[Zero]

Anyone found a secret way to get Blue-Dot to meter better in a 550 Powder measure? My throws are off at times by a significant amount, like 10.3 - 11.1 grains.

[41 Redhawk]

The short answer is nope. I use a Lyman 55 and they vary too much to just throw the charges in the case.

[Steve Smith]

Maybe I am living right. Mine throws pretty consistently. You have to get a nice, even stroke.

[HSMITH]

Just cranked off some mega boomer 357's on my 550B and had no problem metering Blue Dot. All charges were checked (I am that way when loading max loads) and all were within 1/10th of a grain. No special technique or anything here, just pull the handle and load.

[ngoehle]

I reload for the 357sig round with Blue Dot on my 550. I was getting the same variances you mentioned, until I changed the powder measure bar to the rifle bar. Apparently, if you are dropping 10g or less, use the pistol powder measure.

I drop 10.4g of Blue Dot for the 357sig. With the rifle measure, I'm not off by more than .1g at any time.

The other trick is to get a light spring and put it around the top of the powder charger. It doesn't have to have much tension, about the pull of a rubber band. What happens if you do this is that it "snaps" the measure back, which seems to make the powder meter more accurately.

Hope it helps. Let me know...

/ng

[JPM70535]

I've been loading Bluedot for a number of years in a variety of powder measures, including Lyman, RCBS and Dillon. My loads have never varied by more than 1/10 gr. in either direction. My charge weights have gone as high as 17 gr. using the pistol charge bar with no bad results. I have no explanation as to why, but I know 2 other reloaders who have the same equipment and get the same results.

[Scout.308]

I haven't had any problems with my 550B and Blue Dot.

I am pretty vigorous in my technique, which seems to settle the power pretty well. Might that help?

[sensop]

It helps to keep the powder column up in the hopper too. Don't let it get down very far with those light flaky powders. Just a precaution. I really never had a problem throwing Blue Dot either.

[stans]

I too have found that keeping the powder hopper full helps with uniformity of thrown charges. I also found that larger charge weights are more uniform than small weights. My RCBS Uniflow will meter Unique accurately as long as the hopper is full and the weight is at least 5.0 grains. Bullseye, being a smaller flake, is reliable at smaller charge weights, but below about 3 grains it becomes difficult to meter.

[MCNETT]

Call Dillon, maybe they can help. I use Blue Dot exclusively in one of my Super 1050's with dead on accuracy.
-Mike

[Tony Z]

My Dillon SDB has given me no problem metering Blue dot. I get very consistant charges, as mentioned above avarges 1/10Gr variance.
I also found it helps if you keep the hopper at least 1/2 full.


Tony:scrutiny:

[Bronson7]

Zero, I don't know if this is your problem, but I was experiencing erratic throws loading 45ACP with both W231 and Universal.
When I first set-up my brand new 550B I accidently way over-flared a case and because it was too oversized to fit in the sizing die, I decided to use it as a dedicated powder drop case. I went on to properly adjust the bell. Everything was fine doing this and I was getting consistant throws. When I loaded up the shell plate, the throws would increase by .3-.4 g. Not good, could put me in an over-pressure condition. To make a long story short, because I was using a case with excessive flare, the throw on the powder bar was decreased and when I loaded up the shell plate with good brass, the charge bar would shift all the way to the right giving a full charge. Now I use brass I'm actually loading to check-setup the powder drop and drops are all within 1/10 grain. Watch that little white cube on the side of your powder bar and make sure it goes all the way to the right. The length of your cases can affect the powder throws.
Bronson7

[Zero]

The powder bar cycles completely, and with most other powders especially the Vhitavouri, it meters perfectly.