Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles weighing your loads

Hard to say.


I did watch a guy chew out his dog once for drilling a post hole in the wrong place.

Ole Jake was supposed to be watchin!




Only time I have ever had something like what you describe happen was when the adjustment on the measure loosened up and started unscrewing.


What the hell......try a new measure!

No, I never have.

If I was inclined, I'd check the case weights empty and segregate before they were loaded.

I pulled bullets from a random sample of 25 of the heaviest loaded cases. the powder weight varied from 11.5 to 12.4 grains. Average =12.032 grains, SD = 0.197.grains

I'll be pulling all of the heaviest loaded cartridges. Then I'll pull a few of the next lighter batch. If it averages over 11.2 grains (or what criteria should it be?), they'll all get pulled.

The 25 primed cases: variance = 56.1 to 56.4 grains or .3 grains, average = 56.288 grains, sd= 0.097grains

I weigh all of my charges, but I don’t shoot that much.

I have weighed carefully prepped cases, bullets and powder charges. But, I don't see what weighing a loaded cartridge would tell you. A scientist would say that you were stacking your errors. A few tenths on the case, another few on the bullet, a little vacation on powder. I don't see that its going to tell you anything.

I've weighed 400 once fired and anally prepped brass for a 22-250 and 7mm Rm Mag keeping the 100 that were closest to average. Just about halved my group size in both instances. A one time deal, as I've not worn any of it out yet.

Actually, that would be a pretty good experiment, how much variation in case weight shows up on paper and group size. 1 grain? Two? Half percent? But I'm too darn lazy and not enough of a shot for verifiable results. Maybe a machine rest?
There was a time when I could hold in the upper threes most of the time off the bench or well-rested, but I'm so out of practice now I can't even rely on live group shooting to work up a load at the range.

Well the primed cases varied by .3 grains max. The bullets less than .1 grains so the major variable is the powder.

Since I’m concerned about an overcharge and going by loaded ammo weights the 1.7 grain variation (~15%) I saw in the powder. It seems to me that weighing the loaded ammo to check for an over-charge might be worth it, since I’m damaging the bullets by the method I’m using. I plan on not using any cartridge that >11.2 grains for powder weight. By taking the primed case weight which is known 56.3 grains, the bullet weight 20 grains and the powder weight 11 grains, I should be able to ensure safe loads, I’d think and be pretty sure no loads are above 11.2 grains (1.8% over charge) with almost all loads below that 1.8% overcharge.
Any loaded cartridge that weighs more than 87.3 grains gets the bullet pulled and the powder will be poured back into the measure.
I gotta agree about the powder measure must have moved it’s setting. There’s little other explanation.

If making sure they all weight the same is the goal, you're on the right track.

I'd be more likely to segregate them by weight and shoot them to prove one or more of the following.

It makes no difference in my ability to hit the target repeatably.
It makes a huge difference.
It's statistically insignificant.
The shooter is still the major variable.

If you throw each load in a scale and trickle to exactly what you want for each load, at least you'd save the time of seating a bullet, weighing, disassembly, neck size and re-throw the charge, re-seat a bullet and re-weigh the cartridge.

Good luck in proving something meaningful to yourself, that's all you need to do.

I've been reloading for 60 years and just last year I bought an RCBS Chargmaster light and the only thing I can say is that I have been in a a cave for 60 years. It makes things so much easier. Sorting brass is a snap.

I'll be buying one of those RCBS Chargemaster light. Thanks Remington6mm. (The 6mm Remington is and has been on of the best cartridges I've owned. My first rifle was a 7.9x57 Mauser that was re-barreled by my dad using a Sharon barrel. That rifle was a 1/4MOA with 5 shots with Sierra, Hornady, Remington and Speer bullets - IMR4350.)

The only reason for the work I'm going through in pulling bullets on over-charge is over-charge and damaging the brass. The accuracy issue is secondary. Thanks to all who replied.

I weigh powder charges only, and only on my big game loads.

