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Post by shooteruk on Mar 27, 2017 12:49:34 GMT -6
I am pleased with myself. I fixed a long abandoned redding powder drum dispenser thing. I have had it for forty plus years, and it broke sometime long past and I never figured out why. So I was looking at it and decided to try again, if I ever did before? Anyway I stripped it down, cleaned and degreased each part. The screw that holds the adjuster was missing, so found a replacement and cut to length. Broken powder hopper also damaged and now fixed. All put back together, the drum is such a perfect fit it reminded me of the knuckle joint in the Luger.
I ran some measure tests, ten throws, then weight and average. A grain or two out over ten throws of ten grains each, seems pretty good to me. That may vary with the type of powder, ie fine to course.
Anyhow, pretty pleased with the result. 50 .357s to celebrate. (158gr LSW over Blue dot). I wonder how old powder and primers can be and still work ok? I found some old primers and old half used powders, and wondered.... Actually, I sort of know I shouldn't use old powder thats opened. may be contaminated. Unlikely to cause damage I think, more likely to perform poorly....
Anyone know?
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Post by armedandsafe on Mar 27, 2017 14:30:32 GMT -6
If loading for casual use, measure every fifth throw or so to ensure the thrower has not adjusted itself. If loading for precision shooting, measure every throw.
If the old powder smells strongly, pitch it out as fertilizer. Otherwise, it is still good. If the containers were properly capped, there should me no contamination.
I recently used some small pistol primers from a box dated 1965. They worked fine. They had been stored in the dark, in a temperature controlled environment for most of that time. The only time they were exposed to temperature changes was while I was moving from one location to another. That extreme is not recommended, but my recent personal experience. I was careful to ensure that each round did fully fire and there were no soft sounds. I was also using them in a semi automatic, so that gave me a secondary indication of failure.
I grew up reloading for 1000 yard competition shooting, so developed the habit of measuring each round of powder, seating the primers with a weight scale measuring seating pressure and some other fussy procedures to help ensure consistency among rounds.
Pops
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Post by Alpo on Mar 27, 2017 16:37:34 GMT -6
Did you actually mean what you wrote - a grain or two off on a ten-grain charge?
That would mean the throw could be anywhere between eight to twelve grains. Plus or minus 20%.
Scary.
One or two TENTHS of a grain off would be acceptable to me (maybe), but TWO GRAINS?
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Post by armedandsafe on Mar 27, 2017 16:44:04 GMT -6
I took that to mean a grain off in the sum of 10 throws.
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Post by Alpo on Mar 27, 2017 19:52:57 GMT -6
Throw ten charges, with the total being off 1 to 2 grains? That would be 0.1 or 2 off per throw. That's not too bad.
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Post by shooteruk on Mar 28, 2017 0:32:48 GMT -6
Throw ten charges, with the total being off 1 to 2 grains? That would be 0.1 or 2 off per throw. That's not too bad. Thats the one. Though after a nights sleep I am not happy about the device. I had to extend the adjuster to almost the maximum to throw 10 grains. I have not used this unit for many years but cant help but think somethings not right. I have a plan. I will strip it out again today and holding the drum in hand will fill the space with powder, then empty into the weight scale, getting the weight while ensuring the space was fully filled and emptied. Footnote: All sorted. There was a small deposit of grease or oil within the adjuster. I must have missed it, and it was gluing some grains to the chamber wall. The measures were consistent, but all was not well. All cleaned and dried and working perfectly. Seemed to make very little difference but enough. Loaded 50 .357's with Accurate No.5 to celebrate. Curious, my bulk reloading ended many years ago. In recent years I loaded small amounts with great care, measuring each amount with the scale, or sometimes the scoop. Each case filled with care, one at a time. Anyway, getting everything sorted again for larger amounts has been a re learning curve. Blowing the dust of several bits of equipment, re greasing the ram on my Lee Turret press, fixing the powder dispenser etc.... Actually, quite a pleasant job.
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