Electric toothbrush does wonders. Use a rubber band and something small to hold the button in with it taped or held to the powder tube with rubber bands. Or just use it to touch the side of the case to level out all the kernels.
Vibrate powder measure?
- Thread starter DDRanch
- Start date
Spent some time today working up a load for my S&W 947, a fixed sight revolver. Trying to keep it accurate and have it hit POA/POI.
Using a Dillon 1100 and polished Dillon measure, 6 charges of Titegroup verified on a Fx-120i.
4.28
4.32
4.32
4.30
4.34
4.30
Varget will throw to within .15 of my target weight, so about a .3 max spread. 8208 and N140 are a little better. CFE223 measures like Titegroup.
Using a Dillon 1100 and polished Dillon measure, 6 charges of Titegroup verified on a Fx-120i.
4.28
4.32
4.32
4.30
4.34
4.30
Varget will throw to within .15 of my target weight, so about a .3 max spread. 8208 and N140 are a little better. CFE223 measures like Titegroup.
Last edited:
pertnear
Silver $$ Contributor
I think you meant .03....
Lets say I am loading Varget on my Dillon 1100.
I am looking for 24.60 grains of Varget. If I sample 10-15 cases the powder charges will be somewhere around 24.74 to 24.44 grains. My math says thats 0.15 either side of my target for a total of 0.3 grains.
If I could throw Varget through a Dillon measure to within .03 that would be the best Christmas present ever.
pertnear
Silver $$ Contributor
Sorry, my bad. I was looking at the charges as totals for light charges.
I load my match rounds on my Dillon 1050, but I use my V4 for my powder drops. Super easy to setup your dillon for this.
Here is my setup.Infrequent Shooter
Gold $$ Contributor
great for sore muscles!So... long ago and far away, back when I was first shooting Service Rifle, people were trying to figure out how to get the Dillon APM to throw powders like Varget and RL-15 half-ways consistently (8208XBR didn't exist yet). Various tricks were tried - polishing, dry lube for the slide, etc. etc.
One fellow came up with strapping a fish aquarium pump to the under/in side of the Dillon Strong Mount. Basically the very light vibration of the pump seemed to make the APM be more consistent.great for
The funny part was... there was that one guy... who said he'd gotten the same effect, in a somewhat different way. Basically he'd duct-taped a vibrator to the frame and set it on low. Never did get a solid answer as to *how* or *why* exactly he happened to have one of those on hand...
DDRanch
Silver $$ Contributor
Came across article on uniquetek.com
Tip 26: Vibrate Your Powder
I know this seems contrary to everything you’ve read thus far in this “Tips” file. But it has been demonstrated
that inducing some constant and consistent vibration into the powder measure can yield more consistent powder
drop weights. The difference is that these vibrations are controlled and targeted. Here is how it works.
All gunpowders are granular (albeit in wide variety of shapes and sizes). As such there is a lot of air space
between the grains. If you vibrate the powder, it will settle and eliminate some of that air space. Continue
vibrating the powder and you eventually reach a point where the grains are as tightly packed as they can
possibly get. If you can achieve that within the metering chamber of your powder measure, your powder drops
will become very consistent. This is similar in concept to the “Powder Knocker” on the Lyman #55 Powder
Measure (see Tip #7) but is a continuous vibration rather than a few well-timed knocks.
Around 2005, Bob Coval conducted some rather extensive research on settling powder to achieve more
consistent powder drops. His research resulted in the “Coval Device”. It was simply a small DC motor with an
Old Style New Style
Old Style New Style
© 2003-2024 - 12 - Rev 20 – 01/24
UniqueTek, Inc. Ph: 480-507-0866 Email: info@uniquetek.com
Gilbert, AZ Web: www.uniquetek.com
eccentric weight packaged inside a plastic tube and powered by a 3VDC power supply. It
strapped to the side of your powder measure using a rubber band and had a piece of foam
glued to the side to help stabilize it against the irregular shape of the powder measure. It was
on continuously as long as the power supply was plugged into a wall outlet. I tried one but,
in my opinion, it shook the powder measure too violently and was very noisy. I think the
frequency needed to be higher and the amplitude lower. Plus, it really needed a mounting
method that was better than the included rubber bands, and an On/Off switch. Alas, Bob has
passed, and the Coval Device is no longer available.
