Do y'all return unused powder from your drop hopper to the original container?
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Jim Watson
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Powder bottles are HDPE which is resistant to the solvents used in smokeless powder manufacture, acetone, ether, and alcohol.
I'm thinking the clear green hopper on the Uniflo is acrylic which is not.
I'm thinking the clear green hopper on the Uniflo is acrylic which is not.
gamestalker
member
VThillman, regardless of what labeling steps one takes, once the original powder container has been removed from the bench, the door is now wide open for a mistake. The fail safe is the original powder container on the bench.
And then there is the mixing of lots, though not really a major safety concern, it can have an effect on consistency of load development.
GS
And then there is the mixing of lots, though not really a major safety concern, it can have an effect on consistency of load development.
GS
Elkins45
Member
There probably aren't any affordable transparent plastics that are transparent. People like to be able to visually check the amount of powder left in the measure.
Maybe a glass cylinder with a protective plastic sleeve would be a good compromise?
And yes, I do pour my powder back into the container.
Maybe a glass cylinder with a protective plastic sleeve would be a good compromise?
And yes, I do pour my powder back into the container.
Officers'Wife
Member
Or leave it in the hopper?
We had a college chem. lab instructor drill into us to NEVER!!!return unused chemicals to the original container. Even if we had just pulled the chemical out and pulled out too much. We would have lost two grade levels if caught doing so.
He told us every lab. He said contamination and our "but reasoning" logic didn't mater. Everytime I pull powder out of a container I still wince.
Anyway...it sounds "but reasonable" to just return it to a partially full container it originally came out of...But...
In the lab you have to consider purity... but as my dear departed uncle told me many many times... There's a large difference between the lab and the field. Consider you get a CP chemical and it takes very little to contaminate it. Take USP and it's already contaminated so what's the diff?
lysanderxiii
Member
MY RULES:
1. Never have more that one container of powder out of the magazine at any one time.
2. Never put the container of powder that is in the hopper back in the magazine until ALL powder charging operations are complete and ALL bullets are seated.
3. Ensure you have enough time to do step #2 in one working day.
4. Clean ALL powder from the hopper after emptying it immediately after emptying it.
This does limit my productivity, but the chances of the wrong powder in a case, or incorrect container is practically nonexistent...
1. Never have more that one container of powder out of the magazine at any one time.
2. Never put the container of powder that is in the hopper back in the magazine until ALL powder charging operations are complete and ALL bullets are seated.
3. Ensure you have enough time to do step #2 in one working day.
4. Clean ALL powder from the hopper after emptying it immediately after emptying it.
This does limit my productivity, but the chances of the wrong powder in a case, or incorrect container is practically nonexistent...
snapshot762
Member
I never leave powder in the hopper, when I am done loading it goes back into the original container.
Stormin.40
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In a lab setting you dependent only what you need, there is residual material that is left over which is discarded. If you have 60 freshman over despensing then you have a lot of waste and you build it into your budget, they all have hazardous waste drums ready for the excess. I have worked in a lab for years and still work with chemicals weekly, to keep purity high at as low a cost as possible the least amount of steps handling the better.
In a lab setting 1 drop in a drum is contamination. At the reloading bench I try and keep my hopper full so I get consistant drops. If at the end of a reloading session I wipe out my hopper and there are a couple of kernels left no big deal.
Your professor would not have wanted you to leave unused chemicals in the despensing beaker over night either, these were discarded or placed into a suitable labeled container until you only were ready to use again.
In a lab setting 1 drop in a drum is contamination. At the reloading bench I try and keep my hopper full so I get consistant drops. If at the end of a reloading session I wipe out my hopper and there are a couple of kernels left no big deal.
Your professor would not have wanted you to leave unused chemicals in the despensing beaker over night either, these were discarded or placed into a suitable labeled container until you only were ready to use again.
I have a RCBS charge master and I leave the original container on the bench. I leave the powder in the charge master until I am done using the powder then it goes in the original container. One powder container on the bench at a time only. I have not had a problem with the powder rotting any plastic and I have left the powder in the hopper of the charge master for a long time, but the original container stays on the bench.
Please if anyone sees a problem with the way I am doing it let me know.
Please if anyone sees a problem with the way I am doing it let me know.
Lost Sheep
Member
Satisfy both criteria
It is possible to dispense individual charges of powder directly from the factory container. That way there is no question of "return".
