3 Cartridges - One Powder - Which One?
- Thread starter Drachenblut
- Start date
Why even bother to reload. One reason to reload is to make custom made cartridges for your particular firearm. Your reloading procedure is rather primative, therefore, factory purchased ammunition would probably be more accurate and to your advantage. Having various cartridges (firearms), bullets, powder, and primers is the main ingredents to reloading and enjoying those experiments and finding the best accuracy/volocity combination.
I have a lee scale you CAN HAVE. I bought a digital and its the cat's meow. At least the beam scale can verify your loads. Drop me a pm, if you want it. It is actually decently new, it came with the anniversary Lee challenger kit, so I got it as part of the whole reloading package. I never use it as I bought the digital a week after.
Pudelpointer
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Lethbridge, Alberta
I hate to admit it, but yes, it is possible (and fairly easy) to load good accurate ammunition using the lee dippers.
Eagleye and H4831 are spot on with their advice (as usual). I would second Eagleye's suggestion that consistency (and therefore repeatability, which helps with accuracy) will be more easily achievable using ball powders in the dippers. I like BL-C(2).
You could likely get away with Win748 as well.
Eagleye and H4831 are spot on with their advice (as usual). I would second Eagleye's suggestion that consistency (and therefore repeatability, which helps with accuracy) will be more easily achievable using ball powders in the dippers. I like BL-C(2).
You could likely get away with Win748 as well.
I made a demo once for someone of how accuarate a load could be, just using a scoop I made from a 44 mag case, witha coat hanger wire soldered on for a handle.
I suggest WW748 or H380 because it is slightly slower and minor variations in powder charge will have less effect.
If you are using heavy bullets in all calibers, WW 760 would work well, too.
I suggest WW748 or H380 because it is slightly slower and minor variations in powder charge will have less effect.
If you are using heavy bullets in all calibers, WW 760 would work well, too.
Another reason to reload is to cut the cost of factory bullets. When I was younger, that was a big factor. I could make 100 bullets for what it cost to buy 20. That allowed me to shoot more and become a more accurate and better shooter. And I did it with a Lee Loader. Primitive as that may be. I believe that it is the OP's concern as well.
The dippers are fine. You are not going to have safety issues with them. If you put the effort in, you can very very consistent with the amount of powder scooped each time.
H4895 is what I would recommend for your 3 different cartridges. But Blc2 is a good one too, expecially in .303 for my rifle anyway.
H4895 is what I would recommend for your 3 different cartridges. But Blc2 is a good one too, expecially in .303 for my rifle anyway.
I switched to BL-C(2) for .308 from the old standby 4895. Load data seemed to indicate lower pressures and higher speeds. I've found that with my reloading, with cast bullets loads are usually a SMIDGE (like maybe 1gr) under listed minimum loads.
With the 4895, it simply won't shoot with such a light load, gums up my brass and action with soot and unburnt powder, etc, etc. The BL-C(2) works like a dream. Comparable speeds, tighter groups, less soot, no unburnt powder, and less pressures on my old milsurp girls
I've found it to work well in 6.5x55 and .303 brit as well. It has become my go-to powder. If you do a little digging, you'll find it listed for loads from everything from .223 to 30-06.
And those who say it's being cheap or "tight" trying to use one powder for everything, isn't that the whole point of reloading? With cast bullets, i can reload .308 or .303 for about 6 bucks a box Factor in the savings with a 8lb keg, it makes sense to try to use one powder for multiple calibres.
With the 4895, it simply won't shoot with such a light load, gums up my brass and action with soot and unburnt powder, etc, etc. The BL-C(2) works like a dream. Comparable speeds, tighter groups, less soot, no unburnt powder, and less pressures on my old milsurp girls
I've found it to work well in 6.5x55 and .303 brit as well. It has become my go-to powder. If you do a little digging, you'll find it listed for loads from everything from .223 to 30-06. And those who say it's being cheap or "tight" trying to use one powder for everything, isn't that the whole point of reloading? With cast bullets, i can reload .308 or .303 for about 6 bucks a box
Factor in the savings with a 8lb keg, it makes sense to try to use one powder for multiple calibres.I load with a scale and a powder measure, but I do not sneer at the dippers. As far as I know, the real problems reloading come from an error reading the label on the powder can. If you trust yourself enough to put in the powder that you intend to, and not one that is much faster, you will probably use the correct dipper. And being +/- a grain or so of 4198 or H335 will won't be the end of the world. Recommended dipper loads are fairly mild, and there is a little room for error. It is just like loading with a measure and a scale, don't load the cases twice,(which would also cause a huge surprise) and have a look to see the powder level in every case. You can have lots of fun shooting and reloading this way, as thousands of people have. I have used slowish powders that did not give quite max velocity in a few different cartridges, but it was what I had, and the 200 or so ft per second that I was from a max load never was the difference between eating moose and beef. Some rifles are very fussy, some are not, if you have one that is not too fussy, you can get acceptable accuracy and velocity with many different powders. Even with all the reloading gear imaginable, if you do not have the powder that one rifle wants, it may not shoot very well. Try your powder of choice, several of the guys have given great choices, if you get lucky and all your rifles like it, put your earmuffs back on when an expert starts telling you that it cannot work, or he knows what you "should" be using...,
+1 for the lee dippers
Been loading for 3 years with lee dippers and have never had an issue. They work great. I did however weigh the first scoop from the dipper to make sure it was what it was supposed to be and then just went to town.
