After reading many posts about reloading on this forum, I have to ask the following:

I read about guys having problems with specific powders throwing poorly out of their powder throw. Do you guys then weigh the charge after you throw it?

I have weighed each and every charge precisely from day one and find even setting up my powder throw just involves time and sometimes a mess.

I can't image just relying on a throw to measure out the powder and go directly into the case. Perhaps for a pistol where prcesion accuracy isn't possible and lots of shooting is done but for a high powered rifle, I would feel extremely guilty and really question my loads if I didn't weigh each one perfectly.

I do thrown charges for pistol and .223 to be shot for plinking. I weigh all hunting or target rifle charges. I use a powder measure set just under the sought charge and then trickle to finish.

Doesn't really take that long and I am certain that it is what I wanted.

quote:

I read about guys having problems with specific powders throwing poorly out of their powder throw. Do you guys then weigh the charge after you throw it?

With ball powders I dump from a powder measure directly into the case.....

With stick powders I dump into a pan and then weigh every one of them.....one only needs a few dozen hunting rounds a year.....it costs so little extra to weigh them as to be impractical to not do it!

I use a powder a powder measurer to set up a given weight. When I get a few measuered loads that weigh the same I will use the measurer and throw 10 loads into primed cases, then weigh one to verify the measurer is still accurate.

The larger stick powders can be finicky about consistant measured weights.

Ball powders measure the most consistant and the new SC powders do pretty well too.

The best thing for consistancy in measuring is to throw each load the same everytime. I like to double tap the handle on the down stroke. Seems to settle the powder in the cavity before it is dropped.

quote:

Originally posted by 45otto:
I use a powder a powder measurer to set up a given weight. When I get a few measuered loads that weigh the same I will use the measurer and throw 10 loads into primed cases, then weigh one to verify the measurer is still accurate.

The larger stick powders can be finicky about consistant measured weights.

Ball powders measure the most consistant and the new SC powders do pretty well too.

The best thing for consistancy in measuring is to throw each load the same everytime. I like to double tap the handle on the down stroke. Seems to settle the powder in the cavity before it is dropped.

The important thing is consistency. It doesn't especially matter how you do it, the above is as good a way as any I'd guess but each throw must be as alike as possible. If you get one that baulks or feels to throw differently to others, fire it back into the hopper & try again. I've used quite coarse powders (IMR4350, IMR4831) in my simplex measure (copy of a redding) & I find this works well with very little variation in case charges. I measured some until I was confident of this.
Steve

For pistol and revolver I use fixed rotor throwers.

For cartridges like Grandpappy's 30-30 I use a thrower.

For point blank Benchrest I use a premium thrower.

For long range benchrest, hunting cartridges, and all other serious shooting I use a thrower and an electronic scale/dispenser.

Ray

I use a powder throw but I still weigh every charge. I just like taking my time and all the steps of my reloading

For me it's a question of "bulk" reloading vs. "small batch" reloading.

Examples:
1. .223, .45 ACP, 9mm, and .38/.357 plinkers: I use a ball-type powder (231 or HP-38) in a hopper. My Hornady Pacific measure (micrometer adjustments) does fantastic work with Ball powders. I set it and double check the measure every 50 rounds or so. Honestly, in over 30,000 rounds of reloading on that press, it has never, not once, gone "out of balance" once set. Mind you, that's with Ball Powders only...flake powder and stick powders are bleh though. I don't bother with them anymore in this press.

2. Small batch reloading: .257 Bob, .35 Rem, .350 RemMag, .357 "redline" loads for hunting. I use an RCBS Chargemaster electronic setup to measure each and every load that I throw through my RockChucker. I reload about 20 rounds an hour that way - so 3 hours of reloading is more than enough for a weekends of accuracy shooting.

So, to summarize...it all depends on what I'm doing.

