H4350 Metering

[Sluggo]

New forum member here. New to reloading. I recently purchased a Lee Challenger kit. I'm loading Hodgdon H4350 in .243 ....

I loaded up 4 groups of 5 rounds. Each group is different by .2 grains. I went back to confirm my math. Measure twice cut once sort of thing. When I put a round of powder back on the scale they differed slightly. I'll say by 4 to 8 pellets of powder. Is H4350 somewhat difficult to meter.??

Here's what I think is going on.... If you're familiar with the Lee Perfect Powder Measure scale you need to "register" 3 white lines to set the desired amount of grains. Say I measure 40 grains in 5 loads. I then go on to measure the next 5 loads at 39.8 grains and so on... I complete my rounds then go back and weigh each group to confirm my math. Its never spot on at say 40 grains. I think its because the setting will never be exact to the original setting. The 3 lines are never perfectly lined up. Very close but never perfect.

I hope I'm not too wordy here. The fundamental question is does H4350 meter well.??

 

[CF Junkie]

Like any other large pellet powder, H4350 is harder to meter consistently than smaller pellet powders like VV or round pellet powders that are normally used for smaller calibers.
I have also found that H4350 sometimes clumps up so there might a few more pellets in the load than you expected as you meter the powder.
Even with an electronic metering scale like my ChargeMaster 1500, I find that the large pellet powders sometimes meter out a slightly heavier load than desired. I use my "magic pinch" to get the load back to the desired load weight when that happens.
That said, H4340 is one of the most accurate powders that I use for my 6.5mm CMs.

 

[BHP9]

It is in your type of powder measure. I have a modified Lyman 55 and it have trouble with most stick powders.

I've been using an RCBS Chargemaster for 19 years and weigh every charge on it and it dispenses the correct charge weight entered.

 

[Syncrowave]

Not sure I've ever actually counted the number of particles of H4350 but I suspect there's a bit of variance.

I just set my thrower to throw slightly-light charges into the pan of my scale, then I use a trickler to add enough to bring the balance to the line. (I use an RCBS 10 • 10 balance, and it's plenty accurate/precise for me, even for cartridges as light as 223.)

HTH and welcome to the forum.

 

[Adam in WI]

That scale is going to frustrate you if you intent to weigh all your charges. It's almost impossible to use without eventually sliding the plastic poise off of what you initially set it for. @Syncrowave has a good suggestion. You could sub in a standalone digital scale if you wanted, or there is a member here selling an old RCBS 10-10 in the classifieds. Honestly, this is why I bought a Chargemaster. It isn't perfect, but for this type of reloading it's handy to be able to dispense three charges of three or four, or five weights quickly without fiddling with beam scale settings or powder measure cc to grain values and whatnot.

Good luck, and welcome. You're standing in the entrance of a deep rabbit hole.

 

[Gary in MD]

H4350 is an excellent powder, good choice.
Get a charge master.
Unless you are an expert, then varying your charge weights by two tenths of a grain is probably splitting hairs especially if you are fairly new to this and are not shooting a bench rest quality rifle. Try 5 tenths.
Find a medium to max load that seems to shoot better and then adjust seating depth.

 

[K22]

I just set my thrower to throw slightly-light charges into the pan of my scale, then I use a trickler to add enough to bring the balance to the line. (I use an RCBS 10 • 10 balance, and it's plenty accurate/precise for me, even for cartridges as light as 223.)

HTH and welcome to the forum.

This is what I've been doing for the last 50+ years with extruded powders. Yes, it takes more time to weigh each charge and trickle in the exact amount, but I know that every charge is identical.

Unless you are "blaster" meaning expending large volumes of rounds, this is the simplest fix without having to buy additional / expensive equipment. The 243 does not lend itself to "blaster" style shooting so this is the fix I would opt for.

 

[243winxb]

RCBS Powder Trickler 2​

 

[jds holler]

In a thread that concerns metering properties -- I've gotta say that in my area, Winchester powders are very available lately. Sooo, I tried the Staball 6.5, which advertised temperature stability and easy metering and I'm loving it. It's in the same wheelhouse as H4350, and it meters like a dream. - straight up +/- .1 gr. through my thrower.

So far I've been loading it in 6.5 Creed, and 7-08, and it's been great. jd

 

[Doug Casner]

I always thought that h4350 metered good. Good enough for me. Im not into counting grains but I dont shoot long range either. A tenth is good enough for me, sometimes two. I n my Harrells or chargemaster meters fine. Doug