Little rant about cheap reloading gear....

[.Ben]

So today me and a good friend of mine decide were going to load up some 9mm ammo, we frequently load ammo together and split the duties (i.e one person resizes while one person primes cases) makes reloading calibers that we both use lots of much faster as i only have a single stage press for the time being. (and both of us are in school so we currently spilt the costs of dies and such for calibers we both shoot)

so we turn the radio on, fire up the lights and off we go setting up dies and whatnot, i fill my Basic LEE powder measure up with Hodgdon TiteGroup and start up my scale and guess and check my way to 3.8 grains under the 138 grain FMJ bullets i weigh several powder charges from the powder thrower to make sure its consistent and it comes back at 3.8 grains several times in a row.

so off we go seating bullets stacking up boxes of ammo and having a great old time, when after about 200 rnds my buddy suggests we weigh a powder charge again (as we do from time to time just to make sure) and whudda ya know 2.3 grains i thought i had spilled some from the scale dish or something so i throw another one and weigh it 3.0 grains....WTF i try one more 2.8 grains now


i grabbed the hammer type bullet puller and pulled 3 or 4 rnds and weighed the powder, again ranging from 2.3 to 3.2 grains where it was consistently throwing 3.8 (correct) before we started loading

so now its time to start swinging the bullet puller and pull 200 rnds....


anyway just felt the need to share my story/rant with fellow reloaders and im never buying super cheap gear again, i feel lucky that it failed on the -1.5 grains side and not the other way....

and remember to reload safe!

and also feel free to share any fusterating experience's you may have had with reloading gear!

 

[tiriaq]

I have three powder measures: Lyman, RCBS and Lee. The Lee is the most consistant.

 

[punkrockboy]

The only thing that LEE makes that I have been really unimpressed with is the powder thrower. The auto-disk measure is great, but the thrower sucks .

 

[NShunter1254]

My lee powder thrower works great but i still wouldn't wait 200 rounds before i checked it.

 

[mwjones]

You could save a lot of time by checking every 5th round. Then you don't have to hammer apart a whole afternoon worth of reloading :S


I have an rcbs uniflow without the baffle, and find that it goes anywhere from +/- .1gr with a small ball or flake powder liek 700x or BL-C(2), to +/-.2 to .3 grains with extruded powders like 4895. This is going to happen, as you're measuring by volume, not weight, and the rcbs will definitely bind and cut powder.

The trick is to work the measure the same way every throw. I've found also that bringing the arm up to sharply rap against its top limit in the swing, helps the powder settle in the recess a little better and is more consistent. Also, make sure that lock nut is tight!

 

[trevj]

... but i still wouldn't wait 200 rounds before i checked it.

Uh... This.

Like, every 5 or 10 rounds or so, would usually suffice, and then, only after I had thrown and weighed a few dozen shots and was happy with the consistency.

Oh well, eh. Better than finding it out at the range, while looking at the pieces of your 9mm.

Better results next time through.
Maybe try dippers

Cheers
Trev

 

[f55]

I gave up on the lee powder measure, put it in the trash, my lnl ap case activated powder measure started at 4gr of titegroup and after 200 rounds was giving 3.9

My lee press is now used for swaging and pulling bullets only.

 

[rral22]

Yeah, the title should read "Little rant about good loading practices".

Whatever the equipment, checking accuracy more often than that would be prudent.

 

[IMagius]

At least you caught it!

Perosnaly, I check every 10'th round if it's a large batch or a known load.

If I'm making a new load and trying to find the sweet spot for a specific rifle, I usually only make 5 per weight, so I check the first and last of said weight.

 

[senior]

Yeah, the title should read "Little rant about good loading practices".

Whatever the equipment, checking accuracy more often than that would be prudent.

Any powder thrower will not work properly if not used properly, which includes keeping the powder supply consistant.

 

[bslim]

I started out with a Redding powder dump and as long as I was using ball powder mainly for rifle ammo, it didn't do that bad. When I decided to measure every powder charge for my 45 LC competition rounds, using Red Dot, I found as much as 9/10ths of a grain variance. Switched to an RCBS powder dump and found a variance of 2/10ths over 110 rounds. I now have a wooden dowel on my reloading bench and when I fill the powder measure up, I gently tap the side of the column to settle the powder. This little step has reduced the variance still further. Knowing this I do the same on my Dillon 1050 & 650 presses. Live and learn.
Senior has it right: Keeping the powder measure at least 75% full all of the time will help reduce variance.

