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Old 10-19-2018, 05:37 PM
kbm6893 kbm6893 is offline
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I load in a garage that is attached to the house. It’s not heated or AC’ed but it never gets freezing or too hot. I leave my powder in the powder dispenser because I batch load and sometimes just do 10 rounds at a time if I am called away.

I only use one Powder, HP38 so there is no danger of mixing powders. Whenever I change my caliber I set the thrower and attach a label to the plastic tube so I don’t confuse calibers.

So how do I get rid of the yellow tinge on the inside of the thrower from the powder sitting there? Is it possible? Or should I just start dumping the powder back and forth between the thrower and the bottle, which is rather not do.
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Old 10-19-2018, 05:57 PM
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Mine is the same way and it's 35 years old I really don't think there is a good way to remove it. You might try and find a new plastic tube to replace it though.
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Old 10-19-2018, 06:03 PM
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Depending on who made the powder measure, you can simply get a new plastic hopper for it. Eventually I had to do exactly that for my Lyman 55. I bought it used in the first place and I found that some certain powders were eating away the inside and etching it. There was no possibility of cleaning it and eventually, it no longer wanted to mount to the measure because the plastic was eating away at the bottom.

I ordered two replacements directly from Lyman. I doubt I'll ever use the second one, but I have it.
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Old 10-19-2018, 06:36 PM
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Its the Hornady lock and load thrower. I don’t care about the look as long as it’s nkt a problem. I’ve only been reloading for like 5 years.
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Old 10-19-2018, 08:58 PM
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I've been leaving powder in my measures for the last 40 years. Way back in the day, with the even older used measures I bought then, some of the plastics used could go soft on you. If that happened you needed to replace the tube.

One option that works well with a cylindrical hopper is to line it with a sheet of black construction paper. The major reason to use a sheet of black construction paper is to prevent any degradation of the powder in then hopper due to sunlight. However, unless you have it sitting in direct sunlight or a brightly sunlit room, that really isn't an issue - based on my 40 years of experience with a large number of powders. My bench is in the garage with north facing windows and I have 7 or 8 measures (a half dozen Dillon measures, a Redding BR-30, and a Hornady Lock and load) and I'll leave powder in them for months. I keep the covers on them to keep humidity from being a problem but I don't worry about light as it's all indirect.

If you still want to see the powder level in the measure, you can line it instead with a sheet of clear plastic cut to fit. You'll still have to replace the plastic now and then but it will keep the plastic tube for the hopper clear.

In my experience with my Dillon and Hornady measures leaving the powder in the hopper will cause a little discoloration of the plastic tube, but doesn't pose any major issues.

The hopper on my Redding measure has had some issues with the screw holes getting soft, but a couple wraps of electrical tape around it where the hopper meets the base has held it secure for about 5 years now, but eventually I'll need to replace it some day and it'll cost about $15-$20. The Hornady hopper costs about half that and if a Dillon hopper ever goes bad, Dillon will most likely just send me a new one.
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Old 10-19-2018, 09:05 PM
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I always empty my hopper and it still discolored. As long as I can see the powder I'm good.
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Old 10-19-2018, 09:20 PM
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I have found that Bullseye can cause etching. Seems to me that there is a chemical reaction going on, and I don't like thinking what it might be doing to the powder.

I cut the bottom off of an olive jar and set it into the metal casting with silicone. Crackle painted the lid and transferred the CH sticker.
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Old 10-19-2018, 09:36 PM
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Skeeter said it could weaken Unique powder leaving it in, I believe an RBCS measure...........
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Old 10-19-2018, 09:51 PM
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I have changed two of my three Hornady powder measures to this.

Hornady – DRAM WORX

They are absolutely worth the cost. No more discolored, disfigured plastic hopper. No more static cling and it includes a powder bridge One thing to note. Hornady has two thread pitches on the threaded base which will require you to modify the threads on the new hopper to work.
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Old 10-20-2018, 06:11 AM
kbm6893 kbm6893 is offline
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I have changed two of my three Hornady powder measures to this.

Hornady – DRAM WORX

They are absolutely worth the cost. No more discolored, disfigured plastic hopper. No more static cling and it includes a powder bridge One thing to note. Hornady has two thread pitches on the threaded base which will require you to modify the threads on the new hopper to work.
That looks cool, but I don’t think my current thrower is threaded. If it is the plastic tube is definitely not because I can spin it around in the thrower and there are no threads on the tube. Should I just get the non threaded version? And isn’t Pyrex breakable if it’s dropped?
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Old 10-20-2018, 02:29 PM
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That looks cool, but I don’t think my current thrower is threaded. If it is the plastic tube is definitely not because I can spin it around in the thrower and there are no threads on the tube. Should I just get the non threaded version? And isn’t Pyrex breakable if it’s dropped?
Empty the powder out and look at the parts.
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Old 10-20-2018, 02:32 PM
kbm6893 kbm6893 is offline
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Empty the powder out and look at the parts.

