration can cause significant differences in charge volumes.
It is actually more accurate than weight, as environmental, such as moisture content can change powder weight.

Cheers.

 

[FireFlyFishing]

The factory ammo you buy is not weighed, it is a volume powder measures are in, which is why, often enough, due to automated belts, feeders and linkages, vibration can cause significant differences in charge volumes.

Yep, familiar with this and why factory ammo is not as precise as handloads.

Interesting. Specialized reloading equipment to accomplish volume loading?

 

[memtb]

As we (wife and ) don't shoot our hunting rifles a great deal and I want the best accuracy I can get, so with the RL powders that we're using….every charge is "trickled"!


For other stuff, if the upmost in accuracy is not a prerequisite and the chosen powder throws pretty consistently…..weighed about every 10 rounds.

For my hunting handgun loads, the charges are each weighed…..even though it's a ball powder. Plinking loads are loaded as thrown. memtb

 

[lancetkenyon]

I weighed every charge.....usually loading 40-50 rounds at a time using a beam scale and trickler. I finally sucked it up and bought a charge Master......life changing. Stick, ball, hybrid......all meter VERY accurately.

Might want to transfer to the beam scale and check how "accurate" it really is. I have seen .3gr difference in 20 throws on a Chargemaster. So I would throw .3gr under, transfer to a 5-0-5 and trickle up to the individual kernel.

I personally don't consider that "accurate".

I now use the Supertrickler with the FX120i.

 

[Jamie]

I do both, XL750 for AR platforms and Autotrickler V4 for bolt guns,and yes, you can see the difference on paper and on the chrono. The steel at 900 yards? Nah, it doesn't notice the difference.

 

[General RE LEE]

Might want to transfer to the beam scale and check how "accurate" it really is. I have seen .3gr difference in 20 throws on a Chargemaster. So I would throw .3gr under, transfer to a 5-0-5 and trickle up to the individual kernel.

I personally don't consider that "accurate".

I now use the Supertrickler with the FX120i.

I bought a Hornady auto charger and I get satisfactory results but I also know it's probably .01-.03 grain variance. Hunting loads I drop charge, weigh and trickle.

This is steel shooting season for me so I'm looking to put out volumes of loads.

 

[lancetkenyon]

I bought a Hornady auto charger and I get satisfactory results but I also know it's probably .01-.03 grain variance. Hunting loads I drop charge, weigh and trickle.

This is steel shooting season for me so I'm looking to put out volumes of loads.

.01-.03? Or .1-.3gr.

.01gr is two little dots of Benchmark, .025gr is a single kernel of Varget or .03 is a single kernel of H4350.

 

[JiggyIi]

This is going to start another thread

 

[ARlife4me]

After adjoining the powder bar on the 550 @ 61.3gr of imr4831 i don't check any of my 264wm loads with Sierra 140sbt.