This is a container for pouring lead shot into pistol cartridge shot caps such as
It's like a gravy boat, but for lead shot. It's slightly less ghetto than a bent soup can.
Most other shot handling tools aren't really suited for the task. We don't need volumetric scoops or dispensers. The shot caps are their own measure. Besides, shot dippers are a model-scale ergonomic equivalent of what it's like to shovel gravel with a plastic snow shovel. We just need a tool to scoop, hold, and pour shot into the caps. It should be big enough to fill several caps, but not so big that its weight makes it cumbersome.
The internal ribs are actually important to the design. Without the ribs, the shot tends to flow as a single mass and form a logjam in the spout unless the scoop is jiggled constantly. Shot is smooth and dense; it readily sorts itself into semi-ordered packing. Shot that has settled into such packing really prefers to flow through a channel of constant sectional geometry. If the geometry changes, it clumps and surges as the packing is reordered. Other than shaking, there is little means to control the uniformity of flow.
The ideal dispenser is a simple, smooth v-groove with a closed end -- a constant sectional geometry. The powder weighing tray in the photo background is an example. The problem is that it offers little capacity. For a given stream width at the tip, increasing the volume requires increasing the length. A slick, straight v-groove design also is almost useless at scooping from a container.
By adding short ribs to this scoop, any cyclic repacking happens incrementally before the bulk of the shot reaches the end of the spout. Flow is still erratic within the scoop, but it's relatively constant at the tip, and it's easier to control. We can have a scoop that is ergonomic, has good volumetric efficiency, and performs adequately with as-printed surface finish. I'm certain that this concept could be optimized, but I've printed enough prototypes. I've attained design sufficiency.
Printed in PLA, 3 shells, 20% infill. no supports are needed, but you may choose to use them to improve the bridges.
I'm including STL files at multiple scales, though I've only designed around the 100% variant. The model features are scaled independently, so no, you can't just do that in the slicer. The preview STL is the 100% model.
Printables Tags: reloadingtools; shotgun; shotshell; reloading