Dillon Extra Small Powder Measure Bar?

[Valley-Shooter]

I'm getting ready to load 380 ACP on a Dillon press. I have a new pistol on order. Paying $25 a box for ammo is not going to work for me. I have bought the brass and boolits. I have 231 powder and primers.

Is the extra small powder bar required to load 3.0 grains of powder on a Dillon RL-1050 or a Square Deal?

I really want to load enough to prove the component mix works, and then load 1000 rounds. Spending $55 on a powder bar a bit much. I just want consistent and accurate rounds with the least amount of trouble. Loading 1000 rounds every 2 years is what I'll be doing.

What do you 380 loaders think?

[WJP]

My standard small Dillon bar is set at 2.8 gr of bullseye and is measuring consistently.

[imashooter2]

I’ve loaded a lot of .38 wad cutters over 2.8 grains of Bullseye using the standard small bar on my SDB. So there’s 2 data points.

[Finster101]

The only thing I use the extra small charge bar for is .32 acp. You should be fine loading .380.

[sigep1764]

Small bar that comes standard should be all you need. I use the same recipe and am having zero problems

[Valley-Shooter]

Thanks for the input guys.
I'll start some test loads pretty soon. I wish that new pistol would arrive.

[david s]

If you ever need to go smaller than the standard small powder bar (top bar) will allow, instead of buying the extra small powder bar at quite an unreasonable expense, just turn the small powder bars slide around (bottom bar) and tap the square end to fit the adjustment screw. Then simply epoxy the original hole closed. This will get you down to almost as low as these will go.
https://i.postimg.cc/K8ypBGRv/IMG-2166.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[imashooter2]

That looks good for ball or fine flake. To my thinking the tall narrow cavity would be a problem for small charges of powders like Red Dot.

Anyway, good tip. Another arrow in the quiver.

[david s]

I could well be wrong here; it's been years since I've looked at a picture of the extra small powder bar. But if I remember correctly the extra small powder bar is cut square instead of the lazy "V" shape of the standard small powder bar. The two bars are the same height. So, you have your choice of a rectangular tall narrow cavity or a tall narrow lazy "V" cavity.

[imashooter2]

Interesting. I always assumed the extra small was thinner. A bit of Googling and it seems they are not. In that case, I would definitely save the money with the above tip and I would never use anything other than ball in that particular bar.

[dryflash3]

That looks good for ball or fine flake. To my thinking the tall narrow cavity would be a problem for small charges of powders like Red Dot.

Anyway, good tip. Another arrow in the quiver.

I use the normal small powder bar for 3.0 grs Red Dot in 380. Drops exact charges.

[jmorris]

If you ever need to go smaller than the standard small powder bar (top bar) will allow, instead of buying the extra small powder bar at quite an unreasonable expense, just turn the small powder bars slide around (bottom bar) and tap the square end to fit the adjustment screw. Then simply epoxy the original hole closed. This will get you down to almost as low as these will go.
https://i.postimg.cc/K8ypBGRv/IMG-2166.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

That’s interesting. Seems like rounding the edges on an original bar would do the same thing without a drill, tap and epoxy. If you have sand paper or a file.

It’s going to depend on the powder you use but I have reliability thrown charges as low as 2.8 of bullseye and clays and closer to 350,000 3.1-3.2 gn charges of N310,N320&TG, all with the regular “small” bar the presses come with.

[45_Colt]

I've been dropping 2.8gr of Bullseye without an issue (RL550). This is with the small bar. Here is a chart of the various drop ranges:

302624

45_Colt

[david s]

The adjustable slide of the powder bar is hollow underneath for the adjustment screws passage. If you round the square end enough, you'll open the hollow channel. I haven't done this so don't know if you can round the slide to fit the bar and not get into the hollow or not. It may well be another option.

[AZ Pete]

I use the extra small with AA2 in .38 wad cutter loads. It is more consistent than the small bar, so started using it with Unique too for general 9mm and .38 spl loads. Really like the extra small bar. YMMV

[Valley-Shooter]

I use the extra small with AA2 in .38 wad cutter loads. It is more consistent than the small bar, so started using it with Unique too for general 9mm and .38 spl loads. Really like the extra small bar. YMMV

Thanks for the input. I need to find that bar on the cheap/used.

[David2011]

Good luck with that!

[j4570]

Here is a Dillon Small Bar (Black one shown on top, it's an older one with the cavity but that doesn't matter) and a COPY of the Dillon XS bar (Silver one shown on bottom) as I understand it. The only difference is how the bar is milled out. My understanding is Dillon takes a standard small bar and mills it to the shown configuration (which is what I did based on information I got from somewhere, you can see I didn't quite mill it out flat but it's fine). I did buy the longer bolt when I was ordering from Dillon other stuff. Before you get any ideas that it's a standard bolt, it has a turned down area for the piece that holds it in. Sure I could have made the bolt too on my lathe, but for the $7-8 it was at the time, I decided it wasn't worth it.

The bolt for the XS bar (it's a little longer) is:

11591 - Powder Bar Bolt (for XS powder bar) *

Dillon shows it as $12.50 (I think I paid 7-8 a few years ago)

302763

Make any of these mods at your own risk.

Edit to add the link to Brian Enos forum where Dillon responds:

https://forums.brianenos.com/topic/181983-extra-small-powder-bar-compared-to-small-bar-xl650/