Measuring powder

I just finished measuring powder for the .243 Win loads that I have worked up for the article I am writing on that caliber. I loaded five cartridges each, with four different powder weights and two different powders. I am using IMR 4831 and Reloder19 for these loads and I was careful to measure each cartridge to plus or minus 1/10th grain. The bullet is the 95 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip, which has a reputation for excellent accuracy.

Generally, I set the powder measure to throw a specific weight, and I check it every ten rounds or so. If I am loading light charges of fast powder, like Bullseye for .45ACP, I might not check the weight but every 50 rounds. I know what 4.5 grains of Bullseye looks like, and I look at each charge before I seat that bullet. If it doesn't look right, I dump the charge and throw another one.

But, tonite was different. Each charge was weighed exactly and the bullet was seated immediately. I loaded 40 rounds total and it took just a little over an hour.

Records keeping is a bitch when you are working up loads, because all the loaded rounds look alike. One simple trick is to mark each primer with a different color felt marker. With two powders, the bullets were marked with a single color for the different powders and I have a key in the top of the bullet box so I can look at the bullet and primer and know just exactly what is loaded in the case.

I can load for the .45 ACP, the .357 magnum, the 7mm magnum, and the .45-70 without thinking much about it, because I went through the cartridge development stage with each of those calibers long ago. I know what works and I stick with that.

Loading for the .30-30 is probably simplest. 30 grains of 3031 is a standard load that has worked for a lot of folks for a long time.

I had forgotten how demanding it is to work up loads for a rifle. The hard work is done now, and I'll get to shoot them this weekend. Look for the article in a couple of weeks, in The Frugal Outdoorsman.