Advice on Powder Throwers for speeding up reloading

PSE Composites Limited - The next level Rifle Stocks
That's what I thought, hence 'no offer'. I object to people expecting to get something knocked off a reasonable/realistic price.
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Yes, it is amazing, if you are long in the tooth enough to understand the comparison, the folk in life that want to pay half a crown and yet expect to be given the guinea seat! And EVEN THEN haggle that they should only actually have to pay two bob!
 
I always use a Lee Perfect measure set to throw just under the weight I want and trickle up to the exact weight. This is the one stage in reloading where we can outdo the big boys who measure by volume. If you want maximum accuracy then I think it's a small price to pay.
 
I throw the initial charge with the Lee scoops and then trickle using a Target Master - another vote for this cracking piece of kit. Used to throw the initial charge with a Lee thrower and then trickle, but can't be bothered to get this out now I have the scoops.

Regards

Mark
 
I've had my Harrel for 18 years and it was sold to me on the basis that the accuracy of each throw is such that I wouldn't need to trickle up. I did as prescribed to begin with but then discovered that with extruded powder it didn't throw accurately enough not to trickle up. It will meter better with ball powder but I only use extruded types so to me it is no better in that sense than say a RCBS Uniflow which is what I used to use. They are a quality piece of equipment but I will always weigh each measure and trickle up - just my personal experience and obviously others differ.
 
jon2 said:
I've had my Harrel for 18 years and it was sold to me on the basis that the accuracy of each throw is such that I wouldn't need to trickle up. I did as prescribed to begin with but then discovered that with extruded powder it didn't throw accurately enough not to trickle up. It will meter better with ball powder but I only use extruded types so to me it is no better in that sense than say a RCBS Uniflow which is what I used to use. They are a quality piece of equipment but I will always weigh each measure and trickle up - just my personal experience and obviously others differ.
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That's very interesting as I intend to pick one up in either NY or Reano next year. I wonder if Muir has encountered a similar problem and if this particular atribute is applicable to all Harrel models.

It would be an expensive mistake if it were to end up doing no more than my 30-year old RCBS dispenser is capable of. Namely dumb a - 5% charge to top-up with trickler!

K
 
My RCBS thrower is accurate to +/- 0.5 grain. Not accurate enough for me so I always trickle. It's fast enough and I achieve 0.02 grain accuracy with a Gempro 250 with this method. If you are into a bit of LR shooting and SD is important to you this combination is the best I have found so far. If you are only interested in deer at 200 yds then I'm sure a thrower on it's own is accurate enough.
 
In theory the most accurate, surely, is the Belding and Mull powder measure and others that use its double drop system. Powder being dropped from the main hopper to a smaller chamber on an out stroke from which THAT powder is then dropped into the actual measuring chamber on an in stroke? I have one and find it in practice no better than the Lyman 55 or RCBS Uniflow or even Ohaus Duo-o-Measure that I have used when fitted with a "V" baffle.

But isn't the reality that unless we load liquid propellant into our cartridges that there will always be variations in weight due to us measuring that power so dispensed by volume and NOT by weight in all the traditional powder measures that don't use a weighing scale attached to an automatic cut off but instead measure by some form of cavity?

And that practice has shown that smokeless loads dispensed by volume, bys such a cavity, are in fact as consistently accurate...for some reason unknown (to me)...as smokeless loads dispensed by exact weight and that effort to ensure an exact identical weight to the n'th of a grain is merely fetish?

For seventy grains weight of ABC1200 powder where the grains have been cut in half or crushed WILL perform differently that seventy grains weight of ABC1200 powder where the grains are all of original length and neither cut in half nor crushed thus accuracy of weight alone still will not eliminate the possibility that variation in grain size will have on burn rate and so performance?

IMHO the biggest and most useful way to try to achieve consistency is to fit a simple inverted "V"shaped powder baffle into the powder reservoir which from my own practical experience acheives the same end as does the more elaborated system used in the Belding and Mull.

To answer the OP's original enquiry when I used to competitively shoot .303 SMLE and No4 rifles I used an RCBS Uniflow (to which I later added the RCBS "V" baffle) and found that entirely satisfactory for Viht N140 and N150 with the "stock" load of 41.5 grains (or thereabouts) then used almost universally by myself and rival competitors.
 
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There are a massive number of variables reloading. When people tell me they weigh each charge to an n'th of a grain I ask if they weigh their prepped cases, or mike their bullets, or find a way to insure exactly identical neck tension from case to case, or get the manufacturers guarantee that the primers are of identical strength. All these things can negate a powder charge of a precise weight.

If, for example, your cases vary in capacity by a grain or a grain and a half, weighing powder to an exactitude will do little to aid grouping. If all the variables are ironed out it might help but even bench rest shooters meter charges by volume.....~Muir
 
Muir said:
There are a massive number of variables reloading. When people tell me they weigh each charge to an n'th of a grain I ask if they weigh their prepped cases, or mike their bullets, or find a way to insure exactly identical neck tension from case to case, or get the manufacturers guarantee that the primers are of identical strength. All these things can negate a powder charge of a precise weight.

If, for example, your cases vary in capacity by a grain or a grain and a half, weighing powder to an exactitude will do little to aid grouping. If all the variables are ironed out it might help but even bench rest shooters meter charges by volume.....~Muir
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Yes absolutely. It's just that my RCBS Uniflow will do it just about as well as my Harrell. As you say it depends how accurate you want to be but I think the op was looking for a measure that would throw charges so consistently that it would mitigate the need to trickle up to exactly the same weight. My Harrell won't do that.
 
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jon2 said:
Yes absolutely. It's just that my RCBS Uniflow will do it just about as well as my Harrell. As you say it depends how accurate you want to be but I think the op was looking for a measure that would throw charges so consistently that it would mitigate the need to trickle up to exactly the same weight. My Harrell won't do that.
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Agreed. I'm just commenting on the need/benefits of trickling. ~Muir
 
"Just about" aint good enough for my 22 Hornet loads!

Muir, you convinced me the Harrel was the dogs dangly bits and worth the not inconsiderable investment so should I now stop looking for a supplier in NY? Had planned to collect when on your side of the pond next year.

K
 
don't think you will find a significant proportion on here either
Operator error accounts for larger group sizes than any amount of kernel counting in the vast majority of sporting shooting!
 
Klenchblaize said:
"Just about" aint good enough for my 22 Hornet loads!

Muir, you convinced me the Harrel was the dogs dangly bits and worth the not inconsiderable investment so should I now stop looking for a supplier in NY? Had planned to collect when on your side of the pond next year.

K
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No you are misinterpreting what I'm saying. I believe in getting the best meter/measure you can get. My Neil Jones, as I've mentioned, tossed 42 grains of H4350 to a nauseating regularity. Twenty charges had (iirc) 14 being exact, four varying .2 and two varying .1 grains. That is darned well good enough. Am I going to weigh each charge when the measure is delivering that kind of accuracy?? Not likely. I am not that demanding of my rifles. I shoot 7x10 plates out to about 700 and shoot (roughly) 16x18" plates out to 1100. I hit. I'm happy. But as was mentioned, most error is shooter induced and I can minimize the performance of the best loads.~Muir
 
I've used an rcbs powder thrower for 16 years ish.i always thought it was pretty accurate but I've been trickling powder for maybe 6 or 7 years.i tested the throwers accuracy on a Gempro 250 several months ago and it would vary 0.5grs.i am not really sure how another thrower would do it any better....?
 
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