Measuring Powder Charges: What Techniques?

[South Pender]

This question is aimed at the one-hole guys on the forum, although anyone's welcome to answer. Actually two questions: (a) do you all weigh powder charges? and (b) if so, do you use an electronic scale? Most electronic scales (the Gem Pro 250 is one exception) give .1-grain precision. Is this sufficient for super-accurate loads, particularly with the smaller cases where charge-weights may be 20 grains?

 

[waldo1979]

Inside 300 yards you need ~0.1gr accuracy which a good powder measure will throw (if you know what you're doing). My chargemaster gives me something close to that as well. Over 300 yards you start to see groups open a bit and need something more accurate. I have a gempro 250 but wish i had a magnetic force restoration (like a Satorius).

For precision trickling you can use an Omega. If the GemPro 250 had a serial port i'd be tempted to make my own 0.02gr accuracy chargemaster using an Arduino.

 

[dcali]

For precision trickling you can use an Omega. If the GemPro 250 had a serial port i'd be tempted to make my own 0.02gr accuracy chargemaster using an Arduino.

I looked into that a while ago. The cheapest scale I could find that had the hardware interface and the required precision was close to $1000, and I couldn't be sure if it would react well enough to small changes. But I bet it could be done. I keep waiting for scales to get cheaper...

 

[South Pender]

Inside 300 yards you need ~0.1gr accuracy which a good powder measure will throw (if you know what you're doing). My chargemaster gives me something close to that as well. Over 300 yards you start to see groups open a bit and need something more accurate. I have a gempro 250 but wish i had a magnetic force restoration (like a Satorius).

For precision trickling you can use an Omega. If the GemPro 250 had a serial port i'd be tempted to make my own 0.02gr accuracy chargemaster using an Arduino.

So, do you throw a charge onto the scale and then trickle powder until reaching the desired weight?

 

[ryanjay11]

I have an A&D FX120i paired up with an Omega trickler. It is an absolute bargain.

 

[South Pender]

I have an A&D FX120i paired up with an Omega trickler. It is an absolute bargain.

That would give you all the precision needed, I would guess--down to .02 gn. The Gem Pro 250 advertises the same precision at a much lower cost. I wonder whether the ~ $600 of the A&D FX120i buys you much better quality. Probably does, I guess, as you generally get what you pay for.

 

[Martin52]

So, do you throw a charge onto the scale and then trickle powder until reaching the desired weight?
[/quote]

You can do this with a strain gauge scale such as a Gempro but a magnetice force restoration scale such as the A&D as mentioned above is far quicker. I have both, I traded up from the Gempro to A&D. The strain gauges generally do not respond as well to tricking powder whereas the MFR scales generally react more or less immediately down to single kernels (1 kernel Varget is about 0.02gr). You will find the MFR is much faster, if time is important in your reloading process. With the Gempro I found I was taking many trickled loads off the scale and putting them back on again after the scale settled to get accuracy - the Gempro was good for fixed weights, but not so good for trickling.

 

[rduckwor]

So, do you throw a charge onto the scale and then trickle powder until reaching the desired weight?

You can do this with a strain gauge scale such as a Gempro but a magnetice force restoration scale such as the A&D as mentioned above is far quicker. I have both, I traded up from the Gempro to A&D. The strain gauges generally do not respond as well to tricking powder whereas the MFR scales generally react more or less immediately down to single kernels (1 kernel Varget is about 0.02gr). You will find the MFR is much faster, if time is important in your reloading process. With the Gempro I found I was taking many trickled loads off the scale and putting them back on again after the scale settled to get accuracy - the Gempro was good for fixed weights, but not so good for trickling.
[/quote]

This. The GemPro will take forty-forevers to react to kernals dropped from a trickler. Is can be done, but it is slow and frustrating.

RMD

 

[Tempest]

Beam scale and Omega trickler.

 

[dalej]

Harrells powder measure, tuned RCBS 10-10 scale and Omega trickler.

 

[zipollini]

Use Chargemaster 1500 to dispense 1.0 grain below final weight and then transfer powder to Sartorius Entris 64 - 1S and trickle up to final weight with Omega II trickler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr1Wso6P9ZI

 

[7stubby]

I have an A&D FX120i paired up with an Omega trickler. It is an absolute bargain.

This is a dream setup to use. I also just use a standard Hornady powder measure to get the charges close. Then final trickle on the scale. Faster then the Chargemaster I use to have. 8)

 

[Comrade Terry]

I have an A&D FX120i paired up with an Omega trickler. It is an absolute bargain.

+1 on that. I let the Chargemaster do the initial work, then trickle up with the FX120i and the Omega.

 

[BoydAllen]

For the distances that I shoot, I throw charges, when using powders that I can keep within a +-.1 gr. spread. This is not easy to learn how to do reliably with anything by ball powders. I have spent a lot of time working on technique(s) and consistency. For everything else, I throw a little light and trickle, using a tuned beam scale, and an old RCBS trickler that has had its bottom cavity filled with lead. I can easily read the scale to .05 and for the distances that I shoot, this is plenty good. This is not to discourage those who are tool collectors, but rather to keep those who like me are on a budget from being discouraged if they cannnot afford a magnetic force restoration type of electronic scale. As far as affordable electronic scales are concerned, I think that they are less reliable and convenient than a tuned balance scale. Friends use Chargemasters and are quite pleased with them. Because I mostly load at the range, and have learned to throw the powders that I use there, I have succeeded in not having to lug another large box to the range.

 

[JCardenas]

I have a gem pro 250, but I have been wanting to upgrade to a better, faster scale. The fx 120i seems like the next step up with out having to drop over 1k$.

What other scales would you guys recommend that would be close to the fx120i?

I to throw with charge master and trickle into the gempro...