I use a RCBS powder thrower and weigh every charge. I also use heavy stick powder almost exclusively, except for my little brother's 7-08, which uses Ball (Win 748). I weigh all of those, too, and trickle to precise measure. If I do all my case prep first, and do the processes in order, I can load up to 75 rounds in just over 2 hours, I think. That was pretty fast, and pretty organized, as I recall.
Good shooting,
Graham

quote:

Originally posted by ar corey:
I read about guys having problems with specific powders throwing poorly out of their powder throw. Do you guys then weigh the charge after you throw it?

Depends. There are rumours that the powder charge doesn't have to be precise, just close.
Think factory, progressive presses, and benchrest shooters.

And if your loading say, a 30-30 for shooting at 50 yards or so, a thrower and a look in the case to check levels, should do.

Target shooting at 1000 yards? then it could get down to the powder type. If it flows well, and you can work the thrower well, you should get enough accuracy.

IF you have 2 left thumbs like me and use large grain powder, we feel better weighing every load, just to feel at ease.

Either way always look in the case before seating.

many moons ago our rifle club invested in a chronograph. (something like the mid 80's) anyway we took 5 loads for several different calibers and compared weighed ball vs measured ball, weighed stick vs measured stick. we did this for about a dozen or so calibers. what we found out was that by far the most consistent was measured ball, then measured stick, then weighed ball and last weighed stick some of the measured ball loads would be within 5 FPS of each other, and the worst of the stick would go out as far as 500 FPS. since then i measure everything

I weight every load before it goes into the shell. When I'm done I check each shell to make sure I didn't miss any.

quote:

Originally posted by ar corey:
After reading many posts about reloading on this forum, I have to ask the following:

I read about guys having problems with specific powders throwing poorly out of their powder throw. Do you guys then weigh the charge after you throw it?

I have weighed each and every charge precisely from day one and find even setting up my powder throw just involves time and sometimes a mess.

I can't image just relying on a throw to measure out the powder and go directly into the case. Perhaps for a pistol where prcesion accuracy isn't possible and lots of shooting is done but for a high powered rifle, I would feel extremely guilty and really question my loads if I didn't weigh each one perfectly.

I weigh each charge. The powder measurer, is set below the given weight and I trickle in the differance.

You have to have a consistant, practiced stroke with your powder measure if you want to have consistant powder drops. Of course, the finer the powder, the more consistant the drop with ball powder being right on with a consistant, practiced stoke to the powder measure.
The percentage that the charge is off plays a part in the equation also. If you're loading hunting ammo with a large volume of powder and your charge is off +/- 1 gr, it ain't gonna make a lot of difference in the real world unless you're shooting some red-line load.(BTW, I shoot my hunting rifles year around so I load for them quite a bit) Try it sometimes, load up your favorite hunting load with 5 rounds right on, 5 -1gr and 5 + 1gr and shoot them all into a group. From sitting or kneeling or prone.
If you're loading for say a .223, then 1 gr makes a difference. But if you're shooting Pdogs or Ghogs, 1 or 2/10ths shouldn't bother you. Maybe even half a grain. If you're shooting a match it might but the varmints will never notice. And this is where the ball powders shine. With a consistant stoke, it's easy to stay within +/- 2/10th gr with say H380 or H335. FWIW, I double tap on the top stroke and double tap on the bottom stoke. I have an older Redding measure and I have a high and low mark on the reservoir that I keep my powder between but the newer measures have baffles that don't need that.
When I'm load developing, I weigh each charge.

I weigh ALL rifle loads and always have. It has become much easier with the advent of elecrtonic scales. I use a cheap (inexpensive) battery powered PACT scale with good success. I actually have the powder in a bowl and use an old homemade dipper to load the pan and dribble powder in. Goes fairly fast. For pistol however I use an old Pacific measure that has a bar and bushing arrangement that works very accurately. I have been using this arrangement for over 30 years and have never owned a powder measure. Not the fastest method but I feel it to be accurate.

Having shot benchrest, I just throw powder from the powder measure to the case with rifles..I might weigh every tenth round, or I may not depending on the powder...In my youth I weighed each load for everything I shot, but that came to a hault many years ago...

