Drop tubes

Who uses them

Do they work

Did you buy it or make it (what kind or what material)

Procedures and tricks

What powders do they work best with


Without guns we are subjects, with guns we are citizens

They work. I use a home made 30" drop tube for black powder ctgs. And a 6" commercial funnel/tube to get 60 g. of H4831 into a .270 Win. case. Without the drop tube, the powder is high in the neck, with the tube it settles to near the base of the neck, thereby reducing the compaction of the charge by seating the bullet and reducing the breaking of powder kernels.

Pour the powder slowly into the drop tube and/or pour it down the side of the funnel into the tube so that is swirls around the funnel prior to dropping into the tube for most consistency and best compaction.

I use one too. To get a lot of slow burning powders (bulky) into the case.

Mine is a 30" piece of copper tubing. I also use a 6" brass tamp, made out of solid brass rod to compact the powder.

I set the tamp inside the neck and on top of the powder column and hold the case on top of my tumbler while it's running.

That's usually good for another 1/8".

,

Woods,

AZ Pete & NewGuy are spot-on with their helpful comments, my $0.02 worth are that:.

Drop tubes are a real helper. If you purchase a funnel set you will get a relatively solid tube with the set. It is good for most loading, made out of plastic though, so wash with Dawn, Dreft or other dishwashing liquid to assist in eliminating ALL static. Aluminum, Copper & Brass are outstanding due to NO static but will cost you more and tend to be more specialized pieces of equipment for the advanced reloader who uses high density loads and or black powder. Swirling and other technique is aquired with experience but is the best starting point to get powder settled.

The longer the better but after about 12" you're not going to get too much more powder settling in the cases anyway and black powder has it's own set of rules. If you're using bulky, slow burning powders that take up alot of space then getting that last 1/8th or 1/16th of settling in the case is often not jsut helpful but important for seating the bullets. When using H-4831 or H-4350 or other bulky stick powders in 7x57, .30/06 or .375 H&H cases when seating heavier bullets the case vibrator trick is also really useful to attempt to get the powder to settle in the case when space is at a premium.

It sounds absurd but you actually can have bullets push themselves back out of the cases after seating if the powder isn't settled enough during the charging phase. Compressing an overly large charge of small grained, very fine ball powder (sand like) is a big No-No because it tends to clump the powder under pressure resulting a all sorts of unpleasant reloading experiences.

Cheers,

Gerry

Hey Woods, I've used one occasionally for a long time. I use mine for getting a bit more Slow Burning powder into a case when there are no indications of Un-Safe Pressure.

Mine is made from an aluminum Orange Cammo "Arrow Shaft". I use it stuck into the end of an MTM Funnel Adapter that comes in their Set.

Since arrows come in different diameters, you can select one close to the right size to start with. Then I wrapped the end of the Shaft with a heavy Thread Wrap like you use to wrap Guides on a fishing rod to make it a snug fit inside the Adapter. A person could glue it in place, but this way I can still use the Adapter by itself if the need arises.

So whats wrong with filling the case half way up the neck with powder and then compressing it with the bullet it the press. Are we talking just consistency differences here? accuracy?

I use a homemade drop tube (about 12" long) made by inserting the right size piece of aluminum tubing salvaged from, I think, a section of an old fashioned car radio antenna (surely you're old enough to remember those telescoping jobs) and inserted in and taped to a regular plastic powder funnel.

It is very useful in getting some combinations of slow burning powder into some cases, particulary unfired cases which are somewhat less in initial internal capacity than fired and neck-sized cases.

quote:

Originally posted by naja302:
So whats wrong with filling the case half way up the neck with powder and then compressing it with the bullet it the press. Are we talking just consistency differences here? accuracy?

What's wrong is that some combinations will overflow the case (particularly an unfired case) unless a drop tube is used.

Drop tubes work great - you can get them with funnel attached from Sinclair, probably other places. I've compressed slow-burning powders, when the case was filled to the brim without ill effects.

Another way to settle powder in a case is to vibrate it by holding an electric shaver against it.

W/O a drop tube I couldn't get enough 7828 into my .260ai to get the perf. I want (2850fps w/ a 142grsmk). Yeah they work great. I used to use a 24" brass tube for my .45-120BP. I recently bought a Forster funnel/drop tube, great piece of gear for guys who like to use slow, max. density powders. Now I don't have to reach for a funnel & a drop tube.
naja, not sure what you are asking but I'm talking about filling a case full to just below the neck & then seating a bullet. Drop tubes or vibration (too much hassle there) are the only way to get 100%+ density loads.

I am a fanatical proponent of the use of drop tubes. On several occasions, I have been able to duplicate velocities of the "high energy" factory loads and do so at the same pressures (we aren't supposed to be able to do that).

You can go the expensive route or the cheap route (I'm cheap by nature). Go to the hardware store a get a 24" piece of copper tubing. Roll it out straight on a counter top and have them flare one end to go over the cartridge mouth. Chamfer the other end to receive a powder funnel. 1/4" tube works well for 375 and down. 3/8" for 40 cal and up. Cost; a couple of bucks.

Powders respond differently to a drop tube with responce dependent on grains size. The "Lincoln Log" powders (IMR 3031, 4350, 4831) get little responce from a drop tube; something on the order of an additional 1 to 2% powder in the same volume. The short stick powders (H4895, 4831, Benchmark, IMR 4320) get in the area of 4 to 6% responce. Ball powders can get from 8 to 10% responce, again depending on the grain size.

BTW, the powder measures with attached drop tubes do not gain near as much advantage as just a regular drop tube. The powder should be trickled SLOWLY into the funnel at the top of the tube. If it takes you less than 8 seconds to get the powder down the tube, you didn't do it right.

Even easier NFMike, most hardware or hobby shops have 1/4 straight brass tubing. Just buy it, flare the end & glue or tape a funnel to it. The Forster & Sinclair products are nice though & not much money. You are right, the idea is to get in as much slow burning powder as possible for a max. density load that functions @ reasonable pressure.

I use a drop tube with funnel attached that I got from Sinclair. It's about 12" long and works well enough. Of course you can always fill your case, and tap it on a table
to get the powder to pack in more tightly. There are probably a lot of different ways to accomplish this. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I'm like Hot Core here, I make them from aluminum arrow shafts. Lots stronger than copper tubing for sure.

Arrow shafts are also great for making bore guides, I guess you could cut off the base of a cartridge and epoxy it in, but I like to drill a hole in the base instead, it looks a tiny bit nicer IMHO.