Tolerances: what are yours?

What are your tolerances for powder weight?

  • Zero tolerance! All powder is measured as precisely as my scale is capable

    Votes: 34 31.8%

  • .001 variation +/- is OK for me

    Votes: 5 4.7%

  • .01 variation +/- is OK for me

    Votes: 12 11.2%

  • .1 variation +/- is OK for me

    Votes: 47 43.9%

  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 9 8.4%
  • Total voters
    107
Bishopus

Bishopus

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So I'm interested to hear what other reloaders find acceptable when measuring powder for a load. Do you dribble until you hit the exact value, or do you accept a thousandth, hundredth, or tenth of a grain (or more!) as your personal 'tolerance' for variation?

Hoping to hear from hunters and 'high volume' shooters, as well as the benchrest and precision varminting crowd.
 
martinbns said:
I have never seen a scale that would measure in increments of less than 1/10th of a grain.
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That makes at least two of us.:)

I checked "other" because (A) it depends what I'm loading and (B) because a couple of 10ths makes absolutely no difference in loading large rifle cases 99% of the time. If the rifle will shoot m.oa. with precise (exact) loads it'll do the same with small variations in charge wt. Been there, tried it, done it, satisfied.
I shoot for enjoyment and to work up hunting loads...not benchrest/competition.
 
I have an RCBS Chargemaster combo, and it is within .1 grain for the loads it throws. Plenty good enough for 99.5% of all shooting done. Regards, Eagleye.
 
.001 tolerance isn't possible. I have never seen a reloading scale capable of such accuracy (actually the best accuracy I've seen on a reloading scale is .05 grain).

And one kernel of extruded powder is about 0.03 grains.

So a .1 grain tolerance would be +/- 3 kernels of powder. And assuming a bell-curve distribution of weights, the vast majority of loads would fall into the +/- 1 kernel bin.


And don't bother mentioning ball powder. The powder companies admit that all else being equal, extruded types are more accurate. Granted the differences are so fantastically small so as to be nearly irrelevant, but by the time you get down to measuring charges by the kernel you're already well into the realm of the fantastically small irrelevancies.
 
Depends on what you're talking about. When I'm setting my powder thrower, I get it as close to my data as I can, which is less than .1 grains. If the odd charge is +/- .3, I don't care. I don't load close enough to max for that to go over and there's no way I'd notice the accuracy difference. This is for pistol.

Some laboratory scales go to 0.001 grains, and lower. I ordered a bunch of nitrile gloves from some medical supply company and now they send me their catalog. They're upwards of $4K though. If I had $4k to blow on medical equipment, I'd get a freeze-dryer instead.

When I started loading rifle, my charges were off by +/- 1 grain! I figured it was static electricity and left a couple dryer sheets in the hopper overnight, now it deviates about .2, which is fine for me. I'm a very bad shot with rifles.
 
Depends on what I'm loading .
For a rifle I load in as acurately as my scale AND myself are capable of .
On my progressive press for pistols I'm pretty much just checking to make sure it has powder .
 
I chose "other" cause if I'm reloading rifle, I go for bang on. When I'm loading pistol, I check every 10th round and accept +/- 0.1.
Rifle I do one at a time with scale and dribbler, pistol is with autodisk.

(E) :cool:
 
Just to put things into prespective, a 0.001 grain tollerance is possible, but you need a scale that will measure 0.1mg. (gives almost 0.001 grain accuracy) These scales are available, for about $2 to 3k and up. They come with a fully enclosed draft shield because even slight air currents affect the measurements.

A set of calibration weights for this accuracy of scale is around $1k. and you can't touch the weights with your fingers or it will ruin the accuracy of the weights.

To get true 0.001 grain accuracy, you will need a 0.01mg scale, think $5k.

Then you will also need to be able to cut a single grain of powder into itty bitty pieces.

by the time you get down to measuring charges by the kernel you're already well into the realm of the fantastically small irrelevancies.
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I have a scale that will measure to 0.02 grains, (0.001 grams), but I am happy with +/- 0.1 grain or more when it comes to "bulk" loaded ammo.
 
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0.001 grain tollerance is possible, but you need a scale that will measure 0.1mg. These scales are available, for about $2 to 3k and up. They come with a fully enclosed draft shield because even slight air currents affect the measurements.
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I have a scale just like the above mentioned. Most of the time I leave the draft hood off for reloading, with more weight on it the scale is not nearly as effected by drafts etc.. No need to go that low anyways, but I do always check the scale with a wide range of weights.
 
For long range TR, I weigh my powder right on the money or at least as close as my digital scale allows. If you want to drive yourself nuts weigh your bullets. Even match bullets vary +/- .2 gr.
Brass, I sort into 1 gr lots. Some people I know sort brass to .5gr or less, others just by lot #. Not sure if weighing brass to within 1 gr does much for accuracy, or it is just part of the mental game.
 
Most of my rifle rounds are loaded by volumn, using Harrel measure. Just ain't convinced that weight is more accurate.
If it works for benchrest shooters, its more than good enough for me.
 
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