Powder dump 1000 to 1 shot

SQUAREKNOT · June 30, 2010, 08:38 PM

I was charging some .45's with Bullseye today. I inspected the loading block and noticed a few low charges. I weighed one of them at 1.0gr while being set up for 5.0grs. I took the Redding Benchrest apart and cleaned it up.
I charged another 50-same thing. I noticed the powder dropped awful slowly
and in watching the charges fall a shake of the unit dumped more powder. Long story short-I had a piece of paper or a tree leaf fall out of the drop tube. It must have been catching the powder drop and rolled over a bit at a time.
Eternal vigilance or KABOOM. double check everything twice

Hook686 · June 30, 2010, 11:08 PM

I thinking that is hard to do for the folks cranking out 600 rounds an hour with their progressives. What do you suggest ?

Jim Watson · June 30, 2010, 11:29 PM

A strong light aimed at the seating station of a progressive to support a firm habit of looking in the case as you place a bullet. You can see a gross under- or overload, even though not a small difference.

ScottRiqui · June 30, 2010, 11:44 PM

Quote:

I thinking that is hard to do for the folks cranking out 600 rounds an hour with their progressives. What do you suggest ?

If you can use one with your press, a powder-check die would alert you to a problem like this.

rogn · July 1, 2010, 07:15 AM

This is one of those places where an electronic scale is v useful. You take a moment here and there and randomly weigh loaded rounds. Or if critical weigh every round. It only takes a second or so per round-any great deviation indicates a possible powder variance. A mechanical balance is way too slow.

ScottRiqui · July 1, 2010, 07:46 AM

I use a mechanical balance for periodic checks, but the way I deal with the speed is to dump a charge on the scale and then immediately continue loading while the scale settles. After loading the next 1-2 rounds, I check the scale (which has settled out by now). If the weight is fine, I just put the powder back in the hopper. If it's *not* okay, I'm going to be pulling quite a few bullets, so the extra 1-2 rounds I made while the scale was settling isn't going to make much of a difference.

PA-Joe · July 1, 2010, 10:19 AM

Always a good idea to bump that handle on both the up and own stroke. Helps to get more consistent drops.

Edward429451 · July 1, 2010, 10:25 AM

Quote:

You take a moment here and there and randomly weigh loaded rounds.

You've never done this or at least with any degree of accuracy. This would only work if you had trimmed all your brass and weighed your cases and bullets so they were all the same exact weight to begin with. Heck , you can't even do this with factory ammo because of the variance in brass weight and bullet weight. Brass can easily be a couple grains or more different in weight and bullets too so in a cartridge where the typical charge is 4 to 6 grains you wouldn't be able to tell if it was double charged or had no powder at all.

FrankenMauser · July 1, 2010, 11:39 AM

Quote:

You've never done this or at least with any degree of accuracy. This would only work if you had trimmed all your brass and weighed your cases and bullets so they were all the same exact weight to begin with. Heck , you can't even do this with factory ammo because of the variance in brass weight and bullet weight. Brass can easily be a couple grains or more different in weight and bullets too so in a cartridge where the typical charge is 4 to 6 grains you wouldn't be able to tell if it was double charged or had no powder at all.

Exactly.

Most of my 9mm cases vary more than the powder charge they're receiving. Trying to weigh loaded rounds for powder charge consistency would be completely fruitless (and confusing) effort for some one that didn't know better.

Even with my Lapua -06 brass, the weight varies as much as 1.1 grains. Add a variance of 0.1 to 0.2 grains for the primer, and 0.1 to 0.4 grains for a projectile; and even some of the best loads could be off by almost 2 grains, before they get a powder charge.
The problem is much worse with other brands of brass, of course. With .270 Win. Remington, PMC, Winchester, and S&B brass, I'm not surprised when I see a deviation of more than 15 grains. (Most of my loads don't use brass sorted by weight. I'm not that picky for general shooting / hunting fodder.)

SQUAREKNOT · July 2, 2010, 08:30 AM

I posted because it can happen to anyone. You can't take anything for granted. I caught it because its part of my routine and it save me a lot of
work or even a KABOOM.
It was a very small piece of a leaf that got stuck in the drop tube but didn't plug it.

