How many here make your powder charges exact?

[DalesCarpentry]

I can be anal about things and charging a cartridge seems to be one of those that I am anal about. I weigh each one and make it exact. How many here do the same? What would be considered an exceptable tolerance? Have any of you ever taken a factory rounds apart and weighed the powder charge in them? I wonder how much a factory round varies from one to another. Thanks and take care Dale 

[R.W.Dale]

I used to be that way.......now since buying a micrometer equipped uniflow I don't even weigh em beyond the first couple throws to verify my setting is correct (it always is) and the last.

The closest I come to weighing individual charges is when loading increments I don't have the volume for.


As to how much matters it depends on charge. Ironically most shooters are fine throwing charges for handgun rounds but are supra anal about weighting rifle charges

Lets assume a variation of + or - 0.2 on a thrown charge which in my experience would be pretty extreme.

For a 6.0g 9mm charge this would be a 6% variation from low to high in a worst case extreme

But for a 55g 30-06 charge this same variation is only 00.74% or only three quarters of ONE percent

Trust  me there's a lot more important variables pertaining to your loads accuracy and safety than 0.74% variation in charge like EVERYTHING else

[ncsurveyor]

People have been reloading guns from powder horns since dot.

Lee dippers were made for a reason, convenience.

I use them all the time for a number of chamberings because inside my effective range it is sufficient for the job.

I do weigh all my 222 loads however.

And my wife's 380.

[BBF]

Seems to me that there is a reason why manuals give charges to one figure past the decimal point.

I weigh my rifle loads individual and sometimes twice if duplicating a previously found good load. There are factors I can't control but the powder amount isn't one of them.

[torpedoman]

I use the lyman electronic and it throws an exact + or - 1/10 every time if doing load development i'll recycle  the powder if it is off any for just shooting or hunting i'll take the + -. I do check the first couple with balance beam just to be sure it is working properly.

[jhalcott]

YES and NO! depending on the USE for the load,I'll weigh EVERY target load. I also weigh every load that is close to max or compressed in the case. Plinking ammo just gets thrown charges. It also depends on powder type, ball or stick. Ball charges are normally MUCH closer to each other than "stick" powders.

[necchi]

For plinking rounds I toss, for everythng else I weight them to exact.
 I didn't go through all the work to find a load to the tenth of a grain just to toss'm at +/- a tenth.

Factory rounds can be way off from each other even in the same box,,but what you get with factory ammo is factory ammo accuracy, if I was happy with that I likley wouldn't have started loading.

[hornady]

In my younger more foolish days I weighed every load, but I was playing in dangerous ground max loads, Reading too much Elmer Keith, He was known to blow a gun or two up, but now I pretty much stay in the mid-range loads.
A couple years ago I pulled a bunch of Mil-Surplus 3006, and weighed the powder in them. If I remember right it was anywhere from 49 grains up to 54grains. And if you look in 3 different reloading books, you will find 3 different max and minimum loads listed.
For accuracy I think bullet run out is more of a concern than exact loads.

[Curtis]

If I'm at or near max, I weigh.  Otherwise I throw and just weigh every ten or so to make sure nothing is amiss.  I find I get better returns being anal about my brass sizing instead.

Curtis

[mechanic]

If I'm at or near max, I weigh.  Otherwise I throw and just weigh every ten or so to make sure nothing is amiss.  I find I get better returns being anal about my brass sizing instead.

Curtis

+1

[roper]

When I got into BR and picked up my first click adjustment measurer I was pretty accurate throwing but every time got a new lot of powder had to recheck weight to click adjustment.

I weight all my rifle powders

[drdougrx]

I weigh all rifle charges.  I seldom shoot more than 12 rnds per rifle per week....quality over quantity.  Anyway...I'm a pharmacist by trade....I weigh powder......

[Hairtrigger]

Unless the case is a very small one like 22Hornet I do not see a difference across the cronograph when the powder charge in = or - 0.1gr

[PawPaw]

I weigh precision rifle cartridges, throw everything else.  I use Lee dippers, have two powder measures, and two scales. I run the gamut from one to the other.

I've been known to weigh bullets, too, when I wanted to be truly precise.

[GH1]

I use an RCBS powder thrower for all my rounds.  After I do the initial calibration using a scale, I make it a point to check every tenth round.  I don't usually find a discrepency, but every once in awhile I will. That's why I double check, I don't want to be the subject of a reloading horror story.
GH1

[DANNY-L]

Seems to me if you only weigh every ten that if you find it being off you would have to dump the last nine to be weighed again.So I think its better and faster to weigh each hunting or target round. Besides it wouldnt be in the back of your mind if they were right or not. Plinking handgun rounds I do just dump with the uniflow.

[Blackhawk44]

The benchrest bunch only weighs when working up initial loads.  Come match time, they measure.  

[Siskiyou]

Dale you are starting to scare me.  I cannot help myself, I still weight every charge.  I load a lot of H4831 what does not flow consistently from my powder measurer.  I trickle charge the last few grains if needed or subtract the extra with a plastic spoon if it is over.  The habits I developed regarding weighing charges have carried over to ball powders or smaller stick powders.

