Reloading - Getting Started

[ocabj]

Who is weighing each charge? Most people set the powder measure to a certain charge and then just fill the case with the powder from the powder measure.

I weigh every rifle charge. Pistol I don't care about since all I do is select a load that will be safe if the powder measure is off by +/- .3gr. But in rifle, the accuracy I need in competition doesn't allow for that luxury, especially since extruded powders tend to vary in a powder measure by more than .4gr either way.

[Fjold]

I weigh all my precision/ long range loads.

Although if you buy a high quality powder measure and use appropriate powders throwing charges can actually be more accurate. The serious benchrest shooters all throw charges.

[eguns-com]

I weigh every rifle charge. Pistol I don't care about since all I do is select a load that will be safe if the powder measure is off by +/- .3gr. But in rifle, the accuracy I need in competition doesn't allow for that luxury, especially since extruded powders tend to vary in a powder measure by more than .4gr either way.

You are probably not loading as many rounds at a time either. When loading 100 rounds, you can "afford" to hand weigh each one, and a chargemaster type of device is a reasonable tool.

However, there are "tricks" that can get your extruded powder charges down to +- .1 or .2 grain as well out of a powder measure and I bet if you did blind testing with powder dropped competition rifles loads at +- .1-.3 grains and hand weighed charges you would not find any difference.

One of the "tricks" is to give a small whack or two to the powder measure each time before you pull the handle. This causes the powder to settle more uniformly in the powder measure. The reason you get variance is that the air gaps between grains is not uniform between loads. Like dropping a bunch of pick up sticks. Causing the powder to settle will lessen this problem and cause the air gaps to be more uniform.

I used to sell a small device one of my customers made which attached to the powder measure and settled the powder constantly. Even long extruded powders would get less than .1 grain variance. Alas, this gentlemen who was making them for me was killed in an accident while on his summer pilgrimage to Florida. So I don't have the device any more.

Maybe 1000 yard benchrest it matters but I bet double blind testing of rounds done each way would show no difference in most cases.

When you have like 45 grains of powder, .2 grains is less than 0.5% and the experience of many shows that in most cases, with most powders at that sort of a load, that small of a variance does not matter.

There are lots of other traditions that people do to their cases in prep too. Some of these "work" and some are just that, tradition. I remember a magazine article where they did a test on cleaning out the primer pockets. They did a blind test where they fired a bunch of identical cartridges where the only difference was that they cleaned out the primer pockets on one batch of rounds and the other they did not. They did careful shooting of a rest. Same gun, same shooter, same procedure. Not a bit of difference between the rounds...

Chad

[Timberwolf]

Well since I'm a long range rifle shooter I weigh all my charges. At 600 yards and beyond you have enough variables with the wind, mirage etc without a worry with ammo where .2 - .3 grn difference in charge will reward you with a nice verticle string.

Hell I even weigh every pistol charge, guess I'm anul.

[DJDace]

I will probably get you the stuff cheaper than brianenos.com and I am a calguns site supporter.

eguns.com

Selling Dillon since 1996. (And for 1/2 the keywords I beat brianenos.com in Google).

I'll talk to you on the phone (or by PM or email or a combo of all) for as long as you need and discuss your needs and goals with you to make sure you get what you need/want.

thanks
Chad

Once I get everything I have for sale taken care of and I can settle out my reloading equipment budget, I'll get in contact with you Chad. Appreciate the offer to help get me started.

Being as I will just be loading .45LC loads designed for CAS, my only restriction is keeping the velocity under 1000fps. 99% of the time, the targets are within 15 yards anyways.

[eguns-com]

Once I get everything I have for sale taken care of and I can settle out my reloading equipment budget, I'll get in contact with you Chad. Appreciate the offer to help get me started.

Being as I will just be loading .45LC loads designed for CAS, my only restriction is keeping the velocity under 1000fps. 99% of the time, the targets are within 15 yards anyways.

Would be a pleasure...

Good luck on the sales.

Chad

[ar15barrels]

I was looking at a Dillon 550B, but other than that I am completely clueless as to what other components I will need. I'm sure once I get the setup together I will be able to learn how best to utilize them and seeing as how I am only focusing on one caliber for now it should be easy enough to get a handle on.

So, all you experienced reloaders out there, any recommendations and advice? I'd really like to be able to get a shopping list together so I can start looking around for where best to purchase everything and arrange a space in my garage to get setup.

You need to come visit me again.
I have a 550, 650 and 1050 all setup on my reloading bench.
I'll give you the simple run-through on each and what I see as weak and strong points.

Then get whatever one you end up liking from Chad.

[DJDace]

You need to come visit me again.
I have a 550, 650 and 1050 all setup on my reloading bench.
I'll give you the simple run-through on each and what I see as weak and strong points.

Then get whatever one you end up liking from Chad.

Remind me to bring you a present when I come by

Thanks Randall, really appreciate the help. Takes alot of the uncertainty and confusion out of the prospect of reloading!

[DJDace]

Okay guys, here is the short list of the items I gave to my wife to look into ordering from www.eguns.com for my X-mas gifts. So Chad, expect some e-mails/orders or a call from her real soon Not sure if I will get everything right away, but I figured this list should get me started for exclusively reloading .45LC for the time being.

Dillion 550B Reloading Press for Handgun Calibers
Dillon Carbide Reloading Dies, Handgun, 3-Die Sets .45LC
D-Terminator Electronic Scale
CV-500 Vibratory Case Cleaner
CM-500 Case/Media Separator
Lyman 48 Reloading Handbook
Instructional Video for RL 550B

I'll obviously need a solid workbench to use, some case cleaning media and maybe some case polish. Anything I am missing? I assume that the powder measure included with the 550B is my powder dispenser and that once I have determined the weight in grains of how much gun powder I need I can set the dispenser to that amount and it should throw that same charge each time?

Thanks for the help guys! I finally secured all my guns, my gun leather and I have 300 pieces of once fired brass. A quality reloading setup is the last thing I need to really get going in the new year!

[ar15barrels]

I assume that the powder measure included with the 550B is my powder dispenser and that once I have determined the weight in grains of how much gun powder I need I can set the dispenser to that amount and it should throw that same charge each time?

Correct.