Looking for opinions on a new electronic powder dispenser. What is the best bang for

my chargemaster throws h4831 to within +or - a single kernel of powder 90% of the time as measured on a gempro 250

chargemaster throws weighed on a fx120...(not mine)


 
Chargemaster crew checking in. I couldn't justify that much money for a powder dispenser but since I have it, I regret not getting it earlier
 
CET,

Your set up looks very good. I am interested I the way to have set it up.

A couple of questions.........

Scale_Set_Up.JPG



Best regards!

B

The margarine container (the plastic piece around the pan) is in fact a shield. I have a fan running when I load, that shield keeps the drafts down to a minimum.

The tall brownish container is an old medicine bottle, that's what I use as my powder pan. I kept the cap that fits on it, and put the cap back on when not using it, just to keep dirt out of it.
I wrote down the tare weight of the empty container, and check it against the scale.
The nice thing about the tare zero is that if a kernel of powder is left in the container after I pour it, the tare will not be the same.
That tells me something is left in the container or it's dirty.

The balance is a Sartoriuos EL103, it reads to .01 grains (.001 Grams).

This set up is very good IMHO, it's also faster than most auto feeders I've used.
When weighing bullets or cases, it takes about 5-6 seconds to stabilize and give a final reading, remove the bullet from the pan and it takes about 2-3 seconds to zero.
 
Hi CET,

What do you mean by "hammer stop".

B

I installed a machine screw behind the handle, at the bottom of the stoke.
When I throw a charge, I can tap the handle against the metal stop a few times to make sure all the powder
is out, sometimes the powder will "bridge" especially if it's large Kernels, I just tap the handle against the stop (at the bottom position) and out it comes. Not my idea, I think it's available on some off the shelf units.

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Can you expand on the "overcharges" part Dave?
Thanks

On the chargemaster, using coarse, "stick" powders [think IMR4350] the Chargemaster will drop a charge .1 - .2 grains over 1 out of 8 or 10 charges. If I add the MacDonald's soda straw, that drops to one in 25.

The Lyman will drop one out of 4 over on average, using the same powder.

Finer grained powders are dropped more accurately, with sphericals the best in both units.

Regards, Dave.
 
I'll toss in for the Hornady. It's a good $100 cheaper than the RCBS (locally,) accurate enough for my needs, and a bunch faster than using a thrower/trickler/beam scale combo that I used to use. In a run of 200 or so .223 loads, I got maybe 3 charges that went over, most likely due to a breeze that kicked up in my open window. Dump the pan back into the hopper and do it again. Since I still load pistol ammo single stage (no space for a progressive, or even a bench press... Lee Hand press all the way!) it'll throw load after load for my 10mm with ease, going over once in every 150 rounds or so. Less than 1% error rate is good enough for me.
 
I use the Chargemaster. Like it. Have not used the others. I speed it up by throwing a scoop of powder into the pan as thrower is operating. If it over charges, I just take a pinch of powder out until it shows correct weight. About 1 :30 this happens. not a big issue.
Ntachez has on sale right now for under $300
 
Chargemaster is great for quickly assembling test ammo for load development, but once a load is developed and I'm looking at 100/200 cases to charge the Harrells and 10-10 beam scale are used. I might have the slowest Chargemaster, takes 40/45 seconds for 47 gr Varget. Harrells and 10-10 using powder dribbler less then 20 seconds/load. CM's scale is very accurate and works well in my shop.

You can tune the charge master to be faster, much much faster in fact. I had one but found it just wasn't accurate enough for what I wanted. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great. Once I got a Sartorius balance it becomes very obvious that it can be a bit worse than plus a tenth one change and minus a tenth the next charge
 
1 in about 200 rnds has been my experience, it shows the load details and you put the powder back in the hopper..

About .01 over

You appear to be wrong here, or maybe a typo. But you will only know if you are +0.1, on the screen, which could be as much as dead on perfect or 0.2 over (because of the plus/minus a tenth accuracy of it.... this is why I got rid of it)
 
RCBS Chargemaster from Natchezss $289.00USD add another $11.00 in RCBS products and you can get upto $75.00 in cash back.

The Chargemaster with modified tube (McDonalds Straw mod.) works great.
I have a set of the RCBS checkweights which I use periodically and the scale is always dead on.
For those wondering how you know if it throws an under or over charge the scale beeps when the charge is reached.
It then displays the drop count then it goes back to showing the weight of the charge.
There are under and over indicators that will show you if it didn't drop the exact charge.

