He used dippers and I always revert back to that. He never measured anything just dip and fire.What does the dippers have to do with over pressure loads? Why do dippers scare you? In most cases dippers are the most accurate and safest method of metering powders.
Mmm sweet relish...Then don't get into shotgun reloading .
View attachment 837322 my collection of volumetric bushings for my mecs
You can, and should use your scale anyway - at least occasionally, even if you're throwing charges from the finest powder measure money can buy. Or do you weigh every charge? Even if you do, how do you get your powder from its container to your scale?Quit using dippers 45 years ago. Even back then I never really relied on them , always used a balance beam and now electronic scale.
The type of powder and technique is huge for accuracy in dipping.Just to share an experience .
I use Lee dippers as I said earlier and then trickle to the exact number I’m looking for.
I once weighed several scoped and carefully leveled off 15 iirc , only 2-3 were Within .2 (no joy)
My BR charges must be within .1 for optimum performance.
"It is very important that you repeat this process with any new container of the same powder because the powder companies allow themselves a 16% tolerance between batches. This can result in over charging if you work from the same setting and the next container of powder you get is more dense".
Easy peasy! Make sure you solder the wire handle on BEFORE you fill it with epoxy. Don't ask how i know this.
Yep, that’s about what I came up with Varget powder.While I have assorted dippers laying around I don't use them for measuring powder charges. However, with dippers in mind I have a question which someone may have a credible answer to. Dippers rely on the VMD (Volume Measured Density) of the powder. Now kicking around a few numbers it becomes easy to derive a VMD for any powder. CC setting (powder measure setting) / Weight of the sample = VMD (volume in cc's for 1 grain) which is a pretty simple straight forward math formula. So with a known volume dipper and a scale we really don't need a chart since the VMD is easily calculated. While yes, it requires a scale it will give a good accurate VMD for any different lot of powder. This brings us to my question. Does the following hold true?
Does anyone know to what tolerance the powder making guys hold the VMD from lot to lot? I wondered if that 16% number is factual?
A few years ago I did a little kitchen table science experiment using a Lee Dipper and the Lee published data for H-335 powder. Here is how things went:
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The expected target weight was 43.4 grains for a skimmed dipper. I was averaging a full grain over with an average of 44.7 grains. The dipper volume was checked weighing water so I know the dipper was accurate as to volume. Again, the VMD was not calculated but taken from the Lee VMD chart.
Ron
Oh boy, that is scary!He used dippers and I always revert back to that. He never measured anything just dip and fire.