help me make some dippers

On a slight tangent, if you know anyone with a 3D printer:

Walkalong said:

Yes, leave the primer in and dab some epoxy in the flash hole.

My little dipper
View attachment 1180422

Click to expand...

Exactly that, 9mm or 380 being good starting place for 38spl

9mm case, soldered to some hobby tubing.
Inside is epoxy to fill the flash hole, then white fingernail polish to make it smooth and easy to see.
Trimmed the length with a case trimmer to get the volume just right.

I bought a set of Lee dippers...
You can file down the next biggest dipper to exactly what you need if none give you what you want,
Sure, no fab'ing, but does not cost much more than the components needed to fab.
$12+shipping
jmo,

Edit: that and they have been "improved".
And for another $10:

.

Use some nail polish to seal the flash hole of a 9mm case with the primer still in it. Measure out your powder into the 9mm case and mark where the powder level comes to and trim or file the case to the right length then solder a handle or wrap a wire around it. Easy peasy.

Tilos said:

I bought a set of Lee dippers...
You can file down the next biggest dipper to exactly what you need if none give you what you want,
Sure, no fab'ing, but does not cost much more than the components needed to fab.

LEE IMPROVED POWDER MEASURE KIT

LEE IMPROVED POWDER MEASURE KIT Fifteen uniformly graduated and proportioned powder dippers that measure from .3 cubic centimeters to 4.3 cubic centimeters. Slide card shows the grains of powder each measure will dispense of every type of powder. Powder measures are inherently safe as they...

www.titanreloading.com

$12+shipping
jmo,

Edit: that and they have been "improved".
And for another $10:

LEE PERFECT POWDER MEASURE

LEE PERFECT POWDER MEASURE Best for reloading rifle calibers. Almost as good as a scale! Lee didn’t invent the drum type measure — they perfected it! This measure is unique, because it solves all of the problems common to ordinary drum type measures. It is a pleasure to use, not only because it...

www.titanreloading.com

.

Click to expand...

Lee products look and are cheap, and Lee products Work. I have two sets of their dippers and have modified several of the dippers for quick loading of some low pressure pet loads. I occasionally weigh a load to make sure I'm uniform. There are times I want to run off a few dozen rounds and don't want to mess with setting up my powder measure...size and prime...dip...seat bullet.

I do get meticulous with loads for my combination guns. They have touchy regulating loads, and I watch pressures like a hawk.

Tilos said:

And for another $10:

LEE PERFECT POWDER MEASURE

LEE PERFECT POWDER MEASURE Best for reloading rifle calibers. Almost as good as a scale! Lee didn’t invent the drum type measure — they perfected it! This measure is unique, because it solves all of the problems common to ordinary drum type measures. It is a pleasure to use, not only because it...

www.titanreloading.com

Click to expand...

$23 for a Lee PPM is a screaming deal for a powder measure that does indeed work very well.

Perhaps 'perfect' is a bit of a stretch, as the powder measure does have its foibles, but it is as accurate as any measure I've used.

I’ve made one similar to @Walkalong

I always thought one should use the case for what it’s for and just trim to volume length, that way it’s marked for the cartridge it’s to be used on on the case head.

Tilos said:

I bought a set of Lee dippers...
You can file down the next biggest dipper to exactly what you need if none give you what you want,
Sure, no fab'ing, but does not cost much more than the components needed to fab.

Click to expand...

Yep, me too. I actually have two sets of Lee dippers - one set is original, the other set has several dippers in it that I've taken a razor knife to and cut down to where they would hold just the right amount of a particular powder for some of my favorite handloads. Then I modified (wrote over) the numbers on the sliding chart.
The truth is, I have a half-dozen or so homemade dippers made from old cases. But I've always been kinda lazy (that's why I quit casting my own handgun bullets), and I decided a long time ago that cutting down ready-made plastic dippers would be easier than crafting dippers out of old cases, wire and epoxy, and not much more expensive anyway.

film495 said:

I think I would need a 2/3 teaspoon measure would give me a 3.5 grain charge of win231, but - that meausre isn't a think, so - I think I'm just going to upgrade the junky measuring spoons in our kitchen and steal the 3/4 teaspoon one to mess with, should be easy enough to make it a little less volume and go from there.

a little research says .325cc for 3.5 grains win231, or there about. I'll have to weigh it and set it up one way or another, but it is a starting point.

Click to expand...

You will find powder volume info here:
.

film495 said:

I think I would need a 2/3 teaspoon measure would give me a 3.5 grain charge of win231, but - that meausre isn't a think, so - I think I'm just going to upgrade the junky measuring spoons in our kitchen and steal the 3/4 teaspoon one to mess with, should be easy enough to make it a little less volume and go from there.

a little research says .325cc for 3.5 grains win231, or there about. I'll have to weigh it and set it up one way or another, but it is a starting point.

Click to expand...

