Loaded my first 60 rounds this week!!! Newb question about process...

[MemphisMechanic]

18 hours ago, GrumpyOne said:

What do you mean by "exact"? 

 

Here's what I want you to do. Take a re-sized case, put it in the powder drop station. Pull the handle, dispensing the charge. Pour said charge into the pan that came with your scale. Repeat this 9 more times, using the same force and speed pulling the handle each time. Now weigh what is in the pan, and divided by 10. That is the average charge for every case. Adjust your powder drop until you can drop 10 charges and get very close to the exact weight you want per charge...then don't touch the charge bar again, and don't worry about some cases being off 0.1 grains. You are dispensing the charge by volume, not weight, on the press. There will always be some settling causing heavier charges, or other issue causing lighter charges.

 

This is the way to go for IDPA/USPSA style handgun reloading.

 

You can tell I practice it. How else do I record charge weights to the hundreth of a grain? I’m damn sure not trickling my powder charges. It’s a ten drop average.

 

Nearly every recipe I’ve ever loaded:

 

 

[MemphisMechanic]

14 hours ago, bwikel said:

Sub group averages don't mean much in relation to individual drop weights. If you want to control the variation of individual drop weights you need to collect that data not an average of 10.  

 

You don’t worry about individual group weights because they simply do not matter. No reason to control then.

 

People overcomplicate what we do.

 

If your press drop ten charges which average 3.8gr of titegroup consistently? Then quit worrying about it, drop a 124gr FMJ on top of 100 of them, and head to the range.

 

Do they chrono at 130-135ish PF? They will through pretty much any handgun. But always check everything you reload. There is no excuse not to chrono.

 

Does *your* firearm shoot them straight? It might or not. Adjust OAL and velocity, or change bullets or powders until the load works optimally in your gun.

 

If it makes PF consistently and it’s accurate in your gun? You’re good to go. Those are the standards that matter.

 

@bwikel I say this because I’ve had ammo with an SD of 5.2 that didn’t shoot worth a damn in that gun... and ammo with an SD of 15 that shot 2.5” at 25yd through a very sloppy M&P.

[Falloutboy89]

17 hours ago, ChemistShooter said:

I have seen EXACTLY that. Powder flakes sticking to the brass. Also powder gradually accumulating ALL over the shell plate.

 

I thought about it. The only thing I could come up with was case lube building up on the powder funnel. I had never cleaned that before.

 

I took the powder funnel out, cleaned the powder funnel and the die inside and out with a paper towel soaked in acetone.

 

Paper towel came out BLACK the first pass.

 

Worked on it until everything was clean, put it all back together.

 

And poof, problem solved. Got the tightest standard deviation I've ever gotten, and no more powder all over the shell plate.

That sounds like a GREAT idea. I'm going to give it a try in the next day or two. Thanks for sharing.

[Falloutboy89]

I dialed it up to 3.9Gr last night. Tested two strings of 10 powder drops and was within 0.01 on each string.

 

I ran 250 through my 650 verifying the powder drop weight about every 50 pulls. It was dead nuts on.

 

I got 130 PF with a 10 round test I did last week with same OAL and 3.9Gr so I assume I'm good to go. I will pull 10 random rounds and chrono them first to verify/document.

 

I am curious about how this will change since I have a new batch of bullets arriving this week. I ordered 2k of RMR 124Gr FMJ RN... For my first 500 rounds I have been using Hornady  124Gr FMJ RN. I also used new brass for my first 250. It seemed safer to me than starting with range brass since I'm so new at this.

 

I have multiple goals for reloading. First is to get the lightest shooting, most accurate load for my G34 to shoot CO in USPSA. Secondly it is to get some general loads for my other handguns and PCCs to shoot well. And thirdly (although don't tell her) is to get some light shooting loads for my wife to shoot so she can move on from her 22's. She loves to shoot but is dealing with some slight carpal tunnel issues that make her not want to shoot anything else.

 

Thank you all for sharing your techniques, processes, thoughts and data. I really appreciate it.

