Ideas for Measuring Powder?

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zanders

zanders

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So the way I'm currently doing it is with a Hornady Lock-N-Load Auto Charge. It's very nice, and I like it, but with the flake and extruded powders it's by far the slowest part of loading a batch of ammo. Is there a quicker way to measure the powders (Clay's/Unique in particular) or should I just stick to ball powders(I've had a great time with HS-6 and Titegroup looks like it would be the clay's of ball powders)?

Thanks in advance for all your sage advice.
 
I'm not sure I understand your comment about the LNL being "slow". What am I missing?
 
Well with the LNL Auto Charge it meters Clays/Unique fine until it gets to the last .2-3 grains and then it goes into trickle mode and takes maybe a minute or so per charge to finish.
 
OK, I was thinking the powder measure on the press; now I see what you're saying. I had a similar device years ago; when it crapped out, I never bothered to replace it.
 
Is it level. I've been using a Hornady LNL Auto Charge for years and don't have that problem. I'll admit Unique finishes up a little slower ,but a minute is a good bit longer than my experience has been.
 
I mean I could be exaggerating a bit, but it doesn't keep up with me using a single stage press with any of my three powders other than HS-6. And it's relatively level (my floors aren't very level in general though so it's not going to be perfect).
 
zanders said:
Well with the LNL Auto Charge it meters Clays/Unique fine until it gets to the last .2-3 grains and then it goes into trickle mode and takes maybe a minute or so per charge to finish.
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Are you loading basic handguns (Unique and Clays)?
 
38 special, 357 magnum and 45 colt. All of them do great until the trickle kicks in and then I just sit there. I've also tried adjusting the speed settings, which helps but not as much as I would hope.
 
Never used a LnL Auto Charge but it sounds like even scoops and hand tricking would be faster. Most of my handgun loads get the charge thrown from the measure on the progressive press.
 
I don't bother with trickling unless it is a rifle. The powder dispenser on the LnL, as well as my RCBS dispenser (when using my single stage) both throw consistent drops. I use Universal, Clays, Titegroup, GreenDot, 231, Power Pistol and Bullseye without any issues
 
Lyman 55, Lee Deluxe, Harrells Schuetzen, Little Dandy are all worthy of consideration. For pistol loading the Little Dandy either bench mounted or freehand batches is perfect. I use the Bailey Boats ([email protected]) adjustable rotor when any of the 12 rotors I have aren't close enough to 0.1 requirement.
 
Fine Figure of a Man said:
Never used a LnL Auto Charge but it sounds like even scoops and hand tricking would be faster. Most of my handgun loads get the charge thrown from the measure on the progressive press.
Click to expand...

daboone said:
Lyman 55, Lee Deluxe, Harrells Schuetzen, Little Dandy are all worthy of consideration. For pistol loading the Little Dandy either bench mounted or freehand batches is perfect. I use the Bailey Boats ([email protected]) adjustable rotor when any of the 12 rotors I have aren't close enough to 0.1 requirement.
Click to expand...

I'll have to look into these ideas. Anything to kill the dead time. Maybe even in tandem with the Auto Charge to really speed up the process.
 
I haven't used very difficult to meter powders with mine, but have been in same situation where I feel I'm waiting on it too much. I only use it for precision loads and go from it to a 505 just to make sure....

Anyway, whenever it's the holdup, I set the desired charge to -.1 or .-2 of what I want (depending on how it behaves with that powder), set speed to "fast", and just let it error "over". I can trickle on the 505 to adjust, but it doesn't sit there trying to get that last tenth forever. It's more work, but is faster overall. You can try that & see if faster for you with Unique (never tried it so don't know). Usually it errors "over" a lot, but that results in exactly what I wanted. The times it does get it right, I have to trickle some on the 505. Maybe that will work for you too?
 