 

[Idcurrie]

and remember to reload safe!

good advice. I think you should take it

Seriously, you should check your thrower every ten rounds minimum. The charge will often change depending on the amount of powder in the hopper!

This is a basic reloading practice covered in every reloading manual

 

[KDX]

I use a Chargemaster Combo for rifle and pistol. Between the two of you if you put your social life on hold for 1 month you could probably buy one.

 

[luke s]

My hornady measure is pretty consistent with titegroup and other small grain powders. Load up unique or 700x and it's a whole different story, it will throw a different charge each time.

 

[zippy_the_wonder_chimp]

yup...

I can understand what you've been through as my Lee powder measure will
consistantly throw slightly lighter charges over 100-200 rounds. When the hopper is full of powder, there's more weight on the powder at the bottom,
and the charges wind up being different over the course of a reloading session. Try sticking a round plastic disk in the hopper that's bent in the middle. It has to be the exact inner diameter of the hopper.

This will keep the full hopper weight off the bottom powder and keep your charges more consistant when you have it right.

 

[paininthe10]

The cheap Lee powder measure that comes with the anniversary kit I found to be crap and unreliable period.... I bought the Lee Pro Auto-Disk Powder Measure which is great but i've found that the listed disk settings for your desired charges aren't correct and you must tinker around till you find the one that measures out what you want. I use a digital scale and check the loads until they are right. Every 20 rounds or so I recheck for peace of mind. I could never put faith in the LEE PERFECT POWDER MEASURE. Not so perfect in my mind. In hindsight I think i would have spent the extra cash and went all Hornady Lock N Load Auto-Progressive Reloading Press ....Next one ......

 

[CeeZer]

I got progressive press but no 'powder cop' die and visually inspect every powder charge in each case. With little practice I could tell .2gr difference by just looking at level/volume.

 

[Quigley]

You could save a lot of time by checking every 5th round.

If I had any equipment that I had to check that often...I'd throw it to the curb.

 

[.Ben]

If I had any equipment that I had to check that often...I'd throw it to the curb.

Exactly.


I will agree weighing a powder charge every 5 rnds is an absolutly failsafe method.... however i find it impossbile to believe all you guys actully do this...

epsecially when running a turret press and loading hundreds of rounds of pistol ammo/ hour do you actully weigh a charge on every 2nd revolution of the turret?

not putting down reloading safety at all of course but i was mostly just annoyed last night that the powder thrower was throwing charges that differed by more than a grain per throw. and after reading some other posters experiences with the LEE thrower apparently this is not that uncommon.

i guess its time to ethier weigh every charge or upgrade


thanks for the interesting replies and Keep Loading!

 

[mwjones]

If I had any equipment that I had to check that often...I'd throw it to the curb.

Not saying that you should HAVE to, but really... I run CNC machines that will cut a metal part and repeat within .0002" time after time indefinitely. BUT I check every dimension on usually every part just because it's easier to spend 5 seconds than it is to scrap a whole batch because after the 2nd part my turning tool chipped and cut all the parts oversize. The difference with reloading? A "chipped tool" or other $h!& happens scenario could mean your firearm, eyes, fingers, or your life or that of someone near you while shooting. Do you ever let someone else shoot your reloads? Do you really take that chance?

My powder measure measures, like i said, within .1-.2 of a grain depending on powder. Yes, i trust it to do so. I tried, right when i first got it, throwing 100 charges in a row and then measuring the variance. It was spot on. Do i still check every 10th or 5th round? Yes! Hell, sometimes i check every one, by way of zeroing my digital scale with the empty primed brass on it, throwing the charge, and weighing again. EVERY ROUND. If your time is really that valuable, perhaps reloading is not a good solution for you. Like anything, our hobby has parts that can be potentially dangerous (although really, you're more likely to die in a car accident on the way to the range than ket killed or even injured by an exploding gun or being shot). We can, however, by using diligence and attention, limit potentially dangerous reloading mistakes.