Call me a Dipper

When I got into reloading in 2000, I started with a RCBS kit that has served me remarkably well over the years. It came with a Uniflow powder measure. Up until this past fall, I really could not have complained about its function. Then I tried loading H4831SC, and all that changed. The problem was that I could not get a reliable charge. I’d set the measure for 50 grains. What I got was anywhere from 2 to 70. You just never knew what was coming out of the spout.

I asked my friends on 24HourCampfire.com and got a few good suggestions:

Clean the Uniflow measure completely.
Change to a larger drop tube
Rub a dryer sheet on all the interior surfaces .

I tried everything, but I could not get the bridging to go away. It finally hit me: why not try a dipper?

Normally I use a lot of H4895 out of the same Uniflow measure, and normally everything goes well. I use the Uniflow for everything– all told about a dozen different rifle and pistol chamberings. This matter with the H4831SC was just plain odd.

The reason I mentioned H4895, even though I’m not having trouble with it, is that I could now make a custom dipper for a few of my H4895 loads and a good deal of my yearly loading tasks would be taken care of.

It does not take a whole lot to make a custom dipper out of a case, and afterwards there is no calibration needed again ever. I’m wondering why folks don’t do it more often. I had my 50 grains of H4831SC sorted out in no time. The only tools I needed were a tubing cutter, a case reamer, and a pair of electrical pliers to attach the brass wire. It beat spending $12 on a set of plastic dippers let alone $120 on a new measure.

I guess the bottom line in all this is after 15 years of throwing, I have become a near-instant convert to dipping. I’ll still use the Uniflow for load development, and I still will throw all my pistol cartridges with it. However, I’ve moved to the dipper camp.

Will I spring for a set of Lee Dippers? I don’t know. I think what made this project so quick and easy was the new-in-the-box tubing cutter I found as I was going through Dad’s tools. He probably bought it for cutting stems when we started replacing toilets in a big way at the apartments back around 1974, and it got lost. I found it in the back of a drawer in the garage. Dad used to get on me for always wanting to go to the hardware store for parts. He was old school, and always tried to make it work with what we had.

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