doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com measuring shot

I've never used anything but a shot measure in a regular press to measure out shot charges. I'm thinking of doing some short run special loads and was wondering if an old RCBS powder measure would throw shot charges or be a problem in damaging/cutting shot? Bottom line, what should I use to measure shot for a short run (250 ish)?

Chuck,

I don't know about the rotary style RCBS measure, but I suspect one of the old Belding & Mull measures might work (for small shot).

Ken

If you have W. W. Greener's The Gun and Its Development , look in the index for shot trowel. Quite easy to make if you have access to "perfmetal" or don't mind drilling several hundred holes in .062" aluminum and laminating to a a second piece of aluminum sheet in the shape of a spatula or putty knife. I'll look to see if I've got a picture of mine.

The basic idea of operation is to weigh one charge in your scale pan; fill rows of holes with shot; mask remaining holes with a sliding cover or cellophane tape; pour shot in bread pan; slide trowel in until unmasked holes each contain a pellet; dump in second bread pan; empty shotcharge into shell. All loading is by pellet count equivalent to the number in the first weighed charge so weight may vary slightly because of runt pellets in a few holes of trowel. Miller Fulks also has one; maybe he'll respond. Just an idea which has worked for me.

jack

Or why not make up a little dipper, similar to those that are sold with Lee brand dies. Start with a dipper you know to be too large, and face it off until it holds the weight you want. You could make this up on your lathe and solder on a wee handle of sorts.

Can't find picture, Chuck, but I'll take one and post.

jack

Jack,
You gave me one of those after I did that trigger work on that ... oops, it's not a double! I'll take a look.

You're kidding! Mind like a sieve. Remember sending one to Miller. Maybe Larry's got the right idea. .45-70 case trimmed to requirements and a soldered wire handle. Viola! Try that shot trowel sometime--for purely academic reasons.

jack

If you are using a MEC reloader one of the adjustable bars is the way to go. Less than $30.00 and it replaces both powder and shot bushings. I find that fixed bars tend to be off for most loads by a little. It is very easy to get these adjustable bar to drop shot and powder to your exact needs.

On a single stage MEC first load the shells through the powder and wad and set your 250 aside. Then put the powder bottle away and mount the shot bottle on the powder side with whichever powder insert gives you the correct shot weight to finish charging the partially prepared shells and crimping them. Wouldn't be much different than regular operation except there will be an extra step to set the partial loads in an ammo block for a few minutes.

I used to use a cut off plastic shell for a dipper when reloading brass cases.
bill