How Are You Measuring Clays Powder?

[greenheadwoody]

I have been reading for a while but this is my first post. I am shooting L-10 with and XD 45ACP and have been loading 3.9-4.0 grains of Clays (due to the advice on this board) behind a Rainier 230 RN. The load works great in my gun but I have questions about how you guys are measuring/throwing your charges. I have an auto disk and a Uniflow powder dropper but everything I read on the internet says that flake powder such as Clays will not meter well and will throw inconsistant charges. I have not tried either of the powder droppers with clays. I have just been using a trickler and a balance beam scale to measure my loads while using a rock chucker to finish them off. The single stage does the job but measuring each and every charge is really slowing me down. I also have a Lee Pro 1000 that I plan to use for size/primed cases by 1st flaring/powder, 2nd bullet seating, and 3rd FCD but I have not tried this either due to the flake powder.

How are you guys measuring and throwing your charges?

If using a powder dispenser, what brand and model?

Please help!

[Derek45]

DILLON Kool-Aide tastes great !

Standard DILLON powder measure.

I throw 10, and measure with My scale.

Then divide weight by 10 to get an average.

Edited May 4, 2006 by Derek45

[LPatterson]

+1 for Dillon but my load is only 3.7 Clays w/Laser Cast 230.

[HSMITH]

Dillon and Redding 3BR are REALLY consistent with Clays.

Your Uniflow with a baffle installed will work well too. I don't have anything good to say about the auto disk.......

[DougCarden]

In my experience CLAYS will vary within .01 grain when throwing powder charges with a Dillon Powder measure. I DO NOT recommend loading charge weights lower than 3.0gr with CLAYS due to powder bridging. I cannot advise personally other measures but I was told that a friend's Lee press powder measure does the same thing. Hope this helps...

DougC

[Alan Meek]

Uniflow with a baffle works for me

[greenheadwoody]

Thanks for all the info guys. Good to hear that Clays is possible to meter and get a consistant load with. The Dillion stuff is out for now(not ready to drop the dough but probably will one day). Guess I will try out the uniflow with the a baffle with the single stage until I get the Lee Pro 1000 set up and ready to give a try. CYA

[8ring]

I'm starting to use Clays with my Uniflow. Charges are in fact less consistent than with N-320 or Winchester Super Target. A firm medium speed throw seems to be the most consistent. I measure each load until I get five in a row that are spot on. Then I check every fifth load. It's a little time-consuming but I want to be careful with a very fast powder like Clays.

Chris

[TonyT]

I have used 3.6 to3.8 gr. of Clays behind the 230 gr. Rainier using a Dillon 550. Good performance.

[johnhurd]

THis workd good for large flake powders for me, slow motor with bob weight and bracketed under the lock nut on powder die.

[Mayonaise]

Standard DILLON powder measure.

I throw 10, and measure with My scale.

Then divide weight by 10 to get an average.

Exactly how I do it. You'll get variances throw to throw that will drive you nuts otherwise. This method at lets you know if you are at the bottom, middle or high end of the .1 of a gr. When I'm happy that I'm at the low end I start loading.

Clays meters pretty well for me. I buy in 8lb kegs so it's usually a while before I experiment with something new.

Mark

[aerosigns]

I shoot 4.0 of Clays with a 230 Gr. Ranier bullet. At the WI Section it chrono'ed right at 170 PF. The load is fantastic.

I also use the Lee Pro 1000 to load with. I have loaded between 1000 to 1500 of this load so far. The loader is not fantastic.

I have changed from the powder disk which cannot give 4.0. The disk causes you to take the .57 or .61 setting which is high and low. So I bought the Perfect Powder Measure which is a Lee item. I couldn't and still haven't gotten it to throw a consistant load.

Lee says that first you have to run a full pound of powder through it before it will settle down and get consistant. Also Lee says that their products don't always work well with flake powder. Trust me they aren't kidding. I ran and measured a 10 round run. The throw varied from 3.9 to 1.9, with only two rounds making the 3.9.

With the Lee Pro Squib 1000 (as I call it) you will have to baby sit every round. You will need to look into every single casing to make sure there is a decent looking charge in it.

I just bought a pound of titegroup to see if a spherical load will run better.

I hope this helps. Feel free to contact if you need to.

Jim

Edited May 13, 2006 by aerosigns

[HSMITH]

Jim, Bullseye will feel almost as good as Clays and will do pretty decently through the Lee a-lot-less-than-perfect Perfect Powder Measure (as I call it ;-) It might leak a little but that really isn't a big deal. Bullseye will do really well in the auto disk too.