Lost Sheep
It is possible to dispense individual charges of powder directly from the factory container. That way there is no question of "return".
Lost Sheep
Andrew Leigh
Member
Apart from all the above powders are hydroscopic, so they will either lose or gather moisture while in the hopper. depending on ambient humidity. I charge the hopper immediately before throwing charges, when complete I drain the hopper and return the powder to the original airtight container, only then do I seat the bullets.
Minimum exposure to atmosphere for me.
Minimum exposure to atmosphere for me.
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Lost Sheep
Member
Both ways I have in mind involve use of dipper rather than a powder measure. However, the ingenious among us should be able to figure out a way to incorporate a powder measure into these ideas.
First way:
Something like this:
Instead of the main container of this pet food dispenser, picture a keg of gunpowder. In place of the base, picture a 12 oz soda pop bottle with a hole in the side and a baffle to direct the flow of powder away from the hole when you upend the assembly to flow the powder back into the original container and a way to close off the opening so as not to lose any powder.
After you SOLIDLY glue the soda bottle cap to the powder container lid, drill a 1/2" hole through. How you support the assembly is up to you. Either a brace or legs or suspend from a hangar.
Technically speaking, this does not meet the criteria of the professor but if you grant a little leeway might pass muster.
Use a dipper to transfer powder from the bottle to the scale or to the cartridge case.
Second way:
Make powder dippers with the handles that go vertical instead of horizontal. Make them long enough to reach all the way down to the bottom of the powder container. Dip powder directly from the original container.
This would give the professor fits. The concept of taking chemicals directly from the storage container is as much anathema to the chemistry lab rat as returning unused chemicals. But that was not part of the original post.
What do you think? (I will pre-register Andrew Leigh's objection to the amount of time the powder is exposed to the air.)
Lost Sheep
First way:
Something like this:
Instead of the main container of this pet food dispenser, picture a keg of gunpowder. In place of the base, picture a 12 oz soda pop bottle with a hole in the side and a baffle to direct the flow of powder away from the hole when you upend the assembly to flow the powder back into the original container and a way to close off the opening so as not to lose any powder.
After you SOLIDLY glue the soda bottle cap to the powder container lid, drill a 1/2" hole through. How you support the assembly is up to you. Either a brace or legs or suspend from a hangar.
Technically speaking, this does not meet the criteria of the professor but if you grant a little leeway might pass muster.
Use a dipper to transfer powder from the bottle to the scale or to the cartridge case.
Second way:
Make powder dippers with the handles that go vertical instead of horizontal. Make them long enough to reach all the way down to the bottom of the powder container. Dip powder directly from the original container.
This would give the professor fits. The concept of taking chemicals directly from the storage container is as much anathema to the chemistry lab rat as returning unused chemicals. But that was not part of the original post.
What do you think? (I will pre-register Andrew Leigh's objection to the amount of time the powder is exposed to the air.)
Lost Sheep
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Lost Sheep
Member
Each to their own. If we all had the same view of the world, there would be no horseraces.
Lost Sheep
Heck, after I'm done loading some of my flake pistol powders, I sweep any spilled grains back into the container, and this most definitely includes a little bit of foreign material. I don't load by weight, so this doesn't bother me. If a charge is a tiny bit lighter than average because there was a piece of lint in there, no worries.
But I always use up the entire 1 lb container and blow it out real good with the air compressor before filling it up, again. My 4/8 lb jugs are kept pure.
But I always use up the entire 1 lb container and blow it out real good with the air compressor before filling it up, again. My 4/8 lb jugs are kept pure.
Jim Watson
Member
I am glad RCBS is using a better grade of plastic for their expensive Chargemaster than they do for the regular Uniflo measure.
Glass is good for powder measures. I got with my lab's glassblower and found a piece of glass tubing that was a slip fit in my old CH's plastic hopper. I think it was Phelps that used tempered glass. Star measures are metal but they came with a little level gauge. I made one for my Dillon as the plastic got so discolored it was hard to see the powder level.
Smokeless powder is not hygroscopic (nor hydroscopic, if there is such a word), it is a form of plastic, after all. There have been tests run,
I don't know the effect of UV on powder but I keep my measures covered when not in use.
Glass is good for powder measures. I got with my lab's glassblower and found a piece of glass tubing that was a slip fit in my old CH's plastic hopper. I think it was Phelps that used tempered glass. Star measures are metal but they came with a little level gauge. I made one for my Dillon as the plastic got so discolored it was hard to see the powder level.
