drop yube

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tootalloutdoors

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H-4198 fills up my 30br case. I understand I can only fit so much into the case, But..

As far as drop tubes. What would work best??

Long, and thin. Long and fat.. What??

Kelly
 
Drop tubes can only do so much..A 6 or 8 inch drop tube will do as well as a 10-12 inch drop tube...the secret to getting more in the case is SLOWLY drop the powder so it can pack tightly...If you have the time dribble it slowly down a 8 or 10 inch 1/4" drop tube you will be amazed at how much more will go in...
 
Toot,
Second on the SLOW drop. I found that when I was trying to get 34.1 or more into my cases, I could not get my seating depth to hold. Once I started dropping slowly (after trying to tape together 3 drop tubes on my Harrell's) the seating went much more smoothly. I weighed my loads about ten times before I felt comfortable that my technique was allowing me to drop consistent loads.
My seating effort tells me whether my technique is consistent. Too hard to get the right depth, and I know that I wasn't throwing slow enough.

I am planning on heading out next week sans tuner and see if my "new gun" will perform with similar loads.
Still looking forward to getting involved with some tuner of some type in the future. It was really fun experimenting with it.
Good luck,
Mike
 
tootalloutdoors said:
H-4198 fills up my 30br case. I understand I can only fit so much into the case, But..

As far as drop tubes. What would work best??

Long, and thin. Long and fat.. What??

Kelly
Click to expand...

Many years ago when my brain actually did something besides keeping my ears separated I came up with the idea of bending a piece of copper or brass tubing with a couple 45° bends in it for a drop tube so that powder that went through it had to slow down to make the bends. The tube went straight into a piece of plastic drop tube that had been drilled out to the OD of the metal tube. The first 45°± bend followed with a 3 or 4 inch straight then another 45°± bend downward. Another piece of the butchered plastic drop tube was fastened to that end of the metal tube. The theory was that the powder had to make two corners before it got to the end and would be slowed down and more powder could be stuffed into the case. With a slow dump from the measure to help this bent tube seemed to allow a bit more powder to be put into the case.

It's not hard to make, but anything except soft copper tubing has to be annealed to pretty close to dead soft or it'll kink at the bends. Super glue works well to permanently glue the metal and plastic together. If the bends are made too sharp obviously the powder won't get through, and if powder that has granules that are too large is used the same thing happens. H4198 should work fine with ~1/4" ID tubing.

The plastic drop tube at the outlet helps to let you to see that the powder is flowing through the tube. :D

I hope that this is clear. It takes longer to describe than it does to do almost.
 
Kelly

As most know, I shoot a lot of powder in my 6PPC's. To get it all in there, I use a 8 inch drop tube and a VERY slow trickle. The powder usually comes to about 1/8 inch down in the neck.
If I drop it fast, it overflows. So it can be done.
It is the same with my 30PPC with N120. To get the load it really likes in there, I use the same method......jackie
 
I use a Redding 3BR and a Sinclair 4" drop tube with the 'o' ring inserts for different calibers. The .17 cal. insert works great for stuffin' a bunch ;) of H4198 into the 30BR cases. Another thing that works well is to find a round spring that fits the i.d. of your drop tube tightly. Stretch this spring lengthwise so it makes about 5-6 revolutions inside the drop tube. Cut the excess length off and make sure the cut end is tapered so powder doesn't hang up on it. The powder will spiral around the spring as it goes down the tube. -Al
 
Little Gem

of an idea thanks Al.
Now do I need a left twist spring:confused:
Thanks Jim
 
Very good gentlemen.. I thank you, and will start experimenting. I also understand now that slow is the common denominator..

Thanks, Kelly
 
Got this

off the RSI web site. Should work for dropping directly into a case. I'm going to try it myself.

Here's how to throw charges directly into a scale pan without spillage. I have my powder measure equipped with a clear drop tube from Sinclair mounted over the bench so the end of the drop tube is about 1 1/2 inches above the scale pan. You must make a small modification to the drop tube to slow the powder down and eliminate spillage. Cut a strip of clear hard plastic from common packaging material (bubble pack) slightly wider than the inside diameter and 3 inches longer than the drop tube. Hold the ends of the strip with pliers and heat it with a hair dryer or heat gun. Just before it melts, but while it is pliable, twist the strip 2 to 3 complete turns and let it cool. Insert the twisted strip in the drop tube and trim to length. Use the small end plug and you will find even long tubular powder no longer bounces out of your pan!
 

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