Beginner question

[Jpprescott]

Gentlemen,

I went into my reloading room today, and noticed that I left the powder dispenser on my Lee turret press about half full of Universal last time I did any reloading. It has been in the powder dispenser for about 3 mos. (last time I reloaded).
Since it wasn't stored in the can should I get rid of it and refill before I reload anything else?
Sorry if its a stupid question...

J.Prescott

[Buzz64]

Unless you have dripping humidity in your reloading room it will be fine. Load up and shoot.

[Jpprescott]

Thanks Buzz64

[Sensai]

I think Buzz64 is right. I've never considered "dripping humidity" as a rule, but as long as you don't have extreme temperature swings and "condensing" (is that the same thing ? :-? ) humidity the powder should be OK for a reasonable amount of time. The main reason that I don't leave powder in the measure between sessions is my poor memory. It will also stain the purty clear plastic! :shock:

[SciFiJim]

To insure that you don't get a larger than normal load in the beginning of the reloading session due to possible settling of the powder, give the dispenser a shake or stir and then dump the first several loads back into the hopper.

[Mk42gunner]

Having read several horror stories about powder left in measures, (maybe the same story recycled a whole lot), I would dump the powder and check to make sure there wasn't any kind of chemical reaction with the plastic in the measure.

If the measure looks good, then I would put the powder back in a load a few test rounds.

Robert

[Lonegun1894]

I use a piece of masking tape on my dispenser with a note identifying the powder to make sure I don't forget and accidentally load the wrong cartidge with the wrong powder and cause an accident. The tape comes off easily so I can always remove it and replace it with a different piece of tape anytime I switch powders.