Auto Powder Measuring/Weighing-Dispensing

[Mark Ducati]

Schuetz,

What do you think of something like this?

http://spinstage.http.internapcdn.net/Spinstage/userdocs/products/p_749009853_1.jpg

I found this one on amazon.com for about $181 bucks...

I tried weighing out 33.4 grains of powder on the balance beam scale... and I'm thinking what a PITA! I can't see having to measure out and weigh a couple hundred rounds, it'd take me a week!

[Mark Ducati]

The Red Hornaday one is about $100 less expensive than the RCBS Charge Master:

http://spinstage.http.internapcdn.net/Spinstage/userdocs/products/p_749008386_1.jpg

[Mark Ducati]

I was trying to measure some powder out using a single scoop into the pan on the scale... then I found this "trickler" on the same site that has the expensive digital dispensers:

http://spinstage.http.internapcdn.net/Spinstage/userdocs/products/p_749002214_1.jpg

Does a "trickler" like the above sit high enough to dispense powder directly into the measuring pan while its on the balance beam scale?

[Schuetzenman]

Mark the Trickler thing is the traditional way to hit a powder charge. You said Scoopes, so you actually don't have any powder measure, just the balance beam scale right?

If that is the case you need a good measure, reference the No. 3 BR with micrometer spindles from your other thread. How I would use a measure, trickler and balance beam or for that matter just a pure digital powder scale is this way. Set your measure to throw maybe 33 to 33.2 grains. Pick up the pan and hold it under the drop tube for the measure. Throw the lever to drop the charge put the pan on the beam scale, release gently, wait for zero, then trickle in the last .2 to .4 grains. That's if you need dead nuts precision on the charge. Handguns in particular don't require that level of anal repetition as they and we are not that accurate.

I would get a feel for how repeatable my measure is by droping and verifying the exact weight of 10 charges one at a time. If your measure is not exceeding the maximum charge each drop then I would simply drop powder into the pan and with a case funnel pour the powder from the pan directly into the case. Or if the case is big enough stick the case up to the measure drop tube and cycle the handle to drop directly into the primed case. That way it goes quite quickly.

A scale is for setting up and verifying a measures drop of powder. Only for long range bench rest shooting does one bother to dribble to the last tenth of a grain. Scoups are for Lee Loaders, a compromise last ditch sort of thing really if we devolve into the world of Mad Max.

Last word, those combination scales measures and dribbler units, well I don't own one nor do I forsee ever owning one. I have a beam scale, a digital scale and 2 different powder measures that I can use, oh and the dribbler. I suppose if I was getting started I'd look at one, but having all the abilities already I don't see the need to go burn that kind of cash. YOu should google or web search reviews on each model, see if one is more reliable than the other.

[cevulirn]

I trickle powder and curse friction when loading my .308 ammo.... For pistol I just do what Schuetzenman said, and use one of THESE (http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/752260/rcbs-uniflow-powder-measure-with-standard-cylinder) and drop powder into the case. Then visually double check to make sure I didn't drop a double load into any of em.... Though with most pistol rounds it would overflow if ya did... gotta be extra careful with long old rounds like .38 special. Its been a while since I loaded any ammo though, my equipment has been sitting.

[btcave]

The Red Hornaday one is about $100 less expensive than the RCBS Charge Master:

http://spinstage.http.internapcdn.net/Spinstage/userdocs/products/p_749008386_1.jpg

I've researched the RCBS one and found a lot of complaints about electronic hardware failure. That was about 3 years ago. Might want to look at customer reviews first. They may have corrected it by now, but I'd look into another brand. I have all RCBS in my setup, but I decided against buying this. I've stayed with the equipment Schuetz speaks of. I'm not a benchrest shooter. I just try to get the best out of my M1A, my Garand and my AR and I load up large batches.

[Mark Ducati]

Okay, here's my plan... I bought one of these for $20 bucks:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31ZzkGBZ8mL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

I'm going to "dribble" the powder to measure each load for right now... this dribbler is going to be a lot easier than the single scoop that came with the dyes.

