Beerman

I am loading 9mm and .223, and I am confused on what powder disc to use to dispense my powder. HELP..

scooter89

The instructions that cake with your dies tell you what starting charge is and what that volume is then find the disk with the closest marking to that volume, place that hole under the hopper, screw it down, weigh the charges thrown load 5-10 rounds, test fire, smile, load more up. Have fun and be safe.

Beerman

Should I weigh the case empty and the weigh it with it charged to get my results?

GunLover

If your also using lee dies then they came with some loading info for that calibur and tells you which disk to use. Lee's reloading manual also tells you which disk to use for the starting load. Without any of that data, put in a disk, measure the charge and adjust up or down until you get what your looking for. But sometime there isn't a disk that is the right size. I have had to drill out a few to get what I wanted. Lee's adjustable charge bar doesn't work for every charge and powder combination. I had a long conversation with a tech at Lee's about this and made some suggestions. What happens remains to be seen.

Beerman

I will see what I can find out when I get home today. Should be pretty dang simple.

tglazie

I bet Lost Sheep will be along in a bit to give you a proper advice on the whole process, but for starters lets talk about this part. There is no need to weigh the case first, you simply drop the charge into the case, remove the charged case from press and pour the powder into your scale pan, observe the result and pour the charge back in the hopper (this is after you have dropped and poured back 5-6 charges first to make sure the hopper has settled). Once you have done this several times and are comfortable that your charge is where you want it, and that it repeats with a level of accuracy that you are happy with (and that is safe), you then move on to production mode and measure every 5 or 10 charges, or whatever interval works for your needs. After checking a charge, simply pour the charge back into the hopper and drop another on into the empty case. One important note here: in EVERY instance, you should be VISUALLY CHECKING your cases to ensure that they are properly charged before seating the bullet (assuming you are not using a powder check die).

You are actually not weighing the actual charge that goes into any assembled cartridges when you load this way, you are simply checking dropped charges at a regular basis to ensure that the the, unless you are funneling your checked charges back into the case, which is not necessary, safe or recommended. Placing a loaded case back into a press in this manner is a good way to double charge a case. We are creatures of habit- if you are loading most cases with the powder measure, and your spot checked cases by hand you are just increasing the chance that you accidentally get out of rhythm and drop a charge into an alread charged case.

Just my 2 cents.

Jack D

I use the same loader and always weigh the powder charge from the chosen disk and charge hole to be sure. My weights rarely match the charts exactly. When I get the correct charge, I go with it. If I'm loading maximum for my gun, I weigh every powder charge. You will get some variation.

Beerman

Great info there. Thanks.

Beerman

If it calls for 3.7g, what would be the so called over/ under that would be tolerable?

Maximumbob54

Just to make sure you don't do the same mistake I made early on...

When you are testing each cavity on the disk for how much powder it throws, make sure you are testing it the same way you are going to load with it. If you are going to use the auto indexing rod so that with each pull of the handle it rotates around then make sure you do your drop testing like that. I was guilty of removing the rod. I pulled it out, dropped the powder a few times dumping it back to get the powder moving, then I tested a few throws. They were just right. I then went and put the indexing rod back in the center under the turret head. I measured the very first powder drop and go figure it was more than it was before. Duh moment... As the powder cavity is rotating around it shifts the powder in the cavity around to help fill the cavity with the movement. So not to belabor the point but make sure you set it up and test it the same as how you will load with it even if you are going to turn the turret head by hand. It does make a difference.

Beerman

Seems to me you know about this some how.

thndrchiken

First you determine powder/charge, then you look at the chart provided by Lee to determine the the cubic centimeter of volume for that powder which will determine which disk and which orifice to use. When using the Lee Perfect disk powder measure it goes off of volume, not weight.

tglazie

This totally depends on the application. Some powder/bullet combos can work fine with .2g-.3g spread, others require a much more accurate charge for accuracy. Unique, for example, seems to shoot well even if the charge varies a few tenths.

If you are at the extreme high or low end of the charge range you should be careful that you are not throwing too hot or too light a charge for safety. Too light a charge can be just as dangerous as too hot a charge (stuck bullet)

Note that you will see MUCH more consistency out of your auto-disk measure after you throw a few hundred charges. There is a definite "break-in" period before you start seeing max accuracy.

For reference, if you are using an easy to meter ball (spherical) powder like HP38 you can expect to throw .1g-.2g easily. I have a digital scale that measures to .02g and find with steady technique I can hold a charge between 3.9g-4.0g all day (+/-.05g). That is more than accurate enough for nearly any application. I find extruded powders like N320 meter just as well, yet when I try to throw a rifle charge using H4895 and a double disk setup I cant hold the charge to my liking. For that powder I just use a funnel and either batch load, or trickle the charges and case by case as I indexing.

Twoboxer

Lee provides charts for lots of powders that show how many grains each cavity will throw. THIS IS A STARTING POINT ONLY. Your results are unlikely to match exactly what Lee predicts. Soooo . . .

-- Choose a cavity and set up.
-- Using a clean, fired brass with primer still in . . . or a piece of brass you have already put a primer in . . ., throw three charges returning the powder to the hopper. This lets the adjustment settle in.
-- Throw and weigh three charges, returning the powder to the hopper.
-- If necessary, choose another cavity and repeat. If not, begin to reload.
-- Periodically check that nothing has changed . . . eg every 10th round while you are learning and until you get a feel for the press . . . returning the powder to the hopper.

Finally, try to use the same stroke and same method for each throw. And then go buy an Adjustable Charge Bar. For a few dollars, this device will allow you to set ~exactly the charge you want.

tglazie

Good advice. Note that the adjustable charge bar only works for charges above 4 grains though, in most cases. The microdisk works well for 2.5-3.5 charges though.