0.325 cc is about right to get the needed grains, based on Lee's VMD for Win231, but a teaspoon is about 5 cc.
2/3 tsp would be 3.33 cc.
.325/5 is 0.065, a bit more than 1/16 tsp, (0.0625)
2/30 is 1/15, 0.067.

I like what @Walkalong shows and have done exactly that with some random copper wire laying around. My preferred method now is to punch out the primer, drill and thread the flash hole to take a small piece of all thread, and bend the all thread about 1/2” from the end to roughly a right angle. Thread on a nut and then the case and you have an adjustable dipper with locknut.

film495 said:

I think I would need a 2/3 teaspoon measure would give me a 3.5 grain charge of win231, but - that meausre isn't a think, so - I think I'm just going to upgrade the junky measuring spoons in our kitchen and steal the 3/4 teaspoon one to mess with, should be easy enough to make it a little less volume and go from there.

a little research says .325cc for 3.5 grains win231, or there about. I'll have to weigh it and set it up one way or another, but it is a starting point.

Click to expand...

The old red/black Lee #20 dipper is 0.327cc and throws exactly 3.5gr of W231 with my current lot of that powder. Check some of the online personal selling sites for a Lee red dipper set or a black #20 from the old Classic Reloaders. They fill in a lot of gaps and with the yellow set plus the.17cc that comes with the .32S&W dies, you can throw almost any load in almost any powder.

I used one of the 0.5cc dippers from my lee set, put a small amount of mixed 30 min epoxy in it then, when the epoxy was cured, checked what weight it threw and (in my case) removed some of the cured epoxy with a hand held drill bit until it threw the right amount of powder.
Sorry the image isn't clear but the clean dipper is the regular one, the dirty one is the well used one, I've done over 2000 38 special loads with it and, once you get your technique perfected for scooping the powder it's extremely consistent like within 0.1 of a grain. I know that's a significant amount in a 3 grn load but it's good enough for me.

I use only Lee’s .5 dipper and weigh every dip. So precision comes from scale, not dipper size.

True enough, because powder density varies from lot to lot and a bit from moisture content, however, for most typical handgun loads, we won't notice the difference using the dippers...same goes for using a powder measure.

CQB45ACP said:

I use only Lee’s .5 dipper and weigh every dip. So precision comes from scale, not dipper size.

Click to expand...

When I make them, I make them so they can drop down inside the neck of a bottle of powder and a little hook, so I don’t lose them.



As many ways to do it as there are ways putting blind holes into objects.

sparkyv said:

True enough, because powder density varies from lot to lot and a bit from moisture content, however, for most typical handgun loads, we won't notice the difference using the dippers...same goes for using a powder measure.

Click to expand...

I only try to control what I can reasonably control. I can control the amount dipped and put on my scale so I know I’m getting weight of X or Y. I can’t reasonably control the moisture content of the powder nor emissions from the overhead fluorescent light. So, I’m happy happy happy

CQB45ACP said:

I only try to control what I can reasonably control. I can control the amount dipped and put on my scale so I know I’m getting weight of X or Y.

Click to expand...

That sounds like me before I learned you need to use black powder substitutes in grains volume, NOT weight (Only things I use dippers with).

Did get some impressive velocities though…

film495 said:

I looked and didn't find anyone selling a 2/3 teaspoon, looks like the standard spoons are .5 and then .75 ... I'm just going to take a 3/4 teaspoon and put a few drops of wax in it to get the measurement, and then see if I can seal it with nailpolish. I do wonder if the cylindrical shape of the Lee dippers or a say .38 Special case might measure more consitently than a spoon.

Click to expand...

I'd go with 1/8 tsp, in decimal 0.125 tsp, 0.125 tsp x 5 cc/tsp = 0.625 cc, and fill that. Also, I searched and it is possible to find 1/16 tsp measuring spoons, about 0.3125 cc.

1/4 tsp is about 1.25 cc
1/2 tsp is about 2.5 cc
3/4 tsp is about 3.75 cc

For the Lee published VMD of Win 231, those would be (rounded to tenths):
1/16 tsp is about 3.4 grains
1/8 tsp is about 6.7 grains
1/4 tsp is about 13.4 grains
1/2 tsp is about 26.9 grains
3/4 tsp is about 40.3 grains
1 tsp is about 53.7 grains

BTW, I keep using "about" because a teaspoon isn't really 5 cc, it's 4.928922 cc; a 1.42% difference. For nutrition info on the side of food, they use a 5 ml teaspoon, a cubic centimeter being exactly the same as a milliliter, but that's not what a real tsp measure will hit. (They use a 15 ml tbsp, etc. Scientists, food scientists included, do their work in metric, so it's just easier for them to use an exactly 5 ml teaspoon. Food doesn't generally combust explosively however, so confirmation with a scale is 100% needed.)

I don't think cylinders are better than spoon shapes for measuring dry goods if used properly (consistent and repeatable scoop action, scrape off the excess, all that stuff) FWIW.