Best / Worst Powder Metering in Dillon Powder Measure

[GunslingerDK]

What about H110 and 2400??

I plan on starting to load .357 on my 650, and would like to know what to expect.

I too have very good results with VV N320. I took 30 9mm rounds through the chrono a few weeks back, all were between 1109 and 1119 fps which I find very impressing!

[ranger351w]

What about the flake powders?? That is all I use. Green dot

[jmorris]

I'd be especially interested in what rifle powders meter well, for 223 and 308, because I hear that question a lot on the phone.

A lot of IMR powders are extruded and can cause problems in a progressive. Ball powders like 748 work great I also like ramshot powders as they work very well also.

[alpine_56]

2400, bullseye and AA No 2 work well for me. AA No 9 not so much. I haven't tried H 110, but I've heard it is also a no go in Dillon's

[smokshwn]

Since this is a common theme, I brought this back up.

Still looking for your favorite 308 powders that meter well in a Dillon Powder Measure.

From my notes I have these for 223:

Winchester 748, Hodgen H-335 & Benchmark, Accurate 2230, and Accurate 2015, which is a "stick (extruded) powder," but the sticks are very small so it will rarely bridge in the Powder Measure, all work real well for .223 in a Dillon Powder Measure.

I know 748 works well for 308 - long ago I used it a lot and had great results with it.

Also, for 308, Dillon recommended IMR 4895 and 4064.

Any more?

be

For the .223 heavy bullets (69 gr +) Alliant RL15 and Ramshot TAC are excellent powders that both meter very well

For the .308 RL15 meters extremely well and matches vargets perfromance very well.

For 55 gr .223 Ramshot Exterminator is hard to beat for performance and metering

[Antoine]

I had great results with:

W231

Titegroup

Unique

H335

[Derek45]

BLC-2 meters very well and was originally Designed for 7.62NATO ( .308 win)

[laportecharlie]

I'm sure glad I didn't know AA5 wouldn't work in a Dillon. I have probably loaded five or six pounds of it with no problems.

Charlie

[barney88pdc]

Here is a list I made from suggestions in this thread and others I have found. The data may not be 100% because the only powders I have ran in my 550 are VVN320 and WSF both of which work good for me. Feel free to comment or add.

What powders flow nice in a 550B

Good:

VV310

VV320

VV330

3n337

Bullseye

Clays

Titegroup

American Select

Power Pistol

W231

WSF

WST

IMR-4895 and 4064

H335 good for .223 and flows well

Hogdon Benchmark good for .223

Others good for .223 - Winchester 748, Hodgen H-335, Accurate 2230, and Accurate 2015, which is a "stick (extruded) powder," but the sticks are very small so it will rarely bridge in the Powder Measure, all work real well for .223 in a Dillon Powder Measure.

Bad:

Unique

AA5

Varget Excellent for 308 and good for .223 but tends to bridge

2520

W748

[benos]

I've had several results from customers that have had great results with Ramshot Tac powder, for 223, in a Dillon Powder Measure.

be

[anm2_man]

One quick reply - I sometimes use Military Pull down powders. The Original 4895 metered poorly (its a stick powder just like the current IMR 4895). The newer WC844 and WC844T work really great in .223 (and can be used in .380) and the WC846 and WC846T work good for .308 and 30-06.

[TonyT]

The ball powders such as W-231, WST, and WSF meter exceptionally well as do Bullseye, VV N-310, VV N-320. I also get very uniform drops with American Select, E3, Clays, and Promo. HS-700X meters well once you have about 5 rounds craked through. Above all avoid HS-800X which I have expereinced very variable metering.

[gose]

H335 meters like water in my 650, VV140 not so much.

However, VV140 still gives me SDs in the mid-high teens, which is much better than I get with H335.

So, I now worry less about how stuff meters and worry more about performance over the chrono and at 200/300 yards.

[Bob DuBois]

Powders that ran good on my 550's

231- 9mm,40S@W,45acp and 38 Special, old school but I'll use more 231 than anything else.

titegroup- 40S@W and 9mm, I use it mostly in 40S@W major.

red dot- 45acp

green dot- 9mm, bought 8lbs cheap at gun club flea market, worked well with 147gn lead loads.