HappySig · July 2, 2010, 10:52 AM

I've been experiencing some similar problem, although a leaf wasn't to blame, I'm not quite sure what is to blame though, I have been loading .45 acp w/4.4 grains of red dot, and I noticed that my Redding BR 30 was occasionally
throwing about half a charge or so, so with that being said, it definitely pays to do a visual check of your primed, powder loaded shells, I myself put them in a loading block of course and put them under a bright light and I've become pretty good at spotting the squibs, I certainly can't tell if one weighs 4.4 grains or if it weighs 4.3 grains, but I can get the woefully undercharged ones fixed.

June 30, 2010, 08:38 PM	#1
SQUAREKNOT Senior Member Join Date: July 16, 2008 Posts: 263	Powder dump 1000 to 1 shot I was charging some .45's with Bullseye today. I inspected the loading block and noticed a few low charges. I weighed one of them at 1.0gr while being set up for 5.0grs. I took the Redding Benchrest apart and cleaned it up. I charged another 50-same thing. I noticed the powder dropped awful slowly and in watching the charges fall a shake of the unit dumped more powder. Long story short-I had a piece of paper or a tree leaf fall out of the drop tube. It must have been catching the powder drop and rolled over a bit at a time. Eternal vigilance or KABOOM. double check everything twice

June 30, 2010, 11:08 PM	#2
Hook686 Senior Member Join Date: May 22, 2005 Location: USA The Great State of California Posts: 2,090	I thinking that is hard to do for the folks cranking out 600 rounds an hour with their progressives. What do you suggest ? __________________ Hook686 When the number of people in institutions reaches 51%, we change sides.

July 2, 2010, 08:30 AM	#10
SQUAREKNOT Senior Member Join Date: July 16, 2008 Posts: 263	Powder dump 1000 to 1 shot I posted because it can happen to anyone. You can't take anything for granted. I caught it because its part of my routine and it save me a lot of work or even a KABOOM. It was a very small piece of a leaf that got stuck in the drop tube but didn't plug it.

July 2, 2010, 10:52 AM	#11
HappySig Member Join Date: March 16, 2010 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 51	it can and will happen I've been experiencing some similar problem, although a leaf wasn't to blame, I'm not quite sure what is to blame though, I have been loading .45 acp w/4.4 grains of red dot, and I noticed that my Redding BR 30 was occasionally throwing about half a charge or so, so with that being said, it definitely pays to do a visual check of your primed, powder loaded shells, I myself put them in a loading block of course and put them under a bright light and I've become pretty good at spotting the squibs, I certainly can't tell if one weighs 4.4 grains or if it weighs 4.3 grains, but I can get the woefully undercharged ones fixed.

June 30, 2010, 11:29 PM	#3
Jim Watson Senior Member Join Date: October 25, 2001 Location: Alabama Posts: 18,543	A strong light aimed at the seating station of a progressive to support a firm habit of looking in the case as you place a bullet. You can see a gross under- or overload, even though not a small difference.

July 1, 2010, 07:15 AM	#5
rogn Senior Member Join Date: December 25, 2005 Posts: 203	This is one of those places where an electronic scale is v useful. You take a moment here and there and randomly weigh loaded rounds. Or if critical weigh every round. It only takes a second or so per round-any great deviation indicates a possible powder variance. A mechanical balance is way too slow.

July 1, 2010, 07:46 AM	#6
ScottRiqui Senior Member Join Date: January 27, 2010 Location: Norfolk, VA Posts: 2,905	I use a mechanical balance for periodic checks, but the way I deal with the speed is to dump a charge on the scale and then immediately continue loading while the scale settles. After loading the next 1-2 rounds, I check the scale (which has settled out by now). If the weight is fine, I just put the powder back in the hopper. If it's not okay, I'm going to be pulling quite a few bullets, so the extra 1-2 rounds I made while the scale was settling isn't going to make much of a difference.

July 1, 2010, 10:19 AM	#7
PA-Joe Senior Member Join Date: June 9, 2010 Location: NEPA Posts: 909	Always a good idea to bump that handle on both the up and own stroke. Helps to get more consistent drops.