I was reloading some 30-30 bullets this morning.

I had been reloading my beretta 9mm. a few days before.
after I was done relaoding the 9mm. I took everything apart and put all pistal loading equipment away, so it is seperat from the riffle loading stuff.

on the powder measuring device, I had taken out the ( I think its called ) drop tube. the little insert at the bottem of the powder measure.

I have two of them. different sizes.

I am posting this, for a saftey issue that I learnd from doing this.

while loading the powder for the 30-30, I was having a problem getting consistan powder loads in each bullet case. I was dropping the powder in one shell at a time then poring that into powder scale.
the reason I was doing this, I had noticed that not all the loads was consitant , I visualy check all powder levels in the shells.

what actauly let me know what was wrong , was this.
the drop tube I had in the powder loader, was too small. it worked fine for a pistal powder. but for the rifle powder. the grains would some times get plugged up going threw the drop tube. this would make one load very weak. the next load would be over loaded.
the next powder load I droped into the shell was realy weak. apon dropping the next powder, I had powder over flowing and spilling every where. I think I got enought powder in that shell. lol.

I changed the drop tube and this solved all the problems. the loads was consistant and powder level loads was good.

I think this could happen to anyone if they was not paying attention. and could cause a seriuos problem, if not noticed.

I have run into that before and if it is nec to use the smaller drop tube, because of case mouth size, I tap my powder measure handle a few times on the down stroke and that clears the stuck powder out of the tube. You'll find this generally only happens with longer extruded powder. After filling my cases with powder and they are in the tray, I always check and compare the level of powder in all the cases before starting to seat the bullets. If there are any doubts about any of them, they get dumped and powder load is re-weighed. That's the way I learned to do it almost 30 years ago and over the years I've caught a few that were either over or under because of one thing or another.

All my powder drops are done right from the scale pan using a RCBS funnel. If I need more room I just tamp the case a little. I weigh every powder charge that goes in every case including handgun and rifle. My handgun charges are dropped from the Auto Disc into the handgun case then goes on to the scale and trickled to the desired weight. Yes...I'm a bit picky about my loads...But they are all the same batch to batch... +/-.1grain. That pretty much goes for the rest of the process...OAL of each round is also +/- .002 of each other...

With powders (mostly just ball powders) that meter accurately through my powder measure I wieght every 5th charge. With long grain powders I weight every charge as well. I dump from my powder measure into my scale pan and trickle to get it just right on the scale.

Bushmaster, when you say you hold your OAL to +/- .002 of each other, do you mean the total spread or the range in either direction from the target length? i.e. if you have an OAL of 3.200 as your target do all of your loads fall between 3.199 and 3.201 a spread of .002 or 3.198 and 3.202 a spread of .004 between the minimum and maximum allowable?

I always try to make the most consistant loads as well and some day when I can do reloading full time I may do a series of experiments to determine what a statistically significant difference would be for a given load.

I throw all my charges from a cheap LEE powder measure into the pan that sits on a scale then I use a powered trickler (from midwayusa) to bring it up to the desired weight. I then trickle it into the case directly from the pan through a funnel like Bushy and others do. I then move the charged cast from one side of the block to the other.

I've yet to have a problem doing it that way... well except for the time I forgot to prime the cases before I started charging LOL


-DallanC

Howdy. I do like wise. I throw each charge into the pan put it on the scale and trickle the remaining powder. I do every round this way to keep them consistant. I also went back to useing my 505 instead of the digital scale, while trickling the remaining charge it would take two to three tenths before the digital scale would respond . I just use the digital scale for weighing case's and bullets now.
Joe

I'm a slacker... I only have the 5-0-2


-DallanC

I only weigh every charge when loading long grain powder. I only have one scale and that is the RCBS 5-0-5. When loading powder like say WW760 or 748 my RCBS uniflow powder measure is very accurate once set, but I still weigh every 5th round.

shrpshtrjoe wrote:

Howdy. I do like wise. I throw each charge into the pan put it on the scale and trickle the remaining powder. I do every round this way to keep them consistant. I also went back to useing my 505 instead of the digital scale, while trickling the remaining charge it would take two to three tenths before the digital scale would respond . I just use the digital scale for weighing case's and bullets now. Joe

Ditto, Joe I hand weigh each load on my 5-0-5 before dumping into the case. Brass and bullets are on the digital.

Blaine

Kinda interesting how everyone does things just a wee bit different then the next folk. Myself I still use my old lee dippers. Find one thats close to the charge I'm looking for for that particular powder and load, dump it into the scale pan and finish it off with the powder trickler. Still marvel at the Lee Handloader's that I have. Cost $6.50 new per caliber. Had a little card in them that recommend what powder to use for the bullet weight you were loading and a dipper no. recommendation to use to get the correct weight. Was kinda fun, especially putting in the primers. Pounded out alot of 30-06 shells in my dorm room. Seated the bullet to a length that looked comparable to another cartridge and bullet of the same weight. Amazingly enough it worked. Amazingly enough my .06 never blew up.
Never worried about things like pressures and powder charges and seating depths. Never new enough to worry about them. L ife seemed so simple back then. Good to still be alive.--tr

moose2 wrote:

Kinda interesting how everyone does things just a wee bit different then the next folk. Myself I still use my old lee dippers. Find one thats close to the charge I'm looking for for that particular powder and load, dump it into the scale pan and finish it off with the powder trickler. Still marvel at the Lee Handloader's that I have. Cost $6.50 new per caliber. Had a little card in them that recommend what powder to use for the bullet weight you were loading and a dipper no. recommendation to use to get the correct weight. Was kinda fun, especially putting in the primers. Pounded out alot of 30-06 shells in my dorm room. Seated the bullet to a length that looked comparable to another cartridge and bullet of the same weight. Amazingly enough it worked. Amazingly enough my .06 never blew up. Never worried about things like pressures and powder charges and seating depths. Never new enough to worry about them. L ife seemed so simple back then. Good to still be alive.--tr

True but most if not all your loads with the Lee dippers, where mild to begin with.

Dawgdad...OAL = Over All Length...Of a cartridge, case and seated bullet.

Ripper007...I believe you are finding out that most of those here do not use drop tubes...You usually use a drop tube when you are loading a compressed charge or close to a compressed charge. Otherwise then that they (drop tubes) aren't really needed...

1895ss-that true the loads were of the milder version, and a good thing at that. But then since never had a reloading manuel, didn't know any better anyways.-tr

moose2 wrote:

1895ss-that true the loads were of the milder version, and a good thing at that. But then since never had a reloading manuel, didn't know any better anyways.-tr

moose2, I have a cousin that used to use and maybe still uses the Lee loader stuff and I compared some of his loads he used for his 243. They where close to minimum according to my reloading manuals at that time. This was 20 or more years ago.