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new powder dispenser

2K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  scott0116 
#1 ·
i've been reloading for awhile now and have been using a powder trickle and have been using it for accuracy but i decided to upgrade. i was thinking about the RCBS Quick-Change Powder Measure. any insight from more experienced loaders? also if i got a dispenser similiar to the RCBS one i could measure every other one and still get pretty good accuracy, wondering if that is stupid or not lol
 
#2 ·
You didn't mention if you already have a powder measure and you may already know that measures are generally accurate to plus/minus .10 of a grain so my feelings about upgrading to another measure are mixed inasmuch as accuracy will probably not be any better unless you upgrade to one of the electronic ones.

If upgrading will give you more features that make measuring powder more enjoyable, then I agree with your reasoning.

Measuring every other charge is IMO, a good idea especially when working with rifle charges. I measure each rifle charge and use a trickler but then I tend to go "overboard" checking large charges. With handgun charges, I measure every 10th charge or so.

I use a 47 year old RCBS Uniflow, my first and only bench mounted powder measure, along with a RCBS Powder Pro Digital Scale. When I purchased the powder measure, I got the one with twin powder drums, small cavity for light to medium charges and large cavity for anything over 50 grains. Well, in all the time that I've been reloading, I have yet to use the large cavity drum so naturally I'm a bit leary of measures with "bells and whistles" when I can just make adjustments to the drum already in the measure. Like you, I have thought of upgrading my measure but if I do, I would like to try out one of the new electronic ones.

There's nothing "stupid" about wanting to try out new equipment, you just look at the pros and cons and go from there. It's a personal choice and you can't be faulted for making it. Just my dos centavos, and other opinions just as valid.
 
#3 ·
Agree with everything Marshal said except the 0.1 grain part. That seems easy to achieve with spherical propellants and a good bit more challenging with some other grain shapes, like Unique's large flakes or long, coarse stick grains.

I own a dual drum RCBS Uniflow and have had the same experience of never needing the big cavity drum.

A lot of times, though, even with long stick powders and others that don't want to stay exactly the same weight, volumetric measuring can actually produce more accuracy than weighing. Why is not entirely understood, but flame spreads more easily through a less densely packed structure, so that may be part of it. How the powder packs in the measure is another factor. For example, the JDS Quick Measure manages very consistent weighing of stick powders, with 0.1 grains typical, and never out more than 0.2 grains error. The ammunition made using it is often no more or less accurate at moderate ranges for me than with some loads from a measure throwing half a grain variance.

Hatcher tells of choosing a powder for National Match ammunition one year between the world wars in which the choice came down to a long stick powder and a shorter grain powder both much like today's IMR4320. The arsenal loading equipment he had could weigh the finer powder +/- 0.30 grains. The coarse stick, however, it could only weigh +/-0.85 grains. Despite that handicap, the coarse stick ammunition produced consistently more accurate rounds as tested at 1000 yards from a machine rest rifle. So they went with that and it was used to set a number of records that year.

Take a look at Dan Newberry's site for a system of intentionally developing charge weight insensitive loads. Such loads give you an edge on temperature sensitivity, too. It's a good way to speed production since such a load relieves you of constant weight checking.
 
#5 ·
Agree with everything Marshal said except the 0.1 grain part. That seems easy to achieve with spherical propellants and a good bit more challenging with some other grain shapes, like Unique's large flakes or long, coarse stick grains. . .
nick, you didn't read this part of my post carefully. I said "generally". Like you, I thought of those big flakes of Unique and decided not to make .10 grain accuracy a hard and fast rule. Happy you agreed with the rest of my post. It's a compliment!:D:D:D
 
#8 ·
Since adding additional powder baffles (three - alternated 90 degrees) too my dispensers charges thrown have become more consistant. I fill the dispenser hopper completely full with the rotor in dispense mode. Then throw a dozen charges back into the powder bottle and its usually good too go. Lately been measuring every charge developing some loads and this technique has speeded up the reloading. I've done this with my RCBS Uniflow and Redding BR3 measures with similar results.
 
#9 ·
I still think it's hard to beat the Lyman #55. I recently put the 7000 grain hopper and baffle kit on my 50+ year old measure. A couple days ago I loaded some .243's with 47 grains of H4350 and with the baffle in place about 1" above the drum I was able to keep loads to within under 1/10 grain. The .223's I loaded with 27 grains of Benchmark came in almost null.

RJ
 
#10 ·
I went the cheap route and use a couple of the Lee perfects (as well as the auto and pro auto's for pistol) I have always liked the way the charges are figured with a calculator using the perfects and many times the first setting is good to go.
 
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