AusVarmint

I am reading Benchrest Shooting Primer and it seems most of the US benchrest fraternity at the time were confident to load from a Culver adapted Lyman thrower without weighing each charge. I weigh each charge but as I am filling the safe and will be shooting more am investigating options.

I dont trust my RCBS thrower, it binds on stick powders and the charge is not consistent, it is simply a dispenser to put powder in a case that can then go in the scale pan and be trickled up.

I see the Harrel is a culver style. Any users here? anyone with knowledge of them? Would you set one of these up and weigh a few test charges and then trust it to accurately load varmint rounds? Same question on competition rounds

Thanks

I have a Harrell.... BR premium model. Have not used it as waiting for the PPC, but like all throwers they work best with fine grain powder.

The Harrell is a darn nice bit of gear, and from all reports they are one of the better throwers available!

Cheers
AI

yeah, I read they are the best available, but if I cant trust it and still have to weigh it becomes a more expensive powder dispenser and a waste of money!

yeah, i have the rcbs thrower and have to do the exact same. throw into the weighing pan and trickle the rest. would be ineresting to see how the other goes

Trevort,

They all are pretty much the same with coarse grained powders so you may have to trickle.....still

I use a Redding BR4 measure and it works just fine with the finer grained powders and I have tested it side by side with an RCBS throw for throw, the Redding won by a small margin....probably due to it having a 'baffle' inside to keep the powder weight consistant.

I feel I can trust them both.........

The trick is ...do every thing the same for each load, don't be bangin' on the bench between shells or loading 1/2 of your brass then coming back later ...well those sort of things anyway....you know what I mean

There is a lot more to shooting tiny little groups than what 0.2gns of powder will do...believe me maybe save that bit of cash for a good set of flags

Though having said all that I would like one.....they just look sooooo seeeexy

KY

Kenny your not making me want to spend the money. A digital powder dispensing system might be a better investment. Or of course just keep doin what i'm doin!! The bloody brass prep is the longest bit, not weighing the powder!

And yes, I want some flags. A smarter person would make their own.

G'Day Trev,
I have owned the Redding BR-30 and now own a Harrel "classic" without the bearings. it throws 6-60gns from memory. All my figures are based on throwing and measuring each charge (20+ charges) from both measures and including the hi & low charges. These figures are what I am confident in throwing with a consistent firm cycling of the measure

The BR-30 is a great measure for someone starting out, it is capable of great consistency (+/-0.15gn) with fine granule stick powders and ball powders.

The harrel, is slightly better +/- 0.1gn accuracy. Given 90% of BR shooters use the Harrel, it just cannot be bad. Also, many BR shooters refer to "clicks" on a Harrel. Do not take this as gospel, ask for the weight of the charge to compare apples to apples!

On paper in a 100/200 yd BR match I do not think you will notice the difference. You will lose more due to the wind or a poor tune of the rifle and load.

If your serious about small calibre rifles such as your 6-250, 204, 6ppc etc, a Harrel will serve you very well, personally, I like the Harrel, but practically, the BR-30 was very good value for money and it was the redding measure designed for small cartridges. I do not think there is any great difference in the ability of either to accurately dispense powder.

I had a good amount of success with both so I cannot really say one is better than the other, which ever you buy remember to be consistent with your technique, throw 2-3 charges back into the can to avoid heavy charges from powder settling of the powder column and either will serve you faithfully and most likely successfully for many years. It will probably come down to $ more than anything.

Hope this helps

Cheerio Ned

I have one of the top of the range Harrels and for long range work with the coarser powder it doesn't throw well enough (+- 2 tenths). I wouldn't suggest buying one for longrange work.

Matt P

I agree - better to get a cheap thrower and a good electronic scale if you want +/-0.1gn. Set your thrower to just under, throw directly into the scale pan, then finish with a trickler. Adds very little time to the process, and gives you peace of mind.

Alan

RCBS ChargeMaster Combo works very well for me. I would not go back to a thrower and scale.

cheers
Rinso

well thats saved $250 plus US off the next order. I'll keep weighing until i decide on an electronic unit

I use a Redding BR3 powder thrower and throw to around 0.3 uner weight and then use a electronic powder dispenser to to top the charge up to the weight. Doing this I have not got time to do anything else other than move the funnel ready for the next one. It is super quick!

If you are going to be shooting PPC and loading at the range, this is when the Harrell might be a good idea.

Cheers
AI

Trevort.....ahh to hell with it it's only ...money

Mate there's no way to beat the 'brass blues' but I know what you mean...it's much more fun making the noise than preparing for it
I just usually plonk my arse down with a CD of something I like blaring and get stuck in....the time passes pretty quick that way.........

And thanks Ned ...I got the number wrong for my measure...just realised that it's a BR-30 not a BR4...there bloody primers....jeez I will be able to hide my own easter eggs soon ....friggin idiot

A lot of people get way too carried away with this points of a grain powder thing I reckon....... I have one barrell that has a node a whole grain of powder and 10 thou of seating depth wide..and it groups...when I read the wind right.... you really need flags.......believe me

I made some flags and they have served me well for 'home' use but I would not bother taking them to a benchrest match but as A- theres no room left usually to put them anyway and B- there rough as guts
A good set of flags will cost you a bit but they will last a long time if looked after.........as in don't do what I do and leave them out for the roo's to fight with..it kinda farks 'em

AI

If you are going to be shooting PPC and loading at the range, this is when the Harrell might be a good idea.

That ain't gunna help you son.... why's that Clancy bloke taking so long with your PPC ?

KY

JB747 has the RCBS charge master combo- maybe he can give you some insight into using one.

with some vials you can have everything ready to load at the range without having to worry about powder despensing.

or you can throw and tickle at the range.

Later
P

maybe i've missed something but why would you want to load at the range? My plan would be to bring more ammo than I needed. I go on hunting trips with enough ammo to launch an invasion on a small African country. Sure, I bring most of it home but sure beats running out!