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Thread: Dillon powder measure question.

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
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    Dillon powder measure question.

    I've got a couple first generation Dillon powder measures. I'd like to polish them up internally. I've read up on this and watched a couple videos.

    The question is how to remove the plastic hoppers from the metal body. They appear to be glued in. Use a heat gun on the metal to soften the glue???

    Anybody worked on these?

    Thanks, Andy

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master jmorris's Avatar
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    Two screws, are all mine are held in with. If someone left powder in them, some might “glue” the plastic to the aluminum.

  3. #3
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    garandsrus's Avatar
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    I have some that were glued. I have never tried to remove the glue but heat sounds like a good start. It could be a type of hot glue.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    I have used the Dillon powder measures starting in 1986 and never had any reason to to polish the in sides, just because some makes a video don't mean it is a good idea.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master


    Burnt Fingers's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ioon44 View Post
    I have used the Dillon powder measures starting in 1986 and never had any reason to to polish the in sides, just because some makes a video don't mean it is a good idea.
    Exactly.

    I've got three Dillon powder measures. All three of them are boringly consistent. I'm not sure who polishing them would make any difference at all.

    I have to wonder what the OP feels is going to happen? Does he have problems with them?
    NRA Benefactor.

  6. #6
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    Consider the way the Dillon powder measure works. The weight of the powder insures that the charge should be consistent in my opinion. The way I was taught by Papa was to keep the powder measure at least 1/2-3/4 full at all times and this insures the thrown charge stays very close within .1 of a grain. I sincerely doubt that polishing the internals will contribute to a more accurate charge.

    My personal feeling based on having a Hornady barrel type powder measure that I have used on my Dillons is they seem to be more accurate and this is based on throwing 50 charges and measuring every one. The Dillon sliding bar mechanism can and does vary more with certain powders and this again is based on weighing 50 charges.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    I have a number of old Dillon PM’s. Decided to replace the hoppers on them, some with pyrex and some just new plastic. Took the opportunity to clean them up, which included scrubbing the inside 2000 grit paper and then polishing with Flitz. Didn’t expect a big improvement, but they were grungy and I didn’t have anything else that I felt like doing at the time.

  8. #8
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    Alvarez Kelly's Avatar
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    To answer the OP question, you’ll need a new powder hopper and 2 screws. Dillon advised me to grab the powder measure and sharply whack the hopper against something immovable, like a bench. I was skeptical, but it works well, most of the time. Clean out glue residue with whatever tool works for you. A slightly dull knife works. You don’t want to gouge the casting. Then you’ll have to drill two holes in the body. These holes are not quite centered in the casting. Use the new hopper as a location guide for your drilling. Now you can polish as you wish...

    The first one can be unnerving. I’ve done dozens now. It’s not hard.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master derek45's Avatar
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    2 screws

    polishing helps consistency with IMR stick powders, and large flake powders.
    .


    NRA LIFE Member

    USPSA/IPSC

  10. #10
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    Reading thru this again and being bored I decided to take apart some Dillon, RCBS, and Hornady powder measures and inspect the internals just for grins. First the Dillon old style wacked it against the bench with an old T-shirt on the bench for padding and she came apart easily. I left behind a small piece of the hopper that I cleaned up easily with the small chisel I had on the bench. Then the newer style Dillon with the two screws holding the hopper and it came apart. Followed things up with the RCBS and several Hornadys.

    The Dillons were extremely smooth inside the casting with an absence of any part marks. Extremely smooth but none the less a polish with some 2K grit paper followed by liquid hone material followed by the old buffing trick. Now it shined like a new puppys butt. Was it any better? Well just happened to have some nasty powder to try with it and the results 10 out of 10 tries revealed there was absolutely no difference from before the polish job to the after. Now took the inners out of the Dillon and found they were less than what I considered to be ideal so I polished them extremely smooth mirror grade. Dropped some more powder and found a very slight advantage to polishing the slide assemblies.

    Now the RCBS I found to be nothing more than a casting with a paint coating on it. Smoothed things up and dropped some powder and things didn't change. Hornady a better internal than the RCBS with a nice smooth coating that I polished like the RCBS and it didn't change a bit.

    My observations seem to say without a doubt the barrel type/micrometer adjusting powder measures do throw all powders better than the slide type powder measures. The Dillon the old one had its baffle in line with the internals and the new style Dillon's had the baffle 90 degrees to the internals. The older Dillon seemed to throw slightly better but I didn't want to drill two new holes in the newer Dillon hoppers to see if that made any difference. Now, you can polish to your hands hurt and the internals shine like a new puppys butt and by my findings your not going to gain anything. I gained more polishing the hell out of the powder bars. Call it what you want. I don't know if all the Dillon powder measures are created equal but if I had my way I would buy up the older ones with the spring on them. Not a total loss of time today because I have three Dillon powder measures that have a high polish both inside and outside and well while the RCBS and the Hornady aren't as mirror smooth inside they function very well.

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