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Old October 29, 2013, 04:44 AM   #1
rebs
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Hornady powder trickler ?

Does anyone have one of these that can say how well they work ?
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/428...owder-trickler
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Old October 29, 2013, 08:29 AM   #2
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Never tried it. It's intended to let you trickle the whole charge from the ground up instead of using a measure to throw the main bulk of the charge first. Looks like extra work to me, and $85 seems like a lot for the privilege of putting in that extra effort. You can buy a Lee Perfect measure and use that to get a charge within half a grain much more quickly for about $20, then finish it on the scale with a conventional trickler. Regular tricklers work for this measure + trickle approach. Take a look at this one, which also has an iron base for stability for about $20, too. Bottom line is you can work faster for about half the cost with these two devices.
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Old October 29, 2013, 03:09 PM   #3
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I have one, but have only played with it briefly. It's well made, the bottom is weighted, and it certainly trickles OK. It's geared so that you can trickle fast or slow. I suppose that means you trickle fast until you are near your desired weight and then go slowly for accuracy. There's no reason you couldn't drop a base charge in and then use it for the rest. The trickle arm is nice and long to hold over your scale. I only wish the height was more adjustable.
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Old October 29, 2013, 03:26 PM   #4
bt380
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I rarely have need to be that accurate in powder. When the need, that rarely arises, a straw and a dixie cup works great.
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Old October 29, 2013, 05:52 PM   #5
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bt308 please explain the straw and dixie cup ? You have me curious
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Old October 29, 2013, 06:34 PM   #6
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Take a sharp pencil and make a hole just large enough that it makes a snug fit for a straw to pass thru for both the entry and exit holes. Take a pair of small sharp snips and cut a small "V" notch in the straw. Might need two notches pending powder type. Take a piece of tape and wrap backwards to make a gripping for the straw so you can turn it. If you are going to be doing a lot of trickling, heat up a pin so it will pass thru the straw for a handle. Add powder and turn the straw. Normally for a short usage, the cup won't leak if the hole is made right. For longer duration, add a piece of saran wrap with tape over it so it acts like a gasket. It was more for the fun of it. If I had to do enough of it, I'd make something more permanent from garage stuff or buy one. But for the most part, I don't need to trickle so didn't see a reason to just have another piece of gear in the way.
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Old October 29, 2013, 07:47 PM   #7
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Thats very neat and a great use of resources. What other home brew equipment have you made ?
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Old October 29, 2013, 09:44 PM   #8
bt380
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I forgot to mention. Some days my finesse is off so I make a practice set up.
We are after 1/10ths so I use a small number to practice with. Lets say you wanted 4.6 grains. I cut a piece of paper slightly below the 4.6 then write with ink by drawing a stick ladder very slowly as I measure the weight until I get to a 4.5gr piece of paper. Then I use the cup to work up the 1/10. I use a small screw driver to tap the top of the cup so the vibration jiggles out the tinsy amount to get my scale to read 4.6. If that doesn't work quick enough, tap the pin or straw. Once I got the feel dialed in, it's usually good from then thru that session.
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My other project is a powder checker. I took a piece of pvc and lightly sanded it and slightly beveled the end so I could start some threads using my 4 hole turret as the thread maker. Then I worked it like the tap/die method until I got it to screw in where I wanted it. Don't make the threads so they are sloppy because that way you don't have to have a nut to hold it in. Then a wood dowel that is closes to the ID and sanded that. I used my drill press to hold it and then just held 100 grit to get it close then 220 grit to get it so it would snuggly insert. If you don't have a drill press, use a flat hole drill and cut a groove (like on a kid arrow) and use the flat part to hold the dowel so it will spin and sand it down. It doesn't take much for either the pvc or dowel. Then cut the dowel down to about 3/4 inch long. Make two of them. One for the top of the pvc and the other for the bottom of the pvc. You will need to drill a hole thru those two before you insert them into the pvc w/ glue. The reason for two short stubbies is less friction for the rod since it is wood. The rod is any thing in your garage that is light and round. I imagine you could use a straw with a piece of round aluminum in the bottom for weight in the straw. I have a plastic rod from a kids toy and I added a little weight at the top. You have to play with the weight so it doesn't crush the power so you can't read it right. At the top, use anything you like as a stopper so the rod doesn't fall thru (cut piece of cork, cut piece of foam, etc). The guage is a twisty on the rod that moves up/down that reads against the scale which is another short rod glued to the side of the pvc. It's important to have the rod vertical with minimum friction. It was fun to make and it works just as good as a purchased checker. I didn't need it since I have a Lee Classic Turret and I can just look. I just wanted to see it work.

Last edited by bt380; October 29, 2013 at 09:49 PM.
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Old October 30, 2013, 05:26 AM   #9
rebs
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Bt that is great that you can make your own designs.
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Old October 30, 2013, 06:59 AM   #10
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I have the Hornady trickler and although it works well I, for the life of me, don't know why I felt I needed to spend so much on a trickler. One thing you need to know about it is the tube runs on two bearings that are full of grease from the factory. When I first got mine I thought I cleaned off all the oil on it but still had problems getting all the powder out when emptying. I took it apart again and found a lot of powder stuck around the area of the bearings. I ended up taking the bearings out, removing the seals, and cleaning all the grease out. That grease will oooze out of the bearings and make a mess inside the dam thing.

