Powder throwers

[a__l__a__n]

I have the Lee Perfect Powder Measure and also the Auto disk on a Pro-1000 and on a turret. They both work great. You have to expect a small variation unless you hand dip or spend the bucks and get a Chargemaster. If you have a single stage I would recommend the Perfect Powder measure unless you already have the Lee powder through expander die. With that die the Autodisk will save you a step. The perfect powder measure will do Bullseye within .1- .2. I didn't like the way it dropped Varget. It tended to chop that powder. The ball and flake powders do well in it.

I have the Lee powder through expander. So I've ordered the autodisk and the adjustible charge bar.

I think snatch3838 has the perspective I need. I've been obsessing over precise measurement of powder but that's not where my attention needs to be at this point in my quest for handgun mastery. I have bigger fish to fry ;-)

 

[Chuckdog]

I believe you'll be pleased with your choice. At normal handgun distances a variance of 1/10 of a grain
ain't gonna make much difference.

As long as you're not working near the ragged edge of safety, the volume
measure will do a great job without the need of weighing and trickling each load.

I still weigh one on occasion, every 20 rounds or so and visually inspect mine before seating, as an ounce of prevention.

I trickle all my precision rifle stuff, and yea, I still visually inspect them before topping them with a bullet too.

 

[a__l__a__n]

I received the pro auto disk and the adjustible charge bar today, and did a little verification of the charges thrown using Bullseye.

With the included disks:
0.37cc throws 3.3 grains. (chart says 3.5 grains)
0.40cc throws 3.6 grains. (chart says 3.8 grains)
0.43 cc throws 3.9 grains. (chart says 4.0 grains)

The above seemed to be pretty consistent, over a dozen or so trials of each.

I was unable to get a repeatable measure in this range from the adjustible charge bar. About half the time (maybe more) I was getting squib loads, probably less than a grain (trying to load 3.5 grains, or 0.37cc's.) It seems that the hole on the bottom of the hopper doesn't align well with the hole in the charge bar on these small loads. When I turn off the flow of powder and disassemble, I find powder spilled all over inside the mechanism -- but not filling the hole in the charge bar. I verified my assembly multiple times.

A little googling around led me to a possible solution to the adjustible charge bar problem in this discussion on the 1911 forum... and this related discussion on another forum (starting in the 6th post on that page). I think I'll try that.

However, when it came time to clean up everything, I had a devil of a time getting all the powder out of the hopper and mechanism. The powder loves to cling to the sides of the hopper and in the rest of the inner workings, everywhere it comes in contact. The end result was a lot more scattered powder than I've been getting with my old slow process of hand weighing every charge. There seems to be just enough static electricity around to make the powder granules hang onto anything plastic. How do you deal with this?

 

[snatch3838]

If you look at the volume chart it's is in the lee kit I guess it's online also. But you just multiple. The vil per grain times the grain then you know what dipper to use Oe can make your own when you get multiple of the same just use epoxy or a screw. I like to file them off

 

[Chuckdog]

I received the pro auto disk and the adjustible charge bar today, and did a little verification of the charges thrown using Bullseye.

With the included disks:
0.37cc throws 3.3 grains. (chart says 3.5 grains)
0.40cc throws 3.6 grains. (chart says 3.8 grains)
0.43 cc throws 3.9 grains. (chart says 4.0 grains)

The above seemed to be pretty consistent, over a dozen or so trials of each.

I was unable to get a repeatable measure in this range from the adjustible charge bar. About half the time (maybe more) I was getting squib loads, probably less than a grain (trying to load 3.5 grains, or 0.37cc's.) It seems that the hole on the bottom of the hopper doesn't align well with the hole in the charge bar on these small loads. When I turn off the flow of powder and disassemble, I find powder spilled all over inside the mechanism -- but not filling the hole in the charge bar. I verified my assembly multiple times.

A little googling around led me to a possible solution to the adjustible charge bar problem in this discussion on the 1911 forum... and this related discussion on another forum (starting in the 6th post on that page). I think I'll try that.

However, when it came time to clean up everything, I had a devil of a time getting all the powder out of the hopper and mechanism. The powder loves to cling to the sides of the hopper and in the rest of the inner workings, everywhere it comes in contact. The end result was a lot more scattered powder than I've been getting with my old slow process of hand weighing every charge. There seems to be just enough static electricity around to make the powder granules hang onto anything plastic. How do you deal with this?

Much of what you're describing is simply because it's new. Run several hopper fulls through it and it
will lube itself. Many folks run a little graphite through em' to speed the process.

That new nylon/plastic is very clingy till it gets lubed with powder.

I've heard of others wiping them with used dryer sheets and such, but I'd stick with powder doing the lube.
Just use an old piece of brass, one that hasn't even been resized/deprimed and use a large cavity to run some
powder through the mechanism and coat the inside of the hopper.

It'll settle down and run great once the new wears off. CD

 

[a__l__a__n]

Thanks to all for the pointers. It looks like this will be the solution I was looking for, once I get the hang of it.

 

[STEELHORSES]

A little googling around led me to a possible solution to the adjustible charge bar problem in this discussion on the 1911 forum... and this related discussion on another forum (starting in the 6th post on that page). I think I'll try that.

However, when it came time to clean up everything, I had a devil of a time getting all the powder out of the hopper and mechanism. The powder loves to cling to the sides of the hopper and in the rest of the inner workings, everywhere it comes in contact. The end result was a lot more scattered powder than I've been getting with my old slow process of hand weighing every charge. There seems to be just enough static electricity around to make the powder granules hang onto anything plastic. How do you deal with this?

Good info on those links Alan! Confirms what I've experienced as far as throw variance with the lee perfect powder measure (messy!) and the autodisk using different powders. My son added the rcbs powder check die to his turret and so far we haven't had any dangerous over/under loads but the extra insurance is worth it.

 

[a__l__a__n]

Good info on those links Alan! Confirms what I've experienced as far as throw variance with the lee perfect powder measure (messy!) and the autodisk using different powders. My son added the rcbs powder check die to his turret and so far we haven't had any dangerous over/under loads but the extra insurance is worth it.

I tried that mod on my adjustible charge bar, and it worked great for me.

I cut pieces of an old business card to size and glued them in place as shown above. Then I tried a setting on the adjustible charge bar, weighing the resulting charge on my balance scale, and re-adjusting the charge bar until I got the precise weight of my favorite Bullseye loads (3.5 gr and 4.0 gr, which happen to fall in-beween the available holes on the provided disks). I ran about 100 charges through it, weighing maybe a third of them. Only once was it off by a tenth of a grain. And I confirmed that the settings for the two charges are repeatable. I could change the setting from one to the other and the resulting charges were as I intended after readjusting.

BTW, since I'm using a single stage press, the RCBS powder check die doesn't fit into my process. But it gave me an idea. I found a dried-up white plastic ink pen which fits nicely inside a 38 special or 357 magnum case (inserting the flat end of the pen). I made black marks on the white pen with my Sharpie pen where the lip of a 38 special case comes when empty, and another mark where the lip of a 357 magnum case comes. Now, when I insert the pen all the way into a case, it is obvious whether the case is empty, or has a charge of powder, or has a double charge. Kind of a dip-stick for cartridges. Very simple, and it's both easier and more reliable than looking into the case to see the level of the charge.