Powder Savr powder dispenser. What's the long screw for?

[ClaudeH]

I picked this up at the Prairie State Longrifle Show.  It seemed like something I ought to have for shooting on the line.

I thought the operation appeared to be quite straightforward, but what the heck is the long screw for?  What do I do with it?






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These, or something like them, seem to be very common on the line at Friendship.

You screw it onto a metal Goex can and then invert it (so the can is upside down) and mount it on a bracket or whatever.  You use your powder measure to press in that sliding gate valve and the measure fills with powder.  Withdraw the measure and the powder is closed off and the measure is filled level to the mouth without having to strike off any powder onto the ground.  And all the fumbling around opening and closing your powder container is eliminated.

Like I say, it is all perfectly straightforward - except for that long screw!  What the heck is that for?

[deepcreekdale]

Huh. Got me. Maybe to screw it on to a bracket of some kind by hand? Years ago I soldered some empty .223 shell casings into a hole I drill  in the metal screw tops of powder cans, and close with
 an empty .38 casing which is a perfect slip fit to avoid messing around with screwing and unscrewing the caps if I am not using a powder horn. I have never been in that much of a hurry to reload though to spend more than that. Sort of a neat looking device though.

[ClaudeH]

Yeah, I can imagine that long screw dropping into a hole as a means of mounting, except...  It's pretty elegantly assembled and that mounting seems like a kludge, the screw head is larger than the shaft so it would be a wobbly swiveling mount.

Then I wonder if the machinist ran out of screws and used up that long screw with a spacer?  No!  That is too inelegant.  He would at least have shortened the screw until a proper replacement could be found.

So it seems to have a purpose, but the purpose escapes me.

[OldMtnMan]

I use the redneck method. I hold the powder measure over a bowl to catch the powder I spill. \


No idea what that screw if for? It needs some instructions.

[Daryl]

Is it simply a handle for opening and closing the device?

[ClaudeH]

No.  The picture showing the long screw has the device upside down.  That little sliding gate in the front is the only moving part.  That is on the bottom side when properly oriented and pressing it in with your powder measure pushes it back to allow powder to flow down from the can and fill the measure.

It totally escapes me what that long screw is for.  >Maybe< a mount?  But it doesn't seem to fit in as a mount with the way the rest of it is engineered.  And it came with a bracket to mount it on.  It is a flat bracket that screws into tapped holes on the side of the device.

Crazy looking long screw!

[yellowhousejake]

You say it comes with a mounting bracket already right? If you turn the screw, does it adjust the cutoff plate clearance or return spring tension?

Just thinking out loud.

DAve

[ClaudeH]

Not that I can tell.  The long screw is "farmer tight".

[Marcruger]

Hold it by the long screw, twirl it around while making silly noises.  There you go.  An answer.   ;-) 

[Hungry Horse]

I guess I,m just getting old. I participate in a sport, that arguably is the slowest, hardest, way to get a bullet to a target, and now I want to add another contraption, to the lineup to make it more difficult. Heck, at this stage of my shooting I’m throwing away contraptions, that add another step, not buying new. JMO.

  Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

Hold it by the long screw, twirl it around while making silly noises.  There you go.  An answer.   ;-)

hahahahaha

[yellowhousejake]

More thinking out loud here...

If is mounted 180 degrees from the picture, could a right handed fella grasp the long bolt with his top two fingers and then push the powder measure in with his thumb?

If not, I vote for twirling it around.

DAve

[OldMtnMan]

The truth is, it serves no purpose except to get you asking what it is.

[ClaudeH]

I bought this as apparently new and unused, from a guy from Iowa at the Prairie State Longrifle Show.  He bought a batch of them from a machine shop where someone had contracted to have a batch built and then up and died or something.  I've got no complaints with the seller, but I wish I'd stood there longer until it occurred to me to ask what the heck the long screw was for.  I thought it would become apparent as I went to use the thing.

If I was told it was used, I might think it was a user's adaptation to some unique way of mounting it.  It does not turn, the sleeve over the length of it does not rotate.  The head of the screw is bigger than the sleeve, so if it was a mounting point it would be wobbly in the hole which is not in keeping with the quality of the rest of the design and manufacture.

As many of these - or something like it - as I see at Friendship I thought someone would either know what the screw was for or say they are familiar with these but they've never seen a long screw like that on them before.

 

[OldMtnMan]

Maybe he ran out of short screws?


Ok, just kidding, but this doesn't seem like a serious subject.

[retired fella]

at our shoot today there were 4 fellas that had rigs similar to yours.  none had a long screw sprouting out of the bottom.  I suspect that is part of a mounting bracket.

[ClaudeH]

Mystery answered!  And yellowhousejake came the closest.

The machinist that made this batch said it was his own improvisation.  He thought it would be handy to have a place to hook a finger around to help you push the measure in against the spring pressure.

Personally I think it sounds clumsy because you would be losing your good grip on the measure.  I think the dispenser should just be mounted firmly in the first place.

But what do I know?  I'm In Over My Head on all this muzzleloading stuff!