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Old September 22, 2011, 10:46 PM   #1
deepcore
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Keeping Redding 3BR innards clean

How do you guys prevent powder from sticking to the inner workings of your volume powder measure when you empty it of powder?
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Old September 22, 2011, 11:16 PM   #2
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If you are talking about the hopper, you can try a dryer sheet to apply anti-stat to it. Shaking some graphite powder around in the empty hopper, then running the excess through the measure can help. I assume you took it apart and got any oil film out of it when it was new.
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Old September 23, 2011, 12:00 AM   #3
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Yup. Cleaned out the residue.
Felt like i got it all. I'll do a reclean just in case.
Would Remy Dry lube work (on the drum)?
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Old September 23, 2011, 03:39 AM   #4
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It would, but graphite's better from the standpoint that it's what is already on a lot of powder. Introducing Teflon into the mix will introduce it to bore, which can be unhelpful to accuracy. That's because Teflon's properties change some at warm barrel temperatures. Makes for inconsistency. I know it's in BreakFree CLP, but the military is happy with 4 moa guns. I believe 7 moa is acceptance level for guns on testing rotation.
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Old September 23, 2011, 12:14 PM   #5
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Tried local hardware store and anything they had was spray or tube graphite... Will keep looking.
In doing a search of older threads I saw someone mention coating their powder related tools (like pans) with car wax to help with static and for keeping tools slick.
Would that leave residue in/with the powder charge(s)?
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Old September 23, 2011, 12:19 PM   #6
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I'd worry about wax sticking to some flakes, but maybe the car stuff gets hard enough not to be an issue. Carnauba wax certainly stays pretty hard at normal temperatures.

A tube of graphite powder should work. Put it in the hopper, shake well, run out through measure, put it back in and dispense again. Repeat several times. If you want larger quantities, this place has them.
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Old September 23, 2011, 01:47 PM   #7
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"Tried local hardware store and anything they had was spray or tube graphite... Will keep looking"

Nick is correct, get the dry powder in a tube and put a small quanity of it in the hopper,then work the handle several times to spread it. If you put in too much graphite it will 'clog' on the drum wall and cause binding so go light, you won't need much. (You can remove any such clogged bits harmlessly with a small pad of 4/0 steel wool.)

Most - maybe all - powders have a little bit of powdered graphite added to help the flow qualities and it also helps to reduce static charges.
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Old September 23, 2011, 05:49 PM   #8
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I thought gun powder had a little graphite in it?
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Old September 23, 2011, 11:15 PM   #9
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It's just a surface treatment. They started "glazing" black powder grain surfaces with graphite in the 19th century to dissipate static and help repel moisture. That practice carried over to smokeless for the same reasons plus better flow in measures. That's why most powders are black or silver gray. But if you ever have a squib load that started burning and extinguished, it looks like waxy yellow fish roe. That's mainly nitrocellulose with the coating burned off.

AFAIK, only some of the newer powders don't have it. Hodgdon's Varget, made by ADI, was one of the first ones I noticed, with it's yellow green color. I don't know what it's coated with that has that color, but the lack of graphite is one reason it seems to burn cleaner.

I've had occasion to test functional reliability by shooting several thousand rounds charged with Bullseye through a 1911 without cleaning. Took a couple of afternoons. By the end my hands were covered in graphite and see it sprayed out from under the grip panels and everywhere. Probably actually good for keeping the gun lubricated (this one had zero feed or firing failures in about 2200 rounds, at which point it was packed with enough fouling to to require a cleaning break before continuing), but it's dirty.
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Old September 25, 2011, 04:47 PM   #10
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Thanks for the help guys.
I found the graphite. Neither I nor the guy at my hardware store knew that the tube graphite was not some sort of paste.
On your advise bought it anyway and is flake/powder inside.

I did try car wax on the powder baffle and inside of the clear hopper.
I left the baffle and the hopper in the 90 def sunlight and "dusted" it with some ball and stick powders and nothing stuck. Powders slid right off. Doesnt mean, of course, that no wax stuck to the grains. Was just curious.
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Old September 25, 2011, 04:48 PM   #11
deepcore
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Thanks for the help guys.
I found the graphite. Neither I nor the guy at my hardware store knew that the tube graphite was not some sort of paste.
On your advise bought it anyway and is flake/powder inside.

I did try car wax on the powder baffle and inside of the clear hopper.
I left the baffle and the hopper in the 90 degree sunlight and "dusted" it with some ball and stick powders and nothing stuck. Powders slid right off. Doesn't mean, of course, that no wax stuck to the grains. Was just curious.
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