On reloading...

[Neeco]

Midway USA's 55gr Dogtown HP's over 25.7gr of H335 (or WC844), 18" 1/9 BCM SPR stainless barrel with Miculek brake are wicked deadly on P-dogs. I use a COL of 2.210. I group them at under 1" @ 300 meters. My MV is right at 3100fps.

Like Dan, after sizing I run all my brass through my trimmer (RCBS TrimPro with the 3-way cutter) to 1.750. If it gets trimmed, great. If it didn't need trimmed no big deal.
If you are tuning a round to a specific gun it is a good idea to find the distance to the lands as unfy describes above. I split the case neck with a dremel disk so that the bullet could slide in a little easier but still have enough retention to get a good measurement. My distance to the lands for this particular rifle is 2.226 which is kind of tight IMO. I tested several different lengths from 2.19 up to 2.220 and found the sweet spot at 2.210. It took quite a while to work this load up first getting close to MOA with the powder charge then fine tuning with COL, a small charge change and more COL tweaking. Sometimes people get stuck on not finding a good COL and blame the bullet or even the gun when maybe all they need is a powder adjustment. When testing loads I ALWAYS shoot trough a chronograph. That way I can see if a flier had some other issue that changed the velocity. Working up the "perfect" load can be quite time consuming, lots of note taking, a fair amount of frustration, and a TON of patience but the satisfaction you get when it is dialed in is pretty cool. And it makes P-dog thumping a lot more fun when you know you brought a tack driver to the game. For this load I weigh each charge on the digital scale to exactly 25.70.
I can put out around 100 of these an hour.

My plinking load is Amscore or Hornady 55gr FMJBT W/C (whatever I found on sale bulk) over 24.1gr H335 / WC844. COL on these is 2.20 and work acceptably in any of my 5.56 / .223 platforms. I'm right at 2750fps with this load out of a 16" carbine length setup. It's not sub-MOA at 100 yds but plenty good for general plinking and I can crank out around 300 hundred an hour. I don't weigh every charge but I do verify every 10th or 15th load on the digital scale, if I am throwing + or - .1gr I don't bother adjusting the measure. I use the RCBS Uniflow with the small cylinder and metering rod and have found it to be very accurate with almost no deviation in charge weight.

I really wish I was on some land to do some Prairie Dog huntin! I am happy to just be able to shoot though, so no complaints.

I will play with my COAL once I get all my brass trimmed to 1.750.  That is the first step.

So at the expense of being told: "Take our class!" I am going to try and set out my routine... Please let me know if you see something horribly wrong.

1- Case cleaning - I use the EZ Cleaner and the corn media that came with it.  Tumble the appropriate number or cases for 1-2 hours with a tablespoon of supplied cleaner/polisher.
2- Inspect brass for deforms/inconsistencies. Count and sort.
2a - Lube (Was using supplied oil based lube, also picked up some ONE-SHOT.)
3 - Deprime/Resize
4 - Trim (new step, will trim all to 1.750)
5 - Hand prime and set in blocks for powder distribution.
6 - Setup powder throw. Set throw to within .2 of desired charge.  Set seating die.
7 - Throw powder, weigh, trickle if necessary, funnel into case. Immediately seat bullet.
8 - Check COAL.
9 - Mark load data in notebook and on round case.
wash, rinse, repeat. 

[unfy]

Just a note on the class:

We cover an introduction to pistol reloading.  Mostly plinking type loading etc.  We don't dive into benchrest rifle loading, that could be a week long class heh.  The goal of the class is to get new loaders' feet wet and simply loading their own ammo safely.

[Neeco]

Just a note on the class:

We cover an introduction to pistol reloading.  Mostly plinking type loading etc.  We don't dive into benchrest rifle loading, that could be a week long class heh.  The goal of the class is to get new loaders' feet wet and simply loading their own ammo safely.

What are the tolerated variances in things such as grains of powder when brewing a plinking round?  Is a .3 swing acceptable?  I would think that you want it as close as possible to your desired weight, but knowing the Unfilow isn't perfect, and we really can't weigh EVERY throw, there will inevitably be some variance.

[A-FIXER]

but knowing the Unfilow isn't perfect, and we really can't weigh EVERY throw, there will inevitably be some variance.

Why not its part of the learning curve..... on pistol with a .45 .3 is enough to be concerned about. with a total of appx 3.6 grs of a certain type of powder.

