Shotshell reloading static solution solutions?

[Tall John]

I’m fighting static electricity when reloading my AA shot shells on my Mac 9000 press. I’ve switched out the bottles for Graham Works Pyrex glass containers. I use the laundry sheets in my containers and wipe down the glass bottles. I’ve even gone so far as to ground my press to a known ground and even wiped down, individual shot shells with laundry sheet sheets I’m curious to know if anyone has a better solution? 

[Lead Monger]

Adding humidity to the room can help.

[I. M. Crossdraw, SASS# 8321]

Have you tried wiping the inside of the hopper with a damp laundry sheet, let it dry then fill hopper with powder.  That is how I do mine on occasion and it works for me.  If static is happening on the hulls, just with a little swipe with the damp sheet outside the hulls may fix your static problem.  Good luck and let us know.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Those are Dram Worx bottles.  Nice additions.

 

Hot dry conditions as well as winter conditions (cold, dry) make "static cling" worse.  But for cowboy loads - I would not worry much about the granules that stick up high in the hull.  Some will even get pushed down by the wad skirt.  

 

Grounding a press does little to remove static problems.

 

The dryer sheets tricks you show seem to work really well for me - when I need them (not often).

 

good luck, GJ  

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Hardwire ground the press to a dedicated GND rod. 

Do NOT use an electrical outlet 

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

2 hours ago, Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 said:

Those are Dram Worx bottles.  Nice additions.

 

Hot dry conditions as well as winter conditions (cold, dry) make "static cling" worse.  But for cowboy loads - I would not worry much about the granules that stick up high in the hull.  Some will even get pushed down by the wad skirt.  

 

Grounding a press does little to remove static problems.

 

The dryer sheets tricks you show seem to work really well for me - when I need them (not often).

 

good luck, GJ  

Lived in the Mojave Desert for 28+ years. 

Grounding the press solved all the static powder cling issues I encountered. 

Glass powder hopper really helps too.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

And I'll stand by my results too. I've grounded a couple to well set ground rods.  No difference in my tests.  good luck, GJ

[Eyesa Horg]

I ran a #6 stranded ground wire to my machines and out to 10' copper ground rod. It helped some. I also wipe down the powder bottle with a dryer sheet which gets rid of most that's left. 

For shotgun, I also wipe all the hulls with Armour All as I check and count them. I don't seem to have an issue with them.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

2 minutes ago, Eyesa Horg said:

I ran a #6 stranded ground wire to my machines and out to 10' copper ground rod. It helped some. I also wipe down the powder bottle with a dryer sheet which gets rid of most that's left. 

For shotgun, I also wipe all the hulls with Armour All as I check and count them. I don't seem to have an issue with them.

Are these plastic powder hoppers? 

If so, look at the glass ones from  Dram Worx 

https://dramworx.com/

[Tall John]

3 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

I ran a #6 stranded ground wire to my machines and out to 10' copper ground rod. It helped some. I also wipe down the powder bottle with a dryer sheet which gets rid of most that's left. 

For shotgun, I also wipe all the hulls with Armour All as I check and count them. I don't seem to have an issue with them.

I already have the glass Dramworx bottles which helped some.  Interestingly some hulls I recently picked up stored in ziploc bags had no issue while those stored in an open storage tote under my bench had sticking.

 

I’ll try wiping down the inside of my glass powder bottle next time and try Eeysa’s idea of using some amorall as well.

 

Thanks!

[Eyesa Horg]

TJ, I just squirt a little on a blue shop paper towel and wipe the dust off the outside as I'm checking them. Doesn't seem to make them slippery to handle afterwards. Don't know if has anything to do with static though!

[Tall John]

6 minutes ago, Eyesa Horg said:

TJ, I just squirt a little on a blue shop paper towel and wipe the dust off the outside as I'm checking them. Doesn't seem to make them slippery to handle afterwards. Don't know if has anything to do with static though!

I wiped some of mine with a laundry sheet today and that worked too.  Im just lazy and was hoping that someone had tried spraying them with an anti static laundry spray that worked.  I tried some in a pump sprayer last fall but the powder stuck to the hull even worse and that was after allowing the hulls to dry overnight.

