MEASURING POWDER PRECISELY
Accuracy is key when shooting, but absolutely vital when reloading!
Measuring powder is the most precise, least forgiving operation in reloading, hence the author likes to check the charge weight on two separate scales before he starts loading powder into cases.
Reloading is a pastime that values precision. When assembling a cartridge we deal with dimensions of hundredths, or even thousandths of an inch. But, of all the actions requiring precision in reloading, none require it as much as measuring powder. Dimensional errors resulting either in failures-to-chamber or in poor accuracy cause frustration—errors with powder charges cause amputations.
There’s no contest. You can get by as a reloader without a caliper or a micrometer, but you can’t get by without a scale. There are any number of ways to meter out a charge of powder, but regardless of how you measure out your charge, you still need a scale to confirm that the charge you’ve thrown is the charge you expected. To that end, there are reloading scales available to fit any budget. At the low end of the cost curve are inexpensive, manual balance beam devices. At the far end of the curve are highly sophisticated electronic digital scales, and, in between the two there’s a wide range of options.
There is a difference between loading precision ammunition and loading bulk production ammunition. For precision ammo a powder trickler ensures the most uniform powder charges.
There are a lot of choices, here’s what I use. When I’m adjusting a powder measure to throw a certain load, I check each throw on a small Frankfort Arsenal digital scale from Battenfeld Technologies. This is a handy little device that is inexpensive, and doesn’t take up much room on the bench. When the digital scale indicates that the measure is throwing the charge I’m after, I double-check it on a balance beam scale. If the two scales agree, I’m ready to start loading.
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