The Lee measuring spoon kit.

[Treeman]

I always wanted one of these trays with all the little spoons neatly laid out, but why, every reloading kit came with a spoon?
I recently bought one of these trays with the full set of spoons - how wonderful !

I play around a lot with bullet weights - powders and downloading, how convenient. I weigh out the charge I want and then pour it into a spoon, if it over flows, I go one spoon bigger. I then write on a sheet S321 - 21 gr = spoon 1.6 - I do the same for every powder I own in the zone of loads I use and in the special loads I use zone.

I have now got to the stage that when I reload, be it sub sonic or mono, I have a spoon thats right there written on sheet specified at that measurement with minimal trickle.
No more dip measure , try another spoon.

[big5ifty]

If you can braze, you could make a spoon from an empty case for that caliber, and a short length of rod or thick wire. Cut the case length down to the exact height for the powder charge you need. Useful for the in-between Lee spoon quantities.

[janfred]

Technically it is called a dipper, not a spoon.

Using them as spoons to scoop powder, one tends to get inconsistent charge weight. The correct technique is to dip the cup into the powder so that the granules flow into the cavity by gravity. Hence the term, "dipper". This way you are not forcing granules into the cup and leading to better consistency.

[Treeman]

Technically it is called a dipper, not a spoon.

Using them as spoons to scoop powder, one tends to get inconsistent charge weight. The correct technique is to dip the cup into the powder so that the granules flow into the cavity by gravity. Hence the term, "dipper". This way you are not forcing granules into the cup and leading to better consistency.

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NOW THAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did not know

[Treeman]

and it seems so obvious.

[JamesNotBond]

Technically it is called a dipper, not a spoon.

Using them as spoons to scoop powder, one tends to get inconsistent charge weight. The correct technique is to dip the cup into the powder so that the granules flow into the cavity by gravity. Hence the term, "dipper". This way you are not forcing granules into the cup and leading to better consistency.

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NOW THAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did not know

Treeman, how many people have you "not" taught that?

[janfred]

Found this passage in the book "Modern Reloading" by Richard Lee;

"Dean always felt no one could dip a charge quite as precisely as he. He would, and I have little doubt to this day still does, use a special technique. He pushed the dipper bottom first into the powder and let the powder flow into the mouth of the dipper. Then strike it off with one of his business cards and consistently get charge uniformity of 1/10 grain. I'm not telling any secrets, as Dean has published this method several times."

[Shotofrank]

Until rather recently (blush) all I had was a dipper, one for the .45 and one for the .223. I bought bullets and used the provided dipper. Seated to the ring on the bullet.
 That's how I loaded cartridges.
I could hit things with it, sometimes better than other times.

[oafpatroll]

Until rather recently (blush) all I had was a dipper, one for the .45 and one for the .223. I bought bullets and used the provided dipper. Seated to the ring on the bullet.
 That's how I loaded cartridges.
I could hit things with it, sometimes better than other times.

That's likely how the vast majority of ammunition was reloaded till the early eighties at least. I have been the recipient of packages of reloading gear from deceased elderly folks who would have been active roughly up to that period and not one included a scale or powder measure. 4 of the 5 did however come with commercial or home made dippers.

[Treeman]

I too loaded my .45 with just a dipper spoon back in 1990 - 1992

[oafpatroll]

I loaded up a thousand 9mmP last night and just for kicks I compared the accuracy of a jury rigged dipper (made from a section of copper pipe with a bung in it) to my micrometer charge bar equipped Lee autodisk powder dispenser and my Lyman drum measure. They all consistently threw charges of S121 that had the lines on my scale never more than a hair off in either direction. That's no more than a tickle on the powder trickler either way. As long as you can wield a calculator to determine the volume required to match the charge weight in your published load data I can't see why there's anything wrong with the method. Won't necessarily make for minuscule groups but I'm sure its perfectly safe.     

[Treeman]

A guy that calls himself Pre64 on another site, invited me in on a project he tested. He loaded over a hundred rounds of 9 mm ammo with varying degrees of care, all based on a good load that worked for him. The first 10 were weighed cases and bullets with precise charge. The last 10 were "just do it" with  8 other 10 shot batch's of longer, shorter or mixed etc.
There was no extreme changes, just groups of nearly every variation that could have occurred when loading carefully.

Martin can shoot - shoot proper and his conclusion was still " not that the differences would affect my shooting score.
When all was said and done, there was still one mixed up group, not 3 or 4 this or that here and there groups, all pretty much one small group.

[oafpatroll]

That resonates. I've had 9mmP batches where my random powder charge sample showed that a measure had wandered a couple tenths of a grain or an OAL check showed that the seating die had wound out a bit. None of those made a jot of difference at my level of pistol shooting skill.

Rifle is obviously a very different story but i guess we all know that.

[Treeman]

That resonates. I've had 9mmP batches where my random powder charge sample showed that a measure had wandered a couple tenths of a grain or an OAL check showed that the seating die had wound out a bit. None of those made a jot of difference at my level of pistol shooting skill.

Rifle is obviously a very different story but i guess we all know that.

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Even then a grain either way in a .270 Win will not be noticeable at 200 m

[Treeman]

one of the most interesting rifle reads ever.
https://precisionrifleblog.com/2013/10/18/secrets-of-the-houston-warehouse-lessons-in-extreme-rifle-accuracy/