Smokeless powder is not hygroscopic (nor hydroscopic, if there is such a word), it is a form of plastic, after all. There have been tests run,
I don't know the effect of UV on powder but I keep my measures covered when not in use.
BCRider
Member
Even after carefully cleaning out a powder dispenser if there's a flake or two of the wrong powder it's not the end of the world if it gets mixed in with another powder. But in a lab a flake or two of the wrong thing in with the main supplies could alter a test result. So as said by the others a chemistry lab and your reloading bench are simply not the same at all.
I'm in the crew that says one bottle at a time on the bench. But unlike some if I'm reloading a large batch of handgun ammo the powder stays in the hopper for a few days at a time until I'm all done. I tend to load a couple of hundred rounds, wander off to something else for a while than come back and do another couple of hundred. This carries on for a couple of days with me replenishing the hopper as needed from the bottle on the bench. So the powder in the hopper is generally only exposed for up to a day max before it works it's way down to a casing.
I also label the hopper with a bit of masking tape as to the powder and charge weight it's set for.
This is a little less OCD than some are suggesting but it works out and all the proper safety steps to avoid a powder confusion are being followed. So far the hopper on my Dillon isn't any more yellow than it was when I bought it in used condition 7 years ago. Nor has the hopper tube developed any cracks or crazing.
I'm in the crew that says one bottle at a time on the bench. But unlike some if I'm reloading a large batch of handgun ammo the powder stays in the hopper for a few days at a time until I'm all done. I tend to load a couple of hundred rounds, wander off to something else for a while than come back and do another couple of hundred. This carries on for a couple of days with me replenishing the hopper as needed from the bottle on the bench. So the powder in the hopper is generally only exposed for up to a day max before it works it's way down to a casing.
I also label the hopper with a bit of masking tape as to the powder and charge weight it's set for.
This is a little less OCD than some are suggesting but it works out and all the proper safety steps to avoid a powder confusion are being followed. So far the hopper on my Dillon isn't any more yellow than it was when I bought it in used condition 7 years ago. Nor has the hopper tube developed any cracks or crazing.
SSN Vet
Member
Yes
I place a piece of AL foil over the powder drop top, mark the powder ID with a sharpie and put the top over it...
makes for a tighter fit on the plastic cover, helps with static, and clearly identifies the powder...
I place a piece of AL foil over the powder drop top, mark the powder ID with a sharpie and put the top over it...
makes for a tighter fit on the plastic cover, helps with static, and clearly identifies the powder...
mgmorden
Member
Back when I used a Lee powder measure I never did - left it in all the time with a rule that the canister of powder on the bench was what was in the dispenser.
I got my Hornady LNL about a year ago and the hopper plastic is much thinner. After a year of leaving various powders in it the tube was etched on the sides by powder grains and had started to twist/distort. After I replaced it I now (reluctantly) remove the powder when I'm done.
I got my Hornady LNL about a year ago and the hopper plastic is much thinner. After a year of leaving various powders in it the tube was etched on the sides by powder grains and had started to twist/distort. After I replaced it I now (reluctantly) remove the powder when I'm done.
orionengnr
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Correct. We taxpayers are paying for it.
Also...he is dealing with 18 or 19 year olds who are also not paying for the chemicals in question...which means that they have about as much regard for said chemicals as a dog does for a fire hydrant.
I would imagine that his standards are dictated largely by his circumstances.
Yours, likewise.
dds51968
Member
Aside from the possibility of mixing powders, is there actually a problem with leaving your powder in the hopper? I only load 9mm, only titegroup, so I have nothing to confuse it with. Transferring the powder from the Lee auto back to the container is a bit of a pain/messy process.
So is it fine left in the hopper for my given situation?
David
So is it fine left in the hopper for my given situation?
David
Dudedog
Contributing Member
Yes always. I don't like leaving it in the measure longer than a couple hours.
Of course one cna on the bench at a time.
Of course one cna on the bench at a time.
mgmorden
Member
Depends on the plastic. If the plastic is thin sometimes the chemicals in the powder will start to eat into the plastic of the hopper.
As I noted above - with Lee measures I never had an issue. With Hornady it etched it.
Andrew Leigh
Member
How would you ensure that the moisture content in the powder is the same as in the tin? So you finish the hopper with moisture content "A" and then recharge the hopper with moisture content "B". For my it is very little extra work to return the power to the airtight container.
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