Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Powder Measuring Process?

I bet you mean .0015" for those necks.

That was a test to see who was paying attention. You passed the test...


Yes, thanks for noting, I will change that in the original post.

Their great till they fail, then you toss all that money in the trash.

With most powders it's throw and go for me. I use a Uniflow and probably the only powder it won't throw consistently enough for me is IMR4831, it has to be thrown light and trickled. All others meter within +-.1gr. If you worry about a tenth of a grain, you're picking fly spec out of pepper.
RCBS did a study where they took subjects of varying skill levels from those who were serious reloaders to people who had never loaded before and had them throw charges with a Uniflow. The upshot was whether you just worked the handle or bumped three times or whatever, anybody could throw consistent charges as long as their technique was consistent.

Exactly, I set the powder measure and check every 10th charge as long as I'm within .1 on the Lyman D-7 I keep throwing til I'm done and then get the excess powder sealed back into the container and put way.

Leonten,

Just about everybody I've heard brag on how much an electronic scale has speeded up their handloading has said essentially what you just posted: "You put the tray on the scale load up a bullet and by the time you're done another charge is in the tray."

But I would bet every one of them is comparing their speed to weighing every charge on a balance scale. That's the only way a typical e-scale is quicker.

But putting handloaded cartridges together one at a time is slow no matter how you do it, unless using a progressive loader. If using a single-stage press, the fastest way is to first size all the cases, then prime all of 'em, then charge all of 'em with a mechanical powder measure, then seat all the bullets. Waiting for an electronic scale to dispense charges, even if you're seating bullets while the next charge is dispensing, is slower. I've tested all this, more than once.

Thanks for the input John.

I have an RCBS Rock chucker. I am one of those strange individuals that measures each load. But I don't reload everything at the same time. First I tumble the brass then size it prime powder and seat bullet.

I reload during television commercials I might size 10 and then go back to watch the rest of the show. Then repeat the process. I do the same thing with each step. Which is why I load the bullet as soon as the case is charged. As sometimes I don't finish the process when I go to bed. The next night or maybe two or three days later I'll start the process again. And I don't want a bunch charged cartridges to be sitting there.

I guess that technique works ok for you, but I find that if I interrupt the process a bunch I start losing track of where I'm at. If I seated bullets in each case as it is charged, I would find myself wondering at the end of the job if I had missed a powder charge, or god forbid added a double charge if loading low powder weight target loads. I follow the protocols that MD just described, to include visual double and triple checking of rows of charged cases with a flashlight. That way I know the powder level is correct in each case, for absopositively sure. That little [bleep] doubt, that "is it or ain't it" feeling in the back of my mind would bother me right up to the point I start the trigger squeeze- and that isn't good for my general demeanor or my shooting ability.

I'm pretty old school when it comes to measures. I'm using the same Belding&Mull I bought used 40 years ago. A bazillion charges later and it is still tight and as reliable as it was back then. I try to utilize ball powders as much as possible these days for minimal deviation when throwing powder charges, but even with coarse powder like SR-4759 the old B&M works to a plenty accurate level of repeatability. The RCBS 10-10 is merely a measure checker for me for the most part.

Edit: I guess n*ggling is a non-acceptable word!

It's easy to figure out where you are, just look at what die is in the press.