Has it occurred to anyone else that the OP, Jason312 hasn't popped back in to comment or thank us for the "brilliant advice" that we've heaped upon him.
Could it be that we've morphed the thread from his question of whether he is safe to shoot the loads that he has assembled -- to which electronic scale he should buy.
Methinks we are just tooooo helpful. jd
Well if you're using the Lee reloading book I can say for a fact that mine states MINIMUM COAL but means MAXIMUM. I've measured several factory loaded ammunition and all is below Lees "minimum". As a base I'd start seating a bit lower then their min suggestion.
I think it is. I remember being a bit nervous about shooting my handloads when they were out of spec compared to my Lee book. I don't have experience with the 308 but have okay understanding and for a stock set up I think you're good to go with what you got. I looked at the ELD-x for my 270win and MIGHT give it a try after long load development with other bullets. The eld does seem to seat different though. My preference for now is to seat bullets like the picture linked in that second post I made on this thread. Also bullet to powder combos are conducted by some companies but not others. It's not an exact recipe, the only important thing IMO is to not exceed the maximum powder charge which even that would be hard to do in most cases. edit: or use red dot in a magnum or something like that. Be hip on burn rates and cartridge parameters. 4064 is well-known in the 308.
I thought they used adjustable metering chamber cavities like powder measures have. All the factory loading machines I've seen are that way. Cavities are set to meter charge weights to specs. A 3/10 to 4/10 grain spread is normal for an ammo lot number.
all these guys are trying to help. i started at the bottom to thats why i posted about my powder dipper. a scale is very important though. without it you dont really know where you are at. if you could just weigh your charge youd know if you are within the recommended charge weights in the book. then you would know the loads okay for your heavier bullets. if you seat the bullet deep enough to feed through the magazine and the load is compressed thats ok. when you shoot the first couple youll find out if your running to high pressure then you can back off a little if you are. older redding beam scales are available on ebay pretty cheap. they take time to load with but they are accurate
I would definitely agree with Hoz on this one, you can find inexpensive digital scales or beam style.
I too love my scales. I forgot to mention earlier and one of the above posts reminded me.... I've shot incremental charges and it's obvious to look at primers. My low charges just have a hole shaped dent in them and as it gets heavier charges the dent starts to form a crater around the firing pin dent in the primer. I'd keep an eye one that. I've yet to have a bolt sticky upon extraction but that's another thing to look for regarding too hot a charge. I can almost tell how hard my charge is from how my gun kicks me.
Excellent point Sir!
And this vaunted "adjustable metering chamber" later referred to as a "cavity" differs from a dipper...........HOW??
i go check out the big "dipper" while lapping on a "scoop" of ice cream that i plopped in the cone
at least its not a scoop of poop
Dippers are slower and less repeatable in charge weights dispensed.