It is intended to trickle the entire load which is a lot of work compared to throwing a light charge then topping off with the trickler.
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Old October 30, 2013, 08:35 AM   #11
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Mav;
That is a good piece of information to share. Seems there is always some hurdle in this hobby w/ most things.
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I have a Lee beam that came with the classic kit that I have to finesse the slider to find out what a weight is that is a bit difficult to manage if you’re a bull in a China shop (I'm more so with age). I tend to use my digital scale to find a weight, then manually hold and adjust the slide to that reading and lock it in. Then I can use the beam to verify a reading. I got tired of the Lee beam swinging up/down while it teased me with maybe I will stop now. I took a small thin piece of rubber band and glue sticked it (no tension) to the top over the beam gap where it swings and the same for a slight bit lower than the level where the beam also travels. That really shortened up the beam swing travel time.
-
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Old October 30, 2013, 09:44 AM   #12
Sure Shot Mc Gee
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Nope haven't tried one myself.

FWIW. The tools Reviews: That Hornady powder trickler has decent reviews and some not so positive commenting also. So knowing the Hornadys trickler's shortcomings. I doubt I would replace my old RCBS trickler with this new innovative 2/speed handy dandy Hornady tool.
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Old October 30, 2013, 04:43 PM   #13
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I decided I am going to pass on the Hornady trickler, thanks for all the info. I appreciate it
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Old October 31, 2013, 08:53 PM   #14
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I have it. I loaded up some .223 with it. I think it was worth it. I like both the size of the hopper, and height, and the adjustability of the height as well as the length of the boom. As an FYI the slow isn't any slower than a normal trickler.

ETA: I'm also something of a butterfingers, so I love the cap on the tube in case you knock it over, which would be rather difficult but I could manage it.
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Old November 1, 2013, 01:32 AM   #15
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Unclenick has it right, ouch $85.00 that's outrageous for a tickler. But to each their own I guess.

After a lot of research I went with the Redding because of the metal base, it can be used one handed. If you are going to trickle directly into the pan while it is on the scale you will need to raise it up with a box to get it high enough. It works great to get that last 0.10 of a grain to just drop in without going under or over.

I am a bit of a crab, in that I want my rifle charges right at the exact weight in powder for each and every round.

I used it for about a year and a half before I bought this:




But at $280.00 less than the LoadMaster, it makes great (just as good) ammo.



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Old November 4, 2013, 01:28 AM   #16
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Personally, I just use a traditional powder trickler. I can't justify $80 for something like that. My rcbs works well for much less $$.
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Old November 5, 2013, 12:23 AM   #17
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I have a standard Hornady tickler. They are a bit light for one handed operation. I fixed that with a little plaster of Paris.



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Old November 5, 2013, 03:04 AM   #18
GJSchulze
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I have the small RCSB trickler, but I also have a digital scale that is about 6" square, so there is no way to trickle powder into a 9mm case because it is not tall enough and the arm is too short. The larger Hornady trickler has a nice long arm, but it isn't tall enough, either. That's easy enough to fix. I had to set up a stand to hold a small funnel so I could trickle into the 9mm case. I want to determine the optimum load. And I would if I would just get off my butt and do it.
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Old November 5, 2013, 07:19 AM   #19
rebs
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Since reading this thread, I took my ole rcbs trickler and filled in the base with lead now it is heavier and works real nice with one hand. I use a small digital scale and it trickles right in to the pan. Thank you guys for saving me $80.00
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Old November 5, 2013, 07:22 AM   #20
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Quote:
so there is no way to trickle powder into a 9mm case
Quote:
I had to set up a stand to hold a small funnel so I could trickle into the 9mm case.
Am I missing something here? Why would you want to trickle powder directly into the case?
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Old November 6, 2013, 09:46 AM   #21
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I have one and have used it to load a fairly large number 10mm Auto cases--directly into the case. It works well and is one of the better-made pieces of gear I have. I bought a Redding a long time ago but sent it back as I had no use for it, and for what I do now it wouldn't be as convenient as a trickler with a large hopper on it.

The trickler is the only way I've found I can load 800X powder, as the stuff simply does not meter...period. In an effort to save a little pain and agony, I set the trickler up on a stack of books so that it drops directly into the case mouth, with the case sitting on the digital scales: 1) place case on scale, 2) Press TARE to reset scale to zero, 3) Trickle to get desired charge, 4) remove case from scale, 5) Repeat.

I find the gearing system is real sweet on this unit and allows for both reasonable speed and extreme control--with 800X I can get one or two flakes of powder at a time, if I'm in that mood.

The downward angle of the dispense tube is a bit much for dropping into the case directly, as the powder can came come out a little fast. I prop up the steel base (I think it's case iron, actually) at the front to reduce that angle--making the tube a bit more level.

I wouldn't trickle powder if I didn't have to, but I have this one situation where there's no choice. I could have just sold the 8 lbs of 800X, but it's actually one of the best powder choices I've found for 10mm and even if it wasn't, in this market I wouldn't sell crappy powder let alone good stuff.

IMO, if you have to trickle a lot or want to, this little gem was well worth it--very nicely constructed (exceptional, actually), high capacity, convenient gearing setup, and highly controllable.

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Last edited by Bongo Boy; November 6, 2013 at 10:07 AM.
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Old November 6, 2013, 06:12 PM   #22
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trickler

I just use a .308 case... Dump a charge in it, and by turning it between my index finger and thumb, I can trickle powder a kernel at a time... Works very well, and much less than $80,
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Old November 7, 2013, 11:48 AM   #23
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I usually use an auto disk on my Loadmaster. In the load im doing now I dont have everything I need to make it work. My trickler is a powder scoop that I tap with my finger into the alum pan that came with my hornady digital scale. Im hitting 39gr +-0 on every load. Why does anyone use a trickler? Is it faster than the way I am going or just like to have more tools on the bench?
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Old November 7, 2013, 12:34 PM   #24
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A powder dribbler ain't a high tech piece of equipment and I don't think I could bring myself to pay $84 for one, even an electric powered one. I'm sure the Hornady unit works fine (what's not to work?), it's just a gear driven dribbler meant to "speed up" dribbling...
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