I have just come from my reloading bench from loading some Barnes TTSX bullets; in my world are pricy bullets whose accuracy exceeds most hunting bullets.  I measured to the exit zero each charge.  I normally do this if I am loading bulk bullets or the higher price bullets.  My powder measure is close with ball powders or AA2015BR, but it is a little rougher with IMR4350 or H4831.  I loaded thirty rounds with IMR4350 earlier, and the measure tossed all the loads within a half a grain.  I then trickled the additional powder until the pointer was at zero.

The difference between a rough carpenter, and a finish carpenter?

I see no need to weigh charges in factory ammunition to determined consistency unless there is a problem.  Numerous gun writers have done that over the years and published their articles.  I did do that with the 303 British ammunition re-manufactured by Belmont.  I weighed a bunch of charges and they were consistent.  It shows they knew how to consistently load inaccurate ammunition.  I dumped the powder, saved the prime cases and the Sierra bullets.

I have some factory 270 ammunition that is great in one rifle, and shoots patterns in another rifle.  I have three rifles in 270 Winchester.  I have found that my hunting loads maintain their accuracy between rifles.
 
My handloads have been more accurate than most of the factory loads I buy and I believe the consistency of powder weight is a factor.  Others will argue otherwise, but I am on my clock.

necchi +1
“Factory rounds can be way off from each other even in the same box,,but what you get with factory ammo is factory ammo accuracy, if I was happy with that I likley wouldn't have started loading.”

[charles p]

Bench rest shooters I used to know measured their powder by volume and not weight.  I pretty much do the same now.  I weigh a few throws to get the powder measure calibrated, and then I just let it drop.  I can't tell any difference since the days when I weighed every round. 

[Dinny]

I weigh all my rifle charges from a RCBS Chargemaster and most of my handgun cartridges. The only exception to that is plinking handgun loads, those I will toss with the Uniflow. My accepted variance is 0.2gr.

Thanks, Dinny

[Masterblaster1]

Handgun plinking rounds in .45 Colt/ 9x19mm no weighing just throw with the lee autodisk, Hunting loads i weigh each load.

[Dezynco]

I weight the first few to get the powder measure set.  After that I just get after it, checking every now and then to be sure nothing has gone out of adjustment (it never does).

I use a Forster Bench Rest powder measure.  I feel that the "drop tube" type measures are more accurate than the "turret" type, although I've got each on my loading bench.

[moosie]

I weigh the first several charges for my pistol loadings, then recheck ever 10th load to make sure nothing has changed with my RCBS powder measure.  I usually drop a loading block of cases with powder before I set the bullets into cases.   With my rifle loadings, I am more anal.  I purposely set my powder measure to be a little low and then trickle the charge to exact weight for each cartridge.  Probably does not make a bit of difference, but that is just how I do it.  Of course, I am retired and have more time than many of you do to "piddle" with my hobbies.
Moosie

[anweis]

I use an electronic scale and weigh powder to a tolerance of 0.002 grams (metric). That is less than 1/20th of a grain. One stick of IMR 4350 powder weighs 0.003 gram, one of Reloader 19 is 0.002 on average.
I measure and pour powder by hand, one cartridge at a time. I also measure, weigh, and cull bullets and cases.  Anything that deviates more that 1% from average in any dimension or weight is discarded.  
Every single rifle that i reload for shoots 0.5 MOA with my reloads. 

[SHOOTALL]

I dump powder for fun shooting and some pratice . I get as close to exact as possible for hunting loads . I dump a charge close then trickle in remainder . Takes time but so does hunting would not like a miss due to not close enough powder weight !

[Blackhawker]

I just fill the cartridge to the top and stuff the bullet in.  Isn't that what everyone does???   

[Reverend Recoil]

For highpower service rifle loads I charge my 200 and 300 yd loads with a powder measure.  These loads will shoot out the X-ring.  I weigh each charge for my 600 yd loads.  Maybe it improves accuracy, maybe it just gives me confidence.  I don't give it that much thought.  Most all of the highpower service rifle records have been set with Federal or Lake City loads with measured powder charges.

[Ron T.]

I set my Lyman 55 to throw a charge just short of the amount of powder I actually want, then dribble the last few tenths of a grain into the powder pan set up on the RCBS 1010 balance-beam powder scale.

This not only gives me the "consistency" required for excellent accuracy, but a powder charge that is EXACTLY the same weight as those charges which went before it and will come AFTER it.  


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

[Blackhawk44]

A variation of .2 grains in a .38 target load could be as much as 7%, while a 2 grain variation in a slow powder in an '06 would only be about 3.5%, yet we measure the handgun loads and weigh the rifle loads.  Strange thought process.

The factories measure, never weigh.

[SHOOTALL]

A variation of .2 grains in a .38 target load could be as much as 7%, while a 2 grain variation in a slow powder in an '06 would only be about 3.5%, yet we measure the handgun loads and weigh the rifle loads.  Strange thought process.

The factories measure, never weigh.

we shoot handguns past 25 yards seldom but start at 100 yards for rifles often . The thought process sounds solid to me . Factories test for accy. by lot . They also use powder we can not get sometimes .