If you want to get stupid accurate you can get a Magnetic Force Restoration scale which start at $1,000 or the ultimate in reloading the Prometheus II FOR $3250 USD

Force restoration starts at about 525 not a thousand. You can get the fx-120i for abit 525 from Cambridge who are here in Canada
 
You can tune the charge master to be faster, much much faster in fact. I had one but found it just wasn't accurate enough for what I wanted. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great. Once I got a Sartorius balance it becomes very obvious that it can be a bit worse than plus a tenth one change and minus a tenth the next charge

I have to agree.
I have tried to calibrate (fine tune, speed up) three differant auto dispensers owned by friends, and it was a nightmare.
Wandering zero, tare slip, repetition problems, had to shake my head a few times.
It seems that auto dispensers are made to optomize the dispensing feature and not the weighing precision.

An auto feeder complete with a good quality scale would be ideal, but most people would not pay the price.

That's why I sacrifice the powder drop and trickle, I use cheap LEE stuff. The final weight is THE important part.
Even if you pour your powder with a teaspoon, as long as your final weight is precise, who cares.

And, people that insist it's faster with an auto feeder, may want to reconsider, it may be more conveniant, less work, but
not much faster, if at all.

IMHO, auto feeders have their place and use. If you want to load precise weights, get a quality scale and forget the rest.
 
Found myself checking electronic scales with my old RCBS 10-10 scale. Chronograph testing and 500 meter targets without vertical dispersion would be difficult to improve by only changing scale. So now the ChargeMaster sits silent on my bench. Gone backwards using a Harrells measure and a beam scale? Don't think so.
 
You appear to be wrong here, or maybe a typo. But you will only know if you are +0.1, on the screen, which could be as much as dead on perfect or 0.2 over (because of the plus/minus a tenth accuracy of it.... this is why I got rid of it)

I'm pretty sure the +/- .1 gr means that it will show:

* -0.49 to +0.49 as +0
* everything > + 0.49 as +1
* everything < - 0.49 as -1

or, at worst:

* -.1 to +.1 as 0

So it will never be .2 over without telling you..

It's the difference between the sampling accuracy and the display accuracy.
 
Chargemaster is great for quickly assembling test ammo for load development, but once a load is developed and I'm looking at 100/200 cases to charge the Harrells and 10-10 beam scale are used. I might have the slowest Chargemaster, takes 40/45 seconds for 47 gr Varget. Harrells and 10-10 using powder dribbler less then 20 seconds/load. CM's scale is very accurate and works well in my shop.

If you phone them they will tell you how to speed it up. Mine dispenses as fast as I can set the case in the press and seat the bullet. Very little delay.
 
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I'm pretty sure the +/- .1 gr means that it will show:

* -0.49 to +0.49 as +0
* everything > + 0.49 as +1
* everything < - 0.49 as -1

or, at worst:

* -.1 to +.1 as 0

So it will never be .2 over without telling you..

It's the difference between the sampling accuracy and the display accuracy.

Maybe so, but you also have to look at repetition, can you put a calibration weight on the scale 20 times and have the same result? without interferance?
What about stabilization time, does it take 20 seconds to give you the final reading?
And, if the display keeps changing, how do you know that is the final weight?
If you leave a calibration weight on the scale for 1 hour, will the weight change during that time?
Does the tare weight change? do you have to keep re-zeroing the scale?

All of the above comments assume you keep the scale at the same temperature, no vibrations, no static, no air movement, etc.
Under these conditions, the scale should perform without any of the above mentioned problems.
 
I'm pretty sure the +/- .1 gr means that it will show:

* -0.49 to +0.49 as +0
* everything > + 0.49 as +1
* everything < - 0.49 as -1

or, at worst:

* -.1 to +.1 as 0

So it will never be .2 over without telling you..

It's the difference between the sampling accuracy and the display accuracy.


It means that it is 0.1 over or under. If it says that you are 0.1 over then that means that it could be as far as 0.2 over or it could be dead on, as both of those numbers would be within the tolerance. Re read what I wrote.

He said it tells him that he is 0.01 over. It doesn't. It only reads to 0.1, and If it says he is that much over, it could be another tenth over that reading, but you have no idea if it is a tenth over, under, or somewhere in between. You only know that it is in that range.
 
Maybe so, but you also have to look at repetition, can you put a calibration weight on the scale 20 times and have the same result? without interferance?
What about stabilization time, does it take 20 seconds to give you the final reading?
And, if the display keeps changing, how do you know that is the final weight?
If you leave a calibration weight on the scale for 1 hour, will the weight change during that time?
Does the tare weight change? do you have to keep re-zeroing the scale?

All of the above comments assume you keep the scale at the same temperature, no vibrations, no static, no air movement, etc.
Under these conditions, the scale should perform without any of the above mentioned problems.

This
 
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