MY new Ruger GP 100 6" barrel reloads ?

[btmonnat]

I just loaded some 357 mag. Starline brass, used Winchester Small Pistol Mag. Primers, with 14 gr of H 110 powder and 158 gr Hornaday xtp bullets. They were 1/8" from completely filling the case. According to my new Hornaday manual I could go to 15.7 gr the case would have been full to the top. How much can you compress this stuff? Maybe it is because my brass is new but I did run it all thru my sizer die. Been reloading for a long time but never ran into anything like this. Checked my powder charge on 2 different scales.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Hodgdon says the max load for 357mag and H-110 with a 158gr XTP bullet is 16.7gr at 40,700 CUP. You are well under the max at 14.0gr or even 15.7gr.
I load and shoot 16.0gr all the time and it doesn't seem to be compressed to me, just very full.

Hodgdon H110 .357" 1.580" 15.0gr 1,418fps 28,600 CUP -- 16.7gr 1,591fps 40,700 CUP

By chance are you loading 180gr XTP's?

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol

 

[grobin]

Many of the Nosler loads are compressed. I think that it was the Lyman 50th ed that has this advice. 'Load using the manuals instruction. Let the completed rounds sit (overnight?) having marked a line in the bullet. And see if the bullet has been moved out in the casing. If it has then that's too much!' Any more compressed loads are common-particularly in AR calibers which are constrained by small case volumes.

 

[btmonnat]

Just checked bullets on scale 158 gr. Checked casings oal @ 1.280 which is trim length and od is .373 and book says they should be .379. I only loaded 6. Puzzled, don't no what I over looked. I have a new can of powder and my old and new metered the same. 14 gr is a middle load in my new Hornady book so it should be very safe. I would switch to Alliant 2400 because there load would take up less space in the case but already have 250 cases primed with mag primers and not really recommended for 2400.

 

[btmonnat]

Found the problem by measuring out a low end load of Alliant 2400 and that also filled my case. So I slept on it, woke up this morning and see the problem first thing. Was thinking each mark on my scales was 5 gr. BUT it is 10 gr.so I was actually putting 20 + gr in the case. Can't believe I did this, just glad I figured it out. Thanks to all for insisting something was wrong. So sorry for being so stupid. This has never happened to me in 30 + years of reloading. BIG THANK YOU TO ALL.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Thank goodness you took the time to find the problem. You can never be too careful when reloading.

 

[woodperson]

And there are advantages to having a digital scale in addition to the beamer.

 

[btmonnat]

And there are advantages to having a digital scale in addition to the beamer.

You are absolutely rite on digital scales. Never thought of that advantage. That is why I choose full volume loads. Prevents risk of double charge

 

[mikld]

Holy bananas! Not stupid 'cause you double checked when in doubt. I don't reload anymore when I'm tired (my eyes bother me when I'm worn out) as I made a similar mistake. I was thinking the same thing; the hash marks on the beam were 10 gr, not 5 gr. I only threw four or five charges before I figgered sumpin' was wrong (I normally measure a few charges before I dump any into the cases). I was loading a 9mm with Tite Group... :shock:

 

[Mus408]

I always use both my digital and beam scale to double check when setting up for loads.

Wow! Glad you caught it!!

 

[btmonnat]

Think I will sell 1 of my beams and get a digital and do the same

 

[Rick Courtright]

Think I will sell 1 of my beams and get a digital and do the same

Hi,

I wouldn't be in any hurry to get rid of existing equipment quite yet...

Some things I've found helpful in avoiding incorrect powder charges (I like beam scales, don't have a lot good to say about digitals, but these ideas apply to both, so take your pick!) include setting the scale to what appears to be the right charge and throwing one, then weighing it. If it appears close, I'll reset the scale for ten times that amount (e.g. if I originally set for 15 gr, I'd now reset for 150 grs) and throw ten charges, weighing them as one. If I don't come pretty close to that target (150 gr in this case), I'll go back and check the scale and powder measure settings.

