Every once in a while, I recall those threads that deal with the subject of powder dippers and their inherent in-accuracies.
Depending on the poster, variances range from the mild to the catastrophic.
I keep telling myself that I ought to look into this, since I use a powder dipper for .38SPL and .45ACP handgun loads. I suspect they are ok, since I use the powder dipper regularly, but hey, let's check anyway.
So, this morning, on a whim, I thought I would apply "scientific controls" to the process by spending some time with 3 different powders, a homemade dipper and a check weight calibrated, 3 poise, RCBS 505 scale. Photo of dipper is attached.
The powder fills a short & squat Old Fashioned glass. The routine is Dip, Tap the handle ONCE on the edge of the glass to level the powder, and Dump.
The dipper is an empty 9mm shell, filed to length until the desired volume was obtained and soldered to a brass rod for use as a handle. It is my dipper of choice for Clays and .45ACP/200g LSWC.
Here's the recorded results of measuring 30 Dips and Dumps for each powder:
Clays (Ordinary): 3.9g - 3.85g - never more than max, always less, mostly exact.
Bullseye: 5.5g - 5.4g - Same dipper, never more than max, always less.
Titegroup: 6.7 - 6.55 - Same dipper, always less, again.
The X.X5 half of one tenth of a grain was used when the poise didn't fall into a tenth notch on the scale. We just called it in the middle.
Two other experiments that were tried was 1) tapping more than once, and 2) tapping harder than "normal". Both resulted in less powder, although I didn't record the amounts. I didn't bother to adjust the scale to see how much less on these.
If you are a dyed-in-the wool and competitive bullseye shooter, this variance might not be acceptable to you, but for low volume handgunners like me, who always reload to the middle of the min-max range for any given powder, it seems to work just fine.
Eventually, the plan is to get a Dillon set up, but for now, this will have to do.
FWIW.....