[MemphisMechanic]

You will see very little difference (likely none) by switching between FMJ bullet brands. Different jacket materials will cause a small change in velocity (Montana Gold’s are slower than Precision Delta FMJs for this reason) but it’s not a big difference at all.

 

On recoil? Let me go ahead and save you some time: Several times I’ve loaded a 147 to 130pf and a 124 to 135pf... staggering them in a magazine. None of my buddies could tell me which was which.

Just load up some 124s to 133ish and shoot. Don’t experiement with bullets and powder, that won’t help. PRACTICE helps. Load a jillion of the same bullet and powder, and go shoot.

 

For your wife, load a 115gr bullet on top of 3.2gr of titegroup - what you normally load beneath a 147. It’s crazy soft, but the gun likely won’t cycle reliably without a lighter recoil spring.

 

Edited June 10, 2019 by MemphisMechanic

[Falloutboy89]

35 minutes ago, MemphisMechanic said:

For your wife, load a 115gr bullet on top of 3.2gr of titegroup - what you normally load beneath a 147. It’s crazy soft, but the gun likely won’t cycle reliably without a lighter recoil spring.

Sweet! I already have lighter springs. I guess I should've mentioned that. Appreciate this and the other info!

[TrackCage]

1 hour ago, MemphisMechanic said:

 

On recoil? Let me go ahead and save you some time: Several times I’ve loaded a 147 to 130pf and a 124 to 135pf... staggering them in a magazine. None of my buddies could tell me which was which.

Just load up some 124s to 133ish and shoot. Don’t experiement with bullets and powder, that won’t help. PRACTICE helps. Load a jillion of the same bullet and powder, and go shoot.

I can tell the difference between 147s and 124s, both in recoil and report. No, it does not make a difference in my times. Still, I prefer the 147s. Agreed that this is not something a new reloader needs to be concerned with, but if you're looking to cut to the chase, I think 147s in my Glock 34 are better than 124s... to me anyway. 

[MemphisMechanic]

1 hour ago, TrackCage said:

I can tell the difference between 147s and 124s, both in recoil and report. No, it does not make a difference in my times. Still, I prefer the 147s. Agreed that this is not something a new reloader needs to be concerned with, but if you're looking to cut to the chase, I think 147s in my Glock 34 are better than 124s... to me anyway. 

 

It’s a FEELING to the way the gun recoils - a perception - which you prefer.

 

Let me put it this way: given 1,000 rounds to practice with both and get the feel for the gun & ammo combination down... do you believe that your bill drill runs would consist of a tighter group, and a faster time, with either ammo?

 

I doubt it. Ammo doesn’t matter much. There’s hardly any difference at all. 

 

The last national championship in Production was won with factory 124gr American Eagle you can buy at the local store. Several of the other shooter in the top 20 were sponsored by a factory ammunition  company.

 

There’s no actual advantage to shooting lightweight gamer ammo. We just all want to think there is because we paid so much for our Dillons.  

 

Edited June 10, 2019 by MemphisMechanic

[m700]

I shoot primarily steel, and never in competition, so I load for whats comfortable. Im about 20% reduced felt recoil on my 230 gr 45 loads. and My 9 loads are about factory if not a little reduced. I did originally go to the range repeatedly with test boxes to dial in for accuracy in a vice. This meant nothing once i was back to hand holding and by switching to the more comfortable load my acuracy improved.

[Falloutboy89]

On 6/10/2019 at 12:45 PM, TrackCage said:

but if you're looking to cut to the chase, I think 147s in my Glock 34 are better than 124s... to me anyway. 

Thank you. I will get a sample pack of 147s and give it a try. Appreciate it!

[Falloutboy89]

On 6/10/2019 at 2:35 PM, MemphisMechanic said:

There’s no actual advantage to shooting lightweight gamer ammo. We just all want to think there is because we paid so much for our Dillons.  

I'm not willing to accept this just yet... hah. Appreciate the honesty though.

[DubfromGA]

Outstanding thread.    Some very helpful suggestions in here.

 

I'll be referring to this as soon as I get my act together and setup my press nextweek.