The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - New to Reloading, Weight Variation Question

jwrowland77 · April 30, 2012, 07:59 PM

I'm fairly new at the reloading game, so I figured I'd pipe in with what I found.

I weighed every bullet from the 115 FMJ packages and saw a big variance, going from 114-115.6. This was going to drive me nuts. However the more reading I did, the more I realized that if the OAL is consistent and the powder charge is consistent, those are the things that matter.

I do trim all my cases, and figure if my cases are the same length (for caliber being loaded), and my OAL is within .003 of each other, and powder charges are exact, then everything should be fairly safe.

I do weigh out each individual load by hand though. Yeah it takes me a little time to load, but I figure I know without a doubt, what charge I have in each case. I can say this because after I charge a case, I immediately load a bullet in it. To me this makes for a better percentage of not having a double charge or not having a no charge.

I loaded some with Titegroup this weekend an realized that if it wasn't for my charging then immediately loading a bullet, it could be very easy to double charge with Titegroup since it takes so little powder as compared to the case size.

Just my observations since I started from a newbie point of view.

April 30, 2012, 07:59 PM	#7
jwrowland77 Senior Member Join Date: March 23, 2012 Location: Conway, Arkansas Posts: 1,398	I'm fairly new at the reloading game, so I figured I'd pipe in with what I found. I weighed every bullet from the 115 FMJ packages and saw a big variance, going from 114-115.6. This was going to drive me nuts. However the more reading I did, the more I realized that if the OAL is consistent and the powder charge is consistent, those are the things that matter. I do trim all my cases, and figure if my cases are the same length (for caliber being loaded), and my OAL is within .003 of each other, and powder charges are exact, then everything should be fairly safe. I do weigh out each individual load by hand though. Yeah it takes me a little time to load, but I figure I know without a doubt, what charge I have in each case. I can say this because after I charge a case, I immediately load a bullet in it. To me this makes for a better percentage of not having a double charge or not having a no charge. I loaded some with Titegroup this weekend an realized that if it wasn't for my charging then immediately loading a bullet, it could be very easy to double charge with Titegroup since it takes so little powder as compared to the case size. Just my observations since I started from a newbie point of view. Last edited by jwrowland77; April 30, 2012 at 08:18 PM.