Getting Yellow Stain Out of Ppwder Thrower

[kbm6893]

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.

 

[andy52]

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.

 

[Sevens]

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.

 

[kbm6893]

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.

 

[BB57]

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.

 

[SMSgt]

I always empty my hopper and it still discolored. As long as I can see the powder I'm good.

 

[jsshooter]

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.

 

[ddixie884]

Skeeter said it could weaken Unique powder leaving it in, I believe an RBCS measure...........

 

[dswancutt]

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.

 

[kbm6893]

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?

 

[Twoboxer]

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.

 

[kbm6893]

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.

 

[Wise_A]

You can get a funnel from Harbor Freight for like .99 cents that will solve all your problems.

 

[Twoboxer]

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.

 

[dswancutt]

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.

 

[kbm6893]

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

 

[bigedp51]

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.

 

[Twoboxer]

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.

 

[dswancutt]

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.

 

[Twoboxer]

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.