Take your dremel to the next size smaller disk for the auto-disk. It is a lot of fooling around but you can get it to throw the charge you want and you can go back to Clays..

TiteGroup will do OK, but it feels a lot more 'pushy' than Clays to me. It will probably leak in the PPM too.

No loss though, the Lee PPM does pretty well with stick powders. It is worth keeping on hand just for that reason.

[revchuck]

No loss though, the Lee PPM does pretty well with stick powders. It is worth keeping on hand just for that reason.

Gosh, mine works fine with IMR 4064, I don't understand what the problem is with youse guys.

[Canuck-IL]

Standard DILLON powder measure.

I throw 10, and measure with My scale.

Then divide weight by 10 to get an average.

Exactly how I do it. You'll get variances throw to throw that will drive you nuts otherwise. This method at lets you know if you are at the bottom, middle or high end of the .1 of a gr. When I'm happy that I'm at the low end I start loading.

You've heard of the statistician who drowned in the creek that was only 1/2 inch deep...on average!

5 throws....3, 5, 3, 5, 4 = Avg of 4.0

or, .... 3.9, 4.1, 4.0, 3.9, 4.1 = Avg of 4.0

Safer to throw one at a time and add each to the pan that's sitting on the scale. You don't have to make yourself nuts but it'd be nice to get a feel for the huge sd possible in the throws w Clays. With a Hornady L'n'L, I get 15 throws within .1 and then a single case that's virtually empty...only w Clays. BE, Ba-10, V310 and TG are vrtually perfect over 100s of throws.

/Bryan

Edited May 17, 2006 by Canuck-IL

[Rico567]

Agree with "Canuck-IL" on charges. I'll drop 10, and record each one, and look to see if there's variation. Take a few minutes longer, avoid trouble. As far as measures, I guess I just lead a boring life. My Dillon measure drops Clays with complete consistency. I use no special techniques, other than I have taken to wiping out the inside of the hopper with a dryer anti-static sheet (Bounce, etc.) from time to time.

As far as the Lee Auto-Disk measure, it is as precise a powder measure as I have used, and I used two on two Pro1000s for around 20 years. It worked consistently on Clays, as well as 231, Universal, 540, WAP, 700-X, WSF, and probably a few powders I have forgotten.

[aerosigns]

Rico,

So did you do anything special to get your pro Squib 1000 to drop Clays? I have put a full pound through now, and it still will very from on the money to a couple of flakes.

I wish that the people at LEE would read these posts. I emailed them about the problems I have been having with mine. They were very kind to respond by giving me answers to a problem I didn't have, and the just ignoring the ones I did.

I told them that I am saving money with every round I reload, and that I am saving that money to buy a dillon. A company with GOOD customer service.

Jim

[Collin]

The autodisk from Lee works great with Titegroup. For me, it is typically within .1 grain.

Big flake powders were not nearly so consistent.

[aerosigns]

I agree on the Titegroup. I have been running brass through to see how it meters.

I have consistently been withing .1 grain. I will admit that once in a while though it will only drop 1 - 2 grains, then the next round will be fine.

So I guess you still need to look inside every round before you move the handle.

Jim

[ArnisAndyz]

Same findings as aerosigns.

Metered fine through the measure on the square deal, but not so hot on the Lee1000.

W231 metered fine throught the Lee though. Safety f

irst...I would either switch powders (don't use Clays) on the 1000 or don't use the 1000 (if you want to use Clays).

Edited June 20, 2006 by ArnisAndyz

[epj]

I have been reading for a while but this is my first post. I am shooting L-10 with and XD 45ACP and have been loading 3.9-4.0 grains of Clays (due to the advice on this board) behind a Rainier 230 RN. The load works great in my gun but I have questions about how you guys are measuring/throwing your charges. I have an auto disk and a Uniflow powder dropper but everything I read on the internet says that flake powder such as Clays will not meter well and will throw inconsistant charges. I have not tried either of the powder droppers with clays. I have just been using a trickler and a balance beam scale to measure my loads while using a rock chucker to finish them off. The single stage does the job but measuring each and every charge is really slowing me down. I also have a Lee Pro 1000 that I plan to use for size/primed cases by 1st flaring/powder, 2nd bullet seating, and 3rd FCD but I have not tried this either due to the flake powder.

How are you guys measuring and throwing your charges?

If using a powder dispenser, what brand and model?

Please help!

I have checked the powder meter on my Dillon 550 several times by pouring up 10 charges and weighing. I usually don't get more that a .1 gr variance, which is a .01 gr variance per round. That's pretty accurate.