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Old April 4, 2007, 03:58 PM   #1
ShootingNut
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Lee Adjustable Charge Bar

From others expierence, do you find the Charge Bar not as good at throwing consistent charges, when you try say a 3.2 grain weight? Today, maybe my bad powder day , loading .40's trying for 5.8 grains I varied 5.2 to 5.8 on my digital scale. Some even came in at 5.0 which I dumped back into the hopper.
Now I'm starting to think the Disks with the round charge holes are better for this amount of powder? Is the Adjustable Charge Bar more suited for Rifle loading, where you open it up and create a decent sized powder cavity?
As you can tell, I'm still learning. Just started last February loading, need a lot of help!
Regards,
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Old April 4, 2007, 04:06 PM   #2
rwilson452
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It depends more on the powder your using. the disks and charge bar don't seem to be well suited to flake powders in small amounts. the powder bridges either in the hole or inthe hopper. One workaround is to tap the measure with your finger with each charge. another is to get an RCBS powder baffle and install it in the hopper. you will need to bend it out a bit for a proper fit, or both. The measure works best in small loads with ball powders. I use W231 or HP38 in light pistol charges.
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Old April 4, 2007, 04:11 PM   #3
Mike Irwin
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Even with fine ball powders like 231 I found anything below about 4.5 to 5 grains to be VERY problematic and spotty.

Once I hit that 4.5 to 5 grain window, things settled right down.
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Old April 4, 2007, 04:35 PM   #4
ShootingNut
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I should have noted

that I was using Accurate #5 powder.
Thanks for your posts, this forum is so great for us "newbies", as we gain insight from so many folks with a lot of expierence.
I gather that "hitting the powder right on the nut's", isn't that cut and dried.
Eventually if I can get the right combo, to get the reload that suits me, I'll stay with it. Then again, a little experimenting within the safe limits is fun too.
Thanks again!
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Old April 4, 2007, 04:40 PM   #5
ShootingNut
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Excuse me...

One little side note. Since starting to learn and reload, I'm NOT getting much time in at the Range! At this rate, my house will be chuck full of ammo, and I
won't be able to hit the broad side of a barn!
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Old April 4, 2007, 05:15 PM   #6
CrustyFN
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I didn't notice any problems with my charge bar until I got down to 3 grains of Titegroup. I changed to the disks and haven't gone back to the charge bar yet.
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Old April 4, 2007, 05:24 PM   #7
MikeRussell
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I use VvN320 and it pretty much flows like water on most days. The adj. charge bar will give me about 95% accurate drops (3.8-4.1gr depending on bullet used), but the other 5% it will give me an absurdly low drop (1.5-2.2gr) then go right back to being normal. Mostly, I use the adj charge bar to work up the load then modify the disks to drop exactly what I want.
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Old April 4, 2007, 05:25 PM   #8
RERICK
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Try some Power Pistol. I get 6 grains consistently with the adjustable charge bar. Make sure to rub some graphite lube into the plastic hole where the powder goes through until it turns a little grey as if you colored it with a pencil. That way powder won't stick to it and your charges will be more consistent. Also do the same to the little wiper on the bottom of the hopper.
And like rwilson said, You should probably install an RCBS baffle in it as well. It will fit just by bending it a little. As far as the hopper goes, I put some graphite in it as well. I just rubbed it all around the inside and the shook off the excess and that was it. Nice consistent charges. One more thing. For what ever reason, You have to throw 3 or 5 charges before the measure settles in and then it will be consistent after that.
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