Powder, Funnels, and Static?

[BaltimoreBoy]

I am a relative newcomer to reloading.

I secured a supply of powders etc before the big crunch hit in 2012.

I have handled H110 successfully with a Lee funnel.

Last night I set out to charge 38spl cases with Ram-Silhouette (formerly known as Winchester Action Pistol). This is the first time I had handled the powder.

No matter how careful I tried to be, I always had powder outside of the cases in the loading tray.

At the end of charging 50 cases I scooped up the excess powder and it seemed to amount to about a charge for a single case. In other words I am probably about 2% lower than the charges I intended to load.

From a safety standpoint this is no big deal.

But I can't figure out what is going on. There was no such problem with H110 which is a very fine powder as well.

The funnel has a little inverted section at the bottom so it meets the case. Little if any should be spilling.

Is this some sort of static effect?

Is this the reason I have seen some comments saying to condition a funnel with fabric softener sheets?

Any thoughts?

 

[Schwing]

wipe everything down with a dryer sheet. Problem solved

 

[Sunray]

Been using Bullseye with a funnel(even though I uses a thrower) for eons with no fuss. The funnel has to go right down on top of the case mouth.

 

[rcmodel]

Don't try to charge them in the loading try.

Put them in the trey rims up.
Pick each one up, charge it out of the power measure if you are using one.

Or hold the funnel all the way down on the case mouth if you are not using a powder measure.

Thats a much safer way to do it anyway as there is no chance of double-charging a case like there is with all of them in a loading block mouth up.

rc

 

[GLOOB]

Static, could be. But with an inverted funnel approach, you can easily lose some grains of finer ball powders any which way you cut it, especially on cases with small necks. I admit, I never had an issue with 38 cal, though.

I have tried Saturn Machining funnels specifically made for 223, and I still lost some ball powder. Probably just as much as with the inverted style funnel.

I ultimately just made my own funnel with a tip just slightly smaller than 223, so it sits inside the neck of all my cases. Problem solved. Until I start loading 204 or 177. I don't know why the inverted funnel approach is so popular. 204 and 177 calibers sure aren't.

 

[Gadawg88]

If static is the issue, get a can of Static Guard for a couple bucks at Wally World. Give the funnel a light shot before you start loading. Problem solved.

 

[Joatmon]

Look around for small metal funnels as well. Reloading suppliers used to make aluminum funnels before everything turned to plastic. I found a couple a while back and they are great. The drier sheet trick works too, I use that in powder measure hoppers sometimes.

 

[IWAC]

Grains sticking? Wash the funnel with warm water and dishwashing detergent, and let dry without rinsing. Then, if you are a belt-and -suspenders type of guy, wipe the inside surfaces with the fa softener sheet.

 

[bangswitch]

What kind of loading tray are you using? If the tray is deep enough, the case may sit deeply enough in it that the inverted taper in the funnel can't fit tightly enough to the case to prevent some powder from leaking around the poor seal. I had similar issues loading 9mm, until I made my own tray especially for those short cases from a piece of 3/8" plywood. Now the cases stick out far enough that the funnel doesn't hit the loading tray

 

[clearcut]

next time you co to the doc ask for the little funnels they use to look in your ears,wash with soap don't rinse wipe with fab softener they work for the small shell too.If you have that much static you should try powder coating!
CC

 

[Jim Watson]

I treasure one of the last Pacific aluminum funnels and have one of the caliber specific aluminum and brass Satern funnels (so far.)
No static there.

But if you are getting mechanical interference from the cartridge block or adjacent cases, you are going to have to change your ways, doing one at a time per rcmodel.

 

[witchhunter]

I love the Satern caliber specific funnels as well. Use a dryer sheet too dispel static and if you load 38 with a powder measure, just charge them one at a time by holding them under the measure. Some measures have different dispenser tube for different sized cases.

 

[BaltimoreBoy]

Thanks gents. I'll be trying the suggestions.

The tray isn't too deep. That was part of what was puzzling me. With the funnel actually resting on the case mouth, finding powder grains outside of the cases seemed almost impossible - like a quantum effect (Schroedingers Funnel?).

 

[GLOOB]

When you hold the case by hand, you get a lot more tactile feedback to know when it's centered on the funnel. If you try dropping the funnel over the case in a loading block, all you have is your eye to tell if the case is centered. And if the bottom of the loading block isn't perfectly flat under each case, the case can tip a little.

If you like the idea of charging cases in a block, check this out:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?267658-This-is-my-Lee-Perfect-Powder-Measure

Of if you are using a dipper, you might try making your own funnel that fits completely INSIDE the case mouth, for no spills. Here's one way. I happen to do some electrical stuff, and this is made from a 22 LR case and some 0.008" copper clad FR-4. Soldered together.
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv241/gloob27x/SAM_0220.jpg

But if you're using a dipper, you are missing the boat. What you really ought to be doing is dropping the charge directly into the case, by hand, as you fill the block. It's just faster that way because you aren't messing with a funnel, and you can pick up the next case almost as fast as you're done dipping the next charge. I use a cut down 357 case for my H110 dipper, or a 380 case for my regular pistol charges, and they pour directly into a 357 case with no problem. Takes just a little practice to learn the technique. I set the pad of my left index finger on the back edge of the casemouth as a backstop to set the edge of the dipper while pouring. It's easy as pie. I might never have gone through all that above rigamarole, if I didn't load for 223, where this doesn't work.