[GLOOB]

I've had the idea in my head for a long time. But today, I finally had all the scraps and time I needed to make the thing.

Pictured with my custom 9mm/40SW/38 special loading block for stubby cases (loaded up with 9mm cases):
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv241/gloob27x/2012-11-01_17-12-34_291.jpg

Pictured with 7mm-08 cases in an empty 45ACP ammo tray:
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv241/gloob27x/2012-11-01_17-14-00_209.jpg

As you can see in this latter pic I have a custom drop tube. So you don't have to lift the cases to the funnel. You just adjust the height so the drop tube barely clears the cases, then push the tray along the fence as you go. Flip and do the opposite row. Then adjust the fence for the next two rows.

The base is from my mini drill press. The rest is pretty self explanatory. I just loaded 160 9mm, and it worked beautifully!

[splattergun]

:cool: That looks quite convenient for tray-charging your rounds! Good job.

[StretchNM]

Outstanding! How is it for sturdiness when you operate the dispenser lever? I'd also like to know more about you modified that case for the custom drop tube. Good stuff, Gloob!

[GLOOB]

Rock steady. So long as you don't lift the whole drill base. The holder is wood, but when you tighten the screw, it's on there completely solid.

For the LEE PPM, you can order extra drop tubes for a couple bucks in case you screw up. IIRC, I just cut off the funnel. Then I enlarged the hole with a dremel so a 223 case would fit. I took care to make sure that the enlarged part was cut to a straight edge, so to speak, so that falling powder cannot get stuck on top of the 223 case. The tube goes from smaller to larger at that point, if you get what I mean. Friction fit.

223 case: ran it through a crimp die, hard, to narrow the end as much as possible. Gave it a little outside bevel, too. This is so it works for charging 223. The tube rests on the inside mouth of a 223 case. Cut off the case head and gave it a generous inside bevel (for the whole making sure powder goes through it and doesn't get stuck on the top, thing). Then polished the inside nice and shiny.

So I finally tried the setup with 7mm-08. And it worked great at first. Then every once in awhile a few kernels of H335 got away. I found out that case lube was making powder stick to the inside of the neck, and then some of the grains were bouncing off this stuck powder and getting away. This was only a minor annoyance. But I thought I could improve it, and in the process maybe even make it so I could charge 223 cases with the same setup. (Cuz obviously it wouldn't work too good hovering a .22" diameter drop tube over a .22" diameter case mouth, unless the stars are all in perfect alignment).

So I made a little slide joint so the entire measure can slide up/down, adjustable from zero to a quarter inch. Holy cow, it works beautifully. I can't even drill a straight hole, but I somehow got this to work on the first try. The measure now lifts when you lift the handle, and then it drops down up to a quarter inch deep into the case before the charge is dropped. So now, small diameter rifle cases including 223 fill perfect, case lube be darned. With the appropriate amount of travel and enough space between your cases, I don't see why this wouldn't work with a regular drop tube. (Although I never had much luck with the stock inverted funnel on small diameter cases; always lost a few kernels, which is why I made the custom drop tube to begin with). I'll have to post a vid, later, cuz it's kinda hard to describe.

[BYJO4]

Very nice looking and very practical.

[jcwit]

Very, very neat and clever idea!

Using the same idea for the wood part, I use a bar clamp to clamp the wood to the shooting bench and the screw "Or in my case a carrage bolt with a wing nut" to clamp a fishing net to use as a brass catcher.

Sorry to go off topic. Wish I could figure out how to post pictures.

[ArchAngelCD]

Wish I could figure out how to post pictures.
Store the pictures on one of the free online sites like Photobucket.com (http://photobucket.com/). Then link to that site with the photo's URL. You don't even have to know how to write the code when using Photobucket because they list the code for you, you just need to copy it to the thread and that's it...

[GLOOB]

Pic of the new slide joint:
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv241/gloob27x/SAM_0218.jpg

It looks a little fraken-hacked, and it is. But screws are holding everything together, except for one spot. All the epoxy in all the other nooks and crannies is just to fill gaps. I don't have a table saw, so I can't cut a straight edge to save my life.

The screw on top adjusts the amount of travel. I can lock it down to zero if doing pistol cases.

The joint is made from brass tubing sliding over brass tubing. I forget the size, but there are a couple common sizes of brass tubing that will slide inside the other. I made two sets of these joints as close to parallel as I could get. After I put the inner two tubes through the "end blocks" of the frame, I had to twist them around to get them parallel. Then I used epoxy to fill the gaps before screwing them down to the longer board which the dispenser is screwed onto. You can see from the pic how terrible my drill hole placing is. I was initially trying to put the outer brass sleeves through that block of wood, but the holes were so far off, I just epoxied them to the side of the block. Lubed it up with some Tetra, and it's working pretty good.

Here's a vid to show the up/down movement. I have the travel set to around 1/8" or so, which seems to work pretty good for my 223 cases.
http://s688.beta.photobucket.com/user/gloob27x/media/SAM_0216.mp4.html

And here's a vid of me charging a row of 223 cases with 24 gr of H335.
http://s688.beta.photobucket.com/user/gloob27x/media/SAM_0213.mp4.html

Well, gotta go load some more ammo!

[spleify]

Clever idea, nice work.

Thanks for sharing

[Lerk]

Very practical stand. I just have my Hornady Powder measure and stand, and for short pistol cartridges, I use a wooden block set that is screwed together that put the cartridge mouths right up to the bottom of the measure so I don't have to hold it.