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blue68f100
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Post by blue68f100 » Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:51 pm

Normally you do not need the high accuracy unless your shooting match, long distance. Or dealing with light weight loads.

This is one reason why I want a powder to fill the case. Like on a 45 if your only using 4 gr it hardly enough to cover the base. Small loads do require more accurate scales, to achieve the same degree of accuracy. Besides you could double charge and if you did not have a powder cop you would have a double charge. Now small calibers like 380 can be hard to load too. The trick is to fine a type of powder that feeds very well with your powder dispenser. When I started loading with a AP I discovered one powder (unique) would not give me a consistant drop. I could tell the difference even while shooting. I switched to WW231 and my inconsistantcy went to away.

So you have to make a decision on which way you want to go. Small volume, light load weight, are not a good combination in my book. These require a better set of scales to minimize the deviation. The easier way is to switch to a powder that has a lighter density which fills the case.

Normally high volume rounds you don't care as long as they shoot. But when you start getting over pressure signs due to over charging it's time to make a change. Then again if the charge is to low over pressure can accour too.
David

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Post by Bullseye » Mon Aug 24, 2009 5:13 pm

I have to disagree with the statement about the amount of 4 grains of powder in a .45 case. I routinely use 4 grains or less of powder in my 200grn SWC loads and that is enough Alliant Bullesye powder to fill the case a little over half way.

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Post by bearandoldman » Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:04 pm

I use Alliant Green Dot or Unique, both are a fairly bulky powder, if you did do a double charge you would have it spilling over the case top.
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blue68f100
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Post by blue68f100 » Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:38 pm

I don't remember reddot or herco filling a case that high, but it's been many years since I messed with a 45. But I have been wrong before.

Any that you meter good is fine. But like I said early on if your getting ±.2gr dev it's too great, and it time to move to another powder, or dispenser. That much variation may bust you out if they test for vel if your loaded for min.
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Post by Georgezilla » Tue Aug 25, 2009 2:36 am

Bullseye shooting doesn't have any velocity parameters, but you don't want to have a .2 grain variation; that's why I quit using Green Dot for my match/serious practice loads. In my .45 loads I usually use around 4 grains of Bullseye or WST, they both seem to fill the case pretty good.

With Green Dot, I've had pretty much the same experience as BOM. When I first started reloading, I was warming up my powder bar with Green Dot, I intentionally did a double throw in one case when the bar was set to about 5 grains... Took me 10 minutes to clean the spillage.

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Post by bearandoldman » Tue Aug 25, 2009 3:15 am

Georgezilla wrote:
With Green Dot, I've had pretty much the same experience as BOM. When I first started reloading, I was warming up my powder bar with Green Dot, I intentionally did a double throw in one case when the bar was set to about 5 grains... Took me 10 minutes to clean the spillage.
Red Dot would have left you with even more to clean up as it is a little more bulky than Green Dot. Have a good friend that shoots a lot of recreational not competitive with a 1911 and he uses either red Dot, Green Dot or Unique, for that reason and because it makes a nice shooting load. I started using it mainly because I am an old sporting clays shooter and used a lot of it and had a good supply on hand when I started reloading pistol cartridges. I used it for shotgun because you could load 12, 16, 20, or 28 gage with it and its burn rate made it a very soft shooting load, Found out later it is very good in .45ACP and .38 Sp also.
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Post by blue68f100 » Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:16 am

I had poor luck using Unique with my LNL-AP. It just would not meter consistantly. I switched to WW-231 ball powder and my metering problems went away. I use 296 for my 357 mag loads, and 2400 for LSWC. Now that the press has had over 10k rounds things may have seated now and may measure the unique better, I just don't know.

I never ran in to this problem till I went to the AP. For a single stage you normally end up weighting every charge, so you hardly ever know you have a problem.
David

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Post by Bullseye » Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:24 am

In order to keep the powder metering consistent, I try to not let the powder reservoir drop below half full. I found through testing that when I get below this level that's when my charges begin to vary outside the (+/-).1 range. I usually sample test the powder charges about every 10 cases when I'm making match loads on the progressive press.

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Post by bearandoldman » Tue Aug 25, 2009 12:18 pm

blue68f100 wrote:I had poor luck using Unique with my LNL-AP. It just would not meter consistantly. I switched to WW-231 ball powder and my metering problems went away. I use 296 for my 357 mag loads, and 2400 for LSWC. Now that the press has had over 10k rounds things may have seated now and may measure the unique better, I just don't know.

I never ran in to this problem till I went to the AP. For a single stage you normally end up weighting every charge, so you hardly ever know you have a problem.
Ball powders will generally meter better than a flake powdder because of ther shape and specicic density. Flake pwders sre bulkier and take up more case space.
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Post by bearandoldman » Tue Aug 25, 2009 12:31 pm

Bullseye wrote:In order to keep the powder metering consistent, I try to not let the powder reservoir drop below half full. I found through testing that when I get below this level that's when my charges begin to vary outside the (+/-).1 range. I usually sample test the powder charges about every 10 cases when I'm making match loads on the progressive press.

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I just use a single stage press as I do not shoot the volume of rounds to amortize the cost of a progressive. No, when I was shooting sporting clays and shooting 250 to 500 rounds a week I need progressive loaders and do have 4 of them one each for 12, 20, 28 and .410. The electronic scale is great for checking load, just set the case on an hit the tare button, drop the powder and set on to get the charge weight. Very simple and easy , especially for us old guys.
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Post by blue68f100 » Tue Aug 25, 2009 3:50 pm

They have baffels now to help keep a more consistant powder drop. These are normally placed 3/4 of the way down, so it holds the powder back. The cut out in the baffels are positions so the powder feed from the side so the dispenser pickup is covered.

I use ball powders for most all of my calibers, the only exception is my Rem 7mm Mag. I use the IMR4350 with it, cylinder powder. But when your loading around 60 gr, the error is low.

I'm old school so I keep my dispenser topped off every 200 rounds. At this count the dispenser on only 3/4 full.

Progressive for shotguns I never got into, but my old MEC 600 Jr, has had a lot of rounds put through it.
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Post by Georgezilla » Mon Aug 31, 2009 3:00 am

Bullseye wrote:In order to keep the powder metering consistent, I try to not let the powder reservoir drop below half full. I found through testing that when I get below this level that's when my charges begin to vary outside the (+/-).1 range. I usually sample test the powder charges about every 10 cases when I'm making match loads on the progressive press.

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I tested the exact same thing when I first started reloading. I think it's safe to say this is because the extra weight compresses the powder into the powder bar/trickler more consistently.

I've been pondering the possibility of putting a disc-shaped weight in the reservoir on top of the powder. You guys have any thoughts on this? (Or perhaps tried it before.)

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Post by Bullseye » Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:29 am

I've never tried that. It might be worth exploring through experimentation.

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Post by blue68f100 » Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:44 pm

Never tried that, It may work. It may make setting the dispenser a little more difficult. Try cutting a piece of cardboard that make the powder leak out to 2 sides that are 2" above the bottom. This will give you a very consistant charge and easier to dispense.

The whole idea is to create a constant pressure at a low level, like a 2 stage regulator on gas.
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Post by Georgezilla » Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:33 pm

I was wondering, for the purpose of checking bullet weights -- are the scales that have an indent for a powder pan (such as: http://media.midwayusa.com/ProductImage ... 118094.jpg ) less accurate/efficient for checking bullet weights than one with just a flat tray (such as: http://media.midwayusa.com/ProductImage ... 175512.jpg ).

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