What did you do in the reloading room today?

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Not today...but last night.

I was given a bunch of reloading stuff a while ago from an associates deceased relative.

I'm slowing going thru the toys to see if they work and if they will become part of my gear or passed along.

Last night I pulled out the Hornady Lock N Load Powder Dispenser:

I was trying to pound out the rest of a box of 130gr TMK's for whitetail doe culling.

This was my experience:
- slow as shite
- every throw was OVER, which leads to beeping and alarm clearing and dumping back
- switched to manual mode, slow rate, it still threw over. I switched it to 42.2 which threw around 43.2 and I could trickle up to 43.5

What a horrible waste of time.

I'll try a flake powder and see if it works OK but the only flake powders I load are Unique and AA 2520 so I may try that but it will probably go by the wayside after that given I like my MEC powder drop.

My point: Does anyone get good work out of this device?
I have one and it works pretty well. I find it tends to throw over more often when the hopper is a quarter full or less. I've used ball powders like SB 6.5 and rod powders like Varget and H1000 with the same results. I'd say 1 out of 5 will be over, and IME if you mess with the speed-slow, normal, fast, there is one it likes for each type of powder. For SB 6.5 I have best luck with normal due to the small size of the flakes, and with the rod powders I go with slow. Good luck and YMMV.

EDIT: in the instructions it also says to turn it on 5-15 minutes prior to using for best accuracy. I usually just leave mine on all the time unless its gonna storm or something.
 
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sierracharlie338
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Not today...but last night.

I was given a bunch of reloading stuff a while ago from an associates deceased relative.

I'm slowing going thru the toys to see if they work and if they will become part of my gear or passed along.

Last night I pulled out the Hornady Lock N Load Powder Dispenser:

I was trying to pound out the rest of a box of 130gr TMK's for whitetail doe culling.

This was my experience:
- slow as shite
- every throw was OVER, which leads to beeping and alarm clearing and dumping back
- switched to manual mode, slow rate, it still threw over. I switched it to 42.2 which threw around 43.2 and I could trickle up to 43.5

What a horrible waste of time.

I'll try a flake powder and see if it works OK but the only flake powders I load are Unique and AA 2520 so I may try that but it will probably go by the wayside after that given I like my MEC powder drop.

My point: Does anyone get good work out of this device?
Same experience. There was an insert a guy was making that was supposed help with consistency of throws but I never got around to using it. Paid the money for a v3 with 120i and am much happier.
 

Nine Banger

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Shoot2HuntU
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Same experience. There was an insert a guy was making that was supposed help with consistency of throws but I never got around to using it. Paid the money for a v3 with 120i and am much happier.
Sweet.

I’ll check that out.

I forgot to mention I was calling for 43.5 grains of H4350.

I was getting around 45 in slow mode and around 50 in fast mode.
 
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sierracharlie338
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Oct 14, 2023
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Location
Houston (adjacent) TX
Sweet.

I’ll check that out.

I forgot to mention I was calling for 43.5 grains of H4350.

I was getting around 45 in slow mode and around 50 in fast mode.
Yep sounds about right from my recollection. Anywhere from .5-1.5 over seemed to be the norm. I honestly didn’t even bother selling mine due to the fighting I did with it. Until I got the AutoTrickler I would throw 1g light of my target weight and then hand trickle with an RCBS manual trickler to my target weight.
 

Nine Banger

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Yep sounds about right from my recollection. Anywhere from .5-1.5 over seemed to be the norm. I honestly didn’t even bother selling mine due to the fighting I did with it. Until I got the AutoTrickler I would throw 1g light of my target weight and then hand trickle with an RCBS manual trickler to my target weight.
Yeah, same...I was thinking to trash is or put it up for free in the pay it forward thread if someone wants to screw around with it.

Another thought I had was using it just for trickling after a powder drop but that might get tedious too and the abortion is just the way to go.
 

Harvey_NW

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Prepped new brass and loaded up pressure ladders last night, got out to test N565 and H1000 in my KPR-ized (Kinport Peak Rifles - chamber cleaned up with AW2 reamer, throated for 143's, chopped to the flutes) Tikka 6.5 PRC. Results did not disappoint, initially thought H1000 was going to be better but in the 10 shot test it blew up on the last 2 shots. First time shooting off Spartan bipod and those 2 felt tight on close, who knows. Either way, N565 is the clear winner!
 

