Increasing the accuracy of a hopper powder dispenser very cheaply.

Thar

Well-Known Member
I picked this tip up off one of the US web sites. I turned a piece of plastic that fitted inside the powder dispenser hopper, then I placed a big nut on top, but anything heavy would do. I guess you could cut a piece of heavy card it would be ok.

The weight on top of the powder does seem to increase the accuracy of the powder dispenser and there is no need to keep topping up your hopper. I was consistently getting 0.1gm or less variation with the loads I was throwing.

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ATB

Tahr
 
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Great idea ! When I took on reloading for the two estate stalkers as well as myself - catering for their rifle preferences, I bought in a hopper. I wish now that I had known about your tip.
It worked fine on the smaller grain extruded powders but sometimes irritated me a bit on longer grain stuff which crunched and tended to try and jam on the reverse stroke. I tried not to import if I could avoid it. (Sometimes you have to accept what's on offer and adapt your loadings).

The main problem, however, was that I lived in an old house which was blessed with a lot of 'penny spiders' and these timy creatures got everywhere.
They spun single threads down into my equipment and I observed strings of powder grains threading down into the cases like miniature necklaces during weighing and pouring - which didn't appear to alter the performance of the load.
But it was when I began using the hopper and they managed to find their way in there - pure mayhem if you didn't notice and the feeding channel got bunged with powder necklaces !

I cured that by constantly checking and cleaning before each loading performance - but it's worth thinking about for anyone living in very old buildings where the wife is banned from the reloading room with cleaning implements.

I really did clean the place, but the little beggars have 24 hours a day to create mayhem.
 
Hi Ecoman

I can’t say I have ever had problems with spiders when reloading.:eek:

I think all the hoppers work best with ball powder or fine cut type powder, I use H4831sc in two of my rifles to aid consistent reloading.

ATB

Tahr
 
I like the idea but think there may be a problem in the logic behind it (thinking aloud here).
Many powder throwers either have a baffle or you can obtain a baffle as an extra to ensure consistent pressure on the powder column. I have even read of making a baffle from a piece of card or plastic.
The covers on powder throwers are a loose fit so that if by some fluke means such as the reloader smoking the powder ignites, it will burn very very rapidly (genie) but not detonate because the pressure it is not contained. By exerting a load on top of the powder you will be containing the powder to a certain extent and suppling further shrapnel in a worst case scenario.
Saying that don't Dillon have a light weight powder follower on some of their throwers, but this is used to alert reloaders to low powder levels I believe.

Like I said this is just thinking aloud.
 
I like the idea but think there may be a problem in the logic behind it (thinking aloud here).
Many powder throwers either have a baffle or you can obtain a baffle as an extra to ensure consistent pressure on the powder column. I have even read of making a baffle from a piece of card or plastic.
The covers on powder throwers are a loose fit so that if by some fluke means such as the reloader smoking the powder ignites, it will burn very very rapidly (genie) but not detonate because the pressure it is not contained. By exerting a load on top of the powder you will be containing the powder to a certain extent and suppling further shrapnel in a worst case scenario.
Saying that don't Dillon have a light weight powder follower on some of their throwers, but this is used to alert reloaders to low powder levels I believe.

Like I said this is just thinking aloud.

I don't know about the ignition scenario (people who smoke while reloading deserve what they get!) but I 100% agree with the baffle. It allows for a uniform amount of powder to rest on the metering drum regardless of the quantity in the hopper. I use them all the time, cut from cardboard or plastic.~Muir
 
I don't know about the ignition scenario (people who smoke while reloading deserve what they get!) but I 100% agree with the baffle. It allows for a uniform amount of powder to rest on the metering drum regardless of the quantity in the hopper. I use them all the time, cut from cardboard or plastic.~Muir

if its good enough for you Muir then its good enough for me :tiphat:
 
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