My plan is to buy the Hornaday or Dillion auto-powder digital dispenser for Christmas.

First night, I deprimed and resized all my 50AE brass, cleaned out the primer pocket and then tumble polished.

In future, if I set this up like a nightly assembly line, I was thinking of dispensing all the powder into the cases, and then the next night seating all the bullets.

How sensitive is modern gun powder to ambient moisture? I'm using Hogdon H110 powder... if I leave a couple hundred cases open with powder in them in them on a basement bench top... is the air too moist and will it affect the powder left exposed? Or do I need to load that night was I charge immediately?

[Schuetzenman]

I would not do what you are suggesting Mark. Once you put the powder in the cases, seat bullets on them. How much moisture could get to the powder is speculation if I spoke of it. However, it is just not a good idea to leave cases of powder sitting around open. What if your kids get at them, could you tell if they'd been pouring powder from one case to another? I'm not suggesting they would be doing anything to cause harm, but kids are kids and they like to play with stuff they find. Even if I could lock up the room with open cases like that, I would take steps to limit air getting to the powder.

[Mark Ducati]

Thank Schuetz,

I've got this all set up in my vault which is locked, the kids never get in... yeah, I guess it might be just as easy as to just focus on charging and loading say 50 bullets at a time then and do it over a couple nights.

Seems like measuring powder is the most important and most time consuming part of this whole process.

[O.S.O.K.]

If I'm loading 20 rounds for hunting or as a test, I use the RCBS trickler shown above (the manual one) and the balance beam that came with my Rock Chucker kit many moons ago.

If I want to load a quantity of rounds - say .223 or .308 - 200 rounds or something, I simply stay with propellants that meter evenly through the powder measure.

I had a Lyman auto gizmo and ended up selling it - it was more trouble than it was worth to me.

[Schuetzenman]

Seems like measuring powder is the most important and most time consuming part of this whole process.
Those are words to live by or should I say keep you living by. Wrong powder, too much powder, sometimes even too little powder can damage a weapon. Damage can range from a ring in the chamber to blowing the thing up and you taking serious damage. Example of wrong powder, using pistol powder in a large case like .308. Example of too little mixed in with normal rounds would be to get a bullet stuck in the bore. You think it's a dud and don't check for a bore obstruction, just cycle the action and pull the trigger on a normal round with a bullet lodged in the bore.

I don't know if you remember the crappy Pakistani 7.62 NATO that was imported from 1999 to 2002. There were many an FAL, G3 and M1A blown up with that ammo for the scenario just described. A squib (very light load) lodged bullets in the bores and the weapon operator cycled in another normal round and bam, instant scrap metal.

To cut to the chase, never allow distractions when setting up a powder measere, using a scale and loading cases with powder. I've been loading ammo for 41 years now and haven't blown up a weapon, never had squib load or an over load. That's not by accident, that's because I always follow the rule of no distractions. No eating, drinking (even water), no radio, no TV, just focus on the loading process. We can do all those other things after we are finished loading the ammo.

[Mark Ducati]

As I said in my other post, I just loaded about 30 something rounds, measuring the powder by hand each time on the balance beam scale.... it took probably a little less than an hour.

I'm the novelty may wear off soon... but I found that coming home from work, concentrating and paying attention to measuring the powder to be be very relaxing and helping me to unwind and relax from the day's work. After an hour, kind of bored/tired of it as I really wanted to watch my DVR'd episode of The Walking Dead, but it was great.

As soon as I get the rest of these 50AE cases loaded, I'm going to reload the next zip-loc full bag of my 45 Colt next.... after that, 45ACP...

Hey, do 45 Colt and 45 ACP use the same shell holder?

[Schuetzenman]

.45 Long Colt and .45 ACP do not use the same shell holder. The old six gun round is a rimmed cartridge and the .45 ACP is what was once called a "Modern" rimless round. Your .50 AE is a rebated rim type, meaning the rim diameter is less than the diameter of the casing body. The .45 LC is rimmed meaning the rim sticks out beyond the diameter of the case body and the .45 ACP is rimless meaning he rim is = to the case body diameter.