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sierracharlie338
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Prepped new brass and loaded up pressure ladders last night, got out to test N565 and H1000 in my KPR-ized (Kinport Peak Rifles - chamber cleaned up with AW2 reamer, throated for 143's, chopped to the flutes) Tikka 6.5 PRC. Results did not disappoint, initially thought H1000 was going to be better but in the 10 shot test it blew up on the last 2 shots. First time shooting off Spartan bipod and those 2 felt tight on close, who knows. Either way, N565 is the clear winner!
Nice shootin
 

Nine Banger

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Shoot2HuntU
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Last night I pulled out the Hornady Lock N Load Powder Dispenser:

I was trying to pound out the rest of a box of 130gr TMK's for whitetail doe culling.

Load was 43.5gr H4350...
This was my experience:
- slow as shite
- every throw was OVER, which leads to beeping and alarm clearing and dumping back
- switched to manual mode, slow rate, it still threw over. I switched it to 42.2 which threw around 43.2 and I could trickle up to 43.5


I'm back in the saddle with this machine using Unique. It's working fine. Apparently it doesn't like H4350.

When I lose interest in a bullet I load all my extras in w/ 12-14gr Unique and use them to practice positional shooting on a piece of steel at 100 yards. These are subsonic or transonic loads.

Tonight its 14gr Unique w/ Hornady 160gr round nose bullets.



Caveat tho, the Lock N Load Powder Dispenser is still really slow compared to a powder drop. With the Unique its rolling out 90% of the load and trickling the rest automatically but it takes 20-30 seconds per drop.
 

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Bluumoon

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Shoot2HuntU
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Load was 43.5gr H4350...



I'm back in the saddle with this machine using Unique. It's working fine. Apparently it doesn't like H4350.

When I lose interest in a bullet I load all my extras in w/ 12-14gr Unique and use them to practice positional shooting on a piece of steel at 100 yards. These are subsonic or transonic loads.

Tonight its 14gr Unique w/ Hornady 160gr round nose bullets.



Caveat tho, the Lock N Load Powder Dispenser is still really slow compared to a powder drop. With the Unique its rolling out 90% of the load and trickling the rest automatically but it takes 20-30 seconds per drop.

Grab the basic Harrels powder dispenser if you want to speed things up, it’s been within in 0.1 gr even w stick powder for me. I loaded 50 cases w powder, set bullets, and checked a 10 round zero in under 25 minutes while a friend waited last week.

A complaint, if it is one, is that adjustments were in the 0.2gr range per click with stick powder so you may have to settle for 43.4 or 43.6gr instead of 43.5gr.
 
Joined
Mar 16, 2021
Messages
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Location
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Load was 43.5gr H4350...



I'm back in the saddle with this machine using Unique. It's working fine. Apparently it doesn't like H4350.

When I lose interest in a bullet I load all my extras in w/ 12-14gr Unique and use them to practice positional shooting on a piece of steel at 100 yards. These are subsonic or transonic loads.

Tonight its 14gr Unique w/ Hornady 160gr round nose bullets.



Caveat tho, the Lock N Load Powder Dispenser is still really slow compared to a powder drop. With the Unique its rolling out 90% of the load and trickling the rest automatically but it takes 20-30 seconds per drop.
I loaded 80 rounds of 25-284 using 54.5 grains of H1000 over the weekend. Since the grains are so large, I switched it to slow. I had 2 overfills out of 80. However, I agree that its slow (as selected) once it gets within a grain. However, that gives me time to load, seat, and check OAL, on the previous round.
 
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Yesterday I took the time to tumble around 125 pieces of sized 7-08 brass. I don't believe that tumbling and clean brass are necessities. However, when using SB 6.5, I've found the tiny grains will stick to any remaining One Shot inside the case necks which can add time and annoyance to the process. As a result, I had the time and figured I'd experiment with tumbling to see if it helps. I'll update the thread with my results. I will say the brass and nickel cases came out bright and shiny like new if nothing else.
 

Shortschaf

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Prepped new brass and loaded up pressure ladders last night, got out to test N565 and H1000 in my KPR-ized (Kinport Peak Rifles - chamber cleaned up with AW2 reamer, throated for 143's, chopped to the flutes) Tikka 6.5 PRC. Results did not disappoint, initially thought H1000 was going to be better but in the 10 shot test it blew up on the last 2 shots. First time shooting off Spartan bipod and those 2 felt tight on close, who knows. Either way, N565 is the clear winner!
How long's that barrel
 

Harvey_NW

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How long's that barrel
I think it's about 21 1/2" to the crown, I'll get an actual measurement this evening. I had him put the shoulder 1/4" in front of the end of flutes because I still wanted it somewhat aesthetically pleasing and I didn't think it would make a functional difference for an extra inch. It balances well all set up.
 
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