I've been loading up a bunch of .223 and have been using my digital scale to weight each charge before I put it in the case (my lee powder measure seems to be accurate to +/- 0.5 gn. When set to 25.8 gn the measure will throw charges between 25.6 to 26.1 gn, but most often it measures out 25.8.
These are all within the acceptable charge range with varget powder (25-27gn), so I've been just putting them in to the cases.
Anyway, when I weigh the completed rounds they have quiet a bit of disparity in weight. The entire cartridge can be as light as 169.8gn to as heavy as 190gn, but when I pulled a few of the 190gn bullets the powder charges were all approximately 25.8gns. This is also true with the lighter bullets (approx. 25.8 gns).
So here are the questions:
Does the weight disparity matter? Is it due to different brass case weights? Any other possible reasons?
How much does it matter that the powder measure doesn't throw consistent loads? Will those small differences have a noticeable impact on accuracy? I'm only looking to hit man-sized targets to 200, maybe 300 yards.
These are all within the acceptable charge range with varget powder (25-27gn), so I've been just putting them in to the cases.
Anyway, when I weigh the completed rounds they have quiet a bit of disparity in weight. The entire cartridge can be as light as 169.8gn to as heavy as 190gn, but when I pulled a few of the 190gn bullets the powder charges were all approximately 25.8gns. This is also true with the lighter bullets (approx. 25.8 gns).
So here are the questions:
Does the weight disparity matter? Is it due to different brass case weights? Any other possible reasons?
How much does it matter that the powder measure doesn't throw consistent loads? Will those small differences have a noticeable impact on accuracy? I'm only looking to hit man-sized targets to 200, maybe 300 yards.