Redding powder measure problem?

[danski26]

All of a sudden i am having problems with my Redding powder measure. It has worked fine for about 10 years but now the pistol measure insert drops inconsistant charges with flake powder.

It started with red dot and the 38 special. I ended up having a squib load and sticking a bullet in the bore of my blackhawk. Buldged the barrel and i'm lucky the barrel didn't burst and someone get hurt. I retraced my loading of these rounds, pulling the bullets on many of them and measureing the powder charge. About 1 in 25 had a charge of around 1.5 grains. That is what stuck the bullet in the bore.

Now I'm not looking at Redding as being at fault. I made several mistakes, "assumptions" in my loading process that caused the buldged barrel.

Today i was trying to measure out 5.6 gr of 800x and was running into the same problem but much more often. About 50% of the time it threw 1.5 gr instead of the 5.6 dialed in. The measure is in perfect shape. The metal on metal parts are mirror smooth like the day i bought it. I checked for any burrs in the working portions and found none. I degreased everything, even though there was no visible build-up of anything. I put a dryer sheet on the hoper and eventualy just took the hopper of to eleminate that variable......no help.

It is still throwing 50% of the time at 1.5 grains. I broke out unique and the same thing happens. I am at a loss. It works fine for 10 years and all of a sudden, major problems????? I put the rifle insert in and it works fine although small inaccuracies at low charges. (normal)

Anyone have this problem? Any ideas?

[danski26]

I just e-mailed Redding with the same text as i posted here to see if they had any ideas.

[dromia]

I'd strip down the whole shebang to check there is nothing loose especially the powder adjust micrometer.

[danski26]

I took it all apart already. There is no movement in the powder adjustment insert until it is turned. (like it is supposed to work)

[azrednek]

You may have an excess of static electricity if you're having problems with lightweight powders. Try discharging it with a wet rag.

[Mallard57]

Unless your experiences are different than mine, that is exactly how 800X measures for me in my Uniflow, always. It's sure a pity because it's a wonderful powder otherwise.
Something you might try is wiping the inside of the measure with a used laundry drier sheet or grounding your measure to bleed off static electricity.
Jeff

[mainiac]

Unless your experiences are different than mine, that is exactly how 800X measures for me in my Uniflow, always. It's sure a pity because it's a wonderful powder otherwise.
Something you might try is wiping the inside of the measure with a used laundry drier sheet or grounding your measure to bleed off static electricity.
Jeff

I have 3 redding measures,and have had them for many years,with no problems at all. Only thing i can add is that 800x powder is almost impossible to measure accurately. 800x= weigh only!

[danski26]

Thanks for the ideas guys, keep them coming. Redding has not replied to my e-mail yet. I have a dryer sheet wraped around the plastic hopper for static. I also took the hopper off just filling the bottom portion of the measurer with powder and it was the same thing. 50% about 1.5 grains instead of the 5.6 grains.

Mallard57, interesting that you have always had this problem with 800x. It has been many years since i loaded 800x and also this is the first time i am using red dot in pistol loads. I have used Unique for many years in this measurer without these problems. Hmmmm