Which Ball Powder?

[bradaz11]

I'm not sure that unflattened ball is very common as flattened gives more surface area to transfer the burn doesn't it, compared to ball. Maybe it's more common for slow burn rifle powders?

[Alpha1]

I would look at the Ramshot powders they are very fine and should work in the Lee disc thingy.

[bradaz11]

I have started using the auto drum but these still use a volumetric process. I even started using a dipper as l was getting better results. I wanted to go back to try and use the discs as the principle is sound and l thought an un-flattened ball powder would give the discs the best chance to perform.

The problem with discs is that unless you are using double discs, the size range isn't really ideal plus it gets very crunchy, something I don't really get in my drum. You also have to go very narrow on small charges as you are governed by the thickness of the disc. Whereas drums are nice and wide, but shallow so they are easier to fill with the powder especially on lighter charges

Once drums are seasoned they move really well and are very consistent for me

[bradaz11]

I would look at the Ramshot powders they are very fine and should work in the Lee disc thingy.

True blue was a nightmare on my autodisc as it doesn't seal well enough for the tiny grain size, so would leak out everywhere

[Alpha1]

I would look at the Ramshot powders they are very fine and should work in the Lee disc thingy.

True blue was a nightmare on my autodisc as it doesn't seal well enough for the tiny grain size, so would leak out everywhere

As I said I don,t use Lee stuff. Obviously you have more experience with Lee than I do.

[ukrifleman]

I am a fairly low volume reloader usually loading in 50 round batches. I don't rely on volume measures but weigh every charge so I know it is right. I throw a slightly under charge into the pan and It doesn't take long to tap a few extra kernels into the pan from the trickler to bring the scale to zero.
Regards
Peter.

Exactly how I go about re-loading, one round at a time and each charge individually weighed.
ukrifleman

[dromia]

As has been said it is high risk to use a volume only loading process, unless you have a decent set of beam balance scales to check your loads you will never truly know what amount of powder you are loading.

I have three Lee disc and three Lee powder thowers (the recent type) mounted on their own calibre specific presses.

They work well but like all powder throwers getting a consistent charge is down to consistent technique of operation. Get that right and any powder will work, excepting of course fine ball in the disc measures as there is a design gap 'tween the rotor and the frame through which the powder will leak with gay abandon.

It is your process that is giving the variation in powder weights not the powder.

I have found that mechanically operated throwers work better than hand operated as the mechanical action evens out the vagaries of hand use to give more consistent operation and charge thrown.

Also you must attune your senses to the process, so if a charge sounds or feels crunchy or sticky or not just right then remove that charge and refill the case.

I have also fitted the hoppers on all my throwers with baffles so that there is a constant weight of powder when it drops into the cavity so that the diminishing powder weight doesn't effect the charge.

Even with all this and my confidence in the consistency of my process every fifth charge is pulled and weighed, this regular checking is essential for safe hand loading.

As they say in Stingray "Anything can happen in the next half hour".

[Graham M]

I have always thought that a good powder measure and a trickler were essential for accurate loading. I have a Redding beam scale and a Lyman brass trickler (plastic tricklers are a joke IMHO)
I always try to throw within tenth of a grain and then if necessary trickle in the exact balance. Takes a bit longer but what's the rush.
Have you thought about Aliant 2400 for your .357Mag

[mag41uk]

Be worth looking at Vectan BA9 and BA10. I have used both in the Lee autodisc in pistol days and using the same now.

[Scrumbag]

I went through this a while ago as I swore at Unique a lot and I also swore not to buy another pound of it.

I have a Lee Perfect powder measure (a hand operated drum) and I have noticed the following:

For flake powder (Unique in my case)
- it's horribly inconsistent

For stick powders
- it's not great but improves the relatively shorter length to width of the stick (So, N160 which is pretty long is not consistent but RS60 which looks shorter cut to my eye isn't too bad. I think you could say the same for N110 as well).

For ball powders (Fair bit of Ramshot TAC and X-Terminator for .223 Rem, a small amount of H110)
Pretty consistent on the whole.

I think I will go for Hodgdon Universal for my next attempt. Apparently it throws well volumetrically and is "the modern Unique"

(* Don't mind the way Unique shoots, just handing it is a bugger and I still haven't finish the tub I started with...)