I did it!

[tt0511]

It's been quite a while since I bought my Lee Turret Press and setup my workbench. I finally bought all the components to make some ammo this week and today I loaded my first 50 rounds of .45 ACP. I just got back from the range and I didn't blow myself up! In fact, the rounds fired very accurately (at least as accurate as factory Federal Champion). I'm very excited about my reloading success. I calculated that my reloads are costing $8.26 per box based on invested dollar (that figure doesn't allow for waste).

One question I do have is about the powder measure. I tried to load at 5.5 grains of Unique with CCI large pistol primers and Precision Delta FMJ bullets. The actual powder drop was mostly between 5.5 and 5.6 most of the time, but occasionally I would check and it would be 5.9 or 6.0.

The Lee Pro Disk powder measure said to use the .61 disk for a drop of 6.0 grains (their recommended minimum for .45 ACP). I could only get in the high 4.x range with that disk so I went up to the .77 disk setting to get the 5.5-5.6.

Is this just part of the limitations on this powder measure? I thought it was supposed to be a pretty good and consistent powder measure.

Edited March 27, 2011 by tt0511

[Jonnin]

My LEE disk thingy is very consistent, but is WAY off from their documentation. I ignore the documentation now (well, its a starting point) and weigh the case, then charge it, and weigh the charged case, subtract that, and that is how much I get. I do this about 10 times to get an average and high/low. This lets me select the proper disk for my loadout.

So weigh it, and pick the disk that matches the load data, and ignore their chart. The scale does not lie. If your disk measure is not consistent, do not use it. It will vary tenths of grains and is not suitable, in my opinion, for redline hot loads. 1/10 a grain for a medium load is unimportant in that caliber but going over .15 for a very hot load is too risky, weigh that stuff by hand. I found the auto disk to be very, very tricky for anything smaller than 9mm in some powders; As you move to smaller calibers you have to use powder that has a wide variance between the max and min load if you want to control your load, and avoid the powders that are .2 or .3 between too weak and too strong.

Edited March 27, 2011 by Jonnin

[kb4ns]

Congrats on the range success.

Don't worry too much about what they are calling for. With mine, I get 6.0 gr of Unique out of the .76 disk.

[tt0511]

My LEE disk thingy is very consistent, but is WAY off from their documentation. I ignore the documentation now (well, its a starting point) and weigh the case, then charge it, and weigh the charged case, subtract that, and that is how much I get. I do this about 10 times to get an average and high/low. This lets me select the proper disk for my loadout.

So weigh it, and pick the disk that matches the load data, and ignore their chart. The scale does not lie. If your disk measure is not consistent, do not use it. It will vary tenths of grains and is not suitable, in my opinion, for redline hot loads. 1/10 a grain for a medium load is unimportant in that caliber but going over .15 for a very hot load is too risky, weigh that stuff by hand. I found the auto disk to be very, very tricky for anything smaller than 9mm in some powders; As you move to smaller calibers you have to use powder that has a wide variance between the max and min load if you want to control your load, and avoid the powders that are .2 or .3 between too weak and too strong.

That's why I took everyone's advice and started with Unique powder. It has a wide range of charge in acceptable limits. I haven't tried calibrating the scales to the case. I've been dumping the powder into the scale pan and flicking the case to make sure all powder has come out of the case. I'm going to measure a lot of powder charges and see what the spread is between all of them, and the max/min. Hopefully I'll see more consistent charges this time.

[Jonnin]

To measure it in bulk, pre-weigh out a bunch of cases and isolate some that all weigh exactly the same. Then make a batch of 25 or so and weigh each one. You want to use the same bullet weights too. The only variable left is the powder (I tested primers and they all weigh the same but you can weigh those out too if you want). The ammo should all weigh within .15 of the average weight, and that average should be really close to your desired load data. This is really tedious, but the peace of mind granted (trust in your equipment) is critical.

[ttocswob]

Just bought a pound of Unique and noticed that it was quite a bit lighter for a given volume than load data indicated. I wonder if Alliant's new cleaner burning formula has anything to do with it?