.223 I tend to load in bulk, so I throw those. I’ll weight one in ten or so, just to keep myself honest.





P

Whether or not I weigh charges depends on the powder. I weighed thrown charges from my powder measure and found the variation was too great with cylindrical and flake powders so I weigh them. It is quite repeatable and reliable with spherical powders. This often goes into how I choose a powder for a particular application. It's no big deal to weigh RL15 charges for my .308 for deer hunting. It's a pain in the ass to weigh Varget charges for my .204, though.

Tom

My experience with throwing was a disaster using RL22. Looking for a charge of 94 grains and was getting variation of plus or minus 7 grains. Had to weigh all of them and still do. Granted I'm not shooting volume like a lot of you guys. When I set up my own bench, I dont even have a thrower. I just use the rcbs chargmaster 1500 I think. Digital scale connected to the dispenser. Its fast and accurate. I have to tweak some of the charges, but its quick and easy to get all my charges exact. I have weighed some cases before loading and culled some that were way out. Need to do more of that.

In addition, I'm surprised how many guys throw loads for rifle rounds. It obviously works for you. But when doing load development trying for the sweet spot, .3 grains makes a difference on a 100 grain load, and the loads I tried to throw were no where close to within .3 grains. Maybe it's all in the powder being used?? I only tried with stick powder.

I don't know which stick powders you tried, but I've successfully loaded very good 308 Win. ammo with thrown charges of IMR 3031 and 4064. I use a Redding BR-30 measure and actuate the lever slowly and firmly. No tapping or the like. I set the measure by weighing five or ten charges together and taking the average. With thrown charges of 3031 I've managed a couple of 1/2 MOA ten shot groups firing the ammo out of my Rem 40X.

If .3 grains makes a big difference near a 100 grain grain charge level then maybe that sweet spot isn't.

If you really have to weigh charges of RL15 for 308 deer loads then I think something isn't quite right.

Mathman,
Yeah, I was using borrowed gear. If I recall it was a plain rcbs powder dropper. Had a little dial that you screwed in. Wouldnt go as high as I needed, so I had to drop 2 per charge. Was reloader 22 if I recall correctly. I basically gave up on it right away and just weighed them all and got into that habit. Like I said too, when I set my own bench up, I dont even have a powder drop, just the rcbs charge master. And I am not shooting like a lot of guys on here. I have to drive at least a half hour to shoot, and if I want any good distance, its a 2 hour drive each way.
All good info, thats why I hang around the site. Try to learn from guys with more experience than me.

Functionally do you know what the differences are between that BR-30 measure and an RCBS Uniflow? I always though they basically worked the same way, but figured the BR-30 for tighter tolerances and better build quality. Is that correct or off base?

Most of my experience with 3031 and 4064 has been with the Uniflow, and I avoid using those powders because of it. I agree with your last line that .3 grains is a small enough variance to not matter in a good load, however, my experience with either of those powders is that thrown charges have varied by more than 1 full grain. That is in no way acceptable to me with something in the 308-30/06 capacity range, regardless of the load. Maybe it's my technique; I'd like to be able to get your .3gr max tolerance with 4064 for 308 175gr SMK loads.

I have heard about polishing the bottom cone (metal part) of the measure, and of course using a powder baffle. I haven't tried polishing the Uniflow yet though.

I don't know what the throw to throw variation really is.

Polishing up the inside of the Uniflow does help. I've always used a baffle in the Uniflow and the Redding. I prefer the "stroke direction sequence" of the Redding. I prefer the Redding "micrometer head" over the corresponding RCBS version. The BR-30 is sized for mid-size rifle cartridge charges, so maybe it's geometry is better for 40ish grain charges.

I've cloned the Mk 316 Mod 0 load with 4064 under 175 Match Kings using thrown charges and had no problems getting half moa, five shot groups. I just dialed the Redding until ten charges weighed together showed 418 grains and called it good. Individual charges were not weighed.