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This is driving me NUTS!!!

oneshot onekill

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 29, 2008
1,952
9
60
DeBary, Florida
OK... I'm in unfamiliar territory here and being driven nuts! I'm in the middle of a reloading session and had to stop to ask this stupid question! How the hell do you deal with static electricity???!!! I'm in Florida and we don't get many dry cold days here. It's a blustery 50 degrees in my shed where I reload. I'm trying to throw accurate amounts of Reloader 15 and the powder is sticking to EVERYTHING!!! It sticks to the hopper on my Powder measure, it sticks to the inside of the shells, it sticks to my funnel.
I throw the powder into the empty shell and then dump it onto my scale. If its off by more than .10gr I add or remove a little. Then I dump it back into the empty shell using my funnel. Its a slow process but accurate, and this "static electricity" thing is making it even slower! The funnel is the worst! There's probably 20-30 granules stuck to the walls of the funnel that just dance around... Taunting me! SOMEBODY HELP!
crazy.gif


Thanks in advance!
 
Re: This is driving me NUTS!!!

Dryer sheets. Wipe the outside of your powder measure.
 
Re: This is driving me NUTS!!!

Take used dryer sheets, or new, like bounce and wipe stuff down.
 
Re: This is driving me NUTS!!!

Not trying to be critical, but any reason you're dropping in the shell instead of into the scale pan. Especially with known static issues if you're loading bottlenecks it'd be allot of effort to be sure you got every kernal out of the case. This equipment isn't new is it? Mold release agents can cause sticking as well. Wiping down the outsides will help, some guys even rubber band a dryer sheet around their hopper. Strange I live in a very dry cold place and have static issues with all sorts of things, but not reloading.
 
Re: This is driving me NUTS!!!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Beef</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Not trying to be critical, but any reason you're dropping in the shell instead of into the scale pan. Especially with known static issues if you're loading bottlenecks it'd be allot of effort to be sure you got every kernal out of the case. This equipment isn't new is it? Mold release agents can cause sticking as well. Wiping down the outsides will help, some guys even rubber band a dryer sheet around their hopper. Strange I live in a very dry cold place and have static issues with all sorts of things, but not reloading. </div></div>
Not offended at all... That's a good question. The way my bench is set up its easier for me to stick the neck of a shell right up against the bottom of the powder measure. I'm able to move across the bench to the scale faster that way without spilling powder. I tried throwing directly into the pan at first but had 2 problems. First, unless the pan was right up against the bottom of the thrower the powder would bounce around the pan and I would lose some. Second is the reason I stated above about moving across the bench.

By the way... The dryer towel worked!!! The wife didn't like it... Or understand... Thanks guys!!!
 
Re: This is driving me NUTS!!!

The dryer sheets are great, especially on the funnel for pouring in the powder, you don't get the powder sticking to the inside of the funnel. Side note I cut 'em up and put 'em in when tumbling brass, they pick up alot of the grime!!
 
Re: This is driving me NUTS!!!

And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is why I came to the Hide. Excellent tip and much thanks. Phoenix is hell with our 2% humidity for most of the year.
 
Re: This is driving me NUTS!!!

The 'magic' ingredient in dryer sheets is a small amount of soap. Dampen any wash cloth or paper towel, wipe it over a bar of soap and then wipe down the static affected tools; all will be well -- until it builds up again.
 
Re: This is driving me NUTS!!!

Too funny. Yesterday I had this problem for the first time. I come to the hide, and BAMMM! -- there is the answer.
 
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Re: This is driving me NUTS!!!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: oneshot onekill</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Beef</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Not trying to be critical, but any reason you're dropping in the shell instead of into the scale pan. Especially with known static issues if you're loading bottlenecks it'd be allot of effort to be sure you got every kernal out of the case. This equipment isn't new is it? Mold release agents can cause sticking as well. Wiping down the outsides will help, some guys even rubber band a dryer sheet around their hopper. Strange I live in a very dry cold place and have static issues with all sorts of things, but not reloading. </div></div>
Not offended at all... That's a good question. The way my bench is set up its easier for me to stick the neck of a shell right up against the bottom of the powder measure. I'm able to move across the bench to the scale faster that way without spilling powder. I tried throwing directly into the pan at first but had 2 problems. First, unless the pan was right up against the bottom of the thrower the powder would bounce around the pan and I would lose some. Second is the reason I stated above about moving across the bench.

