Powder sticking in powder measure ?
- Thread starter BWANA
- Start date
i use the drier sheets all the time ,they work great , wipe the inside of the powder measure and your funnel .it works fine ! malcolmYou can put a baffle in the hopper which will help to avoid "bridging" with coarse extruded powders like IMR 4064 or H4831,but you can never really eliminate this occurence.Your best bet when throwing charges of coarse powders is to throw a charge a bit less then desired,then trickle up to reach each charge weight with the scale.
A number of things can go wrong. The power might bridge in the thrower, and give you 10 less grains in one case and 10 extra in the next.
Or, it could bridge in the fuinnel and do the same thing.
This is why it is important to stand up and look up and down all the charged cases in the loading block before moving on to add the bullets. I sometimes find a bridged pair. Or more often I find a case I overlooked to charge or even a whole row I missed. Not a big deal for match ammo but a disater with hunting ammo.
I one invited the Lieutenant General of the province to fire my rifle at a shooting match. He clicked on the one round in the box that had no powder. Primer left bullet stuck in barrel.
For hunting ammo it is a good idea to cycle all the re-loaded rounds through the mag and chamber before leaving home. See below...
Or, it could bridge in the fuinnel and do the same thing.
This is why it is important to stand up and look up and down all the charged cases in the loading block before moving on to add the bullets. I sometimes find a bridged pair. Or more often I find a case I overlooked to charge or even a whole row I missed. Not a big deal for match ammo but a disater with hunting ammo.
I one invited the Lieutenant General of the province to fire my rifle at a shooting match. He clicked on the one round in the box that had no powder. Primer left bullet stuck in barrel.
For hunting ammo it is a good idea to cycle all the re-loaded rounds through the mag and chamber before leaving home. See below...
604shooter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Neither here nor there.
I think it may be time to switch from the extruted rifle powders to the granular powders as I don't have this problem when loading pistol rounds.
I think this would also get rid of the "chopping" feeling I get when dumping loads of extruted and likely more equal loads.
Do granular powders perform as well in rifle rounds as extruted powders ?
I'm loading 270 Win and 300 Wea.Mag..
I think this would also get rid of the "chopping" feeling I get when dumping loads of extruted and likely more equal loads.
Do granular powders perform as well in rifle rounds as extruted powders ?
I'm loading 270 Win and 300 Wea.Mag..
Most powder measures have both a small and large removable powder funnel. Using a small for large powder charges could be a problem. Some measures like Lyman have a tapper, which I use once to fill hopper, and again to dump it. RCBS has no tapper, so I tap the handle a second time to fill, and same thing when dumping. Consistency, rhythm and a fairly full reservoir helps.
Yes,I have been using both 4831's along with other extruted for years but looking at it now,it seems using a spherical grained powder would provide a more accurate,consistant and Bridge Free volumetric measurement than using a powder shaped like miniature logs.
This would also eliminate the Chopping feel ( log shaped granuals being cut) on the down stroke of the measure handle.
This would also eliminate the Chopping feel ( log shaped granuals being cut) on the down stroke of the measure handle.
I have collected a number of blown up rifles. I use them as training aids in handloading lectures.
Every one of them was blown up because the loader used Both pistol and rifle ball powders. Sooner or later some pistol powder got added to the rifle powder in the powder thrower, or, more commonly, the pistol powder in the powder thrower got dumped back into the can of rifle powder.
This produces a catastrophic failure. One guy lost his eye.
The probem is that ball powder looks pretty much all the same.
In my opinion, a loader should decide to use ball powder in either pistol or rifle, but not both.
I don't like the crunchy extruded powders either. I have just recently bought a RCBS ChargeMaster. Best $300 I ever spent. It electriclly measures exactly the correct charge with any kind of powder. Since I need to measure most charges for target rifles anyway, an automatic dispenser is perfect.
The Hodgdon Short Cut vesions of 4831 would probably measure much nicer in a thrower.
Every one of them was blown up because the loader used Both pistol and rifle ball powders. Sooner or later some pistol powder got added to the rifle powder in the powder thrower, or, more commonly, the pistol powder in the powder thrower got dumped back into the can of rifle powder.
This produces a catastrophic failure. One guy lost his eye.
The probem is that ball powder looks pretty much all the same.
In my opinion, a loader should decide to use ball powder in either pistol or rifle, but not both.
I don't like the crunchy extruded powders either. I have just recently bought a RCBS ChargeMaster. Best $300 I ever spent. It electriclly measures exactly the correct charge with any kind of powder. Since I need to measure most charges for target rifles anyway, an automatic dispenser is perfect.
The Hodgdon Short Cut vesions of 4831 would probably measure much nicer in a thrower.
