How close is close enough?

[Crusty]

How close do you hold your charge weight, coal and over all round weight tolerances? +/- 1% or less? More? Just looking for a reality check.

[Czechbikr]

If I was a top ranked competitive shooter I would probably would (have) to do that. I really don't sweat it much after I have the auto disk powder measure set and checked for the charge that I wish to load. I rarely do any other checks, although I know that I should, other than watch into the case to see if the charge is there and if it looks like all the rest.

I have never weighed completed rounds for consistency although I know that some people think it's a good idea to check for overcharge or squib rounds. The counter argument is that the inconsistency of case wall thickness, if you are loading mixed headstamp, precludes making much assumption about variance in weight.

Regarding COAL, I will place all finished rounds into the tray for the box I'm recycling and examine the whole tray from a couple of different angles to see if there are any ones longer than their neighbors and at the same time run my finger over the primers to see if any are standing proud of the base.

Pretty unscientific I know, but they all go bang....as long as I follow that big rule of looking into the case to see the powder. I don't load anywhere near max pressure. If I did I would be a tad more careful in auditing charges.

[Wolf1477]

I use a powder disk for my pistol reloads. It's fairly accurate. After getting the powder drops and the bullet seating die set to where I want them, I check the powder charge on a scale and check about every 20th completed cartridge for OAL. If my powder is supposed to be 5.3gr and it comes out 5.4 or 5.2 then I don't worry too much, if I start seeing drops of anything other than 5.2, 5.3, 5.4 then I stop what I'm doing and start dismantling the last 15 rounds.

If a round doesn't conform to my OAL then I generally run it through the setting die one more time, I've never had the die seat the bullet too deep after setting it, but, I have had it work its way out a bit before.


Now, rifle rounds on the other hand...well those I'm very anal about. I hand weigh every charge (usually verifying on another scale), inspect all the bullets before they're seated and check the OAL on every round.

On all rounds, pistol or rifle, when I put them in the storage boxes I'll check primer depth

[andreew]

I trust my bullet-seating die. I generally measure OALs once or twice at the beginning to check that the die is set right, and then sample 10 % at the end just to verify.

You might get long apparent OALs if you have high primers. If your seating die is dirty, you might get short OALs. When I run progressively, I get slightly longer cartridges (usually by 1/100 of an inch). Your bullet probably does not touch the very top of your seating die, so that is a factor too. As long as it's long (< 0.02 in.), rather than short, I don't worry about it. My cartridges are already longer than min. OALs anyway.

For charges, I throw 5 charges and dump them back into the hopper, then check the weights of 5 consecutive throws using a tared primed case. Once I'm happy, I check every other throw (progressive), and if that's stable, I check every 5-10 throws. I tolerate +/- 0.1 gr. variation from the set-point. The thing is, the Lee cylindrical Autodisk seems to vary throw weight with the height of the column of powder above, so I must always be vigilant. Checking the powder levels by eye is not reliable at all.

[fishinkeylargo]

I load primarily lead bullets in all pistol calibers I reload. I load on the mild side so I am also okay with a +/- .1g difference in powder weight. The auto disk seems to be right on the money to where I set it. As for OAL I have to watch that as the bullet lube will have a tendency to start to build up in the seating die and will cause my OAL to be short. The Lee equipment seems to hold it’s settings for me just fine.

Visual inspection of the powder drop, seated primer, and finished cartridge is just part of my normal routine.

[paulrabe78]

I drop ten charges all in one pan and weigh it on my digital scale. When it is right on there, I check one individual charge on the beam scale. I check maybe 5 out of 100 charges once it is set.

I am with Wolf1477 on rifle charges. I weigh every one on the beam scale. My variation is probably less than 1/4 of 1/10 of a grain.

[Bud0505]

I'm reloading on a Dillon 550B and I will check 8-10 charges before I start to load. Once I have my powder charge set I rarely check the charge during that reloading cycle. All my reloads are on the mild side.Plus or minus .1g is no problem Looking for just enough powder to achieve accuracy and cycling for the automatics. I go through the same process at the start of each reloading cycle.

R/Bud

[joecil]

I have no problem with +- gain but I don't load for max regardless. Now I do shoot 45 Colt in both my pistol and rifle using black powder. The OAL must be between 1.600 Max to 1.55 Min or it won't cycle in my Rossi as it will double feed. It doesn't matter to my revolver at all.

Now when I'm loading black powder I don't use weight at all just volume measure. 2FG will load in a 45 Colt case (sized) at 2.2 cc (level) and give me about 1/16" to 1/8" compression when the bullet I'm using is seated (250 grain RNFP lead bullet). I do load my my black powder though using a Lee Pro powder measure with a double disk system to equal 2.2 cc. I've found it pretty accurate after the first 5 to 6 loads. I usually dump the first 5 or 6 then check it but have found it to be really perfect.

[olfarhors]

pretty much the same here!
on target loads they are not at max so i set the powder measure, check a few of the first rounds on a scale, then maybe 1 every 20-25 rounds there after, like others mention i do visually check every case before a projectile is seated, on self defense ammo every charge is weighed as they are near max in almost every case.
as to length i check length on the first round , readjust the die if needed, then after the entire load I amy go back throguh and randomly check 8-10 cases out of a couple hundred, i have yet to find an imporoper length.

[Josh45]

Powder charge? +/- .1 Gr
.2 gr is kinda OK...But not OK, Does that make sense? It should since you reload

COAL? Uhh, About....0.005 is fine with me. Sometimes I get anal about it, Depending on what I am loading for such as the 9mm or the .40
.45 isn't so much as an issue with that.

As for brass weight, That I never really check. I did it one or twice but never cared for it.
Bullets sometimes get weighed just to make sure they are the right weight. If I have a 155 Gr load, And the bullet is 156-157 is fine.