Learned a big lesson about reloading

[alexisjohnson]

Ive gradually picked up on a really important point about reloading and i thought i'd share it here for the newer reloaders. When setting up the rotating plate tension on the 550 (or any other progressive)...the tension has to be fairly tight for 223 (as well as other rifle rounds). I realized that if it wasn't tight enough to hold the case in position, the edge of the top part of the case would catch on the powder drop sometimes and this slight catching changes the amount of powder that is dropped.

With a powder like TAC, if i do my part now, i'm able to drop very consistent loads whereas before, when it would catch on the lip, the loads would be off by +- .3 to .5 grains. The steadier my actions, the more consistent my loads end up being.

Initially, i didn't realize that this slight catching of the case would have an effect on the powder drop. Now i know better. In the grand scheme of things, this won't have much of an effect on plinking rounds but if you want to have the most consistency in your end product, every motion you make on the reloading station should also be consistent. Anytime you see an inconsistency, that will translate into your finished product as well.

Just a heads up from lessons i've learned the hard way

[kcstott]

Sounds to more like you don't have your powder die set up correctly.

Every time the ram comes up and the case hit the funnel the charge bar should bottom out on the stroke. there's a nice happy medium with the stroke of the ram and the charge just hitting full stroke without bottoming hard. That is most likely where your inconsistency is.

I can load IMR4895 in my .223 and the powder charge stays well within the plus or minus .1 grain. Thats a very long grain stick powder and it meters just fine.