I am running with less time these days. With two kids and one on the way, I don't have the hours that I once did to sit down and reload what I have to shoot. I got to looking into what takes the most time. With weighing each of the loads that I shoot I would like to see if this RCBS combo does what it says it does. That may be a help to fill all of this empty brass that is sitting around.
Accuracy, it lists that it will be +/- 1 grain. I have a trickler for that.
Speed, stating that it is the fastest on the market
Thoughts in general
thanks

I haven't used one personally but a guy I work with bought one and says it works great. He claims it is plenty fast.
I have the RCBS scale and automatic trickler that goes with it and it's very slow.

IMHO, it's time to move up to a Dillon press. The only other device capable of saving time is an electric case trimmer with a 3 way cutter.

I don’t know where you read that it’s accurate to +/- 1 grain but it’s +/- .1 grain. You won’t need your trickler, you can pack that away with your balance beam. I’ve had one for a few years now and it does speed up the reloading process. There are a lot of people here that use them, I’m sure you’ll see a lot of input on the Chargemaster.

More info here

quote:

Originally posted by buckshot:
other device capable of saving time is an electric case trimmer with a 3 way cutter.

+1

You might find this helpful. What I do is set my RCBS up right next to the press that I use to seat my bullets. That way while the machine is dumping powder out to be weighted I take and seat the bullet from the last charged case. It really helps keep the brass moving along.

I have one and I love it. If you set it up next to your press, you can have it throw the charge, and dump the powder from the pan into the cartridge case. Place the pan back on rhe 1500 and while it's throwing the next charge, you can be seating the bullet into the first case. If you're using powders with big log like kernals like 4350 or 4831, it's a Godsend in speeding things up.
A while back, as an example, I did the work up for my ex-son-in-law's .300 WSM using IMR-4831 and the normal powder measure. It took about three hours to load up the test ammo to try in his rifle. First I had to set up the measure for the first charge, load the ammo, then reset for the next, load the rounds and so on. Most of the time was lost in changing the settings for the next load, and then weighing and trickling the charges.
A couple of days layed, the wife and I were at Sportsman's Warehouse and I pointed out the Chargemaster and told her that one of these days I'm gonna get me one. She said, "Why not today?" No wonder I've kept her around for almost 40 years. After the test laod were shot up, we ran another test series with IMR-4350. Rather than taking three hours to make up all the test laods, the entire process took all on 45 minutes, and I was taking my time as it was the very first time I had used the machine.
it's reall easy to use. Turn it on and do the calibration. You can program it to throw another charge when you put the pan back onto the platen. Dial in the charge you want and push dispense and you're on your way.
Once we got his load finalized, I had him set up the powder measure (old one) with all the hassle and hand weighing as part of the lessons teaching him how to do it himself. Then we set up the Chargemaster to throw the same charge and he saw the light. His choice was Lyman's version because it was less expensive and he's happy with it. Once you use one, you'll almost never go back to the old way of doing it. About all my hand operated powder measure ever gets used for these days is when I load handgun ammo with W-231.
Paul B.

Plus 1 on what Pual said!

I have been using a Pact since they first came out. Pact is made in the good old USA, and has by far the best warranty.
Lyle

quote:

Originally posted by YUMAN:
I have been using a Pact since they first came out. Pact is made in the good old USA, and has by far the best warranty.
Lyle

Pact makes the RCBS - for a few dollars less.

The current RCBS 1500 combo is made in China, look at the label on the bottom, Pact may have made them at one time tho. Pact is still made in the US.

http://www.6mmbr.com/powderdispensers01.html

http://www.pact.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=126

I read everything I could before purchasing the RCBS Chargemaster combo six months ago.
The article on in the 6mmbr.com link convinced me to do so.
So far it has proved far MORE accurate than the review for everything from .17Rem to .270Win using both stick & ball propellants. Initial paranoia meant I checked every load on my beam scale but now I check the first & then maybe every 20th & haven't seen a variation of more than .05gr yet.
Using my single stage press, the time taken to throw a load is just about the same time taken to seat a bullet, so there's no waiting.

The old RCBS was made by Pact. It looked just like a Pact except it was green in color. A Taiwan company (as I remember) that makes laboratory, industrial and commercial scales makes the Chargemaster 1500 in China. I researched the Chargemaster a number of years ago and I just can’t remember the name of the company that makes them now.

I wouldn't have anything else.

I bought one and had to return it because of its inabaility to handle fine ball powder. Seems like they had some type of manufacturing snafu that cause the powder to get into the mechanism and clog it up. Once I reurned the unit and got hti s addressed....I was good to go!
Love the scalen and find it routinely right on the money for .1gn accuracy.

you can read the prior posts if that helps.

Mine simply works. As stated elsewhere on this thread it is fast and accurate. I dump the powder into the case, put the pan back on the scale and while it's dispensing the next charge I seat the bullet. It always finishes the next charge before I get the finished round in the box.

Ken....

The RCBS Chargemaster is the nuts. I've used a couple other's, Pact and Lyman and the Chargemaster is far superior.
I'll buy another one if the one I have ever quits. Buy one and you'll like it..............................DJ

I love mine and would not go back for anything. It will beep when the load has been dispensed and then shows on the display how many charges have been dispensed and then after a second or two it goes back to the scale display. I wait until then to remove the powder, if it is high I dump the charge back in the hopper and do it again, this is very rare though.

Usually all this takes place while I am seating the bullet on the previous charge so I do not spend time sitting and watching.

Ocassionally I will dump the dispensed charge on the balance beem just for giggles and have not been let down yet.

Love mine----load everything with it including my 1k BR stuff. Had a PACT and it was the worst thing I have ever used period. They are local for me and still made me mail it back twice!!

Never did work very well plus the scale had problems holding calibration. Use the Denver Instruments unit to check the RCBS and it is right on..

I bought the Pact, and took it back. I could never get it to keep zero.

I bought the Chargemaster and love it. It's much quicker than my balance beam and it agrees dead on when I check it.

Thanks for all the comments. I like to see things work like this before I purchase. Well some fella on youtube walks you though the process. That's simple I thought. So now I have one and it is Great! Loaded up the 220 swift rounds tonight, .243 tomorrow. My little daughter (4 years old) thinks that it is cool too.

I have my third.......

I love it, but my first two had problems with the key pad. Impossible to type #1, #4, and #7 after a while.
No problem with the warranty and thanks to the very good service of RCBS, I got a new one.
This last time they said that the unit has a brand new type of key pad, and that they had some problems with the old one.
Mine is working well now, and I now hope it stays this way.

New to reloading so I had to buy all the top of the line equipment and the chargemaster was on the list, I have no complaints, alot faster then the other way.....

I had a Lyman and have used my buddy's RCBS and I think all you guys are nuts or haven't done it the way I do. I use the Uniflow powder measure set just below the intended weight and then trickle up to the charge weight. It's sooo much fasted than waiting for that stupid dispenser to churn out the powder. I also charge all my cases THEN seat all the bullets in separate operations.

quote:

Originally posted by rcamuglia:
I had a Lyman and have used my buddy's RCBS and I think all you guys are nuts or haven't done it the way I do. I use the Uniflow powder measure set just below the intended weight and then trickle up to the charge weight. It's sooo much fasted than waiting for that stupid dispenser to churn out the powder. I also charge all my cases THEN seat all the bullets in separate operations.

Tried it that way but by the time you move the powder from the measure to the scale, wait for it to settle and then measure the final bit it's slower than just pushing a button and letting the powder measure run most of the powder at high speed.
If you are really wanting to save time you can Chamfer the next batch of cases or something of the like while it's measuring out the powder...........................DJ