Powder measure error!!!!!!!

bclinehand

bclinehand

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Just a heads up for those of you that reload and measure powder by volume.

I went to the range to chrono some 9mm that I had loaded in January on my progressive press. (found out that it is THE load std dev less than 10)

anyway the guy i was there with asked about the load and I could not remember the charge weight off of the top of my head..No problem I'll email you the #'s when I get home....

I throw a charge and weigh it (powder has been in my measure for about 2 months) this is where things could have gone bad......

I send him the weight and he calls me after about 10 minutes "are you sure that the load was x.x grains"

I said "yup just measured it"

he comes back after a few seconds of silence "Are you sure" "Yesss " I say.

seems that the weight I gave hime was almost 2 grains over the max load for that powder /cartidge/bullet combo.

I ran down and weighed another charge and guess what .....the load was bang on what was in my log book.

I pulled a bullet from the round I had chronoed and the powder weight was correct

It seems that the charge thrown after two months was 1.5 grains over what it was supposed to be.

I figure that the powder had settled in the powder hopper and threw a compressed load.

The over charge was caught prior to being loaded into a complete cartridge and no harm was done ........BUT

ALWAYS Dump your measure when you are done your session loading
 
Either way you go - weigh your powder charges every time you start loading...

On side note; I took my reloads (9mm) to chrono them a little while back and the spread in velocity was 20fps max from average. Volume measure of L-N-L AP.
 
I'd be worried about dampness getting into the powder just sitting in the hopper. Back in the can, lid on tight. That, or I'd forget which powder I had in the hopper.
 
I always cycle the hopper twice before I load the power.

I always weight the first charge then every tenth.

When I'm loading near max pressure I hand weigh each charge (.44 mag springs to mind)
 
When i finished reloading, i always empty my mesure into appropriate container. When beginning a new session, i recalibrate the mesure each time and weight 5 loads to be sure before puting powder in a case.
 
I am pretty anal about weighing charges before, throughout and after. You can get a lot of variation when you are running large amounts through. I had mine sitting 3\4 of Blue Dot for 6 months or so. I would keep it filled and top it up after using it. I read in the manual recently that it could etch the container and otherwise degrade the powder. I took it out and everything seems A-OK. Better safe than sorry though I suppose.
 
Even when I top up the hopper while i'm loading I'll throw one charge and return it to the top, in case pouring powder in compressed it, probably overkill when I use a baffle too, but for the time it takes...
 
curtmg said:
I'd be worried about dampness getting into the powder just sitting in the hopper. Back in the can, lid on tight. That, or I'd forget which powder I had in the hopper.
Click to expand...

I put unused powder in a separate marked container and use it first when I get back to reloading. I've read somewhere that this practice keeps possible contamination out of the original container/powder. No doubt it does, but is this overkill?
 
bclinehand said:
ALWAYS Dump your measure when you are done your session loading
Click to expand...

Always do this. If you leave your powder in the measure, you run the risk of mixing the wrong powder at a later time.

Don't ask me how I know, but does anyone want a 1lb canister of 50/50 Varget and 4350? LOL
 
Not only do I dump the powder back into the can, I also cycle the powder measure a few times to to clear out the powder. I also use the scale when reloading and a single stage press, I guess I'm just a bit anal when it comes to reloading. Powder measure, to scale, to shell casing, to flashlight, to bullet seating die. Takes forever to reload, but I enjoy the quiet time;)
 
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