Who uses an electronic powder measure and scale? What brand? How do you like it? Does it work well with extruded powders?

I am thinking about buying one and have no experience with one, I still use a manual charger and scale! Time to upgrade and speed things up! And I broke my powder measure!

RCBS Chargemaster combo here.
So far, I've run it with H4831, H4831SC, H380, Varget & BLC(2).
It very occasionally goes over by 0.1gr & is kind enough to tell me when it does.
After initial scepticism, I no longer check loads on my 5-0-5 scale - except the first one of a loading session.
Actual powder dispensing is slower than with my Uniflow but this is more than compensated for by it being weighed at the same time & that I can seat a bullet whilst the powder is being dispensed.

I was concerned about the H4831 , which I shoot in many of my loads, I even contemplated switching to a flake or ball, if I bought a measure. But it sounds like I won't have to.

Thanks Oddbod!

Hey kudu

I have watched a lot of these threads over the last couple of years. I would estimate that 90% of the RCBS Chargemaster 1500 users are entirely satisfied while there have been complaints about the others (wind drafts and electronics nearby mostly). That is not to say that with judicious use one of the others may not be as good.

That being said, I am a completely satisfied RCBS 1500 user. Like Oddbod, I used to check with my old balance beam but no longer do that. The 1500 comes with a couple of 50 gr weights and after calibrating the pan always weighs exactly 155.0 gr.

It will throw any powder you choose but you have to understand that the RCBS 1500 is essentially a highly accurate powder thrower. I say that because it dispenses powder by turning the dispensing tube and having the granules of powder drop off the end of the tube into the pan. Sometimes when it is down to the last intermittent turn there will be a lot of powder hanging in balance at the end of the tube and too much will fall. So I set the dispense amount lower than the amount I want in the pan and use a sharp instrument to dislodge as many granules as I want in order to get an exact amount.

With pics:

Turn on the machine and calibrate



Rezero



In this case I want to load 60 gr RL22 so I set the dispense amount to 59.7 gr



After dispensing and the beep, wait 5 seconds and it will show the actual amount dispensed



Dislodge a few granules off the end of the tube



for an exact amount everytime.

For me and my dispenser I will set it .1 gr below for ball powders, .3 gr below for short cuts like RL22 or .4 gr below for long cuts like IMR4831. That prevents you having to dump the pan back into the hopper or fish out a few granules.

Like Oddbod I will seat bullets when the dispenser is going. However, if the press is on the same bench and there might be vibration from the seating process, make sure and start the seating while the dispenser is in high speed. If you are still bumping the seater at the end of the dispense when it is down to the last few turns it will vibrate the dispenser and cause a short reading or dislodge too many granules of powder. Not a problem, just fine tuning your method.

THank you Woods! Great photos to. I guess I need to come to the reloading room more often and stay out of the political room!

It is a nice looking machine. Some measures I have looked at the scale is seperate, and costly. This one has them both in one. I like that. I was looking at the Lyman and thinking maybe I could use my beam scale.

I've been using the Pact digital scale and dispenser for about a year now and have been very pleased with its performance.

I will look into a Pact, I shoot alot of 4831, in my 7mm and .260, and I thought an electronic measurer might speed things up if they worked on the extruded powder. thanks Ahab.

I have had my RCBS Charge Naster Combo for over a year.I use it frequently with several powders.I am very satisfied and have had no problems.

I do use a Pan with a longer handle/grip because I have very little feeling in my fingers and it makes it easier for me. No problem with Pan weight - corrected when you reset to zero.

Beryl

I've been using the Pact digital scale and dispenser and have been very pleased with its performance. This combo is great it calibrates with each powder and will drop the exact charge in the pan.
Bill

+1 for the charge master. I would say maybe once every 15 charges it goes over by a tenth of a grain, but whose looking anyways

How long does it take the Chargemaster to throw a load? Slower or faster than manually using a powder measure? Thanks.

Hey kudu,

Like most others here, I use the RCBS Charmaster 1500 combo. The only two powders I've run through it to date are both extruded, IMR-7828 and IMR-4831. They meter very well and it's not very often that I get a missed charge (i.e. 104.3 instead of the 104.1 I asked for). Yes, it's a large case, 338-378 Wby, and it dispenses the charge by the time I get the bullet seated from the previous charge.

Ken....

wino,
That is why I like my Pact, it has a bgump button so you can use it like a trickler. Just set it .1 tenth low and bump it up. Most of the time it will come out right on the money but I would rather be low than high.

