Don't you weigh all your reloads?

*chris*

*chris*

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I am thinking about buying a S&W 625 Jerry M .45 acp revolver and while searching for reviews stumbled upon a spectacular reloading failure. What confuses me is I have a digital scale and weigh every round I reload when I am taking them out of the reloading bin and putting them into cases. It probably takes me 3 seconds a round to weigh each round. If the weight varies more than 2 grains I take the round apart to figure out what is wrong. Am I the only one that does this?

Chris
 
Take a box of bullets and weigh 10 or 20 of them, then do the same with empty cases and see what kind of variations you get, especially with lead bullets. Chances are you will find your 2 grain difference. So if you ask me you are wasting your time.
 
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I still use a single stage press. I take my tray of charged cased and look down the mouth of each one to verify no double-charge, then I go ahead and stuff bullets in them.
 
LOL, Thought this was a joke busting my balls. I started the same thing a few months back because I was weighing all my rounds (and my name is Chris) I think I was doing this for peace of mind but I have yet to have a FTF other than a light primer issue so I no longer weigh every round, just the powder in the first couple when I get started. And I stop reloading after 3 beers![wink]
 
I've found empty brass has a bigger case to case variation than what you're taking loaded cartidges apart for. I verify a single charge per case as I go and recheck my powder measurement every 10 rounds or so. Once it's a loaded cartidge though, no, I don't weigh it.
 
I weigh 1 out of every 10 powder drops just to make sure my 550 is throwing consistently, but I definitely don't weigh finished rounds.
 
1903Collector said:
Take a box of bullets and weigh 10 or 20 of them, then do the same with empty cases and see what kind of variations you get, especially with lead bullets. Chances are you will find your 2 grain difference. So if you ask me you are wasting your time.
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You would be surprised, the Berry's plated bullets and the brass all with the same headstamp are almost always within 1-2 grains.

I agree that cast lead bullets vary quite a bit more.

I am throwing a 4 grain 231 charge, so a double charge or no charge would be easily visible.

I guess I will keep up with my own strategy.

TZCHRIS, no ball bustin' yet.
 
I'm going to weigh a sample of .45 brass and bullets tonight, and run the stats.

Given that you're a careful reloader, weighing each round is as bad an idea as getting an AIDS test when you have no risk factors for the disease.
 
Also, individually weighing (and doing the mental math for) 100 rounds in 5 minutes seems... optimistic.
 
jar said:
I'm consistently amazed at all the time people waste when reloading.
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Any and all time I spend reloading is my peacefull quiet time away from the craziness! I am baffled by all the time my buddies waste getting hammered at the local bar? (or watching Oprah, lol) To each their own.
 
when i was working up a load for my bolt action, i loaded ten rounds at each of ten weights between the min and max.....
i weighed each empty primed case, the charge, the projectile then weighed each at the end as a sanity check.....

once i found a charge that worked based on my chronograph and holes in the targets i just dialed in that powder charge and went to town.....
 
cockpitbob said:
Me too.
Weighing each one can't do any harm. You might learn something about the consistency of the components you buy and it just might prevent a problem.
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If you want to learn about the consistency of components, weighing them together would only mask problems. Wouldn't it be better to weigh brass and bullets individually, if that was important to you?
 
Marcus5aurelius said:
It's not even overkill, it's just a waste of time IMO. There's a ton of things you can do to accurize your reloads, and this is not one of them.
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But the OP isn't trying to improve accuracy, he's trying to catch a double charge. So one question is: given certain variance in case and bullet weight, what is the probability of flagging a round as abnormal (he uses +/- 2.0 gn), given a correct powder charge. My guess is the false positive rate is very high, but it's an empirical question.
 
bill o said:
But the OP isn't trying to improve accuracy, he's trying to catch a double charge. So one question is: given certain variance in case and bullet weight, what is the probability of flagging a round as abnormal (he uses +/- 2.0 gn), given a correct powder charge. My guess is the false positive rate is very high, but it's an empirical question.
Click to expand...

It's easier to just eliminate all distractions (conversation, radio, etc) and really closely pay attention to your work. As far as pulling them after the fact, there is more variance in the brass and bullet that will make you pull your reloads unnecessarily. Even when I need to walk away from the press, I always clear it completely as to not double charge when I return. If it gives you peace of mind, then by all means continue. It won't do any harm, but it won't be very effective IMO.
 
I've come close to 2 grn difference just in different brass! I've never weighed anything finished. I do weigh the charge itself about every 15-20 cases though.
 
I am loading my .45 with Unique. And I get a consistent deviation of +/- .1 grains with my Lee Auto Disk powder measure. Check charge every 10 pcs as well as overall length. Not as critical with these as I am with loading .223.
 
i don't understand why you would want to weigh each finished round.

whats the point.?????

i weigh the powder drops to make sure its consistent, i also measure

the COAL to check the seating die, but to weigh a finished round seems

like a waste of time and then to take them apart ????????
 
I tried this after making a batch of 9mm that had some uncharged rounds. The problem I found was that the inconsistencies in the brass weights and bullet weights made it impossible to conclusively determine whether I had charge differences.
 
bill o said:
Also, individually weighing (and doing the mental math for) 100 rounds in 5 minutes seems... optimistic.
Click to expand...

I have a digital scale and I load the finished rounds in a case like this:

opplanet-plano-molding-50-count-handgun-ammo-case-122550.jpg


There is no math required, an average DEWC, casing and powder weighs around 221 grains. I just loaded 100 2 nights ago and none weighed less than 219 nor any greater than 223. Since I am loading 4 grains of powder, I could probably extend the "ok" range from 217 to 225 but I don't seem to have to. If I get a chance tonight, I will time myself, I bet it takes less than 5 minutes to weigh 100 rounds.

I am surprised I am the only one to do such a simple check that is 100% accurate. The 5 minutes max is more than worth the time over blowing up my Python.

I am using plated bullets and casings from the same production lot (or orignal box) so maybe that is why my components are so much more accurate over plain lead bullets that others are using? I know I went through a box of 1000 locally cast wadcutters and they did vary a couple of grains.

Chris
 

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