Henry Rifle Forums

spinoff topic from https://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic. ... 20#p212379

Mr. Neutron wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 08, 2022 6:55 pm

And this is with .30-30 stuff?

For this topic yes, .30-30.
Two other calibers, I'm a little bit more discerning with separating brass.
o With 45 colt I have 3 buckets, Winchester brass, Reused Hornady Leverevolution brass and everything else.
oo For whatever reason the RCBS Universal shell holder jaws used in the case trimmer and primer tools have trouble grasping Winchester 45 colt brass.
oo Hornady Leverevolution brass case length is shorter than standard 45 colt brass.

o I keep .223/5.56 brass separate. New and once fired 5.56 brass needs to have the primer pocket swaggered.

I don't separate brass brands in .380 and 45 acp either.

... And I don't feel like my RCBS powder measure is any more repeatable than say, that +/- .2 grain spread, with pretty much any powder I've tried. Likely doesn't matter, huh?

I think it matters when loading small calibers. The RCBS powder measure I have isn't too repeatable dropping 3ish and less grains of powder. It sometimes under drops.

[Mr. Neutron]: Nice, helpful post, Mags!

The RCBS powder measure I have isn't too repeatable dropping 3ish and less grains of powder. It sometimes under drops.

Man, did I ever find that to be true this afternoon! I realize it’s off topic, but I got into some small pistol primers at BiMart this morning. I’ve had some .380 ACP brass, powder, and lead bullets sittin’ for months on my mess I call a reloading bench. They’re MAGNUM Small Pistol caps, but at this point in time I’d possibly stuff a dog turd in the primer pockets if I thought it might ignite a round.

And the ole RCBS powder measure kinda lived up to it's small charge-challenged reputation and sucked like a bucketful of ticks on those tiny (2.8 grains ) charges of Bullseye. It works pretty well for 30-something grain charges of Win 748 for .30-30 rounds and larger. Thankfully…….. I do use a trickler for most of my rifle rounds, then weigh each one. Takes a lotta time, and I know I probably sometimes make rounds that can outshoot my skill level now. Whatever. It keeps me off the streets, huh?

Added in EDIT: Mags, when I need to trim my 30-30 cases, my RCBS case trimmer sounds as if it's about like yours. Doesn't hold the flange of the case well at all. I've kinda given upon it, as much as I like RCBS's stuff, and am using a Lee case trimming setup for the 30-30. It seems to be a bit more consistent.

Mr. Neutron wrote: ...

Did you see any Large Pistol and Rifle primers at BiMart?

For me .380 is/was a new caliber to reload to. I have plenty of factory ammo so I haven't seriously pursued reloading for it other than to test the powder measure for how small of a Universal powder drop it can get repeatably. I've sorta come to the conclusion that Universal is too coarse for small drops. I have other pistol powders to check for finer grain size, then I'll see how accurate a drop I get with the measure.

I also have a trickler, but haven't seen the need to use it with the larger calibers.

I'll take a look at the Lee case trimmer, but for now I haven't given up on the RCBS one. I think the issue for me has been primarily with 45 colt Winchester cases. The cannelure in the case base seems to be too shallow for the case trimmer to get a good grip. It doesn't help that the teeth are sorta sloppy loose in the trimmer. I need to take a closer look to see if shimming the teeth will minimize the slop. Maybe get a better grip with stiffer teeth.

My Uniflow measure was iffy with flake powders, I suggest you try a ball (spherical ) powder like AA2 or AA5, they meter wonderfully well through a mechanical measure. SO well that long ago I quit buying other brands. The exception is Trail Boss, which I measure by volume.

https://accuratepowder.com/wp-content/ ... _rates.pdf


John Davies
Spokane WA

Mags wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:11 pm

Did you see any Large Pistol and Rifle primers at BiMart

They did have (and still do; I was just in there a few moments ago.....) a few Large Pistol CCI Primers at the Sandy BiMart. I wanna say that I *think* they were Magnums, but ain't 100% certain. The lady clerk made a mistake yesterday, and let me buy an incomplete brick with 800 primers in it. The guy behind the counter today said you could only buy 1 or 2 hundred of the Large stuff they have on the shelf. You want me to go back and try to score a few for ya?

