powder dippers and custom dippers

[soundguy]

was thinking about getting a set of those lee powder dippers, and was talking to a buddy in indiana about it.. he's been one i've been sponging info off of since I started relaoding last month.

he reloads only 2 caliber.. 1 pistol, 1 rifle.

he only uses 2 powders. one for the pistol, one for the rifle.

he mad up a set of custom powder dippers. he took some scrap brass cases.. ie.. a bottle neck cartridge that had a damaged throat.. for his 308.. he lef a dead primer in it and cut the cartridge down so that when loaded level with powder, it was the correct volume / weight of charge for that single powder for that rifle. he stores his dippers in a lil box.. he knows what he's grabbing as he uses the actual cartridge for that gun. ie.. the dipper for his 308 is a cut down 308 case.. same for his pistol. a quick scoop and level off and he's at his 'set' charge he's worked up and uses with a specific bullet type.

I thought that souded kinda neat and wondered if anybody else did that?

i guess as he adds calibers, he cuts off one of each case once he works up a load he likes, then adds it to the box I think he mentioned soldering a piece of house wire copper wire to t he cases as a handle for dipping...

sounded interesting anyway. guess it works ok if you have 1 set charge to load for and one powder type.

[jack404]

i have a couple shells brazed onto wire to bulk out a load and then i use a trickler to make it exact the shells are just shy of the load i want

i have one for the .40 S&W and another for 22-250 and .308 which are my set loads

DONT USE WHIPPY WIRE for the handle !! ya end up tossing powder everywhere

[soundguy]

i'm thinking about making a set for myself.. i'll use like 10-2 house wire.. pretty stiff stuff.

[howlnmad]

I've got a few that I made up..Just solder a wire handle to a case that's been trimmed down to hold your charge weight.

[Bindernut]

Yup, I've got a few custom dippers, plus a semi-complete Lee set.

The homemade ones are exactly as you describe. An empty casing trimmed to length to provide the desired charge and a copper wire handle soldered on.
I store the custom ones right in the die box for the caliber they're tuned for.


Just like when I'm setting up a regular powder measure (Uniflow, Redding#3, Lyman55, etc) I throw a few charges from those dippers onto the scale before I start stuffing cases just to make sure that my dip/tap/pour technique for the dippers is consistent so I get consistent charges.
After I've got my technique settled in, I usually only scale every 10th charge or so for pistol loads.
I'm still anal enough that I scale every rifle load that I use a dipper for

[jack404]

to be honest i aint used em much since last Christmas , got a great auto scale setup from the kids , took a while to get it as i wanted but now it runs way faster than i can take em off i run it about 1/2 speed thats about 100 in 2 min's

[soundguy]

cool, glad to hear! I will dig thru my box of scrap brass and select a few cases for dipper making. I already have a charge worked out for my 30-06.. so that will be the first one I make.

it sounde dlike a good deal when my buddy mentioned it.. just wanted to run it by the relaoding-brain-trust here before I did it.

Originally Posted by Bindernut

Yup, I've got a few custom dippers, plus a semi-complete Lee set.

The homemade ones are exactly as you describe. An empty casing trimmed to length to provide the desired charge and a copper wire handle soldered on.
I store the custom ones right in the die box for the caliber they're tuned for.


Just like when I'm setting up a regular powder measure (Uniflow, Redding#3, Lyman55, etc) I throw a few charges from those dippers onto the scale before I start stuffing cases just to make sure that my dip/tap/pour technique for the dippers is consistent so I get consistent charges.
After I've got my technique settled in, I usually only scale every 10th charge or so for pistol loads.
I'm still anal enough that I scale every rifle load that I use a dipper for

[mikld]

I have a bunch, from 25 ACP cases up to 1/2" brass ferrels. Some have coat hanger wire soldered on for handles and some use brazing rod. I always use a scale with my scoops even though with practice and the right powder, I can hold 2/10ths of a grain. When I started reloading (in '69) I was using Lee Loaders so I got used to scooping powder and made some dippers for "custom" loads (second piece of equipment I bought was a scale). Now I have 3 powder measures, 3 scales, and mebbe 15 dippers, plus a Lee set, and I use them all depending on how I feel. I'm retired and ain't in no hurry...

[soundguy]

i'm psyched now.. can't wait to cut some brass down and make some custom dippers for loads I have worked out. i think i'll do what my buddy does and do case specific.. IE.. his dipper with 308 case is for 308.. etc.. etc.. and keep that for each caliber.. 30-30 cut down for 30-30.. etc.. etc. like someone else said.. just store it int he die set case..

[RandyP]

Dippers work and obviously an adjustable volume dispenser is the means most all powder dispensers use. Dipper/disk hole/variable cavity volume dispenser.......they all measure out the powder the same way.