Powder Measuring, myths and facts

[floydf]

So I'd like to give a sincere shout-out of thanks for all the contributions to this thread.

Like many in the program, my intro to riflecraft came thru Appleseed.

For the past year, I've been really struggling with my Ruger Scout 308.  Darn thing just wouldn't shoot worth a darn.  Big groups.  No matter what I did.  6 MOA at best.

Had I thought just a bit, I would have realized that this started about the time I used up the factory loads, and started on reloads.

Reading the thread, at some point, it occurred in my usually dim little brain: hmmm, wonder if this could have to do with the sloppy way I slurp up powder in a Lee dipper. 

So, I carefully put Mark Davis's method into practice, loaded 50 rds, and tested them out this weekend, and I am one happy camper.  2 MOA at best, and everything under 4 MOA.  This rifle can now shoot.

So, thanks.  I really appreciate the expertise that folks share here. 

[Mark Davis]

Thanks Floydf, but it's not my invention.
Could be Dean Grinnnel (Sp) an old time gun writer and shooting buddy of Richard Lee.
Read about it years ago, still works.

[Agrivere]

Great stuff here, thanks for sharing it!

Agrivere

[oladcock]

Yep, a boat load of experience expressed here for sure. Conclusions from those experiences are questionable IMO. Accuracy depends on controlling variables and some of those variables are more important than others. After reloading for many years now I've got some conclusions of my own that was really brought to light when I started reloading for a precision rifle.

It doesn't matter if powder is weighed or dipped by volume... As long as BOTH/EITHER are consistent. One rifle type/design you may see a big difference in accuracy when varying powder, in another you'll see little to no difference. That was a big shock to me when I saw that between thin/short barreled .223's and long heavy barreled .223's with the latter being very tolerant and the first being very picky. Lots of details... Some more important than others in any given rifle, change rifles, the importance of any given detail changes. In testing anything one must only change one variable at a time and evaluate the results. That's difficult to impossible sometimes but if those variables aren't controlled, conclusions drawn are likely to be flawed......O.L.

[AmbulanceDriver]

I do have to say that I really do like my RCBS Chargemaster.  It's a little slow, but it does give me very consistent results.   I have learned a couple of tweaks though.

1) It's electronics are sensitive.  Including temperature.   If you want it to be consistent, I bring it into the room that I'm going to be working in 24 hours before I start - that lets the internals all come to the same temperature - and more importantly, prevents temperature changes during a loading session.  This leads to consistency in my charges.

2) I plug it in 30 minutes before I start a session.  Again, this just lets everything stabilize and do its thing.

3) I go through the calibration procedure at the start of every loading session.

4) I check a portion of my charges against a different scale - in my case a RCBS 505 scale.

5) This is something I just found out recently.  I took the plastic stand that the pan sits on (and the pan itself) and wiped it down with an anti-static cloth.  This ensures that there's no static charge building up on the pan area that could affect the powder charge - I found that this step alone improved the consistency of my weighed charges significantly.