electronic powder measure speed?

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ginnz

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Hi guys, I have a question regarding the electronic powder measures. Im using the lee powder dump that comes with the lock and load kit, and see the issues it has. One thing I like is that I can charge cases quick with it, I stick the case on the mouth of it, charge, tap the side a couple times, and go to the next one. I find that stick powder like varget hangs in it a bit, and every powder comes out a bit differently.

Im wanting to get an electronic measure, either the Hornady, the lee, or the newer lyman, it looks like it has alot of good options. My main concern is how slow are these things? Im imagining that they would be three or four times slower than using a powder dump like the lee? Are they perfectly accurate for each dump they do?

Do they come with two dump pans, so that you put one on the scale, charge it, remove it and place another one on, while its being charged, load a case, and keep going like that, swapping one while loading a case? get my drift?

I dont want to spend three - four hundered bucks on something that ill find is too slow, and doesnt justify its place on my loading bench....

Overall, Im finding that my lee dump isnt providing the exact accuracy Id like to see, but is fast. And my electronic scale shows drifting at times.... Ill dump a case and want to see 23g, next one will be 23.6, next one 23.4, very hard to set it at exactly 23.... Know what i mean? So if these electronic measures can solve the accuracy issue between powder dumps, and the scale is very accurate, they would justify their use, also id like to be able to save loads in it, so my favorite loads for my .223 weatherby, .223 HK, .308 Rem 722, .220 Swift, etc could be saved.....

Ive looked at the hornady, but it doesnt save load data, the RCBS, which seems to be the de-facto loader, and the newer lyman, which im leaning towards, is it fairly quick to dispense loads, and is accurate?? And can i buy additional pans so I can load quicker? Please help me decide!

looking forward to your opinions!

Doug (ginnz)
 
I don't know if you have tried it but , try to leave the scale on for a couple of hours before use. A lot of us here including myself try this and it works
 
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I have a RCBS Charge Master and depending on the powder, it will be very hard to get exact throws. I like to under throw then trickle it in myself. My opinion on electronic dispensers is , they are not 100% accurate.
 
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I use a Chargemasterand it is rated for +/- 0.1 grains. Even so you will get under and overthrows occasionally. Speed with programming tweaks is still 1/3 of throwing the powder charges. I use mine for precision rifle and throw for bulk ammo for the AR.

I think you'll find the memory feature a waste. Keep a logbook of loads with different powders and bullets for each gun and just punch in your powder weights....faster than scrolling through memory.

I find the Lee perfect powder measure remarkably accurate for some powders - spherical and short stick especially Varget. With Varget I get +/- 0.2 grains which is more than accurate enough for my needs. Try skipping the tap. It will hang occasionally but just dump the powder and re-throw.
 
I have the hornady and wouldnt recommend it. I am going to soon be on my 3rd one once it comes back from hornady. I am contemplating a gempro and just using a powder thrower and trickling or i might give the chargemaster a try.
 
I use a Gem Pro 250, It seems accurate enough to get ES into the single digits.

It does take some technique though.

Leave it powered up all the time.

Slow to respond when trickling.

Once you got used to it , its about as fast as using a balance beam and about 10X more accurate.
 
I use the chargemaster, it works pretty well. Definitely not fast but while it's doing it's next measurement I'm doing my bullet seating and tweaks. By the time I'm done that the next charge is just finishing so it's really easy to get into a rhythm.
 
Chargemaster is good enough for SD/ES of ~4/12 for my 308 (similar result over 3 different days of testing).
CM factory setting can be changed to speed it up (initial, mid and trickle speed).

As to the PAN question NO, don't need extra pan. After hear beep, display will show cnt, then weight, check it is desired weight as few kernel can drop at end, if correct dump into case, put pan back, CM will auto dispense. Seat bullet, measure OAL/Ogive, by then CM should beep next charge is ready.
 
I use a Chargemaster as well. Have been fairly happy with it. I don't use the auto dispense however. I know its just OCD, but I want to see it showing zero before dumping the next charge...
Other than that, it works well, and I have checked many times with another scale, and it seems to be accurate. Even with the drinking-straw modification, it still throws the odd charge off by a tenth or two, but that isn't a big deal, long as you catch it. As for speed, reloading is my relaxation, and while it could be faster, I don't pressure over it.....
 
I bought a lyman gen6 and finally used it last night. It throws pretty accurate *I weighed every 10 throws on a balance scale* and it seemed good. Probably every 8 seconds it throws a charge...39gr varget in my case. Just a ##### to clean it out.
 
Why is the lyman hard to clean out.

With RCBS CM move dump spout to edge of table, open spout, pour into bottle, near empty his disp button, use brush to push orphans into either shoot, close spout when empty, spin CM till you can point flashlight into trickle tube, tap metal tube with brush till empty, hit off button, 20sec operation.

PS. Only use stick/extruded power, never flake (wouldn't want to mix up Varget with Titegroup, duh!!!)
 
On CM, hit "Trickle" til the "scoop" part of the spout faces down, push a pipecleaner up the spout and it's empty. Imagine it would work the same for other brands.
 
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