I did. The thrower is threaded but the plastic tube isn’t. It can spin freely in the thrower. Never been a problem.
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Old 10-20-2018, 04:05 PM
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You can get a funnel from Harbor Freight for like .99 cents that will solve all your problems.
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Old 10-20-2018, 05:14 PM
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I did. The thrower is threaded but the plastic tube isn’t. It can spin freely in the thrower. Never been a problem.
If you have a threaded powder measure, and want to buy a pyrex powder tube, buy the threaded one.

The plastic tubes get shaved a bit by the threads allowing you to twist them in. Pyrex won't do that well.
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Old 10-20-2018, 08:38 PM
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If you have a threaded powder measure, and want to buy a pyrex powder tube, buy the threaded one.

The plastic tubes get shaved a bit by the threads allowing you to twist them in. Pyrex won't do that well.
The Pyrex tube is attached to an aluminum base, so there is no glass contact. kbm6893, let me check my powder throwers to see which thread thrower matches the threaded tube.
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Old 10-20-2018, 08:52 PM
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The Pyrex tube is attached to an aluminum base, so there is no glass contact. kbm6893, let me check my powder throwers to see which thread thrower matches the threaded tube.
Thanks! Let me know. Might be a good Christmas present to myself! If
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Old 10-20-2018, 09:31 PM
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I left some H335 in my RCBS Chargemaster and the powder ate into the green plastic and had to be scraped off the green plastic. And now the green plastic has permanent acne scars. So I learned the hard way to empty the hopper after each use. The difference is the powder had no effect on the clear plastic and for some reason ate into the green plastic.

That being said you should be able to polish the inside of the hopper with the polisher below for plastic headlight lenses. And all you need is some Meguires plastic polish and your ready to go.

If it doesn't work then just use it to polish your headlights.


Last edited by bigedp51; 10-20-2018 at 09:34 PM.
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Old 10-20-2018, 10:04 PM
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The Pyrex tube is attached to an aluminum base, so there is no glass contact. kbm6893, let me check my powder throwers to see which thread thrower matches the threaded tube.
Dram has 3 powder measures for Hornady: one for an old PM with ridges (not threads), and two for the threaded version. The threads are the same; the only difference is the powder capacity.
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Old 10-20-2018, 10:34 PM
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Dram has 3 powder measures for Hornady: one for an old PM with ridges (not threads), and two for the threaded version. The threads are the same; the only difference is the powder capacity.
WRONG. I have 3 Hornady LNL powder measures. 1 no thread, 2 threaded. There are two different thread pitches for the threaded Hornady powder measure. One is a fine thread pitch, which will work with the Dram Works hopper, the other is a course thread pitch, WHICH WILL NOT WORK with the Dram Works threaded hopper. I bought two threaded hoppers, both of which fit the fine pitch Hornady powder measure. On the course thread, I ended up filling down the threads on the hopper until it would screw into the powder measure and then drilling and tapping a hole in the powder measure for a set screw.
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Old 10-21-2018, 03:40 AM
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WRONG. I have 3 Hornady LNL powder measures. 1 no thread, 2 threaded. There are two different thread pitches for the threaded Hornady powder measure. One is a fine thread pitch, which will work with the Dram Works hopper, the other is a course thread pitch, WHICH WILL NOT WORK with the Dram Works threaded hopper. I bought two threaded hoppers, both of which fit the fine pitch Hornady powder measure. On the course thread, I ended up filling down the threads on the hopper until it would screw into the powder measure and then drilling and tapping a hole in the powder measure for a set screw.
You should tell Dram that there are three types of Hoprnady PMs. They say there's only two types, and they show pictures.
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Old 10-21-2018, 12:19 PM
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So how do I get rid of the yellow tinge on the inside of the thrower from the powder sitting there? Is it possible? Or should I just start dumping the powder back and forth between the thrower and the bottle, which is rather not do.

Stop peeing in it!


It doesn't matter unless you can not see the powder or the hopper is "etched".


They recommend NOT leaving powder in it, but other experts of course have been doing it for years.


