Hornady Powder Measure Issues

[gvanzeggelaar]

Good day,

I am having an extremelt frustrating time with my hornady powder measure when loading 223 on my projector press.

The the amount of powder the measure is throwing continues to creep up as I load. For example; I started loading at 23.8gr of h335 and after about 15 rounds I was up to 25gr.

Everything is tight. I reset the powder measure twice but the same thing occured.

Is this normal due to powder settling?

The powder I am using is H335

Any help would be appreciated.

[Toobroke]

Does your measure have a baffle? If not, it would be the first thing I would try

[cheese1566]

I use ball powder in my Hornady powder measures on my ProJectors. When I load them with powder, I go at last half way up, then gently tap the sides with my fingers to settle the powder down.

[bbqncigars]

Ditto on the baffles in the hopper. Midway carries baffles, or they're fairly easy to make out of aluminum.

[cheese1566]

I have never used baffles, but have new ones ready to be cleaned and installed.

I would figure that without baffles, the weights would decrease as the powder column is getting lower and exerting less pressure.

Or is it just from the settling from jarring and vibrations from the working press?

[DCM]

I have placed a minimum and maximum mark on my Hornady measure. I use this measure exclusively for ball/spherical powder. I fill the measure to the maximum mark, (about 3/4 full) and cycle the measure at least 15 times before getting started, dumping this powder back in to the measure each time.

This seems to tamp the powder down to a "normal state". Once I get going I do not let it get below 1/4 full, (Min. mark) and when I add powder I cycle the measure 15X again. the charges with ball powder between my marks is + - 0.1g MOST of the time.

I determined these min. and max marks one day by measuring every charge from full to almost empty.

[noylj]

I have not ever had that problem with my Hornady powder measures.
I assume the measure is clean and metal parts have graphite coating.
It often takes up to 20 powder drops to stabilize any powder measure.
Usually, the operation of the press is enough to settle the powder, but I have occasionally needed to tap the measure lightly with a screwdriver of such on the up and down stroke to get the powder to settle (Dillon measure).
You do have the powder metering assembly tightly locked?

[Tumble Bug]

I also had the problem you have described with the load creeping up over time. Hornady told
me that the problem was created by static electricity in the plastic hopper. They told me to rub
the hopper with an antistatic drier sheet. I tried........... didn't help a bit.

To totally eliminate any chance of static electricity I had a machine shop make me an aluminum
hopper for the thing.......... didn't help a bit. I redesigned the baffle that came with it..... didn't help a bit.

I acquired a pneumatic vibrator from Cleveland vibrator. It was a pricey little thing ($150).
It was/is a commercial item..... not some use it a month and it is worn out thing. it was about the diameter of a quarter and about 5/16" thick. It only required about 2-3 psi to
drive it all I needed. Did it work? Absolutely! Worked like a champ.......... I can now throw
"Unique" at plus/minus 1 tenth just like any other powder and it would stay on the selected charge all day long.

Wait! the story is not over........... about once out of every 1500 to 2000 rounds it would drop an undercharge followed by an over charge. Unnerving!

I had a Redding powder dribbler. I noticed that powder would cling to the inside of the hopper.
I got to think'n (something I do a lot) that the paint inside the dribbler's hopper might be the cause of static electricity and cause the powder cling situation. My light bulb came on!

I looked inside of my Hornady powder measure again....... There it was! It was painted on the
inside. I looked inside of my old old Lyman No. 55 powder measure that never had a minute's
problem....... You guessed it....... not one spec of paint on the inside of the powder measure.

I've not done it yet but my plan is to remove all the paint from the inside of my Hornady.

Here's what I learned so far (the hard way).
1. You don't need to mess with drier sheets.
2. You don't need an aluminum hopper
3. You may or may not need to add the vibrator.
4. Removing the paint from the inside of the powder measure should be the first thing to try.
5. If removing the paint doesn't work, then add the vibrator.

[gvanzeggelaar]

Well, I installed a baffle, vibrate the measure, and throw about 10 charges before I start. It works like a dream. Thanks a bunch guys.

[Oreo]

1) baffle
2) anything that breaks your loading rhythm means dumping the next charge. Smooth consistent press operation gives the most consistent powder charges.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Another thing you might do is consider polishing the funnel portion of the measure. Seems to help a lot with situations like these in most all types of measures. Older measures had this area polished while newer measures from many companies do not. Makes a big difference.

[Hardcast416taylor]

First of all I would disassemble the drum assembly and degrease it with bore cleaner to be sure this isn`t the problem. Next either make a baffle or buy one and put it in the hopper. I had a brain f*** after seeing the center plastic thingy in a pizza box. It is now my baffle, of course I had to do modifying work to it - but it works great.Robert