Pre-measuring your loads. Bad idea?

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

jmortimer said: Why not just use dippers?

For a small cartridge such as the 44. Great idea. This is perhaps the most convenient way I've read here. (simple but effective) Plus one would have the ability to drop or add to your loads fine tuning right there where shooting or perhaps change powders altogether. I went that way once doing pre-measured powder loads and pre-made cartridges. Now I carry a travel bag with an (almost) exact copy of my bench tools scale and all. Wish I had thought of the dipper thing myself years ago. Could of save myself a bundle of shekels.

[m&p45acp10+1]

I agree with the hand press kit if you can get one. You can fit the entire set up in a large shoe box. So not that much space is taken up.

[mehavey]

Those plastic tubes would be ideal, but I've not found a place that sells them yet.

Get them here:
http://www.amazon.com/Karter-Scienti...stic+test+tube

If there's a static cling problem where you are, just put a "Cling-Free" and/or "Bounce" sheet in the ziplock bag with them.

[Jim Watson]

I still think you could powder charge your cases in the house, cover them, and get them to the garage discreetly. A motor oil carton would hold a good number of loading trays, for example.

I think that double handling powder with phials or such is a source of trouble.

[m&p45acp10+1]

Mehavey I think his big problem is getting things shipped to where he is. The places that will ship there are unbelievable in prices.

[wuluf]

My wife and I have a very small house, so I followed internet instructions and built a portable bench. I load for a few hours and then put everything away.

[RC20]

Another solution might be to load them, then put an identical load block over the top and secure them.

Rubber bands them together, put in a bag and carry to the garage. You would get a pretty good seal from any moisture and short trip and little or no temp drop during the crossing.

I like the idea of a hand pre seat better as its more solid and then finish seating and the crimp on the press in the garage.

[sc928porsche]

Do all your case prep, resize, clean, bell etc. at the garage. Bring cases home primed or prime (hand primer). Get the lee hand press it works great. Charge your cases and seat/crimp bullet with hand press. The lee hand press accepts all 7/8x14 dies along with lee and rcbs shell holders.

[Pond, James Pond]

The Lee hand press is a nice idea, but this is just supposed to be a question of convenience and comfort, rather than spending lots of money.

I can hand prime. That is OK. Decapping and resizing is pretty quick.

Measuring the powder has always been the longest stage for me, unless I was using the auto disk. I now have several new loads, some of which are too big for the autodisk without being the double-decker kit. So, scale charging is the only really way forward.

I acknowledge people's warnings about the chance for errors, so what I will do, is set up the Lee Safety Scale in the garage before a loading session, set it to the weight I have written on my little tubs, pour the charge into the scale tray to confirm it as correct before then putting it in the case. I bought some bristle brushes today to help avoid static problems.

That way, the time-consuming powder trickling can be done indoors. It may not sound like much, but that will probably halve my reloading time in sub-freezing conditions. Somethings any number of my extremeties will be grateful for...

[hounddawg]

just a thought but when I load at the range I use a dipper made from a old case cut down to where it dips a few tenths of a grain less than the charge and I trickle to charge weight. I can dip and trickle to exact weight in about 15 seconds on average. Would not be that much slower than double checking your pre measured charges

[Lost Sheep]

I think you should try a combination of what serf 'rett, mavracer and RC20 have suggested.

A pair of loading blocks in the bottom of a bucket or cardboard box with 50 or 100 primed, charged cartridges set in one block and and secured from tipping or contamination by the other loading block (inverted) on top of the cartridges. If you want more cartridges, stack more pairs on top of the first. Carrying up to 500 cartridges would be possible, though 250 would be easier if you have to wade through snow.

But my choice would be (actually is what I do now) to keep my loading press (a Lee Classic Turret, just like yours) in a toolbox (25cm x 25cm x60cm or 10" x 10" x 23") with a board and "C" clamps so I can mount it to any handy surface. All my other tools (scale, powder measures, dippers, etc) fit in another toolbox. Two trips to where they are stored (one for the tools and one for the supplies) and I can be loading almost anywhere. A dropcloth beneath my work area makes cleanup very simple.

Setup takes less than 10 minutes, as does teardown and working in a warm place is, I imagine, a LOT more productive, accurate and definitely comfortable.

The difficult part, though, is figuring out a way to get your wife to suggest it.

Lost Sheep

[Lost Sheep]

Originally Posted by Pond, James Pond

Measuring the powder has always been the longest stage for me, unless I was using the auto disk. I now have several new loads, some of which are too big for the autodisk without being the double-decker kit. So, scale charging is the only really way forward.

Why not (instead of the double-disk kit) just deliberately double-charge? On the Turret, the auto-disk has a return spring and double-charging is just a matter of short-stroking the ram. Easily done, and if done right, carries no risk of stripping the indexing ratchet.

On another question, if you have a disk cavity that throws slightly too light of a charge you CAN ream out the cavity just a little. Be sure to mark it clearly as oversized.

