It does make a difference group

[BudT]

Some reloaders don't mess around with a couple of tenths of a grain of powder, well it can make a serious difference.

[bruce]

Agree. Working up a load is a step by step process. The last few steps ... often in 1/10's of a grain. The above target ... several strings of each load or one string with each load? Sincerely. bruce.

[aintright]

Good point Bruce , going to check a string on some loads I was working with in a T/C Venture Predator 308 . Went from 42 to 43 gr of IMR 4064 in .5 gr jumps . Might give some thing in between a try .
42 and 42.5 shot pretty tight , three shot groups running from .5" to .8" , first group on a clean barrel was inch and a quarter but then tightened right up .
Kenneth

[BudT]

Agree. Working up a load is a step by step process. The last few steps ... often in 1/10's of a grain. The above target ... several strings of each load or one string with each load? Sincerely. bruce.

Took a new load using Win 760 then changed the primer to a WLR standard and re-set my seating depth on the bullet and it changed to the top group, acceptable yes but not what I thought the rifle was capable of. I changed up by the 2 tenths in charge leaving everything else the same and bingo I hit a sweet spot. 5 shots in the lower group, my eyes are not as good as they were so when I crank out a good one I'm surprised and pleased. No repeats on the upper group but 2 more of the lower group confirmed the load. Both would go hunt.

[Sunray]

"...it can make a serious difference..." Yep. As little as .1 can matter.
42 of IMR 4064 is very close to the start load for most bullet weights. It is the start load for a 165. You really need to go up from the start load to the max load, then once you have the most accurate load at .5 increments, go back to the charge before that one and go up by .1. If you feel like it.

[JB White]

I haven't had that drastic a change between thrown/randomly checked charges and trickled/weighed charges. I reckon it depends a lot on a lot of factors. Rifle, cartridge, components...
While I could see a measurable difference, it usually wasn't worth the effort for Sunday paper punching. My powder trickler isn't going anywhere though.

[BudT]

I throw a light charge then trickle it up to the number. For me I do a load at the start then .5 grain all the way up the ladder till .5 under book max. I use the book recommended COAL, primer and my case and bullet. Somewhere along the line I find something that wants to shoot then I go into the 1-2 tenths of a grain thing, when I settle on the load I then start to mess around with the bullet jump or adjust to whatever shows best accuracy at the best velocity. It's always a compromise at some point but safety is always "first".

[Major Tom]

Since none of my reloads are any where near max. and since I don't shoot for dime sized groups; a scooped powder charge is OK with me. I do check the powder weight by scale every 10 rounds.

[Liam]

This is irritating, as the majority of electronic powder scales advertise their product as capable of "+ or - .1 grains" accuracy. Granted, I'm not steady enough to realize super accurate groups, but I feel I am handicapping myself at the bench with my little RCBS Rangemaster 750, which tends to wander within minutes of having turned it on. Constantly having to re-zero the thing.

[BudT]

I use a balance beam scale, I have no intention of up grading to a electronic scale. A RCBS 5-10 to be exact, bought it used a few years ago.

[JB White]

Beam scale here too. Lyman 1000. I don't recall but it's probably somewhere around 30 years old. Haven't had to change a battery

[snakehunter]

I use a balance beam scale, I have no intention of up grading to a electronic scale. A RCBS 5-10 to be exact, bought it used a few years ago.

I feel the same way. I wouldn't use an electronic sale if I got it free. I also use an RCBS which I got 25-30 years ago.

[bruce]

Have a couple of RCBS 505 beam scales. Have a RCBS Rangemaster. Both types are excellent. The Rangemaster is faster/easier to use. Have used the beam type since 1980. Have used the Rangemaster since 2014. It is a matter of what one prefers to use. THe scales are equal in performance/function. For my purposes, the Rangemaster is easier and quicker to use. JMHO. Sincerely. bruce.

[RED]

I don't know, but I don't think that .2 grs are going to consistently make that much of a difference... .2 grains is .00454% of 44. Back when Dillon started testing his progressive presses, he was able to demonstrate again and again, that at the bench-rest matches a thrown charge was equally as accurate as a weighed charge. My RCBS measurer is probably plus or minus, .25-.30 grains. I throw 10 charges and weigh 1 at random and that works for me. But, a .25 MOA difference in accuracy is totally meaningless to me. A whitetail at 200 yards is dead, but a whitetail at 400 yards is safe from me because I would not take the shot.

My longest ever kill shot on a deer was a measured 433 yards and that was 25 years ago. Back then I would take risks and almost every deer was a head shot. I figured in the head he's dead, no tracking needed. That was until I spent a entire day trying to find a deer that was missing his lower jaw. I shot him just after dawn and found him at dusk. He was in a pond trying to drink when I put him out of misery. Since then every deer I have taken went less than 50 yards. I have killed deer with a 7mm Mauser, a 8mm Mauser, a .257 Bob, a 25-06, .308 but mostly a 30-06.

Just my $ 0.02.

[snakehunter]

Sorry Red. I've got to disagree. .2gr +/- of powder makes a significant difference in accuracy in my 223. Whereas it makes a lot less difference in my '06. In the 223, 25,4 gr of 748 with a 50gr Nosler and a Rem 7 and 1/2 BR primer gives me groups averaging .20 moa If I go up or down by .2 gr, the groups open up considerably. Up .2 gives me .35 moa and down .2 gives me .48. In my '06, my accuracy load is 55gr 760 behind a Sierra 165gr Game King with a CCI 200 primer. That load gives an average group of 1.16 moa. At 54.8gr the average group is 1.23and at 55.2 it's 1.32
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