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Powder measurement accuracy

2K views 28 replies 12 participants last post by  RCC 
#1 ·
I have been reloading for a long time (20+ yrs), both rifle & handgun. I'm curious as to what others feel is accurate when measuring powder. Say the load calls for 8grs of Unique, some measure out at exactly 8 but some are 8.1 while others are 7.9..........or some maybe + or - .2 high or low. I try to be "on the money" but is this small difference anything to worry about? Would like some opinions on this........THANKS.
 
#5 ·
i also weigh every charge and like 'on the money'

for hard to meter or trickle powders ( trailboss! ) I will allow .1 variation maximum. .2 would be unacceptable.. to me anyway.

95% of what i shoot is rifle and is a few inches from my face with a cheek weld.. any kabooms! would be terrible.. :) thus I take great pains to load accurately.. and precisely.
 
#6 ·
I don't use an "auto" powder measure for anything but dispensing powder. The largest disc in my Lee is still under my load for .223 so I will "dispense" it into one of my scale pans, pour it into the one on my digital scale then trickle up to my load, then verify the first and every tenth on my beam. Not in it as a race. All my pistol loads are done the same except that I just scoop and trickle.

Wow...reading over that, it sounds kinda bad...
 
#7 ·
not bad.

many of us are into reloading for precision.

Some of us only make 10-20 cartridges at a time.. we aren't the gus making 1000 rounds a night that just pull the handle and laod hopeprs of primers, projectiles and brass and powder and make things that all go bang... some of us ar ein the hobby and sort brass and hand chgarge and prime.. etc. stuff that you might niot even tell a difference till you get to 200-300yrd match shooting.. but to us it makes a difference. :) labor of love kinda stuff.
 
#10 ·
A lot of it also depends on what you're loading and what you're loading it for. Do you think you'll notice a 1/10 grain difference in a 30/30, 303 or 7.62×54R? I seriously doubt it. I probably should have edited my first post. While I don't load to max levels, I do measure each and every rifle round. For pistol, that's what the powder measure is for.
 
#15 ·
There is a school of people, including me, that believe that excessive accuracy in dispensing powder is a waste of time and energy if you are using a known good powder measure and the powder is not long kernels of stick powder. Among those of us is the well known journalist John Barsness in his DVD "Advanced Handloading-Beyond the Basics". If your measure is capable of +/- a tenth of a grain or two for volumes of powder that typically go into rifle cartridges the variance is over powered by all the other variance that we have little or no control over. But such inaccuracies can lead to problems if you are loading at the maximum or for very small charges of pistol powders. If you use powders that meter well like spherical powders the accuracy of thrown powders is greatly enhanced over troublesome long stick powders. Short cut stick powders also help to reduce the errors of powder delivery.

But we all get to choose. I challenge those who insist on dribbling every case to get to the less than a tenth of a grain accuracy in powder delivery to view the DVD and then decide if efforts like that are really necessary. If some of you do it for therapeutic reason don't let anyone stop you but if you think you gain accuracy over my group then you need to view the DVD. There are reloading techniques described and demonstrated in the DVD that can enhance you reloaded ammo accuracy that John Barsness reveals and one is not dribbling every charge.

LDBennett
 
#16 ·
I will tell you what it is for me when I do a few rifle cases. It is laziness, pure and simple. If I am going to do just a few (less than 50), I cannot see filling up my RCBS uniflow with powder then having to weigh and adjust it a dozen times to get the right amount dropping. By the time I get it adjusted, I might be finished loading the rounds anyway. Then I would have to remove the screws holding it to the bench to dump the rest of the powder back in the can. OR I would have to lift the handle on the thing a hundred times to empty it without having to unscrew it from the bench. My Uniflow is old and the powder hopper does not remove from the body.

Now, if I were going to load up a couple hundred, then of course I would use the powder drop and would not care if it were 1 or 2 tenths off per drop. If I am doing just a few it is just plain easier to weigh each one.
 
#24 ·
Same thing I do. I've shot my .44 mag rounds over a chronograph at a neighbors shop, Custom Ballistics, and there was only a 10fps difference from high to low. Not to shabby for a farm boy with a Lee loader! And now that I've mentioned his shop, I think I might run over there to see what he has for sale.
 
#19 ·
I do a trickle when working on the loads for testing to find out which works better for me in the load development since I read it here some where in the last year. How much does it matter for load development? Seems like that finese goes out the window as soon as you decide the load you want then start loading batches with the powder measures and varying 1-2 tenths. Also, the tiny bit of powder that actually causes a 1/10 or 2 seems like it wouldn't matter in terms of percentage and also get ate up in neck tension, depth, etc variances.
 
#21 ·
I load all my pistol, and .223 rounds on a Dillon, so I'm measuring volume. I mainly use ball powders with my Dillon, and it's not uncommon to get 10 perfect drops. For example when I load .40s&w with Titegroup. I will drop 10 charges just to get things flowing good. Then I drop a charge, and weigh to make sure it's 3.4gr. Then I will drop 10 charges @ 3.4gr. It's very common to see those 10 charges weigh exactly 34gr on my RCBS Rangemaster 750, and my Dillon beam scale. If there is a difference, it usually only .1-.2gr across 10 charges. You really can't asked for much more than that.

Magnum Rifle loading is done on a Charge Master, or RCBS Uniflow. All charges are exact per my charge master, & Dillon beam, or rang master, and Dillon beam. If not I will use a dipper, and add a granul or two to make it right. My Mag rifle loads are for hunting, and I want perfection. I treat my brass as if they are for bench shooting.
 
#25 ·
...BUT,the reality is I doubt anyone here(myself included)can shoot accurately enough to tell a .1-.3gr difference all other factors being equal.
True, but it's a mental game. If you know that your rifle rounds are perfect, you will have more confidence in your ammo.

I am the same way with anything I do. My Glocks that I use in IDPA are completely striped, and cleaned after each match, or practice session. I know a Glock can run just fine dirty, but why add that variable. I did shoot a match this year with a dirty gun after traveling home from a state match, and getting home around 8pm. The match was really an easy match since the match director also had to travel home. That was my worst match I ever shot. I wondered all day if I would have a failure because it wasn't clean.

When I raced go karts, I use to change the oil in my engine, and clean/re-oil the axel bearings after practice, and Qualifying. There was really no need to, but it made me fill better knowing I did every thing to avoid the mechanical failure chance.
 
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