Consistant powder charges

[longgun]

I have a Redding powder measure which I always thought was very good and made consistant powder charges.  This was in the years when I was using WW 760 ball powder.   But I have since bought a Pact dispencer and scale and am using different stick powders.   Now I find that with the Redding dropping stick powders like Vit N 140, or Hodgdon Varget,  the measure will vary as much as half a grain.  I use the Redding to drop approxmate loads and then finish them off with the Pack.

Before when I loaded, I never weighed each individual load since I thoutht the Redding was such a good measurer, and this was very time consuming.  I am shooting silhouette matches and must load a couple hundred  rounds for some matches that I attend.  I was using ball powder and it worked very well through the Redding.  But since I have switched powder, my Pact says that it is accurate within 0.1 grain.  However my reasoning is that it probably is accurate only within 0.2 grain since it can be almost 0.1 grain under or almost 0.1 grain over before the readings change.   Is my thinking wrong here?    Does 0.2 grain variation make much difference in shooting accuracy.  This is such a small amount of powder ( only about 10 granuals or so).  

I guess my question is this: Those of you who make precise loads, can you tell much difference in this small amount of powder variation?  Is it better to use a powder scale and hand trickle my loads?

[Dave in WV]

I have a Redding powder measure too and I set my measure a little low and trickle the charge up with stick powder.  Dave

[Duffy]

I use the RCBS (made by Pact) auto dispencer and scale for all stick and large flake (STEEL) powders and really like it. While it's throwing a charge I'm assembling the round so it works out pretty good and it usually is right on the money. The only time it gets off is when I hurry and don't let things warm up before calibrating it. I know many of the fellas claim that .1-.3 of a grain makes no difference. In a high end target rifle or even a good off the shelf gun that may be so, but in some of my off the shelf rifles and handguns it seems to make a difference. There's lot's of variables to consider and you just need to try some loads at +- a few tenths to see if it makes any difference.


Ryan

[KN]

I have never found a powder dispenser that worked as well with stick powders as they will with ball. The powder shape just won't meter consistently. I always have to top off my charge when using most extruded powders.  KN

[Mikey]

longgun:  your theory is correct.  I encounted this when handloading for silhouette matches and found that the old 1/10th of a grain variation goes both ways.  Some charges would drop 1/10th under and some 1/10th over, actually giving me a 2/10 grain variation and yes, it did effect point of impact.

I have thought about getting one of those newer measures that trickle, or that weigh it all out for you but my old drop measure will get me close enough so I can trickle in the difference to make my loads consistent.  If I'm going to shoot pistol at close quarters and am handloading for that purpose or just to shoot up old bullets it doesn't matter to me that much.  But, for anything I carry or hunt with I measure each charge.  Yes, it is time consuming but I feel it gives me an accuracy edge, as well as a reassurance, that my load will perform as expected.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Questor]

I quit using stick powders because there are short-cut variants available that are at least as good and they meter easier.

But, even with short cut powders, I don't meter by weight, just by volume. My shot to shot variation in velocity is very low when using this technique.  Somebody gave me a powder trickler, but I eventually threw it away because it had no value to me either as a trickler or for anything else.