John E Davies wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:40 pm

My Uniflow measure was iffy with flake powders, I suggest you try a ball (spherical ) powder like AA2 or AA5, they meter wonderfully well through a mechanical measure. SO well that long ago I quit buying other brands. The exception is Trail Boss, which I measure by volume.

https://accuratepowder.com/wp-content/ ... _rates.pdf


John Davies
Spokane WA

Good helpful advice, John!!! Thanks for that!

Yeah, that inconsistent measurement seems like you may be on to something. Now, the amounts I throw out ofmy old powder throw are vastly different from caliber to caliber. It meters really good with Win 748 ball powder I use for my .30-30. With IMR 4350 used in my .30-06. it's pretty much imperative that I throw light charges with the powder throw, then use the trickler to get the desired charge. With the small amount of Bullseye flake powder used for my .380, it's inconsistent as all git out.

On my RCBS Uniflow, I put the "small" drum in and the baffle in the hopper for smallish powder charges of Unique and Clays[ when I had Clays].
It seemed to help.

Rifletom wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 09, 2022 3:45 pm

On my RCBS Uniflow, I put the "small" drum in and the baffle in the hopper for smallish powder charges of Unique and Clays[ when I had Clays].
It seemed to help.

Thank you Rifletom! I think you resolved our small drop issue. I believe this is the 'small drum' part you are referring to.
https://www.rcbs.com/priming-and-powder ... -9004.html

John E Davies wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:40 pm

My Uniflow measure was iffy with flake powders, I suggest you try a ball (spherical ) powder like AA2 or AA5, they meter wonderfully well through a mechanical measure. SO well that long ago I quit buying other brands. The exception is Trail Boss, which I measure by volume.

https://accuratepowder.com/wp-content/ ... _rates.pdf


John Davies
Spokane WA

I do have #2 and #5 (as well as Titegroup and CFE Pistol). I'll give these try for .380 drops. Maybe avoid getting the 'small drum'.

Mr. Neutron wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 09, 2022 2:35 pm

Mags wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:11 pm

Did you see any Large Pistol and Rifle primers at BiMart

You want me to go back and try to score a few for ya?

I have some errands to run this afternoon. Route goes by 2 Bimarts. I'll check them and see what I can find. Otherwise I might take you up on that offer. Thanks.

Mags wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 09, 2022 4:12 pm

Rifletom wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 09, 2022 3:45 pm

On my RCBS Uniflow, I put the "small" drum in and the baffle in the hopper for smallish powder charges of Unique and Clays[ when I had Clays].
It seemed to help.

Thank you Rifletom! I think you resolved our small drop issue. I believe this is the 'small drum' part you are referring to.
https://www.rcbs.com/priming-and-powder ... -9004.html

Yes, that is it. Hope it works out for you.

Wow, Mucho Thank Yous to You, RifleTom!!!!

I never knew a part like that existed for these powder throws. I guess I need to get out more.......

Mags, I've learned that not all "deliveries" to BiMart are created equal, or on the same day. I check 3-4 BiMarts semi-regularly, with the closest (in Sandy) the most often. Then Gresham's, then Damascus's store, and as a last resort, the one on 172nd & Powell, in Portlandia. They seem to each get ammo on different days, and things like powder, primers, and whatknot come in a different delivery, typically on a different day from the ammo. At least that was how it was explained to me by one of the gun counter guys in Sandy.

Mr. Neutron wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 09, 2022 6:04 pm

Mags, I've learned that not all "deliveries" to BiMart are created equal, or on the same day.....

