Powder Question

[R.Morehouse]

The way i load is to take the proper little yellow scoop and pour it into the tray then slowly trickle a bit if powder out of the scoop to get REAL close. I keep a few kernels of powder in a flat tray in front of me and if the scale need one i will pick it up with my fingers and add it. 3 kernels max in a 56g load or 1 to 2 in a 28.5g load. I hear that oils from your fingers can mess with the powder. Considering the amount i mentioned could that possibly effect anything. I am leaning toward no.....Thanks for your input...........Rick

 

[spclark]

If you use your reloads within a short period of time (a week or two?), probably not.

Maybe even long-term storage presents almost no chance that little bit of body oil would change anything; I doubt anyone's ever done a scientific test.

You wash your hands before reloading? More important, once you're finished?

 

[watercam]

For just a couple of kernels for a load you shoot soon after loading, probably OK. Personally I would purchase a good trickler (Redding for example) and never touch the powder. If you are careful you can easily trickle a kernel at a time with one.

 

[Lapua40X]

Rick, you should, of course, try to make sure your hands are free of lubricants. That's a given. So keep hands clean when handling powder. However, may I suggest you try to relax and enjoy your sport?
With some of the advice you'll see in these forums you'd think the sky would fall if you didn't select individual granules of powder by size and match them in sets for every round loaded.
It is highly unlikely that anyone outside of an VERY sophisticated scientific laboratory could accurately determine to what degree (if any) the amount of residual oil molecules from your finger tips on a few granules of powder in a cartridge would affect performance.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Oil on a few kernels won't effect anything, but I don't touch the powder with my fingers. I use a pair of plastic tweezers to grab individual kernels.

 

[Keith Glasscock]

I've used my fingers for a long time when adding a pinch of powder. There has been absolutely no negative results - even with ammo that say loaded for 9 months.

 

[rardoin]

Just make sure there is no oil on the razorblade when you cut kernels.

 

[R.Morehouse]

Thanks for the input.....40X, i do keep the hands clean before and after. And playing with single specks of powder on my "Parkerized" beam scale with the camera and the lap top i find relaxing & maybe a bit OCD . I have one of the orig. Omegas that i will most likely sell because it's just another well thought out purchase that i just don't use. I can load 100 with my method with out even getting up to stretch. Maybe a little "old school''...That's O.K...................Rick

 

[billlarson]

The way i load is to take the proper little yellow scoop and pour it into the tray then slowly trickle a bit if powder out of the scoop to get REAL close. I keep a few kernels of powder in a flat tray in front of me and if the scale need one i will pick it up with my fingers and add it. 3 kernels max in a 56g load or 1 to 2 in a 28.5g load. I hear that oils from your fingers can mess with the powder. Considering the amount i mentioned could that possibly effect anything. I am leaning toward no.....Thanks for your input...........Rick

Man.......... move into the lite ages........... GET A TRICKLER........

 

[R.Morehouse]

Please see post above yours......I have an Omega sitting here

 

[6MMsteve]

I had a trikyler but it sets on the shelf with the other junk just use my fingees they wrk ok my left not so good fingers r ok in my book, lol much faster

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Yeah I haven't used a trickler in a long time either. I have a plastic measuring spoon I stole from my wife (teaspoon). I sharpened the one side to allow easy scooping of powder from the tray if I accidentally drop too much. I lightly tap the spoon until i get the weight i want. Good enough with it to drop 2 or 3 kernels at a time if I want to. I only do this for load test groups. Once a load recipe is tuned and chosen from testing at the range, all production gets turned over to the RCBS Chargemaster to speed things up.

 

[Dan Boone]

I had a trikyler but it sets on the shelf with the other junk just use my fingees they wrk ok my left not so good fingers r ok in my book, lol much faster

Faster? Not for me. I have a Redding trickler sitting next to the pan on my beam scale and it only takes a few seconds to turn the knob a bit. Slide it an inch to the ppan and slide it an inch away when done. Easy peasy.

 

[6MMsteve]

Faster? Not for me. I have a Redding trickler sitting next to the pan on my beam scale and it only takes a few seconds to turn the knob a bit. Slide it an inch to the ppan and slide it an inch away when done. Easy peasy.

no sliding no turning for me, fingers in fingers out while your still fumbling lol just like butta

 

[6MMsteve]

I'm gonna buy me a 6 axis ABB to pick my kernals I think I can program it to do a little dance in between cycles and hold my glass and clean my gun, maybe I should program it to shoot for me to. MOD POS.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Faster? Not for me. I have a Redding trickler sitting next to the pan on my beam scale and it only takes a few seconds to turn the knob a bit. Slide it an inch to the ppan and slide it an inch away when done. Easy peasy.

The trickler I have works very well. It's an RCBS Powder Trickler 2. Has the raised adjustable height base and an extended trickling tube so you don't have to slide it in and out.

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I just don't like using it when I'm trying multiple powders for load testing. Means I have to change the powder in the hopper every time I load rounds with a different propellant.

 

[spclark]

The trickler I have works very well. <edit> Means I have to change the powder in the hopper every time I load rounds with a different propellant.

Yah, that's a characteristic I'm not wild about either in the RCBS'S design.

At the beginning I used a primed case as a trickler, in my fingers. Then went to an Omega, though it couldn't get any better.

Adam changed my thinking with his gizmo, $850 later the world has turned! Finally I can charge cases without having to watch a scale!