I took you guys advice and bought a Pact thru Midway.Great price.$233.83 shipped to my door.
Unpacked it last night and went thru the process of setting it up.
I had a lil' trouble getting it set up.I think it was a little squirrely cos it sat on my front porch all day in 12 degree weather.
I took it to my basement reloading room and let it reach room temp.About an hour(three beers).
The scale worked flawlessly.Set up was a breeze.
I couldn't get the dispenser to read from the scale at first.The power lead was blocking the infared hole.After I moved that,both worked very well.
I've got a friend who has the first model of this unit.It is very slow and I never thought I would want one.The price of just under $400.00 scared me off too.I read an article in some gun rag about this new model.The article mentioned how much faster the new ones were.They weren't lying,this unit is twice maybe three times faster than the older one my friend has.I can't wait to rub his nose in it.
I didn't have time to play with it as far as powdering up some cartridges.(I was made to go over to the in laws.I can't complain,it was Santa money from them that got me this new toy.)
Tonight I will try it out on some .44 Specials and a few .308's to see the performance on different powders.

Santa gave me one last year. Damn thing is probably one of the best tools I own for reloading and is very fast.

I beleive they will upgrade the software in the old ones for free.

How does the Pact unit work with ball powders? When auto dispencers first came out I seem to remember that they did not recomend ball powders be used in it. If I buy one I would like to be able to use it with all powders.

Greg

And what do you all have to say about the new 1-piece units?? Lyman has one out (I've stopped buying stuff from Lyman, though), and RCBS also has a new 1-piece dispanser/scale unit on the market. Anybody tried one of these??
- mike

grk40x40
There is not much reason to use the system with
ball or flake powders, even the short cut stuff
from Hodgon meters so well that it is a waste
of time to fool with the Pact system. It is the real thing for those long extruded powders. I
wouldn't be without mine for those powders.I am
going to see about having mine upgraded to the
new faster system
Lyle

grk40x40, the new scale says that it may take it longer to get to dispensing properly. Long story short, you have to calibrate your scale for each powder, every time you are going to meter it.The powder trickles directly into the pan on the pact scale, and you see the total weight in each charge distributed--- All that meaning that you can trickle in a little more powder if it is lighter than you want, the software 'tries' to throw about .1 light to dead on. If it meters more than you want you just throw that charge back into the hopper, stick your pan back on the scale and hit the 'dispense' button again to throw the next charge. I like Win 760 (ball) and it meters very well with this system. I like the system, and it is a heck of lot easier to get to a specific charge weight than tweaking your powder measure--regardless of how well you index/mark your powder measure. You simply set the charge weight and you are metering to within a tenth of a grain in a couple of minutes.

The negatives are:
1. if you bump the system at all a little powder falls out of the trickle tube. It doesn't care whether you have a pan on the scale or not--it's just gonna spill some powder. (there are two tubes, one throws a larger volume of powder pretty fast, the other is like a typical manual trickler and powder comes out very slowly from it)

2. The pact system does NOT have a digital readout or memory, so therefore no 'remembered' loads/charge weights of any powder.

3. You must re-calibrate the system any time you turn it off, which means unplugging(no on/off switch) or anytime you change powders. I actually don't mind that so much, it takes the system about 1.5 minutes to calibrate itself. Of course any charge you throw is into the pan, on the scale, so you/it are actually weighing every single charge. It seems the recalibration requirement is a little overkill since you are weighing every charge, but the computer chip needs some reference to get the charge weights close for each powder.

4. Emptying the meter to change powders is a real pain in the ass, cover the two tubes with your fingers and tip over and pour out--then shake the crap out of it to get all the powder out that is hiding under the baffle or stuck in the powder tubes or is hanging on due to static. ( I think I need to stick a dryer sheet in the powder tube next time I empty it to help knock off the static).....

All in all, I like it......

Regards--D.

I believe the RCBS units are made by PACT also. I have been unable to find any information regarding a software update on this as was previously mentioned. Aside from that, I have to agree with all of the above comments regarding the dispenser/scale.

I have not had problems emptying the dispenser with ball powders after use, but I have had problems with H335 clinging to the plastic pan on the scale. Using a metal pan from the balance beam scale corrects the static cling problem. From time to time, when the dispenser throws a charge with H335, the charge will occassionaly go helter skelter with balls going where ever. Stick powders are easier to work with in my opinion with the dispenser. I have not tried Unique yet, and am curious how that dispenses.

Short of calling Pact, does anyone have any other information on the software update for the older dispensers?

Chris22, I think you will have to call Pact. In the new dispenser they include a note that simply says 'yes we will provide an update for older dispensers' It also includes a note for 'Free' software upgrade for the new model 'If we should have one'. I have a friend who sent his back to Pact and got it back in about 10 days and it now functions just like my new one--he did purchase the new scale about 2 months ago.

Good Luck--Don

Yuman
I started out with the rcbs system about 2 years ago. When the new high speed systems came out I knew I would get one but did not want to spend the big bucks to start out with. I called Pact and they said they said they could update mine a make it a high speed unit, but for about $80 plus shipping. I just bought a new high speed Pact from midway for $120 delivered. Another $40 and I have a brand new unit and I have a back up unit. I want be going back to powder measures. My two cents.

Two thumbs up for the PACT system! I love it! I like the fact that I can just hit the dispense button, and work on something else while it is dispensing. The only problem I have seen, is sometimes it is too fast! HAHAHA. PACT has impressed me as far as their dispensers, seems like most of my loads are consistent when I do get the chance to shoot across a chronograph.I must say of all the toys I have in my reloading room, this is one of my favorites! My next would have to be the RCBS PrepMate Center!
I have read about PACT's new chronograph, and I wonder does anybody out there have one of these? If so, do you like it? I like the idea of being able to download the information to your computer, or being able to print the information! My shooting/hunting buddy has a Chrony ALPHA(I think it is an ALPHA) and it works well, but I dont like having to take the time to write down each velocity, not to mention I am a fan of gagets!

I checked out Pact's site, and sure enough, they state $75 plus shipping to have the old dispensers updated.

Chris

I like my older model just fine,with all powders.
I use the lee Dippers to get close then hit trickel myself.

MarmontHunter, I've got the Pact professional chrono and have been very pleased. It comes with some pretty deep software--i.e. you can enter your bullet weight and/or sectional density (it has a load of this info on various bullets in it's built in memory) and it will give you downrange data--drop, energy etc.

I keep it simple myself and usually just keep my strings for various rifles/loads and print them and keep them with my rig and ammo until I get to my loading log book (back at the house usually!)

My chrono has been very dependable, and hasn't been picky about lighting conditions so far, I just set up the skyscreens per the directions (there's only one way) slapped them on a tripod and shoot through.
I like it a lot. The printer is built into the display which you can set on the bench with your screen about 10 feet away (cable length)

Had a lot of problems with the original system so just set it aside. Yeah, out the money, but my std powder measures and the pact scale work fine.