I also load other rounds for other rifles using a scale when I want real good precision. I use the dips for faster loading and when precision isn't the order of the day (read: mini-14).
All in all, I dont honestly know why everyone is so afraid of the lee dips. The lee dipper chart has you only load 75% of what the starting grains are usually listed as thus, if there is any variance, you are so far away from max load it's kind of comical.
I use IMR 4895 for .223 rem and .308 win. I've heard H4895 is a nicer powder and almost identical that they can be interchanged as per the company that manufactures them. Refer to loading manuals though for starting recipies and as always, work up.
EDIT
For example, Lee's Modern Reloading 2nd Ed lists the following for .303 British:
150 grain bullet
H4895
starting load 38.5 grains
max load 42.0 grains
use lee dipper 2.5
lee dipper chart shows dipper 2.5 loaded with H4895 is 34.3 grains. Thus you are BELOW what they suggest to start with anyways. Thus if you had say a 2.0 grain variance, you STILL haven't touched the 38.5 grain starting load.
As always, look up this recipe to confirm no mistakes were made while I typed it, but Lee Dips normally start you well below what manuals suggest as a starting load.
Been loading for 3 years with lee dippers and have never had an issue. They work great. I did however weigh the first scoop from the dipper to make sure it was what it was supposed to be and then just went to town.
I also load other rounds for other rifles using a scale when I want real good precision. I use the dips for faster loading and when precision isn't the order of the day (read: mini-14).
All in all, I dont honestly know why everyone is so afraid of the lee dips. The lee dipper chart has you only load 75% of what the starting grains are usually listed as thus, if there is any variance, you are so far away from max load it's kind of comical.
I use IMR 4895 for .223 rem and .308 win. I've heard H4895 is a nicer powder and almost identical that they can be interchanged as per the company that manufactures them. Refer to loading manuals though for starting recipies and as always, work up.
EDIT
For example, Lee's Modern Reloading 2nd Ed lists the following for .303 British:
150 grain bullet
H4895
starting load 38.5 grains
max load 42.0 grains
use lee dipper 2.5
lee dipper chart shows dipper 2.5 loaded with H4895 is 34.3 grains. Thus you are BELOW what they suggest to start with anyways. Thus if you had say a 2.0 grain variance, you STILL haven't touched the 38.5 grain starting load.
As always, look up this recipe to confirm no mistakes were made while I typed it, but Lee Dips normally start you well below what manuals suggest as a starting load.
H4831, will work very well in most medium sized milsurp cases. It may not give the best results but all results will be acceptable and well up in the top 2 or 3.
Pressures will be in the 45,000 psi range that the cartridges listed were designed for as well. Easy on the rifles to.
Pressures will be in the 45,000 psi range that the cartridges listed were designed for as well. Easy on the rifles to.
Wow! Sgt. Rock is going to give you a scale. That's just awesome.
I'm loading the same calibers as you plus 7.62x39. I'm using the Speers manual that came with my RCBS Master kit and it says IMR 4895 for all. I'm new at this and am going to stick with the old standby.
I'm loading the same calibers as you plus 7.62x39. I'm using the Speers manual that came with my RCBS Master kit and it says IMR 4895 for all. I'm new at this and am going to stick with the old standby.
I switched to BL-C(2) for .308 from the old standby 4895. Load data seemed to indicate lower pressures and higher speeds. I've found that with my reloading, with cast bullets loads are usually a SMIDGE (like maybe 1gr) under listed minimum loads.
With the 4895, it simply won't shoot with such a light load, gums up my brass and action with soot and unburnt powder, etc, etc. The BL-C(2) works like a dream. Comparable speeds, tighter groups, less soot, no unburnt powder, and less pressures on my old milsurp girls
And those who say it's being cheap or "tight" trying to use one powder for everything, isn't that the whole point of reloading? With cast bullets, i can reload .308 or .303 for about 6 bucks a box
Ok, I'm really interested in this powder. Any data I see in my Speers book says it should be used with magnum primers. Comments?? I can't find anything online for a 7.62x54 load,same as Drachenblut wants to load with this powder.
Now, if you look closely at the Lee dipper slide scale that comes with the dipper set, you can see that the 2.8cc dipper gives 38.4gn. That's a little hotter than the 2.5cc. Or you can combine the .5cc dipper with the 2.5 and you get 41.2gns. It is fairly easy to work up a load but only in wider increments than the usual .2gn increments.
Some loads available to you with combined dippers would be:
34.3gn, 35.7gn, 37.1gn, 38.4gn, 41.2gn, 43.9gn
