Powder measure help

[hemiallen]

I have read the very well explained comparison posts about which measure does best for smaller volumes and stick powders, and it seems the Harrels and Lyman 55 are the best. I have been using a RCBS with the small hole rotor, keeping the tube close to the same fullness, and after dumping into either the pan or directly into a case I back the handle a little and do a 5 tap to settle the powder into the rotor.


This is in reference to me thinking I need a Lyman 55, so any information may save me enough to buy 5 # of powder...lol

Using 4198 and H 335 seems to get me very close charges, ie around a tenth off, but sometimes it is off 3 tenths for some reason. What I have been doing to load volumes for vermin elimination is to dump a load into my balance beam pan and once it settles and is good I will fill the next 10 from the hopper, dump that pan into the next empty case, recharge the pan and if it seems to start swinging say .5 high to .5 low ( indicating it will be very close to "zero") I start filling the next 10 or so cases. Using this method and cases that get filled 90% or more, I can scan each filled case looking for a high or low fill, and very seldom do I see a "cull" and when I do I dump it into the pan to either remove or add some powder, and it usually is 1 kernal of 4198 or 3 balls of h335 to get it right on.


I know I am being anal, but I make sure I am below max for the gun so a little heavy of a charge won't wreck the day.....


Anyone care to share their method I would appreciate knowing a few tricks or what measure the volume reloaders prefer. The comparison tests are great, but real world use is probably more useful than data sets from geeks like me...lol


Thank you


Allen

[Rick in Oregon]

Redding BR-3.

[Bangflop]

I have the same RCBS measure. I set the measure light a few grains and throw into a small jar, then pour into my scale pan and trickle to the desired weight with the redding trickle charger; thus weighing every charge. Sounds time consuming but not if you are weighing every charge anyway like I have been. Rick...are you also weighing every charge or does the Redding measure throw accurate charges?

[RAMOS]

That BR-3 is one of the most respected measures out there, especially for the price. I use an old Ohaus Duo-Measure that I'm quite fond of. I set it to throw a bit light and finish off with an Omega electric trickler. Scale and trickler are set up at eye level and the whole process is very quick. With my manual trickler I would often bump it and end up with a "do-over"! If the trickler is of interest, Sinclair Int. is now selling them.

[Rick in Oregon]

Rick...are you also weighing every charge or does the Redding measure throw accurate charges?

Depends on the powder being used. For stuff like ball powder (H335, W748), I can throw directly into the cases with little or no variation and be within .01 grain. But when using extruded powders like 10X or H4895, I throw a tad light and trickle into the scale pan (Redding trickler, Ohaus M5 beam scale) just to "be dang sure". It's a pain when you're looking at loading more than 100 cases at a time, but worth the extra effort and time IMO.

This is another reason to load in what could be called the "mid range" of velocity and pressure for colony varmints/volume shooting (or hot weather chucks), as if charged just a tad heavy from "volume throwing", neither the grass rat nor the shooter will be able to tell the difference, and it adds a window of safety for those blazing hot days when chamber pressure can rise unexpectedly. Besides, that spendy stainless match barrel stays cooler and happier too.

As Ramos mentioned, my scale is also at eye-level to avoid any parallax or mis-reads....we're dealing with pressures in excess of 50,000 psi detonating right next to our noggin's here! Small variations in small cases can cause BIG trouble. Always best to play safe.

[RAMOS]

Ricks' right about the parallax issue. With the scale on the bench, my neck would get so tight I'm sure I was not looking at it the same way each time. The electric trickler makes the ergonomics even more comfortable. The scale and trickler sit on the shelf, while the wired controller sits on the bench right in front of me. As a side note, there are still good Ohaus scales and measures to be had on e-bay.

[204cat]

never had a powder thrower. for what it is worth. plastic spoon and slowly tap powder into digital rcbs scale. accurate every time.

[leeloader]

+1 On the rcbs scale and spoon. Used a rcbs thrower and worked great but for the extra time used to do a scale and trickle ive inproved my group sizes

[inKYfromSD]

RCBS Uniflow with the micrometer, 5-0-5 scale, and a .300 Win Mag case. The micrometer is nice because I load for a bunch of different powders and firearms and you can easily get back in the ballpark after a switch. After I fill the Uniflow and get the mic setting to what I last used for the required weight/powder, I throw the first two loads into the .300 shell and put it in the tray. Two .204 loads fit easily into the .300 case. I drop powder into the pan, place it on the scale, and use the .300 to trickle with. It's easier for me that way then using the "real" trickler. I haven't purchased Brad's (CRT) tray yet so I'm still using the RCBS and MTM universal trays so there are holes for different size cases. There's no mistaking the .300 for a .204 and I dump the .300 when I'm done and check it before I start.

[wato444]

I have RCBS measure..i use scale for the measured the weight of the powder because with out scale i have no guess how much quantity i filled out...scale pan i think is the best because i use this scale for the last 1 years...

[Darkker]

I know this is a year-old post, re-visited by a a lpcu..
IF you consider the way powder is made, and HOW the BR is controlled; and remembering that powder is made to a range....
Ball powders "should" be measured by weight, and extruded powders should be measured by volume.

H335, BLC-2, Win 748 are all spec'd to within 5% of each other, burning rate wise. Varget, IMR4064 are also in the same range.
The issue can be with coatings. Although in terms of burning rate 4064 and Varget are essentially the same, the burning temp potential is monumentally different.

335, BLC-2 both come from WC844, later split(because of less than 1% CaCo) into 844 and 846. 748 was always it's own animal WC748.

[Joe O]

I certainly wouldn't mind tthrowing light ,and trickling up,for low volume (100rnds)operations,but I just fimished loading 4000 rounds in 3 calibers this past week,and I load with a Lyman DPS3 electronic powder dispensor ,(read "accurate Hi speed trickler).I eliminate as many handling steps as possible.No loading blocks.I dump the powder into the case,and seat the bullet while the powder is running for the next load.The finished round goes directly into the range ammo box, and I pick up a empty case and start the sequence again.A Harrels,Lyman55,or Redding BR3 would speed up the process only if it wasn't necessary to trickle up.Throwing loads of 28 grains or less doesn't cause a delay waiting for the powder dispensor to finish running.Only for my 243AI do i need to wait a couple seconds after seating a bullet on the previous round.(45gr)