Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Weighing every charge?

Depends on powder but most of the time now I let the Lyman 1200 run it so I guess you could say I weigh every charge.

Push the button, when it finishes I dump the powder, put the pan back, hit the button, and while it's running I move the funnel to the next case, seat the bullet in the one I just filled, and put it in the ammo box. The Lyman sits on a table to my right, the press/brass is a different table, all on a concrete slab so the press action doesn't bother the dispenser.

It's not as fast as dumping but it's an enjoyable pace for me and I like the tempo.

I use RCBS powder measure. I weigh every charge.

I weigh every charge, as I’m near a maximum charge and want as much consistency as possible in my hunting loads. For “plinking”, assuming that the charges are fairly consistent, just from the powder dispenser! memtb

For rifles, I pretty much always weigh each charge, simply due to my anal tendencies (say what?) as well as some pistols, especially with low volume powders such as trail boss. A small increase of that powder can cause a serious increase in pressure.

When mass loading low pressure loads like lead bullets in a .38 Special and a reduced charge such as Unique of 700X, I weigh about every 10th charge.

One thing I always do is look into each charged case with a flashlight when they're all sitting in the loading block before I move on to the seating stage. I do this just to make sure there isn't an obvious over or under charge in all the cases.

I have about 1000 p/dog empties on my bench right now........

think I'll weigh each charge........N O T.....

My Redding BR measure is purty right on once set & hopper keep full

It drops 'em just right

Depends on the powder and depends on the intended usage.
How you gonna weigh each charge on a progressive?

If you weren't such a sexy bastard I'd ban your ass.

Weigh EVERYTHING, except the fatties.
For them it doesn't matter, cause their primer's getting popped regardless of what pressure they'll produce.

Carry on.

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I've been exactly the same as that using the Lee PP for the last 25yrs or more. I don't load huge amounts of ammo at each sitting so don't see a need to change that routine.

If one was loading 100s of 223 for a competition or varmint hunting, I could see another system being of value.

😀😀 Agreed.

I weigh all rifle charges and don't think it's too much time for the risk-avoidance.

Years back I got to where I hated loading stick powder like the 4350s, 4831s and their ilk. A real pain in the posterior when setting up a work up, where you did three rounds, reset the measure then three more and do it all over again up to whatever the max load was. I switched to ball powder almost exclusively where powder dumps were usually spot on. I check weighed about every fifth dump and all went well.

A few years back when the WSMs first came out, my son in law bought an M70 FWT in .300 WSM and handed me the rifle, a can of IMT 4831 and a box of Nosler Ballistic tips and asked me to load XX gr. with that bullet. The charge was two full gr. over mav in the Nosler book so I said no. He said that's what his buddy loads in his. I had to explain that his buddy's rifle and his rifle we two different entities and that I would first do a load work up for what would be safe for his rifle. It was then brought quite clear to me when I started the work up as to why I hated those log type powders and why I'd switched.

Long story short I needed to get more powder and bullets to finish the job so went to Sportsman's Warehouse to pick up supplies. My wife went along mostly to look as clothes but when I pointed out the Chargemaster to her and said, "One of these days I'm gonna get one of those." She said, "Why not today?" One does not look a gift horse in the mouth. It cut the loading up the final work up loads and the final product in record time. Any yes, for a while i did double check the thrown weights on two scales, a digital and beam. They all read withing 1/0 gr. + or -. I still spot check for the first couple of loads then proceed as normal.
Paul B.

I use a Redding 3BR for ball powders and my Chargemaster Lite for all other powders. I probably could get by without weighing charges from either, but I do, just to be the safe side. I usually weigh every 2 or 3 throws from the 3BR and every 5 or 6 from the Chargemaster. After fighting with digital scales for the past few years, I now use an RCBS M1000 to check my throws.

I am fortunate to have an AutoThrow/AutoTrickler. Pricey, but it is now fast and easy to weigh each charge. I've still got a full-time job, so saving time at the reloading bench is important to me.

Years back in college, when I only had a 7mmRemMag and shot stick powder, I weighed each charge on a balance scale. I just wasn't confident that throwing was consistent enough. I'd quit reloading if I had to do that, again.

It is certainly true, though, that what method works best for someone is dependant on personal circumstances and goals.

Back in the old days I loved 50/52 gr bullets with 4064 for my swift and 150's with 4064 in my 30-06 but dropping that powder in a uniflow was like putting Lincoln logs in there ,each load had to be trickled. Unless I get a deal on it or 3031 I just don't use them much anymore. To many powders available that drop easy and consistant you do what you want. MB

I'll weigh the first 2 or 3 to verify the powder measure is throwing consistently. After that, i will weigh about every 10th charge.

Stick powders - Midway electric powder trickler and use Mic McPherson's swirl charging method.

Ramshot Powders - Lee PP measure to throw and weigh about every 10 rds to verify.

Lee dippers and trickle on lots of less than 50. RCBS powder measure on large projects.

I weigh most of the stick powders and meter the ball.

Long range shooters should ignore this...but years ago when Precision Shooting magazine was a big deal, 2 very respected guys in the benchrest world ran some tests... to try to put some sense into the, at that time, hotly debated 'weigh or throw' argument ....deliberately charging 2 rifles of known accuracy with big spreads of powder weights...with frequent control groups fired for accuracy and weather confirmation. I don't recall the details for certain, but the .308 heavy class rifle at 200 yds showed no significant statistical difference between control groups and the deliberately random charges of the test groups. The .22 PPC favored, by a tiny margin the random test groups! Also strangely enough the chronograph did not accurately reflect the charge deviations?? Benchresters stoked their stuff to the gills back in those days, filling cases to the base of the bullet of N133 or H322 was common, which gave lawyers nightmares. I think the bottom line was, everybody stayed with the method they preferred...and wrote a veritable storm of hate mail to the authors the next issue. Maybe we fuss too much.