Bought a Hornady Premium Funnel Kit because when I was using the RCBS plastic funnel loading 223 Rem with CFE 223 powder, I had more spillage than I would have liked. After 50 cases, there was enough powder in the bottom of the loading block to fill one of the loading block holes about 1/16". I should have weighed it, but I would guess it was about 1 to 1.5 gr of powder if my math is correct. It was difficult to hold the RCBS funnel vertical and when it tipped, it would open up a gap.
Opening up the Hornady funnel and test fitting it on some brass, it appears that the 224 funnel was indexing on the shoulder of the case and not the mouth. I measured the depth of the funnel neck to be about 0.271" and diameter of the funnel neck was about 0.273". The 223 case necks were about 0.19" long and about 0.244" wide. This left the top of the case exposed and an obvious location for powder to escape. My first thought was to return it, because it isn't what I expected, but decided to try it. I loaded 50 cases with CFE 223, and, based on the way it was indexing, I expected a lot more spillage than actually occurred.
The general process to test it was: I placed the funnel on top of the case and spent no time aligning it or holding it in place. The funnel easily stayed in place. Then I poured a pan of powder into the funnel. I intentionally was not careful about this. Sometimes the powder hit the side of the funnel, other times it hit the middle of the funnel hole. I did not pour slowly. The powder went through the funnel smooth and fast.
I used the same location in my loading block for filling each case. After filling the case, I seated a bullet and grabbed the next case and again put it in the same place as the previous case in the loading block. After removing the funnel from the just filled case, I set it down next to it. With that method, I would expect to see all the powder spilled in the confined area of the loading block. The photo of the loading block with the arrow shows the location where I placed the case in the block. The powder kernels that are shown in the photo are the extent of any spillage after loading 50 cases in the manner described. A rough count of kernels of CFE 223 would be about 20 kernels spillage after loading 50 cases.
In summary, the Hornady funnel was much easier to use than the plastic RCBS funnel and resulted in considerably less spillage (arguably insignificant spillage) than the plastic funnel that took much more care to use. I am not returning it.
After experiencing this, I googled and read a review on Midway USA where the rater said he had the same issue and drilled out the bottom of the funnel to allow the funnel to index on the case mouth. I checked caliber funnels on other cartridge cases, and the indexing varied depending on the cartridge.
View attachment 1209805
View attachment 1209806Funnel neck about 0.071" longer than 223 case neck (though I'll have to recheck this when I get home. The taper probably helps close the gap a little more).
View attachment 1209807Funnel neck bout 0.029" larger then 223 case neck diameter.
View attachment 1209809Balanced easy, even when not in a loading tray. I obviously used the tray when dumping powder.
View attachment 1209808Spillage, but very, very little.
www.midwayusa.com
Funnel neck about 0.071" longer than 223 case neck (though I'll have to recheck this when I get home. The taper probably helps close the gap a little more).
Funnel neck bout 0.029" larger then 223 case neck diameter.
Balanced easy, even when not in a loading tray. I obviously used the tray when dumping powder.
Spillage, but very, very little.
.
