Precision powder measuring

A la Richard’s method!

There are many who use such devices as the RCBS Auto Charge and feel it gives them the most accurate powder charges. While it does a decent job, more than accurate enough for our muzzle loaders and center fire hunting cartridges, it does fall short when doing precision loading for long range shooting. Note: It only measures to + or – one tenth of a grain …..so, if it measured one charge a tenth below what you want and the next, one tenth above? Now you have loads two tenths apart……….again for hunting loads or for muzzle loaders at reasonable ranges, two tenths is not going to cause a miss.

In a post I made concerning getting an early Christmas present, Deadeye put a link on for a measure he has on order: ceproducts.shop/collections/autotrickler-com-and-fx-120i-packages/products/pre-order-of-the-the-whole-kit-v3
This set up utilizes a powder measure along with a trickler to bring the charge up to .02 or two hundredth of a grain “ within +/- 0.02 grains of your target weight, nearly every time. “ Note however that they say “nearly” every time! The reason being, that when that auger on the trickler turns, it sometimes cannot control additional kernels of powder that might drop. The scale will show the discrepancy but you will have to use some method (tweezers) to correct it. It is definitely a big step up from the Charge Master but is also three times the price! $950.00

So, the method I am using and have been using for probably ten years or more, is illustrated in the pictures. (By the way, I just sold my Chargemaster since I have not used it in a couple of years).Note from the photo’s that I have every thing mounted at eye level for ease of use. The scale is an old RCBS beam unit. I do a couple of modifications or enhancements: First, I have epoxy glued a needle on the zero point so that when the beam comes up, the needle lays right across the center line on the pointer. I have a magnifying glass added to make viewing easier along with a goose neck lamp for good lighting. I then take the two arms on the main beam and, with a smooth sharpening stone, put a knife edge on them. I also frequently use a fine brush to keep the recess they ride in clean. This allows very free movement of the beam and more repeatable. Using my Harrell’s powder measure I throw my charge to around one tenth under my target weight into the pan. The pan goes onto the beam where I trickle “up” to the target weight. I have modified the auger in the trickler………..actually I made a new one and cut the thread finer inside so it meters more precisely. So here I am able to watch the beam rising as I trickle the individual kernels of powder.

So how do I know how precise this method is? On the chronograph and on the target at 600 yards. My two shooting buddies both have Sitorious lab grade scales that measure to .00 and my ES’s are typically lower than both of them.

The object of this write up is not to put down the $950 scale but to show that with a little ingenuity, the results can be duplicated at a much lower cost.














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