If a cavity throws a little too heavy a load, you can drill a hole in the side of the disk into the powder cavity, thread the hole to accept a machine screw and use the intrusion of the machine screw into the cavity to reduce the powder capacity.

Lost Sheep

[10 Spot Terminator]

Charge the cases and place them in plastic 50 round ammo boxes with lids. I did this quite alot when all I had was a Lee hand press. Could only do so much prep at a time with a busy schedule and everything got done in stages. Would put a sticky note inside the box lids showing all info up to that point in case it would be awhile before I could get back to that load.

[Pond, James Pond]

I don't have loading trays.

At least not the ones described. I made my own out of fibre board: enough for 100 cases at a time.

The loading tray option is nice, but would mean buying trays especially.
That means about €10 a tray and €xx for shipping.

Don't really want to go down that route, TBH.
Between reloading supplies and dreams of that SRH and this Steyr rifle, there is way too much stuff I want to buy to warrant blowing €25-30 on that!!

I could cut a board to size and bind that to the tray, so it is still an option I will examine.

[m&p45acp10+1]

James any type of tray will work just find a box it will fit in. Oh and for a block less likely to tip you can glue a thick sponge to a piece of wood. cut holes in the sponge for the cases to fit through. I did this for my fly tying solvents, and head cements. It holds them up keeping them from tipping over.

I am sure a car washing, or dish washing sponge cost less 5 Euros.

[hounddawg]

on the loading trays - never buy anything you can make yourself. If you have access to a hand drill and some wood or scrounge the rubbish bins at your local range for discarded commercial ammo boxes you have your trays

[jmortimer]

I suppose it is worth mentioning again, why not use powder dippers? Not sure how it would not solve every issue you mention.

[Pond, James Pond]

I suppose it is worth mentioning again, why not use powder dippers? Not sure how it would not solve every issue you mention.

Noob question time :
How would dippers solve the problem?

Seriously, I don't see it.
is it simply a case of find a combination of dippers that results in the exact fraction of a grain I'm after?

That seems like quite a fiddly process. Is there another way to use them that I'm not seeing?

I'd have to order a whole set, which means finding a supplier, as I only have the ones that came with my 3 die sets.

[jmortimer]

Lee Precision makes a set - cheap, but you can make your own with cut down brass and wire handle to your exact load charge. You can bend or solder a wire handle on the brass case. Safest way to reload. Static volume and no moving parts. I got two Lee sets so I could modify. You can modify by filling bottom with cardboard or just about anything or just cut down a larger "dipper/brass case." My process is used by some, hand prime off the press and charge with a dipper. Use Classic Turret in single-stage mode. You could use Lee Breech Lock Hand Press as suggested, and load in the comfort of your home. You can get +/- .1 grain with practice. If you are a competition shooter it may not work. I'm good with +/- .2 grains as I never hit the red-line. I like mid-to-high end loads.

[Pond, James Pond]

Thanks for explaining.
I can see the benefits of the dipper method. However, my brass is way too precious to use as dippers: .44 cases are like hens' teeth!!

I can definitely imagine using this method once I know what load I want to use on a regular basis, so once I've shot and chrono'ed all my new loads that I've been and will be working on and decided on the keepers, then I may well opt for the dipper method.

For now, other members have ground away my resistance! I've bought some kitchen wiping clothes and I'll make some hard covers with the wipers and a soft, sealing surface. I've got small ratchet straps that I'll use to secure them over my loading trays with the cases in them.

Provided the powder does not cling to the fibres, it should be a solution. Load cases as home and then bullet seat in the icebox... I mean garage.

[hounddawg]

James you don't have to use a .44 case to make your dipper. I use some 30.06 that some hunter was using to zero in his deer rifle to make mine for .308, .260, and .204 dippers. Just measure a load dump it in the rough dipper, mark it and cut it to length. For that matter a small piece of plumbing pipe with a cap on the end would work. Use some imagination and work with what you have

[m&p45acp10+1]

You can cut down rifle cases that you pick up at the range as well. I know that you are limited in what you can get there. Find a couple of pieces of rifle brass left at the range. Cut it down with a pipe cutter, or hack saw blade. File the top smooth, then chamfer, and deburr it. Even steel cases of 7.62x54R can be cut down. Use your powder funnel to pour the powder into the case. Mark a line above where the powder fills. Cut the case down. Then refill the case, use a file to get the case down to where you want it. Then use a piece of wire from a paper clip, or coat hanger. Solder it on for a handle you are good to go.

[NUKE HUNTER]

what about something like this, i know it only holds 50...
https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.c...ku=00038502032

[Elkins45]

If your plastic containers are otherwise satisfactory but the static is a problem, try the fix Lee always recommended for their plastic dippers. They say to wash them in a squirt of Joy dish washing liquid in water but to let them dry without rinsing.

I'm assuming you have Lemon Joy or some functional equivalent where you live

[Pond, James Pond]

If your plastic containers are otherwise satisfactory but the static is a problem, try the fix Lee always recommended for their plastic dippers. They say to wash them in a squirt of Joy dish washing liquid in water but to let them dry without rinsing.

Nice tip! Thanks!