Winchester 296 Gums Up Powder Measure
Quote from Reloader on March 27, 2014, 5:52 pmI managed to score six lbs of Winchester 296 (same as Hodgdon H110). It's one of the most popular and accurate powders for my .44 magnums.
Problem is, using the large charge bar (I am loading 24 grains of the stuff), the measure gets gummed up and sluggish after only a few (less than 10) rounds. The accuracy of the metering isn't that great either, and it leaks powder around the charge bar.
My 550 is less than a year old. I have two calibers set up, so I have two powder measures, and they both do it. It even leaks with the Arrendondo plastic charge bar (which I can't use for this anyway since it can only measure to about 21 grains of 296).
The charge bars are obviously a loose fit in the measure. One is worse than the other, but both are a loose enough fit that the fine ball powder granules get jammed up between the inside of the measure and the outside of the charge bar.
I have managed to load anyway in spite of the mess and inaccurate metering by wrapping a bungee cord around the measure to act as an auxiliary spring, but that's a poor solution.
Is there a fix for this? I called Dillon support and was 29th caller in the queue (come on, get some more people, this is NOT a temporary spike, it's been going on for a couple years), so I gave up. I emailed them but it usually takes a week or two to get a response.
This seems to be a common problem according to the results I found Googling, and rumor has it that Dillon can put together a measure that will meter these fine ball powders accurately and smoothly, but neither of mine will.
Thanks!
I managed to score six lbs of Winchester 296 (same as Hodgdon H110). It's one of the most popular and accurate powders for my .44 magnums.
Problem is, using the large charge bar (I am loading 24 grains of the stuff), the measure gets gummed up and sluggish after only a few (less than 10) rounds. The accuracy of the metering isn't that great either, and it leaks powder around the charge bar.
My 550 is less than a year old. I have two calibers set up, so I have two powder measures, and they both do it. It even leaks with the Arrendondo plastic charge bar (which I can't use for this anyway since it can only measure to about 21 grains of 296).
The charge bars are obviously a loose fit in the measure. One is worse than the other, but both are a loose enough fit that the fine ball powder granules get jammed up between the inside of the measure and the outside of the charge bar.
I have managed to load anyway in spite of the mess and inaccurate metering by wrapping a bungee cord around the measure to act as an auxiliary spring, but that's a poor solution.
Is there a fix for this? I called Dillon support and was 29th caller in the queue (come on, get some more people, this is NOT a temporary spike, it's been going on for a couple years), so I gave up. I emailed them but it usually takes a week or two to get a response.
This seems to be a common problem according to the results I found Googling, and rumor has it that Dillon can put together a measure that will meter these fine ball powders accurately and smoothly, but neither of mine will.
Thanks!
Quote from Reloader on April 11, 2014, 11:33 pmDillon sent me an RMA and asked that I send them my measure.
I had sent Dillon just the lower part of my measure's body along with the large slide. Today FedEx showed up with an entire measure with both slides, and it appears the problem is fixed. The new lower body has a much tighter clearance with the slides.
Thank you, Dillon!
Dillon sent me an RMA and asked that I send them my measure.
I had sent Dillon just the lower part of my measure's body along with the large slide. Today FedEx showed up with an entire measure with both slides, and it appears the problem is fixed. The new lower body has a much tighter clearance with the slides.
Thank you, Dillon!