IMR 4064 and Powder Measure Hate Me!

[Psychbiker]

I traded my Varget for 4064 because it's better for my M1A I'm loading it for.

I was able to accurate drop varget in a Hornady Powder Measure.

IMR 4064 however, not so accurate. I was getting .5 grain differences. Put the baffle in and that helped a little. When I raise the arm to drop it would catch I'm guessing on a the stick IMR Powder, if raised slowly its fine but if I raise it fast it will drop too much.

Anyone have any tips on 4064 in a Hornady powder measure? I'd really hate to have to use the Auto Charger as it takes forever PLUS that thing seems to always be off too.

[highpower790]

Unless your abilties are greater than your rifle ,a .3-.5 gr difference wont make a difference,especially in service rifle.

[Psychbiker]

Unless your abilties are greater than your rifle ,a .3-.5 gr difference wont make a difference,especially in service rifle.

Serious? Honestly asking too. I see peoples load data and they mention they accurately to the 10th like 42.3 grains. It seems like 41.7 and 42.8 would be a big difference. No?

[highpower790]

Serious!All I shoot are service rifles.Once I set my powder measure, I drop every charge ,and dont look back.
From a competitors(20yrs) point of view and one that has been mentored by a retired marine twice in charge of the Marine Corps rifle team at Quantico...would you rather shoot more or spend more time reloading?
As a side note my RCBS powder measure gives me a +/- .2-.3,and I use Varget in evrything!

[TimRB]

Serious? Honestly asking too. I see peoples load data and they mention they accurately to the 10th like 42.3 grains. It seems like 41.7 and 42.8 would be a big difference. No?

Did a little back of the envelope calculating...

From the Sierra manual, 168 SMK using 4064:
41.5 grains 2600fps muzzle velocity
43.4 grains 2700fps muzzle velocity

So a change in charge of 1.9 grains gives a 100fps velocity change. This leads to a half grain of change giving about a 26fps velocity change.

Comparing 2650fps muzzle velocity to 2676fps usingthe PCB ballistics program with 168 SMK, I found a difference in bullet drop of .1 inch at 200 yards, .4 inch at 300 yards, 2.4 inches at 600 yards.

Edit: This is with a zero at 100 yards.

YMMV, but this suggests that seemingly big errors in powder measurement don't lead to similarly large errors on the target.



Tim

[rm1911]

Unless your abilties are greater than your rifle ,a .3-.5 gr difference wont make a difference,especially in service rifle.

This.

[BLR81]

If your using a single stage press, just drop short and trickle the last few tenths of a grain.

For practice loads I don't see much difference in loads varying +/- .3 grains even out to 500 meters. But for piece of mind, I measure all my match loads down to .1 grain knowing that my scale has an accuracy of +/1 .1 already.

[8mmFMJ]

I've demilled a lot of surplus ammo, they vary by more then .5 grain...

[klewan]

You guys are not going to help sell more of those $300+ Chargemasters..I asked a couple of months ago why they bought electric measures and it was because it was more accurate. I always thought it was an answer in search of a problem..

[rdfact]

If your using a single stage press, just drop short and trickle the last few tenths of a grain.

For practice loads I don't see much difference in loads varying +/- .3 grains even out to 500 meters. But for piece of mind, I measure all my match loads down to .1 grain knowing that my scale has an accuracy of +/1 .1 already.

^^^ I would agree.
I have loaded with 4064 using the manual scoop method and using the Hornady powder measure. Setting the powder measure to drop slightly low charges and a trickler to top it off was faster than scooping.

[JMP]

As far as little thin sticks go, 4064 throws quite well on a Chargemaster. Varget is the worst in my experience.

[smoothy8500]

When loading for "Across the Course" I don't worry about the load variation for my M1A. I have not noticed a change in accuracy even at the 600yd line when I quit trickling up all my loads. I just set the powder drop and check every 20th round.

[micro911]

I also use M-1A for the service rifle matches. I measure every load with my powder scale. I load within .1 grain. It is kind of time consuming, but my standard deviation is less than 10 that way and my load is very accurate. With my bolt gun, I constantly get less than 1/2 minute groups.

[carlsbad]

The unspoken variable here is yardage. Assuming you are shooting less than 100 yards, you'll see no difference.

The powder measure and muzzle velocity becomes very important when you go out to 400 yards or more. But if you're doing that you need to be weighing your charge, not dropping it.

--Jerry

[carlsbad]

You guys are not going to help sell more of those $300+ Chargemasters..I asked a couple of months ago why they bought electric measures and it was because it was more accurate. I always thought it was an answer in search of a problem..

4064 doesn't meter well in the chargemaster. It will meter, but the long grains will result in occasional heavy loads that have to be recycled. --Jerry