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I do exactly as MSM2019 has described. I find PSB requires very little, if any, "vibration" to flow into the shot. It truly does flow almost like water. Too much vertical vibration will put a lot of buffer under the shot, where it will do nothing good. If I need to "vibrate", I first pour in about a third of the buffer, then with my finger on top of the shot to hold it down, I gently tap the hull on the bench. I repeat that till the buffer can be seen through (not over) the top layer of shot.

Years ago I used other buffers that were apparently formed by grinding -- polyethylene flakes or powders, probably with a little graphite mixed in -- who knows. Those require considerable vibration to settle into the shot consistently -- useable and effective, but require more fiddling. Precison's PSB (Precision Spherical Buffer) is the best and easiest to use stuff -- its spherical form is the key. To see how it or any other buffer flows, get a clear tube or narrow bottle of some sort, put in a depth representative of your load of the shot of your choice; pour in some buffer and see where it goes.

Joined: 04 Mar 2019 Posts: 1841 Location: Central ND

putz436,

No ammo manufacturer makes a truly buffered steel load. Buffering steel just doesn't do much except raise the chamber pressure. Alliant doesn't have data for it. Lyman doesn't have data for it. Precision doesn't have data for buffered steel loads. I don't think that RSI has buffered steel shot loads either. I tried it many years ago when developing loads and it didn't make any patterning difference and I had to take powder out to keep the pressures within the guidelines.

As far as BPI, not a place I would trust for reloading methods or data.

No argument, just what I have experienced.

As always YMMV.