Powder ?

[lincoln45]

Do you leave powder in the Powder Measurer (hopper) for any length of time?

(XL650)

i live in sacramento....relatively low humidity
but the reloading room is a non insulated Tuff Shed

and always dump the unused powder back in manufacture container....

think this needed or is it ok to leave for a few days

[highpower790]

Never,well maybe overnight if I forget.Not my accepted practice ,because powder will breakdown overtime if exposed to light,this is why they come in dark containers.

[rsrocket1]

Humidity has nothing to do with nitroglycerin reacting with plastic. Some hoppers will blister if powder is left in it for extended periods of time. My Lee safety measure does not, but my LnL AP hopper is smokey brown from 5 pounds of Bullseye, 12 pounds of Unique and 8 pounds of Red Dot going through it over the past few years and the powder was never in the hopper for more than 2 hours at a time, mostly just 30 minutes to an hour. I empty the hopper after every session.

[ironhorse1]

I know that Bullseye will etch and soften the plastic.

I left some for too long and I finally had powder clumping together.

Now if I intend to leave powder in for awhile I tube roll a sheet of paper and place it in the hopper. Shove it all the way down to the metal bottom.

You can't see through the paper but the powder has no contact with the plastic.

irh

[jericho89]

It will discolor your powder tube. It is not recommended for long periods of time because you can loose the identification of the powder. That said I have accidentally left powder in my 650 for months and luckily marked the hopper with he powder number. Tried a few loads with no I'll effects.

[llazyjs]

I fill my hopper only about 1/3 full and sometimes some powder stays in the hopper for 2-3 weeks before I drain it loading cases and they always go bang. Better then opening and closing an 8 lb jug of powder twice every loading session.

[Divernhunter]

Easy answer Do not do it

[09cs]

Never, when I'm done and clean up, the powder goes back into the container

[mjmagee67]

I always label my hoppers with the type of powder and have left the powder in there for months. BUT the second I change the powder I re-label it. If the hopper doesn't have a label the powder will go in to the front yard. I've never had any reliability issues with the powder.

[BigBronco]

In one press only I do. I have an inline progressive that loads 38 special exclusively with the same load always. Only that one press, the rest I return to the bottle of the lawn should I get stupid.

[mikeyr]

I do and my powder tube is badly discoloured because of it. Never had any issues with powder and rounds not going bang, sometimes the powder sits in there for months before it gets used up. Now that I have several powder drops, they just stay ready to go but it will discolour it quickly.

[stilly]

Do you leave powder in the Powder Measurer (hopper) for any length of time?

(XL650)

i live in sacramento....relatively low humidity
but the reloading room is a non insulated Tuff Shed

and always dump the unused powder back in manufacture container....

think this needed or is it ok to leave for a few days

I am sure a Dillon is impervious to things like that and you should never remove the powder from the hopper as it will upset the delicate balance of the proper sized flakes...

Yes that was sarcasm. I think some people have had nasty surprises after leaving certain powders inside of certain things (rcbs chargemaster) for an extended period of time. My personal habit is to only have powder in the hopper when I am on the bench reloading because then I know what it is and if I walk away and come back tomorrow or next week, I will have to get powder out and pour it i the hopper instead of trying to remember what it was that I left in there. Makes for one less possible kaboom in my life. Of course, I also keep the powder that is opened on my bench so that I know what powder I am using if I have it in the hopper too. I t is like, if you are the lucky powder that gets to be used, then your cannister has a front row seat to watch you get used. Also, my Hornady LNL dropper has thin cheap plastic for the walls and it is already discolored from the powder that gets used so if it looks like some of the powder flakes are smokin cigs, then I can only imagine what it would look like at the end of a month or two of just sitting in there...

But that is just me...

[BMartin1776]

i try to measure out how much Im going to need to load with plus a little more and put that in when i reload

[bruce381]

after a few years maybe 30 I called dillion and told them i dropped the powder mesure and broke the plastic part send a new clear clean one NC

[micro911]

I always empty the powder measure.