Meanwhile, there are many forum postings about using aquarium air pumps, pager motors,
buzzers, alarms, ringers … and even adult toys to induce vibrations directly to the powder
measure. Aquarium pumps seem to be a favorite as they are inexpensive (as little as about
$6.00) and easy to find (most pet stores, Walmart, Amazon, etc.). You can even find battery
powered air pumps. Regardless, you’ll want the smallest one you can find as they are
usually strapped to the side of the powder hopper tube. Ideally, it should be attached as
close to the powder metering chamber as possible (like the Coval Device). But even the
smallest aquarium pumps are too large to mount there.
Everyone has a chuckle about this, but egg vibrators from an adult shop can be an effective
option. They are small enough to mount directly onto the side of the powder measure (like
the Coval Device), placing them as close as possible to the metering chamber. Most have
variable speeds and some even have different vibration patterns, so you can experiment to
determine the optimum setting for your powder measure and the powders you use. And
they cost only a little more than an aquarium pump.
Tip 26: Vibrate Your Powder
I know this seems contrary to everything you’ve read thus far in this “Tips” file. But it has been demonstrated
that inducing some constant and consistent vibration into the powder measure can yield more consistent powder
drop weights. The difference is that these vibrations are controlled and targeted. Here is how it works.
All gunpowders are granular (albeit in wide variety of shapes and sizes). As such there is a lot of air space
between the grains. If you vibrate the powder, it will settle and eliminate some of that air space. Continue
vibrating the powder and you eventually reach a point where the grains are as tightly packed as they can
possibly get. If you can achieve that within the metering chamber of your powder measure, your powder drops
will become very consistent. This is similar in concept to the “Powder Knocker” on the Lyman #55 Powder
Measure (see Tip #7) but is a continuous vibration rather than a few well-timed knocks.
Around 2005, Bob Coval conducted some rather extensive research on settling powder to achieve more
consistent powder drops. His research resulted in the “Coval Device”. It was simply a small DC motor with an
Old Style New Style
Old Style New Style
© 2003-2024 - 12 - Rev 20 – 01/24
UniqueTek, Inc. Ph: 480-507-0866 Email: info@uniquetek.com
Gilbert, AZ Web: www.uniquetek.com
eccentric weight packaged inside a plastic tube and powered by a 3VDC power supply. It
strapped to the side of your powder measure using a rubber band and had a piece of foam
glued to the side to help stabilize it against the irregular shape of the powder measure. It was
on continuously as long as the power supply was plugged into a wall outlet. I tried one but,
in my opinion, it shook the powder measure too violently and was very noisy. I think the
frequency needed to be higher and the amplitude lower. Plus, it really needed a mounting
method that was better than the included rubber bands, and an On/Off switch. Alas, Bob has
passed, and the Coval Device is no longer available.
Meanwhile, there are many forum postings about using aquarium air pumps, pager motors,
buzzers, alarms, ringers … and even adult toys to induce vibrations directly to the powder
measure. Aquarium pumps seem to be a favorite as they are inexpensive (as little as about
$6.00) and easy to find (most pet stores, Walmart, Amazon, etc.). You can even find battery
powered air pumps. Regardless, you’ll want the smallest one you can find as they are
usually strapped to the side of the powder hopper tube. Ideally, it should be attached as
close to the powder metering chamber as possible (like the Coval Device). But even the
smallest aquarium pumps are too large to mount there.
Everyone has a chuckle about this, but egg vibrators from an adult shop can be an effective
option. They are small enough to mount directly onto the side of the powder measure (like
the Coval Device), placing them as close as possible to the metering chamber. Most have
variable speeds and some even have different vibration patterns, so you can experiment to
determine the optimum setting for your powder measure and the powders you use. And
they cost only a little more than an aquarium pump.
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