Dillon powder measure simple modification

[wasa43]

Folks with Dillons:

Try this. Leave the powder measure on the press, remove the powder, and then take out the two screws that secure the clear plastic powder resevoir. Put a case in the press, work the handle, and watch how the recess in the powder bar lines up with the bottom of the built in funnel that the powder resevoir is attached to.

I found that the recess in the powder bar does not line up correctly. The pointy end of the recess in the powder bar actually is out of sight when the powder bar is "in battery" and the powder flows into the recess. This means that the powder has to flow into that space, rather than simply dropping into it.

The problem is that the powder bar moves about 1/8" too far into the measure. To fix this, I centered the recess in the powder bar in the opening at the bottom of the built in funnel, and then scribed a line to show how far the powder bar should go into the measure.

I then used a number 32 drill bit to drill a hole right at the edge of the line. I then inserted a stub of a number 32 drill bit as a pin, and now when the powder bar is all the way into the measure, the recess in the powder bar is lined up perfectly to get a full gravity feed of powder. It is hard to describe, but as soon as you remove the powder resevoir, the problem is easy to see. Accuracy is much improved, most charges being within .1 grain.

[Mt_Medic31]

Chris,
That's a neat trick, I will have to give that a shot. I'm at work, so can't go look at the machine, but that modification does not interfere with the rest of the press stroke at all correct? It just stops the bar motion at that point, not impeding anything else.

[Bob259]

How about posting some pictures

[Jerry G]

I think I understand but a picture or 2 would clear it all up.

[wasa43]

unmodified.jpg

Modified measure interior.jpg

hole in powder bar.jpg

Here are the photos. A nice thing about this mod is that if you don't like it, you just take out the pin, and you are back to where you were. The pin does not interfere with the normal stroke of the press.

Hope this makes it more clear,

[Bob259]

Great...Thanks that makes it easier to understand

[Jason]

Wow, wonderful pictures there. Thanks!

[Jerry G]

That cleared everything up for me. Thanks.

[wasa43]

Guys

Glad you liked the pics, it was kind of hard to describe.

[Jerry G]

I finaly got around to doing this mod and it was a great success. I am getting very consistant powder charges now with Varget. I haven't tried it with IMR4831 yet.

[dondlhmn]

That is pretty neat. Good explanation and great pictures! I have not really noticed any horrible inconsistencies with my Dillon, but I think that anything you can do to improve how well it works would be good to do. I'll have to go have a look at how mine lines up and do this mod if it doesn't look like it is lining up right. I'll bet that, given manufacturing tolerances, some line up better or worse than others do.

What kind of luck has anyone had with larger grained powders such as 4895? My Rem 700 Varmint in 7mm-08 seems to just love 4895 and shoots nice little .5 to .6 inch groups using that, but the powder IS kind of coarse so I tend to weigh a lot of my charges, rather than jsut dropping them. Being able to drop charges would sure speed things up, though I haven't really tried doing my 7mm-08 rounds on it yet. Mostly it ahs loaded probably 10s of thousands on 32-20 rounds and I've NEVER had a glitch with the Dillon doing those.

[Jerry G]

The large grain powders are the worst to put thru the un-modified measure. They don't flow back under the ledge very well like a ball powder will. My pistol powder measure doesn't line up like the larger rifle measure does and isn't a problem.