Use of powder measure

[Bob58]

I think that most people who reload for long range shooting don't use a measure for their powder, feeling that weighted charges provide a smaller velocity variation, and thus less vertical at longer range.

Do any of you use a powder measure for long range rounds?

What brands of powder measures have shown the most uniform charges?

Thanks,

Bob H.

 

[Moman]

Personnaly I use an RCBS Powder Measure and it works good. I weigh every charge, and they do vary to some degree. IMO the best approach is to set the powder measure a half a grain or so lite, put the charge on the scale and use a powder trickler to slowly and accurately bring the charge up to the proper weight.

 

[odsixer]

I just started using the lee perfect powder measure, throwing a charge light as posted above and trickling the rest. I don't know what I did without this thing, cuts my loading time way down.

 

[MagnumManiac]

I use my Redding 3BR Benchrest powder measure.
I can reset it each time,I record each setting,and it will be within 1/10 of a grain everytime.I find this to be an acceptable amount of discrepency,it doesn't effect velocity any different to what each shot shows in difference,so I'm happy.
I don't feel the need to weigh every charge,because each shot is going to vary by some amount anyway.+/- 25fps isn't going to change trajectory very much!
MagnumManiac
gun)

 

[Niles Coyote]

Its slow but I use a lee dipper and tickle to the desired weight. Some day I will get a harrel....

 

[goodgrouper]

I don't feel the need to weigh every charge,because each shot is going to vary by some amount anyway.+/- 25fps isn't going to change trajectory very much!
MagnumManiac
gun)

Well that all depends on how far you're shooting and what your definition of "very much" is. Everyone I know in diciplines of precision reloading weighs out every charge or has a thrower that is so accurate that weighing is unwarranted!


To the thread starter:
I use both a Harrells premium culver and a Chargemaster for competition purposes and have tested all kinds of powder in both. Bottom line: If you're throwing any kind of powder with kernels bigger than Varget, the Harrells can be .3 to .4 grains off on a 60 grain charge. The Chargemaster will throw any kind of powder to exactly .1 grain accuracy but it is much slower (but still faster than throwing from a drum type thrower and finish trickling with another tool).

 

[MagnumManiac]

Well that all depends on how far you're shooting and what your definition of "very much" is. Everyone I know in diciplines of precision reloading weighs out every charge or has a thrower that is so accurate that weighing is unwarranted!


To the thread starter:
I use both a Harrells premium culver and a Chargemaster for competition purposes and have tested all kinds of powder in both. Bottom line: If you're throwing any kind of powder with kernels bigger than Varget, the Harrells can be .3 to .4 grains off on a 60 grain charge. The Chargemaster will throw any kind of powder to exactly .1 grain accuracy but it is much slower (but still faster than throwing from a drum type thrower and finish trickling with another tool).

Didn't I say that my powder measure is accurate to within .1 gr?
My Redding powder measure is very accurate,even with heavy stick powders,although I have to keep an eye on the hopper level,charges have a tendency to increase as it empties.
My chronograph also shows that if I 'trickle' to exactly the weight I want,or use my measure,there is no practical difference in extreme spread until .5 grain +/- is reached.With loads either thrown or weighed,I have found that the velocity difference can be held to +/- 25fps with both techniques.Velocities in even tuned rifles can deviate more than this shot to shot,so the trajectory differences are there anyway.The biggest difference made to ES was powder packing scheme,as thrown,or 'swirled' into the case with a funnel,this method reduced ES further which gave only a +/- difference of 10fps.I do this for 600yrd shooting with very good results.
I know most of the bench resters here ONLY use a powder measure,of course they still 'check' every 10th load thrown on a scale.
MagnumManiac
gun)

 

[goodgrouper]

Didn't I say that my powder measure is accurate to within .1 gr?MagnumManiac
gun)

Yes you did, but the way in which you said it it sounded like it was in .1 grain everytime you reset the screw, not .1 accurate on every throw. I have never heard of or seen a Redding BR measure be this accurate on big charges with big kernels. Again, you have unique results if this is true.

My chronograph also shows that if I 'trickle' to exactly the weight I want,or use my measure,there is no practical difference in extreme spread until .5 grain +/- is reached.With loads either thrown or weighed,I have found that the velocity difference can be held to +/- 25fps with both techniques.Velocities in even tuned rifles can deviate more than this shot to shot,so the trajectory differences are there anyway.The biggest difference made to ES was powder packing scheme,as thrown,or 'swirled' into the case with a funnel,this method reduced ES further which gave only a +/- difference of 10fps.I do this for 600yrd shooting with very good results.MagnumManiac
gun)

Again, your results are unique here. Interesting. I see much more variation than this if charges are simply thrown together. Why be so proud of being meticulous about getting .1 grain variation on charges when .4 grain variation (you claim) won't make any difference?

I know most of the bench resters here ONLY use a powder measure,of course they still 'check' every 10th load thrown on a scale.MagnumManiac
gun)

No, we don't. We might check our click settings by scale to see if volume has changed when going to a new range to shoot but other than that, scales are actually somewhat rare at a benchrest match.

 

[Yotecallr]

I used different powder measures for many years until I had one slight overload, probably due to powder bridging. I then bought an RCBS Chargemaster and have never looked back. It is plenty fast for the kind of reloading I do and I can verify every charge weight on the readout before I load it.

 

[P KUNDA]

Weighted powder charges,??

I've used to weight and trickle, but not anymore. I use RCBS powder thrower and there is very little or no difference between the two methods from shot to shot variation. Much quicker for the same bang.

Peter

 

[diderr]

Personnaly I use an RCBS Powder Measure and it works good. I weigh every charge, and they do vary to some degree. IMO the best approach is to set the powder measure a half a grain or so lite, put the charge on the scale and use a powder trickler to slowly and accurately bring the charge up to the proper weight.

+1, works great for me also.