Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Weighing every charge?

I throw my powder using a Lee Perfect Powder measure and place the pan on the scale and trickle the last few grains in the pan. How many of you weigh every charge as opposed to just throwing a pre-set powder weight and dumping it in the case? I've never trusted the Lee PPM as charges thrown vary depending on volume of powder left in the hopper.

What powder thrower do you recommend that is consistent in throwing extruded powder without the need to weigh every charge?

I had a Redding that was pretty good. I just use a Chargemaster now.

I use a Redding BR What's your powder choice ?

Powder choice will make all the difference

Ball or sperical run like water...longer kernel style will maybe require trickling

Your method running the measure will make a diff also...snapping the top stoke helps

Keeping the hopper full will also give same density...along with a baffle plate inside (as per pic)

I load mainly p/dog ammo.....never measure a charge once measure is set...but

I'm running Benchmark..H322....H4895..IMR8208...easy flow stuff

[img]https://media.mwstatic.com/product-images/src/Primary/759/759813.jpg?imwidth=2200[/img]

Powder is mainly extruded - IMR 4064, RL-15, RL-16, Benchmark, XBR 8208, H4350, Varget, etc.


I have a Chargemaster 1500 as well. However, I found it varies .1 here and there. I also found I could throw and weigh faster than the Chargemaster even with all the tweaks on the 1500.

Depends on the cartridge.30-06 class and magnum cases won't seriously effect acuracy in few tenths of a grain difference.G et down to a .223 or such and it will depending on the powder used.

Depends what type of shooting I'm doing. Some loads get thrown and some get measured with the Chargemaster

tikkanut, I have my baffle at the bottom of the reservoir. I get more consistency than like in the pic you posted.
Some powers like IMR 4064 give too much variance to drop and load so I set the measure a bit low and trickle up.

I weigh every rifle charge, pistols, check every 20 or so.

Agree with Hanco...

Depends on the powder.

Noticed my last post was #666. Can't let that stand...lol

I have two tweaked chargemasters set up side by side. I can weigh and charge the case almost as quickly as if I was using a powder measure. I load hundreds of rounds at a sitting that way when getting ready for a prairie dog hunt. I've just never liked using a powder measure, I don't trust them 100%.

Discussed ad-nauseum here. There probably aren’t 5 guys on this board that could shoot weight vs volume powder charges and tell a difference.

my p/dog targets don't care whether you weigh 'em or just dump your charges.....

223 AI on table......usually Benchmark or IMR8208

I think that pic is just to show the baffle itself.....the general idea of the item

mine is at the bottom too...that's where it goes when ya drop it in the tube

Weigh everything.

Lots of handloaders waste lots of time weighing charges.

With a set of Lee dippers and a little practice I can weigh every charge pretty quick.

Load less than 500 rounds a year so I am in no hurry.

I will throw several and weigh them, maybe the first ten, and if the thrower is dropping consistently (I have a couple RCBS, a Lee, and a Redding), I will weigh them every tenth charge or so after that. That's for batches of 50 or more. If I am loading less than 50, I will often forego the throwers and just scoop and trickle.

When I really want confidence in the ammo, I weigh every charge. It's sort of like picking the "right" bullet for the hunt, even if it is very expensive. Weighing every charge is "expensive" in regard to time, but compared to all the time spent hunting animals, it is a small fraction, so it is worth it to me for the confidence I have that there were no heavy or light charges, and that all of the ammo is as consistent as I can make it.

I weigh every charge and trickle up as needed. Always have, always will.