Turret pressers and powder charge accuracy?

[greg vess]

I'm tempted to get a turret press. However, I'm so anal about my charge weights I just don't see how you can get that accurate of a charge every single time. Then go take that auto charge round and shoot the kind of groups I deem acceptable. I mean I literally have to trickle charge every charge to get it to the same thousands every time. Which automatic powder throws would give really accurate results?

 

[BHPSteel]

None of the press-mounted powder throwers will give you the same precision that you'll get from individual powder weighing and trickling. It's not so much a feature of the press - it's because those powder measures throw based on volume, not weight.

The technology - particularly with extruded powders - will never be as precise as a scale.

 

[greg vess]

None of the press-mounted powder throwers will give you the same precision that you'll get from individual powder weighing and trickling. It's not so much a feature of the press - it's because those powder measures throw based on volume, not weight.

The technology - particularly with extruded powders - will never be as precise as a scale.

That's what I thought. I was thinking about maybe graduating to a turret press but if it's not going to give me charges that are alike down to the thousandth of a grain then I'm not really interested in it. I'll just have to go on cranking them out by hand I reckon. 🙁

 

[BHPSteel]

That's what I thought. I was thinking about maybe graduating to a turret press but if it's not going to give me charges that are alike down to the thousandth of a grain then I'm not really interested in it. I'll just have to go on cranking them out by hand I reckon. 🙁

Oh, there are some good reasons to go to a turret press.

You can configure your die set exactly how you like it, lock all the rings down and not have to keep dealing with the hassle of setting your dies until you pack them all away to reload another caliber. Depending on the press, you could decap and prime in port 1, size in port 2, expand the neck in port 3, which would bring to the powder fill which you COULD fill by hand in port 4, advance the turret to port 5 and insert bullet, advance to port 6 for seating and then on to 7 for crimping.

For me though, the most powerful 'plus' would be that I can spend less time on fine-tuning the various die configurations.

I've done something similar to this on my Hornady Lock'n'Load progressive press. It's not fast, but you can assemble all the components and process a cartridge from components to finished cartridge in 'one step' rather than having loading trays lying around.
_

 

[Russ-T]

Ball powders seem to charge more consistently than extruded for me.

 

[greg vess]

Ball powders seem to charge more consistently than extruded for me.

Yeah that's what I figured out. The more fine the grains are the easier it is to hit the mark more often. When I weigh every single charge it is not often I get three correct weights in a row. I always have to manually trickle or take some out. When I hate some out I often have to trickle my way back up. Especially in the extruded powders. Again the finer grains are big and make it harder to drop a close charge. It probably wouldn't hurt for me to get a better powder throw. I guess that's one area I could improve on although I'd still have to fool with the charge. Maybe not so much though!

 

[atscott]

I use my Dillon press for most pistol and 223 loads where the powder is finer and the load is not going to be too hot if slightly overcharged. Basically volume shooting.

I still use my single stage for hunting or precision loads, which for me is most other rifle calibers. I also just got a second set of .223 dies just for my precision guns so I don't have to reset my Dillon die plates.

 

[rbstern]

Most of my rounds are loaded on a turret press, but anything I am loading for hunting or accuracy is single stage, with trickled/weighed charges.

Same issue as everyone stated above: Powder loading by volume has limitations that aren't suited for really precise loads.

 

[1006]

If you find the best powder charge for a given load, it will likely remain at the same level of accuracy at 100yards, even if the charge varies +/- .1, maybe even at +/-.2. I found IMR8208 to do this for me in my AR. I ran a test of hand weighed Varget loads against Dillon Progressive press loaded 223 with Varget and 8208.The 8208 loads from the Dillon were significantly tighter groups at 600yrds. The Varget loads were good, just not as forgiving of charge variances as the 8208.

 

[1006]

Other powders like Ball W748 weigh out extreamly accurately without hand weighing.