electronic powder dispenser/scale

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fat but funky

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Hi folks,

Was looking at the electronic powder dispenser/scales sold by Lyman and RCBS.

I imagine I am in the same boat with everyone else - like shooting, like reloading, but have very little spare time. Looking to speed up the process without making things dangerous.

So, will a digital scale and powder dispenser make let me churn out cartridges faster? Are they as accurate as the manual cantilever type scale I am currently using? Any major downside?

Thanks

Fat
 
I just got the RCBS Chargemaster Combo, Natchez Shooting Supplies in the US has it for 279 USD right now. $40 shipping + $40 duty on delivery.

I had been throwing with the Lee Perfect Powder Measure, but it was painfully tedious with extruded powder. Overthrows go back into the hopper, underthrows require trickling.

Did about 250 rounds today, not one bad throw. Dispensing is not as fast as moving the lever on a volumetric powder dispenser... but you don't need to mess with a trickler.

The only beef I have is that when you get down to the last 150 grains of powder in the hopper, it can't be dispensed due to the height of the dispensing tube. I can live with that though... hand-measuring the last bit of powder for 3 loads was simple enough.
 
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The Chargemaster takes time to dispense the powder. I can throw a charge and then pinch in or pinch out a tenth by hand much faster.

However, if you use the Chargemaster to throw a charge and then seat a bullet in it while it is measureing the next round (concurrent activity) then it is faster then throwing and pinching.

When we had to load thousands and thousands of rounds, we used a thrower and ball powder. Most powder drops of rounds checked were dead on.

If you want speed without major expense, just use ball powder and throw it.
 
I use a powder thrower and a teaspoon as my "trickler". It is moucho faster than any auto dispenser- and I load to 2-100th of a grain with my acculab scale...
 
Teh nice thing about the Chargemaster is this-

Set weight, hit dispense. Charge case, place pan on scale, hit dispense....

Meanwhile you are seating a bullet.

It's faster than any other individually weighed powder charge method.

For real large cases, use a powder charger for 75% of the weight, put pan on scale, hit dispense..
 
I'd like to get one, that's for sure. When you're loading up 50 or 100 rounds of a centerfire caliber it's worth it. If you're developing loads three at a time it might or might not be as useful. Still be a nice to have though.
 
Gatehouse said:
Teh nice thing about the Chargemaster is this-

Set weight, hit dispense. Charge case, place pan on scale, hit dispense....

Meanwhile you are seating a bullet.

It's faster than any other individually weighed powder charge method.

For real large cases, use a powder charger for 75% of the weight, put pan on scale, hit dispense..
Click to expand...

If you set it up for 'auto' you don't need to hit dispense each time. Once you set the empty pan on the scale and it zeros - it will auto dispense while you are seating your bullet.

I got mine a few weeks ago & am loving it.
 
I have the Lyman 1200 DPS III and I am totally happy with it. Fast, accurate. It one unit instead of two like the RCBS. It has the auto repeat feature which is great.
 
upnorth said:
rcbs chargemaster combo... buy it and don't look back.
Click to expand...

+++ on this

I am more efficient and more accurate since I purchased mine. Essentially, even for 69 gn load with my magnum, by the time I finish seating, and checking one cartridge I usually have another powder lot available.
 
BigUglyMan said:
I'd like to get one, that's for sure. When you're loading up 50 or 100 rounds of a centerfire caliber it's worth it. If you're developing loads three at a time it might or might not be as useful. Still be a nice to have though.
Click to expand...
Actually I find it faster for load development as well, just hit the value, and dispense. I find it longer to use a powder thrower and adjust for the correct value when I change the wt every 3 loads
 
pmt said:
If you set it up for 'auto' you don't need to hit dispense each time. Once you set the empty pan on the scale and it zeros - it will auto dispense while you are seating your bullet.

I got mine a few weeks ago & am loving it.
Click to expand...

Yup, that's true...FOrgot abotu that.
 
Its also screaming fast and accurate once you tune it for a specific load. Not sure if you can adjust the parameters on other dispensers the way you can on the Chargemaster.
 
RCBS Chargemaster X 1,000,000

I was looking at the Lyman as well but then I did some homework on them. 1/2 hr warmup time & a PITA to clean.

Spent my $$$ on the Chargemaster and have not been happier.
 
Gatehouse said:
Teh nice thing about the Chargemaster is this-

Set weight, hit dispense. Charge case, place pan on scale, hit dispense....

Meanwhile you are seating a bullet.

It's faster than any other individually weighed powder charge method.

For real large cases, use a powder charger for 75% of the weight, put pan on scale, hit dispense..
Click to expand...

I use a chargemaster now and find it WAY slower than a manual charger. i had to completely change me loading sequence. I tried it the way i used to, like Gatehouse above but found i was waiting around for the pan to charge. So now i have all my cases resized and not primed. I throw the pan on the charger,grab an unprimed case. Prime it in my press. Remove primed case. Put case in tray and wait for the pan to charge. After waiting for the first pan to charge. I grab charged pan, dump powder in case,put pan back on chargemaster to automatically charge pan,grab case with powder in it, seat bullet in case, remove completed cartridge,grab unprimed case,prime it in press,put primed case in tray and by this time i have a full pan waiting for me. I sometimes still find myself waiting for pan to charge but this is for 300 mag cartridges which require alot of powder.
 
As part of my equipment upgrade the RCBS ChargeMaster Combo was what I settled on and haven't regretted it for a moment. I kept my old Lyman #55 powder measure and still use it for loading large quantities of handgun ammo.
 
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