bellyrubber Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 i live in mesa,az. like they say it's a dry heat. humidity rarely in the double digits. i've been loading the same powder charge for the last 6 mo. a storm front has brought rain in for the last 2 days and will stick around another day or two. could the high humidity increase the weight of the powder being thrown? i have been throwing 4.0gr bullseye with a lee pro auto disk like i said for the last 6 mo. today i tried and tried and it kept throwing 4.2gr. i haven't touched a thing. could the humidity be the culprit? any thoughts are welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juan Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 interesting once my powdre measure is set I dont check that often. I load rain or shine without adjusting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Rod Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 I'm on the other side of town and often take advantage of these cooler rainy nights to load during the summer months. Using a Dillon measure, I haven't seen a noticeable difference. Whether its 100 degrees and sunny or, like tonight, rainy and 79, I get the same +/- .1 variances with ball and flake powders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlockCanMan Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 I can't answer that, but if I don't use my press for a week, the powder will settle and my charges will weigh about a 1/10th of a grain more for the first 5-10 cartridges that go through it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Rod Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 I can't answer that, but if I don't use my press for a week, the powder will settle and my charges will weigh about a 1/10th of a grain more for the first 5-10 cartridges that go through it. Pretty sure that's normal. I get that with both my presses no matter which powder I use or the temp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougCarden Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 When I start to load after leaving the press I dump the first couple powder drops, as they are usually a little higher. After a couple they are back at the old number it is set at. DougC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gng4life Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 When I start to load after leaving the press I dump the first couple powder drops, as they are usually a little higher. After a couple they are back at the old number it is set at. DougC +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellyrubber Posted September 10, 2013 Author Share Posted September 10, 2013 hi guys, thanks for the input. i've gotten in the habit of emptying the pro auto disk after each session. so the powder was right from the jug. your right it takes 10 rds. or so for it to throw a consistent charge. but it never got consistent at all the other day. i'm baffled. i'll wait for the storms to pass and let things get back to normal.then give it a shot and see what happens. thx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Due to the massive increase in humidity, you would probably have reduced static meaning that powder may meter better than the typical 10% humidity days? Just a guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul-the new guy Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Modern smokeless powder in not hygroscopic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellyrubber Posted September 10, 2013 Author Share Posted September 10, 2013 i had to look up hygroscopic, so i guess that shoots down my theory. i'll throw somw charges here in a minute and see if i have the same problem today. thx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gng4life Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Modern smokeless powder in not hygroscopic. Just curious, then why do the manufacturers tell you to store it in a cool, dry environment? Won't the moisture cause it to clump up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsons1480 Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Modern smokeless powder in not hygroscopic. Just curious, then why do the manufacturers tell you to store it in a cool, dry environment? Won't the moisture cause it to clump up? I've always wondered this as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 That could have begun back in the day when powder was in cardboard containers. Moisture would not bother the powder, but, could have done in the container. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellyrubber Posted September 11, 2013 Author Share Posted September 11, 2013 well it kept throwing .2gr heavy. so i took the disk and put a very small strip of masking tape on the side of the cavity to take up some space. it worked. now it's throwing 4.0 everytime. if it acts up again i'll figure something else out. thx guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsons1480 Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 That could have begun back in the day when powder was in cardboard containers. Moisture would not bother the powder, but, could have done in the container. That makes sense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsons1480 Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Could another contributing factor to the powder charge difference be the pressure changes that come with the weather system? I could just be way off here, but I would think atmospheric pressure changes may be a contributing factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellyrubber Posted September 11, 2013 Author Share Posted September 11, 2013 according to the weather lady it was a slow, low pressure system causing the rain. i don't know how that would effect the powder being thrown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellyrubber Posted September 28, 2013 Author Share Posted September 28, 2013 here's an update on my original question and masking tape solution. i never was completely satisfied with that temporary solution. i changed powder weight from 4.0 to 4.1 for some test loads. it started acting up again. it gave me a hard time again throwing heavy. the wife says i never throw anything away and she's right. well,i got thinking and came up with a piece of black foam. the lee pro auto disk you turn counter clockwise to to open. so i opened it all the way. then turned it clockwise until the disk cavity was putting out what i wanted. then inserted the foam between the round red powder container and the black plastic mount to hold it in place. the wife also says i think things to death. that may be but eventually i come up with a solution. well, that's my homemade fix-it to my heavy charge problem. nothing scientific but it works. br. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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