Author Topic: Charge bar confusion  (Read 3671 times)

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Wmterry89

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Charge bar confusion
« on: December 15, 2018, 08:55:00 am »
I’ve recently dug out all my fathers Star reloaders and accessories and the powder charge bars are a bit confusing.
I’m assuming that B.E.=Bullseye and No. 231= Winchester 231
But the GR numbers and hole sizes are all over the place:

BE 4. GR-.326
BE 3.7 GR-.319
BE 3.2 GR-.362
BE 3. GR-.350x.355(hole is oblong)
BE 3 GR-.269
BE 2.8 GR-.276
No231 1.7 GR-.198



I’d rather not manually check the charge weights for each one but I will if I have to. Hoping someone can shed some light on this.

rbwillnj

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Re: Charge bar confusion
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2018, 09:19:07 am »
1.) When Star produced powder slides they would drill a certain size hole then use a Taper Pin Reamer  to enlarge the hole to get the desired charge.  So, all of the holes are tapered.  Usually the large end is at the top of the slide, sometimes its on the bottom.   Your hole measurements have to take this into account.

2.) It was common practice for users to modify powder slides to get the charge they wanted.  Sometimes its obvioius that it's been modified, sometimes not, so you can never really trust the charge weight marked on the slide.


3.)  In my experiance, Bullseye powder slides always throw 0.2-0.4 grains more than marked.   This might be due to lot variation, but I think the powder has changed over the years.

4.)  All powders vary lot to lot.  The manufactures say up to 16%, though I have not found the variation to be that great.   Typically you can expect a +/- 0.1 grain variation from lot to lot.   So you really do have to manually check your charges periodically.

5.)  What we produce now, in all four sizes (0, 00, 1/2" & 5/8") are powder slides that use interchangeable bushings and we custom make bushing for the charge of your choice.  We use the published density for each powder (VMD) to calculate the hole size, so keep #4 in mind.

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Wmterry89

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Re: Charge bar confusion
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2018, 09:46:50 am »
Thanks for the reply.

 I’ll probably wil sit down and measure how much each one throws and keep the ones that work for me.

I may re-stamp them accordingly if they’re way off.

Edit:
I checked them and the 4, 3.7, and the 2.8 are correct and measure +/- .1

The 3.2 and 3. were 4.8 and 4.6

The 3 (no decimal) was 2.7
« Last Edit: December 15, 2018, 11:36:51 am by Wmterry89 »