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.

All the above - Load for others - throw then trickle everything to the exact charge. Hunting loads for me - throw then trickle. Target loads for handgun and .223 - I try and purposely use ball powder so I can mostly throw then load to save time. Quick rule of thumb - when in-doubt during any particular loading process, just weigh everything so you don't have to cross your fingers every time you squeeze a trigger!

I'd take up golf if I had to weigh and trickle.

I haven't used a trickler since the early 90's.


Dump and run

If I'm loading near maximum then I'll weigh every charge. If I'm loading at 90% then I'll throw and weigh until I'm adjusted to the right weight, dumping the pan back into the hopper. Once I'm convinced the adjustments are good then I'll just load straight into the case and weigh every 10 to 20 throws. Keeping the hopper full is what makes the throw weights consistent.

Nothing wrong with that at all. For 223's and such I just drop charges from the uni-flo powder measure. I'll also drop charges for cartridges that use ball powder or other powders that dont have long extruded kernels. For guys like mathman that always say measuring each charge is a "waste of time", they don't load for larger cartridges like 300wm, 338wm, 300WBY or the like that use a lot of extruded powder in each case. He swears he shoots for accuracy too, but has never posted pics of any targets he has shot or any proof that he even shoots. I did a little comparison yesterday with my new Tikka T3 22-250 varmint rifle I have and this is how it went:



VS. the load I weighed each charge on:


Now, is there a difference? I will listen to some guys that post up accurate results and good comparisons. Mathman and the like, on the other hand, rarely tend to do such things. I've noticed a difference between dropped charges for my 6.5cm using H4350 powder. Even though that powder drops a whole lot more consistently than powders like IMR4350, it still doesn't produce the gilt edged accuracy of a good weighed charge.

Example:

(Weighed charge^^^^^)

I notice that difference when shooting that cartridge at and past 400 yards. A dropped charge will net me 1 moa accuracy, where a weighed charge will produce a very consistent load that produces close to 1/2 moa at 400 yards. The difference is seen when I'm trying to hit the 2" target. With a good weighed charge load, I'll hit a 2" plate 80% of the time and not even touch it with a dropped charge load. The difference is there and can be seen IF you shoot well enough to see it... For those that don't see a difference, well lets just say they need to get out and practice a little more... Hint.

I gave up reloading over 10 years ago, but I always weighed and trickled every charge.

Back then there were two trains of thought. Some believed that consistent volume was more conducive to accuracy. Others, myself included because of my own experiences, believed exact weight was the key.

Before you address what I've said make sure you are clear on what it was. I have never said weighing charges is always a waste of time. What I have said is in a lot of circumstances for a lot of purposes it is a waste of time. I have also specifically addressed shooting small targets at long range where velocity variation can become a factor in vertical dispersion that doesn't show up in a meaningful fashion at 300 yards and closer where most people are using their deer hunting handloads.

Two things about your H4895 22-250 test. 1. You need a larger sample of groups to demonstrate a trend. 2. If your throws are +/- 3 tenths with H4895 then something isn't right.

The groups should also be shot at the same session under the same conditions, and you shouldn't know which batch of ammo you're shooting.

Ball-drop

Stick-weigh.

I weight everything to the kernel because I want to hit small targets at long distances.

I'd also take mathmans advice long before I listened to the paper tiger....

Sound advice.

This has worked fine for my needs

Ever since I started reloading in 1973 I've weighed every rifle charge and thrown pistol charges using an RCBS Little Dandy.

I have 5 powder throws

2 Hornady LNL for my 2 Hornady AP progressives
1 Lee disc for my Loadmaster progressive
2 Lyman #55 on my bench

All of them are used for throwing 40S&W 45ACP and 223 bangin ammo

For my bolt guns that I demand accuracy from I weigh each pan

223 rounds with H335 I set measure and weigh every tenth round just for piece of mind. Hunting loads I weigh every load and trickle.

Chargemaster every round.

Same for me, I weigh every charge and trickle up. If I were loading just for fun and volume to shoot, like a 223, maybe I'd consider throwing charges. For my hunting rounds, I'll put the extra time and effort into it to get the most consistent ammunition I can get.

I use a lot of H4895 through an RCBS powder measure, and it's. . . well, it's okay on its own. H4895 is quite immune to small variations in velocity due to powder weight. However, I do as you do: I throw in a slightly underweight charge and weigh while I'm trickling in the last couple tenths. My main reason for doing it is that I find that there is considerable drift. After 20 rounds or so of 30-06, the measure is not dispensing the same weight.

With H4831 and H4831SC, I skip the powder measure and dip a dipper, and finish it off with a trickler. I could never cure a bridging problem, and the dipper was just as easy.

BL-C(2) , a ball powder is much more consistent out of a measure. I use it when I'm on the Hornady LNL AP progressive. I've had extremely good luck with it.

My general advice: What you and I are doing with the trickler is just fine, and if you do it right, it adds very little time to the reloading process.

Single stage press for accuracy, I weigh. Dillon 750 for volume, I throw. I think it boils down to the which goal you are trying to achieve. Volume reloading can be ultra accurate. Powder metering can/does have an effect on accuracy.

Never "thrown" a charge, ever. Weighed every one on a 5-0-5.

'I'm using a Redding 30BR currently, don't see a whole lot of difference between it and the RCBS Uni-flo I previously used.

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.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

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.

I have always used a Pact dispenser/scale combo to load. I picked up a Hornady LNL dispenser a few years ago and decided to try it out a few days ago. The initial setup took some time, but I found it threw charges to within .1 of a grain with CFE223. I have inspected every charge and weighed every 5 or so to verify consistency. This process is much faster than weighing every charge,

I think this is accurate. Like weighing cases, obsessing over a tenth of a grain of powder is a waste of time for most of us.