Yup, but that is the same for Sportsman's and Coastal Farm as well. Clerk at BiMart today told me most of the reloading supplies go to of all places the BiMart in LaPine. Makes sense being a Western ranching / hunting type of area. I had heard similar with the Sportsmans up the road in Bend.

I knew I lived in the wrong town.......

The baffle is GOOD, it acts as a “regulator” to eliminate the variations caused by the powder weight of a full hopper vs a nearly empty one. And of course, you are supposed to operate the handle vigorously, “clack clack”. That shakes the contents for the next charge. Don’t baby it.

John Davies
Spokane WA

I went checking on the availability of the small drum. Every place I went (except the RCBS site) said "out of stock and don't know when they'd get more" or "discontinued".
So I went ahead and ordered one directly from RCBS. The baffle was available for immediate delivery from Amazon.

The small drum is supposed to handle not only small drops, but drops up to 50gr. My biggest drop charge is likely not to exceed 36-38gr so I'll likely never use the standard drum again.

One other tip, I average ten throws when adjusting the Uni-Flow. That takes care of the slight variations. Since I am math impaired, it is easy to just drop the last digit to calculate the average figure.

John Davies
Spokane WA

"math impaired". Wish I could have has a calculater wheh I was in school! Would have made my report cards look lots better!

I'm more than a bit surprised by reports of powder charge accuracy issues .... we've been and still are using a manual Uniflow Powder Measure that came in a RCBS Rock Chucker Combo purchased back in the mid 60's .... it has 2 drums and a baffle in the hopper .... no clue how many tens if not hundreds of thousands powder charges it has dropped .... with our hunting loads we weigh and where necessary adjust each round .... over time we've used about every type of powder and don't recall any major issues

I found (and ordered) the small drum from Primos Hunting here:
https://www.primos.com/priming-and-powd ... -9004.html

It was like Mags said. I kinda had to hunt for somebody that had one in stock. This has been discontinued by RCBS as far as I can tell, and stock is where ya find it......

I used the ole Uniflow 2 this morning, for throwing powder in some .30-30 mixed brass I have layin' around. It metered the 35 grain charge of H335 I'm using really consistently. It meters the charges of Win. 748 for the .30-30 consistently as well. Both of these are ball powders, which tend to meter really consistently.

Where I personally have had minor issues is with very small charges of Bullseye flake power, and previously, was kinda "sketchy" in the past with small charges of almost any pistol powder for my 38 Spl., & .357 Mag, depending on the powder choice. Unique, Hodgdon's Universal, Bullseye, and such weren't very consistent in this measure. This is possibly mostly my own fault for a couple of reasons. First, I had no idea there was a small charge kit even available from RCBS. I'm hoping this will be a "game changer" with the limited powders I currently have. Secondly, when I last loaded for some of these other calibers, if a powder didn't meter well, ya just went out and bought a powder that did. For some reason Win 231 seemed to always be a versatile powder that metered well outta my Uniflow, or my Dillon's powder throw. But that has all changed somewhat. 231 got really hard to find as of late, so I've taken to using some other powders that either I have laying around already, have been given, or happen to find for sale. Just don't have the options I did a few years back. Can't blame RCBS for that, I reckon.

And I really shouldn't call my Uniflow a "bad' powder throw. It's not. It's a very well used powder throw that was given to me with no baffle, no written instructions, or any sort of "help" for it, around 25 yrs. ago, and has still essentially done what was needed. Kinda like a how a rifle shoots certain bullets better that others, I guess the Uniflow just works better with some powders and charge weights than others, as it is right now. Hoping the small drum kit makes a difference.

John E Davies wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 10, 2022 10:26 am

One other tip, I average ten throws when adjusting the Uni-Flow. That takes care of the slight variations. Since I am math impaired, it is easy to just drop the last digit to calculate the average figure.

John Davies
Spokane WA

When prepping I do several drops/throws of 5 average until I get the adjuster dialed in where I think I want it. During a run I'll check one drop every 10 or 15 rounds to make sure I'm still getting what I want.