Scale issues loading at the range

[338 dude]

My wife gets these from Hobby lobby craft store you can write on them with a black sharpie the charge weight after you’re done a little alcohol on a paper towel and it comes right off

 

[memilanuk]

My wife gets these from Hobby lobby craft store you can write on them with a black sharpie the charge weight

Or you can get vials, test tubes, etc. off Amazon or eBay for cheap. The ones I have fit just right inside a Lapua .308 Win box, so that worked out nicely

 

[newbieshooter]

I’ve heard of that, but it seems like you would lose most of the flexibility of being able to weigh on-site.

I have some idea before I go what charges I will need and I load enough of them to get the job done. It’s way better than carrying a scale around and fighting wind in my opinion. Ymmv

I kind of know what powder ranges I want to test - and as Troy mentioned load enough of those to get the job done.

You can also load a bunch of your base charge. For me I usually test in the range of 30.0-31.2gr of powder X.

I’ll load 30.0gr in vials...along with what I know I want to test. But I also have a box of vials with .1, .2, .3 and .5gr.

When at the range, I may decide to test a powder charge that I hadn’t preloaded for. I can take the base 30.0 and add combinations from the .1, .2, .3, .5 to make any weight I want to test.

 

[BoydAllen]

Back in the day, I designed this, and a friend built one for each of us. At the time I did not have a garage to work in.
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...ters-scales-when-reloading-at-outdoor-ranges/

 

[quest450]

Hi. What are these tubes and where did you buy them? What is the volume limit for each tube? Thanks!

Amazon 4ml $10 for a 100, they work great

 

[Ken]

I use a Harrells powder measure. It has positive clicks and a good readable scale. I set it in my shop to where I think will be a good powder charge, At the range, I can click up or down and get my preferred powder charge. When I get back to my shop, I weigh the powder from that setting. I also note the powder measure setting in my load data. One could produce a powder measure setting vs weight for the powder being used in the shop and then go do tests at the range. This assumes that the powder measure drops consistent charges with the chosen powder. Anyway, that takes the wind and powder scale out of the picture.

 

[Kratos]

I use a Harrells powder measure. It has positive clicks and a good readable scale. I set it in my shop to where I think will be a good powder charge, At the range, I can click up or down and get my preferred powder charge. When I get back to my shop, I weigh the powder from that setting. I also note the powder measure setting in my load data. One could produce a powder measure setting vs weight for the powder being used in the shop and then go do tests at the range. This assumes that the powder measure drops consistent charges with the chosen powder. Anyway, that takes the wind and powder scale out of the picture.

I would love that, except the only ball powder I use is StaBALL 6.5 (and I don't really use that for anything where I am doing real load development.)

 

[memilanuk]

For a long while, I just used a Harrell's Custom 90 powder measure, like Ken mentioned. Even with stick powders like Varget and N150.

I would throw 3-5 charges at every so many marks on the drum, take the average, and make up a chart. They do (or at least, mine did) throw pretty linearly. So I could go to the range with prepped and primed cases, a bullet seater, and throw charges. It worked *great* for initial load development, where I was working in a little coarser increments at 100yds.

Usually I'd make a second trip with rounds all loaded up with precisely weighed charges... but using the thrower, along with seating at the range, does allow for a large degree of freedom to play around and experiment.

Using test tubes or vials and precisely measured charges from the start is just another variation on that... the only difference being that with the thrower, you are unlikely to 'run out' of a given charge weight right when you want to do one more round of testing...

 

[divingin]

Hi. What are these tubes and where did you buy them? What is the volume limit for each tube? Thanks!

These might work:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XD6M9ST/?tag=accuratescom-20

I believe they come in 1, 2, and 4 milliliter versions. I have the 4ml, but haven't used them yet.

 

[Heavy Metal 1]

rather than load the test tubes one could just charge the brass at home then cap each brass with small corks then all you have to do is seat the bullets at the range.

 

[243Lapua]

View attachment 1204359 View attachment 1204358


Here’s how I do it

I do that too.

 

[243Lapua]

My setup.

 

[ebb]

243 lap did you make that or is it something that you can buy????

 

[243Lapua]

243 lap did you make that or is it something that you can buy????

It's was an idea I picked up from Mr. Covell and Speedy. It's a D flite grooming box for animals. But works perfect for loading at the range. Charge master is powered by a 9 volt rechargeable battery. And the hopper was cut in half with a bandsaw or you can use a fine hacksaw.

 

[243Lapua]

243 lap did you make that or is it something that you can buy????

I bought mine used on Ebay used for $80.00

 

[243Lapua]

243 lap did you make that or is it something that you can buy????

 

[243Lapua]

243 lap did you make that or is it something that you can buy????

 

[Ccrider]

Looks like you could buy one now with a sale and coupon code from Brownell’s for $225, very tempting.

What’s the promo codes you are using?

 

[PRR1957]

A long time ago I purchased a two gallon plexiglass fish tank that I cover the powder scale with a motorized powder trickled that I made. It has worked for me for twenty plus years now for doing ranges load development. As for spherical gunpowder’s, I do as some here had said were I log the preset charge weights at home before going to the rifle range. I use Redding’s with their resettable vernier.

 

[ebb]

Thanks 243Lap nice set up.