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snuffy · July 22, 2012, 10:51 AM

It's not a compressed load until you hear the powder crunch when you seat a bullet. Perfectly normal. Compressed loads using ball powder is another story entirely. It doesn't compress very much, if over compressed, it can actually push the bullet back out of the case a bit. Messes with your OAL, making it very inconsistent. Might even result in moving the bullet out to contact the throat.

Ball powder is less likely to NEED to be compressed, it usually come right up to 100% load density with max charges.

A trick that I use to get extruded/stick powder to settle is to use a long drop tube when manually charging cases. Another trick is to pour the powder in a funnel on the side of the funnel,(ya know the tapered side), it causes the powder to swirl into the drop tube. Seems to line up the sticks of powder so they stack tighter.

July 22, 2012, 10:51 AM	#3
snuffy Senior Member Join Date: May 20, 2001 Location: Oshkosh wi. Posts: 3,055	It's not a compressed load until you hear the powder crunch when you seat a bullet. Perfectly normal. Compressed loads using ball powder is another story entirely. It doesn't compress very much, if over compressed, it can actually push the bullet back out of the case a bit. Messes with your OAL, making it very inconsistent. Might even result in moving the bullet out to contact the throat. Ball powder is less likely to NEED to be compressed, it usually come right up to 100% load density with max charges. A trick that I use to get extruded/stick powder to settle is to use a long drop tube when manually charging cases. Another trick is to pour the powder in a funnel on the side of the funnel,(ya know the tapered side), it causes the powder to swirl into the drop tube. Seems to line up the sticks of powder so they stack tighter. __________________ The more people I meet, the more I love my dog They're going to get their butts kicked over there this election. How come people can't spell and use words correctly?