[A-FIXER]

Throw powder, weigh, trickle if necessary

^^^This

[unfy]

What are the tolerated variances in things such as grains of powder when brewing a plinking round?  Is a .3 swing acceptable?  I would think that you want it as close as possible to your desired weight, but knowing the Unfilow isn't perfect, and we really can't weigh EVERY throw, there will inevitably be some variance.

A 0.3gr swing on a 30gr charge should be acceptable for plinking ammo -- assuming 30.5gr is below the max charge listed.

A 0.3gr variance for a 4-6gr pistol charge is generally not a good thing.

If your powder thrower is being inconsistent there are a few likely causes.

User error

This would be typically not having a uniform / standard operation of the throwing mechanism.  There is a 'knock knock' pattern you should get into when throwing charges.  Basically, every force / timing of manipulating the powder thrower handle should be the same.  It'll take repetition / practice, but you'll get the hang of it eventually.

With progressive presses, this means raising / lowering the ram in a consistent fashion as well (which can be interesting when cases think differently of being sized heh).

With a hand activated powder thrower, you can try flicking / tapping the drop tube or cam with every charge (or twice, once on drop once on refill).  Might help.  Might not .

Static electricity

Is powder sticking to the metering cam ? Or the drop tube ?  Grab some Bounce or other anti-static dryer sheet and rub it over stuff.  If you're indoors, particularly during the winter with the heater running and no humidifier, static build up is very easy to accumulate.

Moisture

If it's hot and muggy in your loading area, powder might wanna try to clump or similar.

Powder choice

Some powders simply don't like to be volumetrically measured.  Some of the slower burning rifle powders with long rod shapes can make this a bit worse too.  Nothing you can do about it, but you should eventually get a rhythm or setup that should make drop nicely.

Powder measure creep

Some powder throwers / measures will creep on you.  Verify powder drop every X number of throws (10, 20, 50, 100, whatever you discover is a good number after a while of using your thrower).



I've not done enough work with the cheapy Lee Perfect Powder Measure yet... but it was wanting to be off by up to 0.4gr when working with a rifle ammo.  I need to fiddle with it far more to see if I can make it purr better.  But due to inconsistency I ended up measuring each charge I dropped out of it, and trickled some powder in if it was necessary.

On a side note, a shouldered rifle case can make a fine substitute for a powder trickler.  Just put some powder in it and slowly rotate the case to coax powder out.

[00BUCK]

9 - Mark load data in notebook and on round case.

Just a tip - a extra fine point sharpie can write small numbers on the primers quite well. I prefer that over marking up my brass. It doesn't hurt anything to mark the brass but you will not get all of it off on your next cleaning cycle. Little things like that tend to gnaw at me.

If I am testing loads from 24.1 up through 25.5 in .2 increments for example I just mark the primer with a 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, .1, .3, .5 the "." before the last 3 increments represents the jump from the 24 to 25 range. Might not work for everyone but it works well for me.

[00BUCK]

As for throwing charges with a powder measure, if you are using an RCBS Uniflow or other similar metal bodied measure you need to scrub the living ^&%$ out of it first. The uniflow has an oil coating on everything that will really mess with you. Take it apart, scrub the cylinder and rod with and old tooth brush, and be sure to scrub the inside of the body of the measure with a bottle brush and make sure you get everything super clean.

For static control a quick rubdown of all dried parts (especially the hopper inside and out, and drop tube, anything plastic) with a fresh dryer sheet will eliminate almost any static problem. I did that to my uniflow right out of the gate and have had no static problems with it at all over the last year using various different powders.

[unfy]

As for throwing charges with a powder measure, if you are using an RCBS Uniflow or other similar metal bodied measure you need to scrub the living ^&%$ out of it first.

I totally spaced that off in my response lol.

I always take apart every piece of equipment I get (dies/powder measure/etc) wipe'er down with a lint free cloth, hit it with One Shot, wipe it down again, and another light hit of one shot heh.

The light (or heavy) bit of oil / grease that comes from metal tools needs to go away, definitely.

Make sure any scrubbing is with a soft plastic bristle brush, a cheapy soft bristle tooth brush is a good idea.  Don't scratch things up .

Just like taking a factory new gun and cleaning it get rid of gunk, gotta do same with metal reloading equipment.

Nice catch, 00Buck