Powder Measure for Rifle Reloading

[1911nerd]

1911nerd,
Are you loading rifle cartridges for bench rest shooting, hunting, plinking, etc?

Looks like you go high quality with your gear.

If you are going for precision, get any reliable volumetric dispenser, a trickler and a high quality balance scale(The Ohaus 10-10 is my favorite). Forget digital for true consistency in precision loads. A good balance scale can show the difference of a single particle of powder(depending on the powder of course).

If you need reliable, reasonably consistent hunting loads, the RCBS Charge Master or the equivalent would be a good investment.

If you are loading low cost plinking rounds, look at the Lee Auto Drum. Cheap, reliable, pretty darn accurate and very convenient.

Read Hatcher. If your accuracy requirements are what a target shooter up through the 1950s wanted, a Uniflo or other rotary measure is plenty; a few tenths of a grain of extruded powder does not make as much difference as you think.

If you want to turn out a quantity of pretty good ammo, confident in uniform powder charges, load Ball process powder. Extruded has given somewhat better accuracy in 3 out of 4 of my rifles that are good enough to tell a difference. But Ball powder will just drop the same "all day long." Give it a try.

If you want benchrest quality ammunition - and a lot of Internet Shooters do, even for their hunting and plinking rifles - then you can either use a high grade rotary measure and a fine grained extruded powder like benchrest shooters do; or you can use a trickler (cheap) or powered dispenser (accurate but expensive.)

Thanks for all of the replies!

I'm mostly from the buy-once, cry-once school of thought, although I can't justify a magnetic force restoration scale just yet. The reality is that for the time being I'm looking for one or two .308 loads for range and hunting use, respectively; eventually I may add a calibre or two. Where I typically hunt, it is easy to find shots out to 1000 yds, but I've never felt the need to go beyond 250yds or so, so shorter range is perfectly fine. There's something intellectually satisfying with assembling high quality ammunition, but in all honesty 1.5-2 moa is probably fine.

I found the Forster as a blemished unit on Midway so it wasn't a whole lot more than other options.

Moving from pistol to rifle reloading I'm very aware of the higher pressures involved. I spent a lot of time working up the setup for pistol, but it has purposely been an even more deliberate process for rifle.

[SecondsCount]

You can get sub 1 MOA with a volumetric measure, even loading on a Dillon 1050, with TAC and match bullets.

[Redhat]

I use a Lee Perfect Powder Measure with balance beam scale (RCBS) and a trickler. I have had good results with extruded powder mostly loading .270 Win. Most brand name companies make good measures that operate on the same principle using some type of cavity so I just bought the Lee. I have heard that when using fine ball powders it might leak a bit but I've never tried it so can't confirm.

This is an upgraded version that is new for 2017: http://leeprecision.com/deluxe-perfe...r-measure.html

[txdpd]

I put a double coke can baffle in an RCBS uniflow and it works pretty well with most extruded powders. It can get a little crunchy with some powders. I usually do target weight +/- .3 grains. I throw a charge, weigh it, and pour anything out of range back into the hopper.

[entropy]

Several years back I became interested in long range precision rifle shooting. Ive kept it simple (ok...Im cheap!) and load minimal quantities of carefully assembled loads. I use both a RCBS beam scale as well as a GemPro electronic measure. Neither are overly expensive. I still actually use Lee dippers for the powder. Its a fairly quick process once you get a rythum down. One kernel of Varget is about .1 a grain in weight. Ive been known to add or pluck them off the scale tray.

There are a gazillion ways to go at this, but mine was to keep it simple, invest in quality components (Lapua brass, Berger bullets, more expensive dies) and get to where I wanted to be that way. I tried not to be consumed in gadgetry and take my time and educate myself on the whole ballistic aspect of it all as primary. So far, its worked for me and been relaxing, very educational, and pretty successful. The first time you hear your bullet smack a plate at 1000yds....you'll be hooked!

[Clusterfrack]

Chargemaster and an OCW load is how I roll.

[SecondsCount]

Chargemaster and an OCW load is how I roll.

I find it interesting that you follow the OCW theory and yet take the time to use a Chargemaster. My understanding was that OCW allowed for a little more room on variances in the charge weight.

[Clusterfrack]

I find it interesting that you follow the OCW theory and yet take the time to use a Chargemaster. My understanding was that OCW allowed for a little more room on variances in the charge weight.

Yes, but H4350 meters like Wheaties. I'll typically get +/- 0.1 gr for competition loads in .260 in the Chargemaster. It's way more in a volumetric measure.

Another advance of OCW for me is not having to worry about tracking powder batches.

[LtDave]

For rifle stuff, a Chargemaster is a godsend. They have an excellent warranty, unfortunately you may need to take advantage of it. I'm not a particularly heavy user and I'm on machine number 3 over about 10 yrs. My neighbor is on machine #4 but he uses his a lot more than I do. RCBS just replaces them instead of repairing them. I still wouldn't go back to a beam scale. For pistol stuff I use a Little Dandy measure which handles 99% of my pistol needs.