question about powders

[PJgunner]

Originally Posted by happycowboy

Hey PJgunner, i'm already weighing each charge by hand. Like you said, it is time consuming and that is what i'm trying to get away from. The chargemaster is not an option at this point and time, so i guess its back to the time comsumption part of reloading. I absolutely love the lyman 330 gr. hp bullet. I've been loading 43 gr. of IMR 3031 under that bullet and my rifle absolutely loves it. Very accurate in my rifle. Anyway i appreciate the advice. later folks

Start saving your pennies. You'll be glad you did. FWIW, I loaded up 100rounds of .35 Whelen with RL-15 yesterday in just a few minutes over an hour. This morning I loaded 60 rounds of .257 Roberts with IMR-4350, another powder that just loved to hang up in my measure, but not the Chargemaster. Every charge weighed. RL-15 isn't so bad through the measure but I stick with the RCBS tool. FWIW, My ex-son-in-law took up reloading after I told now that I've done the dirty work, it's time you learned. I made him do the final product on my gear, first with the powder measure and having to weigh each charge and then using the Chargemaster. He went out and blew some buck getting all the stuff to load his ammo. he went with the Lyman model as it was, IIRC about $100 less. he says it's been trouble free so I guess that could be an option if money's tight.
The problem with 3031 is that long stick like shape of the powder. I'm wondering if one of the ball powders might be suitable for the 45-70? I looked in all my manuals and the only ball powder used was H-335 and the loads were for the very strong guns like the Ruger #1.
I don't know what Re-7 looks like. You might get away with one of the 4895's as they meter decently in my powder measures. I used a lot of 4895, either IMR or H in much of my cast bullet shooting in .308 and 30-06. It is a bit slower burning that 3031 though. Dunno for sure how well that one would work. Hope the powder change works out for you.
Paul B.