This method works for me and rifle cases. Pistol weigh every tenth .

I throw ball powder, weigh and trickle extruded powder. Check every tenth throw with ball. Have a baffle in my Uniflow set at about the halfway point, and keep the powder above the baffle. Just how I’ve always done it.

yet, weigh EVERY charge... started out that way and will finish that way...

Tried a RCBS Charger, a $1200 set up a friend was wanting to give me.. tried it for a week...

gave it back and told him to give it to someone who would appreciate it more than I would...

I weigh every charge for rifle and.pistol. Shotgun i use the dropped amount from the bushing.

Shotshells, I went with whatever fell out of the charge bar...

Pistol, I set up the powder dispenser and check every 10 or so, rarely anything close to max charge weights.....

Centerfire rifle, throw or dip, and trickle finish EVERY round................

that was before all my weapons burned up in the shed fire................

Rifles charges get weighed via lyman digital powder system. Pistol charges are dumped through an RCBS uniflow measure. I wouldn't be without the electronic powder dumper from Lyman. Charges get weighed while im seating the last round

Rifles charges get weighed via lyman digital powder system. Pistol charges are dumped through an RCBS uniflow measure. I wouldn't be without the electronic powder dumper from Lyman. Charges get weighed while im seating the last round

I use a Lee measure and dump into the 5-0-5 pan and trickle. . Just hunting loads. Those half dozen sticks of IMR 4350 likely don't mean anything, but what the heck. I gave my plastic Lee to my son, the new cast iron doesn't work as smooth..

Some of you might be very surprised at how well thrown charges shoot, even with stick powders. Particularly if you didn't know which batch was which.

Weighed all my life , bought a RCBS MATCH MASTER LAST YEAR . Fantastic piece of electronics . I still compare with my RCBS triple beam . Every 10 No change what so ever !

Along this line I'll report my results from the range this afternoon.

I have a batch of Nammo NT 7.62x51 brass I'm just beginning to play with. I don't know its capacity in grains of H20, but it's heavy brass at about 183 grains empty without primer. From some earlier playing around I found out it is definitely of smaller capacity than even Lake City and builds pressure faster. So for what I was going to do today I assembled some of them with Hornady 168 grain BTHP match bullets on top of thrown charges of 39 grains of IMR4895 rather than the 41.5 which is usual in Lake City cases. The choice of charge was not based on anything other than backing off for pressure without being too anemic.

The rifle I used is a stainless steel Remington 700 Mountain Rifle which has a very slim Bell and Carlson stock. At least I believe that's the vendor Remington used at the time. The barrel is a very slender one measuring .55" at the muzzle. With a Leupold M8 6x42 mounted in a set of steel Leupold rings and bases it weighs 6.7 pounds. Unfortunately its X-Mark trigger breaks at about 4 1/2 pounds which doesn't help shooting such a light rifle with a stock not really designed for good bench manners.

Conditions at the range were not ideal. It was pretty windy and the direction varied from coming in at 10 o'clock to 12 o'clock. Nevertheless after firing a few shots to zero at 100 yards I moved to the 300 yard line. After adjusting the elevation I fired seven rounds into a group holding on the impact splash of the last elevation check round on an AR500 steel torso silhouette target.

Recap: Thrown powder charges set to an arbitrary safe level, certainly not a developed load. 6x scope at 300 yards. 6.7 pound rifle/scope with a somewhat heavy trigger.

When I went downrange to check I found the seven bullet impact marks made a 4" group. That's just under 1.3 MOA for seven shots.

I'm sure that with a 2 1/2 pound trigger, a tuned in powder charge and a less windy on the range I can best that no problem, still without weighing a powder charge.

I remain possessed of the opinion that for a lot of purposes a lot of people waste a lot of time weighing powder charges.

A little late to this party and I'm sure there have been a lot of this for and those against.

I/me/personally measure ever charge. Why? Because I want too.

I prep my cases; weigh my charges; do almost everything possible to be repeatable and I never ever regret it.

YMMV

7mm-08, .30-06, 7mm Rem Mag Chargemaster, weigh every charge

.223 thrown with a Lee.

I do it exactly like you do... because it is accurate and it works....

Same here ^^^

10-10 Scale and weights.

Little Dandy: I believe there is 26 different rotors. I probably have close to fifty. The extra are drilled to match my final load if needed with that particular powder.

Overwhelmingly, we are a bunch of anal-retentive tricklers....................

Yes I do... but I prefer it that way....

Don't rush it, makes me feel better weighing it on my 505 scale..then finish with a trickler....

To each their own, but I am sure each person does what they are the most comfortable and confident in...

so their is no wrong choice...

I'm sure people are like me.. they find some way new that they think is better than their current way, then they will use it...

otherwise they will stay with what they are use to...

I like the Chargemaster way of doing things.

I used to throw short into the pan, then trickle up “salt & pepper” style with a shot glass of powder.

+1

+1

Shotshell, never weigh

Pistol, Dillon 550...check every 20 (always perfect with Universal)

Rifle, 243, 257 Roberts, 270, 264 mag, 30/06 weigh each charge of 4064, 4350, 4831 and trickle if needed (RCBS Uniflow)

Including reduced loads with Blue Dot and IMR 4198

Chargemaster has made my dump & trickle life a distant memory.

Make me +3 or whatever number we are at now.

Yeah, mine too. For spits and grins, a follow up on my son in law's .300 WSM. About three months later he shows up with powder, bullets and primers and asks me to reload his now once fired brass. I took him out to my shed and set stuff up explaining what I was doing as I went along. Then I sat down and resized one case. Got up, sat him down and told him, "No you do it." I did that with him every step of the was to the finished ammo. End of the story is he went out and bought the stuff and now he does it himself. I do still provide technical support.
Paul B.