In this 4th article in our series of How to Reload Ammunition, we will teach Measuring Powder for Reloading.

DISCLAIMER: For reloading information: WARNING: Reloading can be dangerous if you have not been properly schooled in how to reload ammunition. The loads shown are for informational purposes only.  They are only safe in the rifle shown and may not be safe in yours. Dangerous chamber pressures can occur resulting in serious injury, damage to rifle, or even death if proper reloading steps are not followed.  Consult appropriate load manuals prior to developing your own handloads.  Craigsoutdoorsports.com and its authors, do not assume any responsibility, directly or indirectly for the safety of the readers attempting to follow any instructions or perform any of the tasks shown, or the use or misuse of any information contained herein, on this website.

Many good loads can be made from inexpensive equipment. High end equipment only makes the process a little easier and more versatile. But, no matter what equipment you use, consult a good quality reloading manual. All the major bullet and powder companies will have some load data available. There are numerous publications sold that will have the components you are using with load data for that load. NEVER LOAD AMMUNITION WITHOUT DATA TO WORK FROM! Different powders have different burn rates and bullets from each manufacturing facility differ. Even primers used will change how a cartridge shoots. The different companies have spent many man hours figuring out safe loads to be used with their components.

Once load data has been found for the cartridge you are reloading, set your selected powder on your reloading bench. MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO OTHER POWDERS ON YOUR BENCH OTHER THAN WHAT YOU ARE USING AT THE TIME! If you put a pistol powder in a rifle cartridge, or vice versa, you will be known from that point on as stumpy or ol’ one eye. That is, if you survive your firearm blowing up in your hands when you fire it. Reloading to below starting charge weights can also give problems such as squib loads and inaccurate ammunition. Why? Burn rate.

Different powders are designed to burn at different rates. That is why there are pistol powders, rifle powders, shotgun powders, and black powders. For our purposes we will only be discussing smokeless pistol, rifle, and shotgun powders.

Modern smokeless powders come in different forms including flake, extruded tubular, and ball or spherical propellants. Each type will meter through different powder handling systems differently. To talk of each type and metering capabilities separately would be too time consuming for this article. A quality reloading manual will teach the nuances of each powder. In general, flake will meter easier than tubular or ball.

Measuring powder for reloading starts with the equipment you are going to measure with. There are several different ways to measure powder from simple to elaborate. One of the simplest is with a Lee Powder Measuring Kit. Simply dip the correct powder dipper in the powder, level to top of cup, and dump in primed cartridge case.

A Powder funnel is a must to keep from spilling powder.

Another option when measuring powder for reloading is the use of a drum style powder measure. Many companies have a drum style measures including Lyman, Hornady, RCBS, Lee and others. Below is the Lee Perfect Powder Measure. While one of the cheapest on the market, it is still going to give fairly accurate powder charges.

No matter which brand of drum measure you use, they will all be off as much as + or – 2-5 grains of powder due to powder cutting, humidity levels, operator technique, and many other variables. For general plinking ammo that is not at or near maximum load velocities this will matter very little. But, when getting near maximum load velocities it is best to weigh each powder charge to maintain consistency and pressure. As much as one tenth grain more powder can cause excessive pressure that can at minimum damage the case or firearm and also injure the shooter. It is good practice to weigh every tenth powder charge to make sure nothing has changed with your powder measure or technique.

A good way to ensure each cartridge contains the proper amount of powder is to use a powder trickler. A measure of powder is dumped into a pan on an electronic scale that is less than the targeted charge weight. Then a powder trickler is used to trickle more powder in until the measure reads the correct amount of powder. The pan on top of the electronic scale is then poured through the powder funnel into the mouth of the cartridge to dump the powder.

No matter which way you measure powder, a scale of some type is needed. In the above picture you see an electronic powder scale. There are also beam scales made by most reloading component companies that can be used when measuring powder for reloading. Or, for the ultimate in powder measuring you can utilize an Auto Powder Charge Dispenser like the one made by Hornady.

With this baby you simply dump your powder in the hopper, set it, hit the button, and it automatically measures the correct amount of powder into the pan. Simply remove pan and dump powder into cartridge with the help of a powder funnel.

While we haven’t discussed all the different ways when measuring powder for reloading, it is our intent to give the basics to get the job done. This is why we recommend a good reloading manual which will go above the basics to give a complete understanding of how to properly roll your own ammo.

Next time we will discuss bullets and bullet seating to finish this series on how to reload your own ammo.

Below are links to previous articles in this series.

Article 1: https://craigsoutdoorsports.com/learning-to-reload-ammo/

Article 2: https://craigsoutdoorsports.com/preparing-cartridges-for-reloading/

Article 3: https://craigsoutdoorsports.com/priming-cartridges-for-reloading/