- Location
- West Quebec
I was disappointed with the 250 and eventually went with a Chargemaster and a beam as backup
Need a new scale that wont break the bank
- Thread starter Kamikaze11
- Start date
OR a trick I learned a long time ago was to use my laptop and a webcam. Run it full screen and you can watch a fly fart move that beam, lol
On my bench at some point I had my chargemaster, my FX120 and a friends GemPro 250.
We tried scale weight checks, different powder charges etc...
GemPro held up quite close to the FX120, it just doesn't like trickling that much and is slower,
The chargemaster would not read subtle weight differences, 42.62gn to 42.76gn of Varget we're all 42.7gn of Varget to the chargemaster, was lacking definition.
There was no cell phone close, no fluorescent lighting, and had this dongle at the end of the plug to help clean the power (forgot the name of this device somebody help!)
Fastestmanalive
Regular
- Location
- Quebec City
May be the webcam trick works, but I was placing the beam scale leveled on a shelf but even with extra carefulness in your eye alignment you get variations. You only know until you use a quality scale to the 0.02gn and see the variations. My SD's and ES's went down and are much more consistant across groups now with the GP300. Powder charge was the weak link in my precision reloading. That being said, I still use the beam to trickle and finish up manually to the kernel.
I have an RCBS Chargemaster combo and love it. I leave it on most of the time, calibrate it before use then don't worry about it till I'm done loading.
The key with the chargemaster is to wait till it comes back from the loads measured counter back to the scale and make sure it isn't over or under. It's right on most of the time but the odd time a clump will fall from the tube instead of a couple granules at a time, this is to be expected and not something I consider a deficiency.
The most important factor for any digital scale is electrical interference. Make sure your bench doesn't have fluorescent lights right above it, and most importantly keep your cell phone on the other side of the room. My RCBS is a lot less susceptible than my older Lyman was but it can throw off your readings. Your phone puts out a lot of electrical interference so keep it away from your scale.
As Marty says above, the Chargemaster may be lacking in definition (I'm not arguing it at all) but I personally don't think you need to measure to 0.01 grains to make accurate and consistent loads. That kind of accuracy is for the guys shooting competitively or guys shooting 1000 yards regularly. I have plenty of loads with the Chargemaster that produce consistent small groups with single digit ES. You need the scale to be accurate enough to find the middle of your accuracy node, not be so precise that the humidity in the air changes your readings.
It all comes down to what you're willing to spend and how far you're wanting to go. No sense buying a scale that can measure 0.01 grain differences then full length size your brass and make plinking loads for your AR to shoot at 100 yards. If you feel that you want that super accurate scale you probably need to buy a bunch more equipment for brass prep or you won't see the full benefit of the fancy scale.
It's a never ending game of money and time chasing that extra fraction of an inch smaller group or a few fps smaller ES. I feel like I'm falling somewhere in the middle, I don't get too carried away with brass prep but I make sure it's clean, sized, and trimmed properly for every loading. I rarely shoot past 500 yards (mostly 100yds) so for me it's less important because at those distances I'm not very likely to see the fruits of my labor if I was to go the extra mile on brass prep and powder weight.
The key with the chargemaster is to wait till it comes back from the loads measured counter back to the scale and make sure it isn't over or under. It's right on most of the time but the odd time a clump will fall from the tube instead of a couple granules at a time, this is to be expected and not something I consider a deficiency.
The most important factor for any digital scale is electrical interference. Make sure your bench doesn't have fluorescent lights right above it, and most importantly keep your cell phone on the other side of the room. My RCBS is a lot less susceptible than my older Lyman was but it can throw off your readings. Your phone puts out a lot of electrical interference so keep it away from your scale.
As Marty says above, the Chargemaster may be lacking in definition (I'm not arguing it at all) but I personally don't think you need to measure to 0.01 grains to make accurate and consistent loads. That kind of accuracy is for the guys shooting competitively or guys shooting 1000 yards regularly. I have plenty of loads with the Chargemaster that produce consistent small groups with single digit ES. You need the scale to be accurate enough to find the middle of your accuracy node, not be so precise that the humidity in the air changes your readings.
It all comes down to what you're willing to spend and how far you're wanting to go. No sense buying a scale that can measure 0.01 grain differences then full length size your brass and make plinking loads for your AR to shoot at 100 yards. If you feel that you want that super accurate scale you probably need to buy a bunch more equipment for brass prep or you won't see the full benefit of the fancy scale.
It's a never ending game of money and time chasing that extra fraction of an inch smaller group or a few fps smaller ES. I feel like I'm falling somewhere in the middle, I don't get too carried away with brass prep but I make sure it's clean, sized, and trimmed properly for every loading. I rarely shoot past 500 yards (mostly 100yds) so for me it's less important because at those distances I'm not very likely to see the fruits of my labor if I was to go the extra mile on brass prep and powder weight.
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