Maybe we should start a new thread? I have a masters degree in manufacturing with 20+ years of hands on and to me reloading is nothing more than a 'manufacturing process' EC will disagree with me and thats ok but I find it dificult to look into every round of .223 brass to ensure there is powder, between filling the brass, watching powder level in hopper, loading bullet, clearing completed round that failed to fall down chute my hands are full. I think you would need a good light and then be looking straight down into the brass, wouldn't the top die plate be in the way? Maybe next session I will give it a try, never said my way is the best, just said it works for me. My other issue with looking in the brass is if you forget to look into just one and you pull the handle and that brass falls into the bucket that already has 375 rounds in it what do you do? Keep in mind I have never had a round with no powder, I have had 2 or 3 rounds that the primer wasnt seated fully, cought them in the weigh in process due to the fact that with a primer not seated fully the round will not stand up on the scale. I never tell my machine operators how to run their machines and the book or manual isnt always the best either. If they find more efficient, safe and accurate ways of producing high quality parts then who am I to tell them they are all wrong? Have you ever seen soda or beer being filled at 1000 cans per minute, the sensor on the belt kicks out the cans that don't meet a min weight, seems to work ok? I have heard of guys who can 'shake' a .223 round and tell if its ok, does this sound better than weighing them? I can shake them and tell if something is in there but as to how much of that something?????
With the right light (which I made sure I have) I can look into each .223 case as I seat the bullet. I mean, I have to look at the case to put the bullet on top of it, right? I made sure my setup allowed me to check the powder at the same time.
As I said earlier, if I can see powder, I know I won't have a squib, and an overcharge is just as easy to detect (powder in the neck). If my setup was such that I couldn't see into the cases, I'd change it so that it was (or get a powder check die).
I'm not the least bit worried about a squib. If I pull the trigger and the round doesn't go off, I make sure there's a bullet in the ejected round or I check the gun.
I'm more worried about an overcharge, which your method will probably not detect. By your own admission, you see a variance of 4 grains with your brass (my experience with mixed brass is that the variation is much greater than +/- 2 grains). If you throw a heavy charge into a light case, you'll never detect it by weighing. I will. You would too if you looked instead of (or in addition to) weighing.
Throw a 'normal' charge into a .223 case and then throw one two grains heavier. You'll see that it's pretty easy to tell the difference if you look at it. Not so much if you're relying on weighing them at the end. That two grains of powder can mean the difference between your gun blowing up, or not. This can easily happen too. You get a little bit of powder hung up in the measure causing one round to be a few grains light, and then it all drops into the next case making it a few grains too heavy. It sticks out like a sore thumb when you look at the case.
You are right that there are many ways to skin the ammo-making cat. Some methods are better than others, and some are just wrong. All the more reason why I won't shoot most other peoples' reloads.
Has anyone ever done or heard of anyone testing as to how light of a load you need to get a squib? I realize this would be specific to bullet, powder, gun, barrel, barrel length. Would be interesting to know aprox how much or little powder you need to prevent a quib?
This would be a very dangerous thing to try. Lighter than specified loads (especially with ball powders) can cause outrageous pressure spikes (>150,000 psi) that can potentially destroy the gun and the shooter.