The reasoning here is every single "thrown" charge works into an average. Some individual charges will be heavier, some lighter, but the tighter we can keep that swing over a number of them, the better.

I'll also check where the light lands on the scale--there's a place on my bench the light is great, another where it throws shadows. The better the light, the better the chance of seeing an error. And I also learned to follow some decades old advice from my brother about my glasses. I was complaining I had to see the eye doc cuz I couldn't see anything well. He looked at my glasses and asked, "How long has it been since you cleaned them?" Saved me the price of an eye exam, new lenses, and helped me realize how much gunk I'd subconsciously learned to tolerate on the lenses.

And, on either a beam or a digital scale, how do we know it's even giving us a correct reading? Well, this'll set you back about $50 if you haven't spent it already, but every reloader should get AND USE a set of scale check weights. Mine are from Lyman, and I think RCBS markets a set. Other big mfrs may, too. It's not unusual for a scale, either type, to be dead nuts within a certain range, then vary a bit outside the range, whether going up or down from it. A tiny correction may be required in the setting, for example, if you set the scale for 15.0 gr and the check weights have you at 14.9 or 15.1, you'll know to adjust your individual settings to get where you need to be.

There are probably a thousand other good ideas folks use, and I hope we see a good number of them.

Rick C

 

[grobin]

They are called calibration weights! If you have a real scale which measures in mg then weight kits like this one are $12 orless:
https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scales-Calibration-WGHTKIT/dp/B003STEJAC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522998012&sr=8-2&keywords=calibration+weights

 

[btmonnat]

I bought a set of calibration weights, till you mentioned them I forgot I had them. Thanks for your input.

 

[Rick Courtright]

They are called calibration weights! If you have a real scale which measures in mg then weight kits like this one are $12 orless:

Hi,

Yes, that is ONE name for them. And "real" scales are calibrated in a variety of standard systems. Let us not get sanctimonious about the semantics: as entertaining as they may be, "clip or mag" discussions belong somewhere else.

Now, before rushing off to give Amazon your money, make sure you're getting the weights designed for your scale. Standard reloading scales read in grains ("gn" on multi-scale digitals), and are usually calibrated to 0.1 grain. Here are a number of weight sets for such scales: https://www.midwayusa.com/s?userSearchQuery=check+weights&userItemsPerPage=48

Lab scales are often calibrated in grams ("g" on those digitals). Big difference! The smallest weight in that Amazon kit, 10mg, converts to roughly about 0.15 gn. (The formula for those who like to play with their calculators is "x mg = y grains/0.015432".) For many (most?) of us handloaders here in the non-metric US, that's not quite an acceptable level of precision considering our standards for presenting load recipe data. Now, If we were in Europe or other parts of the metric world, perhaps the discussion would be altered a bit, as I've seen European load recipes listed in grams of both powder and bullet/shot.

So unless one wishes to go thru the monkey motion of converting things every time the scale scale comes out to weigh powder, and risk slipping up doing so, I'd suggest sticking with the tool designed for the job, a scale calibrated in grains and tenths of grains specifically targeted toward the handloading crowd. And, please, don't get yourself in trouble by using the wrong weights!

Rick C

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Some things I've found helpful in avoiding incorrect powder charges (I like beam scales, don't have a lot good to say about digitals, but these ideas apply to both, so take your pick!) include setting the scale to what appears to be the right charge and throwing one, then weighing it. If it appears close, I'll reset the scale for ten times that amount (e.g. if I originally set for 15 gr, I'd now reset for 150 grs) and throw ten charges, weighing them as one. If I don't come pretty close to that target (150 gr in this case), I'll go back and check the scale and powder measure settings.

The reasoning here is every single "thrown" charge works into an average. Some individual charges will be heavier, some lighter, but the tighter we can keep that swing over a number of them, the better.

I love that idea. Thanks.