Western 1420- 9mm,40S@W,45ACP and 38 special

HS6-38- Super

Running Solo1000 in 9mm now, it varies a little as it very light.

Works well in 9mm minor with heavy bullets.

I polished the inside of my powder funnel with Simicrome and a wad of Q-Tips and that seemed to help Solo meter.

AA5 ran OK but I haven't rushed out to buy another jug.

Unique wanted to bridge in 45 Colt, that's the powder I did the first funnel polish on, worked. Dillon Tech tip on the powder funnel polish.

2230 worked well in 223.

H335 worked well in 223.

[JDucros]

I purchased a pound of Alliant Unique today. Using it to load 9mm 124gr and 147gr FMJ. When I find out how it meters i'll let you know.

[Grumpy Finn]

I've noticed that humidity has lot to do with powder metering, I use 550b and most of my calibers have their own powder measures with unique tec's on them. I've calibrated every one of them on a nice day, garage door shut and my dehumidifier running all night so the humidity was around 50%, yesterday I reloaded some 44mag with N320, which is supposed to meter well, not so.

When I started reloading, the door was shut, temperature 80 deg. and humidity around 50%, after awhile I turned the machine off and opened the door, it was raining and the temp was around 85 deg., after about half hour of loading I noticed that my powder throws were not constant anymore and I was actually getting powder on the bench and machine, I also had to increase the amount thrown quite alot to get the same measurement from the original. I checked the room temp and humidity, 87 deg and 90% +-. Needless to say, I think I will be loading with the de-hum on from now on.

On the other hand, low humidity creates static electricity, especially with titegroup I've had problems believing my scales.

[JDucros]

It may sound tedious however with the humidity we have here I wanted to see how the first powder I was working with metered so I measured 50 loads to check for consistancy. Once I got my Dillon adjusted it threw every load exactly at 4.0 grams(for testing.) Once I started loading rounds and actually seating and crimping bullets I measured each case w/primer and bullet before and after receiving powder to check the weight. I made several batches with different loads and every one of them was exact. Now, this was using Alliant Unique powder. I will be trying out Hodgson's Tite Group next and will do a similar test(just not so large scale this time) to see how the Tite Group measures.

By the way, when doing the test the Humidity was at 55% on a dry, sunny day at 71 degrees inside and outside.

Thanks for your reply.

Cheers,

-James

Edited December 3, 2010 by JDucros

[dansy]

Powder that work well in the past in either my 650 or my 1050 in no particular order. (9mm, 40SW and 38SC)

W231

Titegroup

N350

HS-6

HS-7

3N37

IMR 4756

H 7625

alliant e3

Longshot

WSF

[dhenry132]

Take the powder hopper apart and polish all the metal part in the bottom with your dremel and some polish, also polish the powder bar on all sides and the track it runs in to a mirror shine. Easy the corners of the powder bar, don't take any metal off just break the edges.

Most all powder will meter great

[DyNo!]

Worst is probably IMR4064.

[rexican]

I also had consistency problems with varget, 4895 and 4064's metering, and I don't use the 550 for rifles very often because of this. The small case mouth of the 223 was part of my problem. Every once in a while the powder would bind up at the case mouth and spill everywhere on .223, but not as often with 7mm tcu.

BLC-2 worked well, however I'm still developing a specific load for it on the single stage before I get to reload 223's en masse.

Unique metered well, however fellow range patrons were quite happy when I switched over to clays(and I don't have to spend as much time cleaning).

Thanks for the info everyone, I'll be referring to this thread quite a bit.

[benos]

I can't remember if I put this in this thead already. So if I did then here it is again:

Good Powders for .223 / .308 Rem in a Dillon Powder Measure:

Winchester 748, Hodgen H-335 & Benchmark, Accurate 2230 and Accurate 2015, which is a "stick (extruded) powder," but the sticks are very small so it will rarely bridge in the Powder Measure. Also, Alliant RL15 and Ramshot TAC and Exterminator.

[Emerson]

HS6 meters exceptionally well in my experience.

[xd fan]

ramshot tac meters great for me for my 223

[DEP44]

I use AA5 quite a bit and I'm not aware of issues.

VV N140 is an ordeal to dial in.