Bill, i actually do the same with the chargemaster. I might have to investigate the Pact though, with Christmas coming up and all. Oop's hope i didn't offend anyone with the Christmas reference. I guess I been in the political room too much lately. I would put a picture of my set up on here, but then everyone would see my ashtray by my reloading stuff. Don't want to open that can of worms.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Cooley:
wino,
That is why I like my Pact, it has a bgump button so you can use it like a trickler. Just set it .1 tenth low and bump it up. Most of the time it will come out right on the money but I would rather be low than high.

Just so the info is out there, the RCBS also has the trickle function. I just let it go and if it over/undercharges I just dump it back in the hopper and dispense another one. It doesn't happen often enough for me to intentially set it low and then manually trickle.

Ken....

quote:

Originally posted by wino:
I would put a picture of my set up on here, but then everyone would see my ashtray by my reloading stuff. Don't want to open that can of worms.

HA HA HA HA

quote:

I guess I been in the political room too much lately

I hear ya .

Ken....

Well, I was going to us the C word to! And that is why I was asking so I could ask Mrs. Santa to get me one, just had to have some info for her! Awwww F*ck it! Yeah I want one for Christmas!

Kudu, whats yer 20 in wyo, I used to live in red lodge, mt. Nice country, in fact I'm going to work in troy, mt. for a couple of months right after thanksgiving. I think we can still say thanksgiving can't we.

I am about 60 miles s.e. of Cody. We go to Red Lodge quite a bit in the summer. Yeah to heck with them! Have a happy Thanksgiving!

quote:

Originally posted by ACRecurve:
How long does it take the Chargemaster to throw a load? Slower or faster than manually using a powder measure? Thanks.

Andy,

The Chargemaster is the fastest powder-dispensing machine on the market at this time. Depending on the powder the Chargemaster is as fast as a drop charge dispenser if you weigh every charge. The Chargemaster speeds up the reloading process by letting you do other things while it measures the next charge. Like seat bullets.

I own the PACT version. I've got two friends who own the RCBS version and have seen them in action. I saw one of the new Lymans demonstrated. They all work equally well as far as I can tell. Any of them beat the old 19th century balance beam, measure, and trickler method. Unless you have a dipper load that works perfectly in your using full dips, or you don't care how far off the charge is, they beat dippers too.

My Pact would not work worth a shit with ball powders, like Win 748, wouldn't even calibrate. Worked all right with Varget.
FS

Well. I've got to say a good word about my Lyman 1200. I bought it shortly after they first came out. That's been several years now and I couldn't be more pleased. Mine has seen fairly heavy use what with competition shooting and Pdog hunts but I've nothing to compare it to and I'm not one of the "mine cost more so it's got to be better" club so all I can say is if it crapped out today, I just buy another.

THE MOST ACCURATE SCALES ARE DENVER INST. AND THE OLD REDDING NON-MAGNETIC BEAM.(PERIOD) THE RCBS DIGITAL W/ PACT SCALE IS NOT GOOD DUE TO THE SCALE. I BOUGHT THE RCBS/PACT FOR $50. FROM A FELLOW WHO WAS GOING TO GIVE IT TOO ME FREE. I THOUGHT WHEN I GOT IT TO WORK HE WOULD WANT IT BACK SO I GAVE HIM $50. THE SCALE IS TERRIBLE. I USE THIS TO THROW CHARGES ONE GRAIN LOW AND THEN TRICKLE THE LAST GRAIN. I HAVE A 505, 510, 304, REDDING, 750 ELEC. AND THE PACT/RCBS. THE OLD REDDING IS THE ,MOST ACCURATE. MAGNETIC DAMPED SCALES ARE NOT AS ACCURATE AS THE OLD NON-MAG SCALES.ONE THING W/ THE RCBS/PACT IS THAT POWDER WILL STAY IN THE TUBES AFTER IT STOPS, SHOWING .2 LOW. TAP THE TUBES LIGHTLY AND IT FALLS OUT AND THE SCALE WILL SHOW THE CORRECT WEIGHT. THE REVIEWS ON THIS WERE BAD CAUSE THE SCALE IS NOT GOOD.

Well harry, I must say that my experience with the RCBS is contrary to yours: I weighed the first couple of hundred loads on my 5-0-5 to verify the reading off the electronic scale & found no discernible differences.

quote:

Originally posted by Oddbod:
Well harry, I must say that my experience with the RCBS is contrary to yours: I weighed the first couple of hundred loads on my 5-0-5 to verify the reading off the electronic scale & found no discernible differences.

I did the same with my Pact.

quote:

Originally posted by Ahab:

quote:

Originally posted by Oddbod:
Well harry, I must say that my experience with the RCBS is contrary to yours: I weighed the first couple of hundred loads on my 5-0-5 to verify the reading off the electronic scale & found no discernible differences.

I did the same with my Pact.

+3