Some powders with higher nitro content may cause the plastic to deteriorate faster than others.
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Old 10-21-2018, 12:28 PM
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You cannot remove the stain, just replace the tube if it is an issue. I dont really care so my plastic hoppers are stained.
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Old 10-21-2018, 12:39 PM
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As long as you can put powder in and meter it out, who cares if it's stained.
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Old 10-21-2018, 01:09 PM
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I'm with this ^ and the idea of using a plastic polish to remedy the inside of a hopper seems like you might be introducing outside stuff (mixed with ground plastic too?) inside.

I replaced mine only because it was breaking down and wouldn't reliably lock in place.
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Old 10-27-2018, 09:52 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dswancutt View Post
I have changed two of my three Hornady powder measures to this.

Hornady – DRAM WORX

They are absolutely worth the cost. No more discolored, disfigured plastic hopper. No more static cling and it includes a powder bridge One thing to note. Hornady has two thread pitches on the threaded base which will require you to modify the threads on the new hopper to work.
That is absolutely awesome, I had no idea these existed! At first glance they seem expensive but Pyrex, come on!! I need one for my Redding and Dillons.
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Old 10-31-2018, 12:46 AM
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Quote:
kbm6893 wrote:
So how do I get rid of the yellow tinge on the inside of the thrower from the powder sitting there? Is it possible?
The "yellow tinge" is etching of the plastic hopper from the nitrates in the powder. There is no way to get rid of it short of replacing the hopper or finding someone who is set up to polish a cylinder with jeweler's rouge.

Quote:
Or should I just start dumping the powder back and forth between the thrower and the bottle, which is rather not do.
The manual for all the powder measures I am familiar with uniformly suggest returning the powder to the original container at the end of the reloading session.

If you are not doing this, please be aware that unless you are loading a single caliber with a single powder at a single charge weight, leaving powder in the meter is a potential point of failure in your reloading process. The potential to damage the measure (which has already happened as you are posting about it), the potential to throw a different charge than you are expecting. The potential to neglect to identify the powder left in the measure. These are all potential sources of a "Ka-Boom".

Keep only the one powder you're using on your bench at any given time. Fill your powder measure. Check its accuracy. Double-check its accuracy. Triple-check its accuracy. Load. When you are done, return the powder to its original container. Remove the container from the reloading bench. I don't care what your preferences are. After 42 years of reloading, I know that any other process is asking for a tragedy.
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Old 10-31-2018, 05:52 AM
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The "yellow tinge" is etching of the plastic hopper from the nitrates in the powder. There is no way to get rid of it short of replacing the hopper or finding someone who is set up to polish a cylinder with jeweler's rouge.



The manual for all the powder measures I am familiar with uniformly suggest returning the powder to the original container at the end of the reloading session.

If you are not doing this, please be aware that unless you are loading a single caliber with a single powder at a single charge weight, leaving powder in the meter is a potential point of failure in your reloading process. The potential to damage the measure (which has already happened as you are posting about it), the potential to throw a different charge than you are expecting. The potential to neglect to identify the powder left in the measure. These are all potential sources of a "Ka-Boom".

Keep only the one powder you're using on your bench at any given time. Fill your powder measure. Check its accuracy. Double-check its accuracy. Triple-check its accuracy. Load. When you are done, return the powder to its original container. Remove the container from the reloading bench. I don't care what your preferences are. After 42 years of reloading, I know that any other process is asking for a tragedy.
I a. OCD about safety, but what you describe will not happen to me. I only use one powder, so they’ll never be any cross contamination. I only load one caliber at a time. I have plenty of 9MM in hand and have been shooting revolvers exclusively for a while, so for at least the next few months, I will only be loading .38. I tape a label to the dispenser with the caliber, powder, and charge and adjust the thrower to throw the weight of the caliber I am loading. I load on a single stage press and weigh every charge. And I visually confirm the weight of the charge by glancing at the label on the thrower AND the reloading date tacked to the wall above my bench. The loading data for the calibers not being loaded at that moment are covered by a piece of cardboard over them so I can never read the 9MM data while loading .38.

As for pouring powder back into the bottle, as long as leaving it in the hopper isn’t dangerous, why add the extra step? The way I load is I drop the charge, weigh it, seat a bullet, and set into the loading block. Sometimes I only do like 10 before getting called away. When I have 100 loaded, I crimp them a d dump them into the ammo can. If I had to unlock the cabinet and refill the hopper three times a week, then return it to the bottle, it would be a hassle and frankly discourage me from making ammo.
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