Are “pencil powders a no-no in Dillon Machines?

[salemsm]

Whilst I'm waiting for my Dillon 550B press to arrive, I downloaded the Instruction Manual and started reading. On the troubleshooting page, I came across this quote concerning "Erratic powder bar operation":

Extruded pencil type powders will not flow smoothly through smaller sized powder funnels because of their length.

My first powder choice was Winchester 231 for 38 sp/357 mag loads which is (according to Lyman) a Double base, ball powder.

What are everyone's experiences with ball/pencil/flake type powders in regards to Dillon machines. What's good and what should be avoided?

 

[SMSgt]

Don't have a Dillon, but it's true that the "pencil" powders, as you put it, don't drop as consistantly as fine ball or flake powders will. WW231 and any of the like should measure very consistantly.

A larger diameter funnel, if available, will help, but don't expect .1 grain consistancy with extruded powders.

 

[Biginge]

Used w231 for years in my Dillons (550 and square deal B) with no problems. Scale never moves.

 

[arizona98tj]

You can't get much more different in regards to powder types when looking at ball powders and extruded powders. Ball will meter very nicely in your Dillon. Flake powder would be your next choice and last would be extruded.

Plenty of powders to use in the handgun arena that won't present much, if any, metering problems.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Most extruded powders will be used in rifle loads
but sr4759 and others do find their way into pistol loads.

Usually ball and flake powders make up 90% of the data so you should hot have to use the 3rd type of powder since it tends to hang up when being cut due to its length.

If you do load rifle look at imr 4320, it has very short grains and does well in my loader, for an extruded powder.

 

[Aticus]

You'll have trouble with extruded powders in any powder measure. They tend to bridge across the narrow drop tube needed for bottle necked rifle cases. There is a way to avoid this. When you raise the ram and the powder dumps at station 2 simply give the side of the powder a couple whacks on the metal the powder slide is in. This vibrates the drop tube and breaks up the bridging. Lyman has a built in knocker on their no. 55 measure just for this purpose. I get very consistent weights from IMR 4064 from my Dillon doing this.

 

[358156hp]

Powder tricklers were designed to help reloaders deal with extruded powders effectively. They're a minor, but necessary pain to deal with. Many reloaders claim that extruded powders give the best accuracy, and are more consistent than ball powders. I use both...

 

[andyo5]

I have owned a Dillon RL550B for 15 years. I load several rifle and pistol calibers. I use stick powders including IMR4064, IMR4895, and H4895. Also load Accurate 1680, W748, Bullseye, Unique, 2400, HS6, etc, etc.
The ball powders measure very consistently. Unique is a flake powder. It is good for plus or minus 0.2 grains in my experience. When I am near the limit for a particular load, I throw a low load and use a powder trickler to increase the charge to my desired load. Otherwise, I just set it to average my desired load and live with the variation. Even without trickling, I find I get fine accuracy with Unique in 45 Colt loads.
For stick powders (you call them pencil powders) I use the trickling method, especially since I load for matches and want very consistent charges. It works just fine.
There are several inexpensive trickle chargers on the market. I believe mine is an RCBS. You made a wise choice when you bought a Dillon.

 

[H Richard]

231 is my go to powder for 38, 9mm, & 45 ACP. These are loaded on a Dillon, and the loads extremely consistent. Stick powders are mostly rifle powders, and do require more care and measuring, as the length of the stick can "bridge" in the powder drop tube and cause a lot of variation. My rifle loads with stick powder are all individually weighed. If I would need a higher production rate, I would switch to a ball type powder.

 

[fredj338]

They are called extruded or "stick" powders, & IME, no, they meter very poorly in any measure. For progressives, I stick to small flake or ball/spherical powders. The best I can do with stick powders in my 550 is about 0.3gr accuracy, not good enough for small cases like the 223, not even for my 308 stuff. Fortunately, lots of good choices in ball/spherical powders for both.