I normally weigh pistol powder in my pistols..

I have read of many bench rest shooters who only measure out their powder using the Lee Powder Measure Kit (dippers). When I first started reloading I only used the dippers and got some really good groups. They are more accurate than a lot of powder throwers, but they are as slow as weighing out powder. I now use a thrower plus a scale and a trickler.

Me too. Throw, trickle and weigh everything.

quote:

Originally posted by Red C.:
I have read of many bench rest shooters who only measure out their powder using the Lee Powder Measure Kit (dippers).

I've been shooting Benchrest for a long time and I've never seen that. Where did you read that??

Ray

My Bruno powder measurer is pretty accurate with 8208,V-133 for the 6ppc and with the click adjustments I can fine tune the powder. I always check my click adjustments with a scale so I know how many clicks equaly gains of powder.

If I take that same measure and load 60gr/H-4350 I might be off + - 1/2gr maybe less so I weight each time.

They modify BR powder measurer trying to get them 100% accurate to click adjustments and you have to remember they are only loading around 30gr of powder for the 6ppc and my measurer is around 1/10 of a gr to click adjustment.

I'm pretty lucky. Both my hunting and target loads use Win 748, which meters pretty well through the RCBS thrower I use.
When I use 2208 (your Varget) I do what many of the others here have said, and throw a couple of grains under and then trickle up to the weight I want.

Best of luck with your choice.

What Mike Starling and Vapo said.
I've been doing it that way for 60 years of reloading.

Don

Depends on the powder. Ball powders throw very uniformly, stick powders I weigh.

One reason I don't weigh powders much anymore is I have been using the same powder measure for years and my repitition is probably my muscle memory and much better than my golf swing...I am deadly accurate with this old powder measure, even with stick powders..I have on many ocassions weighed a 100 throws with the exact same results...I bought a new powder measure and could not do this!! for what its worth..consistency is the key to a powder measure as opposed to a scale.

Also I better add that I use powders that fill the case up to at least the neck of a rifle case and I view each of them before seating bullets...I also know that a grain or in most cases, even two grains will not effect the accuracy or POI of my rifles. I have tested them on this...but it could effect some rifles so always test them. That said I am never more than a 1/10 off with my powder measure.

I find it very restful/relaxing to use powder scoops straight into the scale pan (electronic rcbs), then trickle the last grains, not too demanding for just a hundred or so each calibre on a wet saturday!, they all turn out to be dead deer or fox!

I was having issues with my RCBS Uniflow measure & H4831, so I bought a Chargemaster dispenser/scale combo & wont be using the Uniflow with stick powder again.
Initially I checked the Chargemaster against my 5-0-5 scale every load until I realised it was a waste of time, as the loads are rarely out by 0.1gr.
For peace of mind I still check the first couple of loads but that's only me being an old worry wart.

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Cheechako

I believe I read something like that in Modern Reloading, Second Edition, by Richard Lee. I know that throughout his book he's playing up Lee equipment, maybe he was trying to play up his dipper powder measure kit.

Apparently, wherever I heard/read it was inaccurate and I apologize for posting inaccurate information. Will try to do better in the future. Thanks for drawing it to my attention.

quote:

I was having issues with my RCBS Uniflow measure & H4831

Standard "long" H4831 or "short" H4831SC? I also had issues...bridging...with the "short" grain H4831SC in my RCBS Uniflow.

I still "stick" to the Lee dippers and my 505 scale-all charges are precisely weighed.

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Originally posted by enfieldspares:

quote:

I was having issues with my RCBS Uniflow measure & H4831

Standard "long" H4831 or "short" H4831SC? I also had issues...bridging...with the "short" grain H4831SC in my RCBS Uniflow.

The "long" version: Kernel cutting making smooth operation problematic, thus giving imprecise loads.

I usually drop my pistol loads and weight my rifle loads.

When I tried to do very light pistol loads with some powders it didn't work. I probably will not do those loads with those powders again.