CMV said:
I haven't used very difficult to meter powders with mine, but have been in same situation where I feel I'm waiting on it too much. I only use it for precision loads and go from it to a 505 just to make sure....

Anyway, whenever it's the holdup, I set the desired charge to -.1 or .-2 of what I want (depending on how it behaves with that powder), set speed to "fast", and just let it error "over". I can trickle on the 505 to adjust, but it doesn't sit there trying to get that last tenth forever. It's more work, but is faster overall. You can try that & see if faster for you with Unique (never tried it so don't know). Usually it errors "over" a lot, but that results in exactly what I wanted. The times it does get it right, I have to trickle some on the 505. Maybe that will work for you too?
Click to expand...

This made me feel really stupid. I hadn't even thought of that. I'm going to try that this weekend thanks!
 
zanders said:
This made me feel really stupid. I hadn't even thought of that. I'm going to try that this weekend thanks!
Click to expand...

Shouldn't make you feel stupid at all - you (as I and everyone else who paid good $ for one) probably expected it to "just work" - even on fast setting since it has it. :).

No idea how it will behave for you in that case either - I never tried Unique in mine. I'm typically all ball powders like A1680, W296, W231, H335, HS-6. The "worst" I think I've ran in mine has been IMR4895 and it seemed to do ok enough with it for me. Hope it does work for you too that way!
 
CMV said:
Shouldn't make you feel stupid at all - you (as I and everyone else who paid good $ for one) probably expected it to "just work" - even on fast setting since it has it. :).

No idea how it will behave for you in that case either - I never tried Unique in mine. I'm typically all ball powders like A1680, W296, W231, H335, HS-6. The "worst" I think I've ran in mine has been IMR4895 and it seemed to do ok enough with it for me. Hope it does work for you too that way!
Click to expand...

Yeah with ball powders the worst it does is overshoot. I'm just going to see where it starts trickling and set it over by that much and just pull the pan. Worst case scenario it spills a little bit of powder. In the future I might just stick with ball powders though.
 
zanders said:
38 special, 357 magnum and 45 colt.
Click to expand...
If you're not chasing the last 0.5MOA, or on the hairy edge of blowing up a gun, then you're wasting your time trickling.

But don't take my word for it! Go prove it to yourself!
Throw 30 charges of each powder, weigh individually, and note the min and max weights. Now trickle 30 charges each, and load 30 min and 30 max rounds. Go shoot, and report back with group offset and dispersion.
 
zanders said:
I mean I could be exaggerating a bit, but it doesn't keep up with me using a single stage press with any of my three powders other than HS-6. And it's relatively level (my floors aren't very level in general though so it's not going to be perfect).
Click to expand...
Either my floors aren't level or my reloading bench isn't. I use a 1"x 6" x 18" long board that I place shims under on one end to level it. Once it is level, I know my scale is level. FWIW and good luck.
 
edwardware said:
If you're not chasing the last 0.5MOA, or on the hairy edge of blowing up a gun, then you're wasting your time trickling.

But don't take my word for it! Go prove it to yourself!
Throw 30 charges of each powder, weigh individually, and note the min and max weights. Now trickle 30 charges each, and load 30 min and 30 max rounds. Go shoot, and report back with group offset and dispersion.
Click to expand...

I can believe that, I'm not accurate enough for mild ammo variation to matter. The Auto Charge doesn't have a quick throw range option that I'm aware of though (that would be a great setting).
 
I would load up a few test rounds using a volume powder measure and shoot them side by side with your trickled rounds. Would let you see if you are productively spending your time or just wasting it.

I know I can’t tell any difference, I’ve won lots of matches with ammo loaded with volume thrown charges.
 
zanders said:
I can believe that, I'm not accurate enough for mild ammo variation to matter. The Auto Charge doesn't have a quick throw range option that I'm aware of though (that would be a great setting).
Click to expand...
Do you not have a standard powder measure, as in one that bolts to the bench or stand or goes on a progressive?
 
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