Lee Loader

How many people have made home made dippers?

The Lee dippers come in a series of sizes, but there are big gaps between the sizes. loads.

I have made a few dippers out of fired brass, cut and filed to size, mostly just to see if I could do it. Once I find some loads I like I will make some dippers calibrated to those loads.

I have used fired .308 cases, and I have also picked up fired brass of various sizes that I plan to cut to size and solder some handles to.

I have also seen some discussions where people made adjustable dippers by drilling and threading some brass and using a bolt with some kind of locking nut arrangement threaded into the hole.

I have done the same with spent brass, and used a paper clip wire wrapped around the extractor groove for a handle.

even though I wasn't reloading 20-30 years ago, I had a much older friend that had been loading since the early 50's that showed me his "reloading bench" in his old barn. He had quite a few dippers he had fashioned for various rifle loads that he had precisely tooled down for his loads ... he also used brass keys (you know how you end up with hundreds of "what do they fit" keys over a long period of time) for handles that he silver soldered to his brass "dipper".

I made homemade shot dippers for my muzzleloading 12 gauge out of an old 16 gauge hull. I had a Mec shotshell reloader at the time and used it's charge bar to dump 1 3/8 oz of shot into the empty 16 gauge hull and then trimmed it down to the level of the shot. I made two of them. I mess one up trying to put a handle on it, so I left the other alone and just use it as is.

This is my home made powder trickler. A 22 LR case, short piece of wire and a drop of solder. This thing must be 30 years old and never gives me a lick of trouble.

Steelbanger wrote:This is my home made powder trickler. A 22 LR case, short piece of wire and a drop of solder. This thing must be 30 years old and never gives me a lick of trouble.

Very nice, never thought of of using a LR case!

Ranch Dog wrote:

Steelbanger wrote:This is my home made powder trickler. A 22 LR case, short piece of wire and a drop of solder. This thing must be 30 years old and never gives me a lick of trouble.

Very nice, never thought of of using a LR case!

A 22LR is 0.31 cc and would come in handy in some situations. I've though about making a few if I can find them to fill in the gaps in the Lee Dippers or go up to a full 5cc. I use a 45-70 case with the base cut off to remove my 45 Colt bullets from pan dipping when lubing. Simply put a handle on one end and still allow the bullets enough room to drop out.

Haven't made or used any in a long time.....great for a beginner on a budget as a starting tool. Made a few out of cutdown rifle brass with a piece of steel 1/8" welding road with the flux scraped off. This was soldered to the empty case with a Bernzomatic propane torch and the other end stuck into a 4 or 5" dowel that was predrilled and and tapped in for a tight fit. Used for measuring my black powder loads (pyrodex actually).afish4570

Here's a couple. The adjustable is all scrounged items, a brow tine, Remington 7MM Mag, 40 S&W, an o-ring, the wing nut is from a hollow wall anchor I need to find a spring of the right size and tension to load the piston..

Never thought about making a homemade dipper. With the gap in Lee dippers for the charge weight for my wife's 35 Rem load I find myself getting carpal tunnel spinning the trickler stem.

Greetings
When I find a load that is the absolute best in whatever firearm and not a high volume shooter (50-95 for example) I make a dipper for that specific power and weight.
For that particular rifle with a 350 grainer 32 grains of 5744 was the best smokeless load. So a split mouth 45-70 case was cut down to the "about" right length, soldered to a #12 guage copper wire and through trial was shortened down to the exact scoop length. An awl was used to "scratch" on the side what it is for. Stays in the round red plastic case with the dies.
Mike in Peru