By the way... The dryer towel worked!!! The wife didn't like it... Or understand... Thanks guys!!! </div></div>

I can't help you with your wife, that's your problem but I'll add some reinforcement to oneshot's thoughts. You've explained why you do what you do, now you need to understand that there's a better way; that not only will help you with the static electricity problem by eliminating one of the opportunities for it to screw with you, but it will speed you up and ensure better ammo. I weigh each and every load for bottle neck cartridges and have been doing that for almost 30 years now, so your circumstances at the load bench are no stranger to me. One thing that gives me cold chills is having to dump powder back out of a case for some reason because I need to know it's all back out, so I end up looking with a flashlight, and tapping the case mouth on the bench, and looking again. The smaller the case neck the bigger the pain in the ass. Too much bother for me so it's something I avoid as much as possible. The only powder I want in that case is what I just weighed perfectly on the scale.

You NEED to reroute the flow of your work. You NEED to drop right into the scale pan. You solve the problem of powder bouncing out of the pan as you drop by holding the pan right up tight to the spout. On larger charges you simply lower the pan down slowly and let all the powder gently fall in before returning the measure's handle to picking up another charge. The other part of this is you need to set the bench up so that the measure, scale, and loading block are all within arm's reach so you do not have to move. I would certainly hope your reloading room has a non-carpeted floor and if so you will find that a nice office chair is not only very comfortable for the long sessions but the wheels on it make it stupid easy to move around just in case you have to. Lots of guys stand at their bench and eliminate the chair all together, moving for them is no big deal. I work 12 hour days and do everything BUT sit down....at my bench I sit, in an office chair, with wheels.

Do yourself a HUGE favor and reorganize your bench..............
 
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Yes, on ALL types of powder, ball, flake, stick... I drop the powder with the scale pan flush with the drop tube so it doesn’t splash, then weigh it on an RCBS scale that costs about ?? 350$ and it’s been very accurate and let’s you know when each charge is finished weighing which is barely a second, then I use a powder trickler to fine tune pdr charge, then dump it in a funnel to the brass case. The only caution I would suggest is with 22 cal brass be sure to hold the funnel tight to the brass since I had an experience where the funnel is not tight fitting enough and it allowed powder to spill out of the case while most went in the case .... I mistakenly thought it was a tight enough fit around the case neck that all the powder would go in the brass. Wrong ! I have to hold the funnel tight when doing 22 cal brass ... 22-250, 223, .....
I was having problems with powders like H-335 with static electricity but am just now trying dryer sheets and it’s looking like it works.
 
I have a charge master lite . I was having trouble with it drifting. When I pull the pan off I always look to see it reads -xx.x. That number would frequently change when loading. That would leave me to wonder if the first charge I loaded was the same as the last. causing me to re-weigh charges. I now leave a dryer sheet under the scale it has made a huge difference. Every time I pull the pan off I get the same minus reading. Along with using dryer sheets to wipe the outside of hopper and funnel.
 
I find this thread interesting. I live in CA and even during the fire power outages I was reloading - I ran a power cord from the generator for the scale. The humidity was down at 10% - yes, 10%.

After a cold front blows through in FL, you probably get to 50% at the lowest. That's high for the summer months where I am in CA. I've never had issues with static holding up kernels of powder. I use a metal pan and plastic funnels.

There has to be some other contributing factor - pan material, the fact that you can swim through Florida's air at times... :)

I lived there for 20 years. I don't miss the humidity.
 
I find this thread interesting. I live in CA and even during the fire power outages I was reloading - I ran a power cord from the generator for the scale. The humidity was down at 10% - yes, 10%.

After a cold front blows through in FL, you probably get to 50% at the lowest. That's high for the summer months where I am in CA. I've never had issues with static holding up kernels of powder. I use a metal pan and plastic funnels.

There has to be some other contributing factor - pan material, the fact that you can swim through Florida's air at times... :)

I lived there for 20 years. I don't miss the humidity.
Yeah I lived in Hawaii and I do not miss the humidity at all! I’m now in NV where 50% for us is a humid day. My issue with static is really only with this new RCBS powder measure ... not funnel, not scale pan, nothing else, not even my old pdr measure. Just this new one. But I will use the dryer sheets ... looks very promising.