 

humidity here in North Texas is in the 50% range in my shop today.  when reloading these light loads and spot checking charge weights, I’ve had as much as 0.8 grains left sticking to the hull after pouring out the charge onto my scale.  The glass bottles are a great improvement but an expensive upgrade.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

1 minute ago, Tall John said:

 

humidity here in North Texas is in the 50% range in my shop today.  when reloading these light loads and spot checking charge weights, I’ve had as much as 0.8 grains left sticking to the hull after pouring out the charge onto my scale.  The glass bottles are a great improvement but an expensive upgrade.

That's a lot of variation 

[Tall John]

I may stuff a laundry sheet into the 4lb container with my TITEWad powder that is 2/3 empty.  I generally do long runs (400 rounds today) and then return excess powder and shot to their containers and thoroughly clean my press.  I wonder if moving powder back and forth is adding static.

[Tall John]

1 minute ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

That's a lot of variation 

yep,  why I justified the Dramworx investment.  The most I had today was about .3 grains

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

 

5 hours ago, Tall John said:

.3 grains (variation)

That is within normal operation of a shotshell loader.   I see you are loading a very fine grained flattened ball powder.  Those are the worst for being static clingy.  Loaded a bunch of Competition (very fine granules) this evening, and it really wants to stick to powder scale pan, powder funnel, as well as hull wall.  good luck, GJ

[Tall John]

7 hours ago, Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 said:

 

That is within normal operation of a shotshell loader.   I see you are loading a very fine grained flattened ball powder.  Those are the worst for being static clingy.  Loaded a bunch of Competition (very fine granules) this evening, and it really wants to stick to powder scale pan, powder funnel, as well as hull wall.  good luck, GJ

GJ,

 

thanks for letting me know that my situation is normal.  I’ve got 7lbs of TITEWad  on hand so will just have to deal with it.

[John Kloehr]

Grounding for static should be done through a 10 megohm resistor. Yes, that is 10,000,000 ohms. It will bleed off charge without causing a spark. This is not a safety ground for electrical purposes, just for static charges.

 

I'll agree grounding will not do much (if anything) for static charge on non-conductive materials. Just advising if you do install a ground for static charge, do it safely.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Yep, with powder sticking mostly to the hull wall, it's the hulls (not the loader) that have picked up static charge.  About the only QUICK way I know to kill that is wiping hulls with a "static cling" sheet or soaked rag.  Some folks (me included) have good luck washing plastic hulls and powder bottles with a dish soap water solution, rinsing well and letting them dry in the sun.  good luck, GJ

Edited June 4 by Garrison Joe, SASS #60708

[John Kloehr]

Worth a check of humidity in the loading room. I would target 50%.

 

From back in my electronics days when static was a concern, 40% was the minimum along with other controls. Some sources say 70% is better for controlling static, but anything above 60% can promote mold growth in the area. So 60% was our industrial maximum.

 

We also made sure any materials and supplies were at that room's temperature. Cold items brought in can condense moisture out of the air, and hot items can still hold static (as the air next to the warm surface has a lower relative humidity.

[Kid Rich]

Try tapping the side of the shell, most times the powder will go down into it.

kR

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

If that alligator clip is clipped to a red painted surface, it is not making contact with the metal underneath.

[Nostrum Damus SASS #110702]

In addition to a strip of anti-static wipe extending all the way to the bottom of the inside wall of my powder hoppers, each hopper wears one of these, with the alligator clip attached to a ground rod in the wall behind my bench.

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/H-935/Anti-Static-Equipment/Fabric-Wrist-Strap-Grounder-Deluxe?pricode=WB0067&gadtype=pla&id=H-935&ad_group_id=155599382578&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=11810484936&gbraid=0AAAAAD_uetOEqfD4XlK8xXenP1IsyBdGG&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrZTRBhDSARIsAHidYffQDU8t8Atob1RDYPYqZpHSLY8l5q8alp3lGVjMleNh8j0WdNdTm3UaAvBVEALw_wcB

[Lazy Eeyour]

If you have a multimeter, use the Ohms setting and check. 

[Von Dutch, SASS # 7995]

Twenty-five years ago, I switched form a Mec to a Ponsness & Warren 375 press and I have not had that problem since, and I know you're going to ask why, and it is because the P&W 375 the powder feed tube goes about 80 % down in the shell before the powder drops so even if the shell or powder or both has a static charge all the powder stays at the bottom.  

Edited 21 hours ago by Von Dutch, SASS # 7995