I ordered an RCBS ChargeMaster 1500 Powder Scale and Dispenser Combo

I heard a lot of good things about it and finally order one from Midway - to my house $299.02 (best price I found - and it was Available, can you believe it?

http://www.midwayusa.com/eprod...ee&utm_campaign=9315

I plan to use it more with my stick powders than with ball.

Hack

You will be a happy hand loader in a couple of days! I use mine daily and love it. I also have a PACT-which was good for years-But the RCBS is far faster, less sensitive to the surrounding area, and very accurate!

Michael

My son sure likes his Chargemaster.
I'm of the ancient school of thro lite, trickle up..

Btefft,

Stick powders, especially dense powders like varget and RL19 can be a bit of a challenge when you first start loading with the 1500

A good method I use is to set the charge light and then tap or trickle up to desired weight...

For example....you want 48grs Varget...you set 47.8 on the scale...let the chargemaster to its thing....check the final weight and then lightly tap the dispensing tube to get a couple of sticks of powder to fall into the dish until you reach 48 grs...

The end of the cleaning brush works like a champ for lightly taping the tube...

You will be surprised at how many times the dispenser will over dispense more dense stick powders..so be careful.

Ball powders and very short granular powders like RL15 work like a champ.

Good luck with your 1500...I have generally been pleased with mine.

Cheers

Hack -

When I use your link price comes up at $320 before freight... Any thoughts? Thanks

Dick

Wow, hayseed, last night it showed 319.99, but it was also listed in RED as "ON SALE" for 287.99 and with S&H (11.03) it cost me 299.02.

I just clicked on the link I gave and see that the read sale price is gone, it just shows 319.99.

Looks like I got lucky and bought it just in time for the sale price.

You may try calling Midway and see if they'd do the sale price for you.

Hack

I use my Chargemaster a LOT, in fact, I could not imagine doing without it...

That said, one thing that irritates me, is that it commonly (20-30%) manages to go above the charge selected - primarily with extruded powders. OK, since the tool is so good, I only accept charges which are "right on the money" - not .1 grs above or below the selected charge weight, something I generally accept when throwing charges with a powder measure. The insistence on absolute charge weights (at least to the precision the scale offers...) may strictly not be necessary. It is probably also difficult for the trickler to know how much powder will be trickled into the pan with a given movement of the trickle tube - in particular with large grained propellants...

Another, somewhat minor, irritant, is that I still find it too slow to charge cases with the Chargemaster and seat bullets in one go. If I do this, I constantly find myself waiting for the next charge to be completed, bullet long since seated in the last case... So I have to find ways of doing other jobs (e.g. preparing cases) while charging my cases with Chargemaster. This is slightly stressful as I have to move between jobs (e.g. case preparations, pour powder into next case), and it is mandatory that I visually inspect all charged cases before I start seating bullets (assuming double or missing charges can be spotted visually).

- mike

quote:

Originally posted by hayseed51:
Hack -

When I use your link price comes up at $320 before freight... Any thoughts? Thanks

Dick

Hey, Hayseed,

If you were interested in one, I found another for under $300 (actually $299.99). But the stock is "Low" and I'll bet will soon be "Out of Stock".

Midsouth
https://www.midsouthshooterssu...m.asp?sku=0004498923

Hack

My wife gave me a Chargemaster 1500 a couple years ago.

Damn I love that woman!

When you have a hard to dispense powders I like to use a piece of welding wire to fool the scale then remove it to dispense to final amount.

INteresting ..
the pact and the RCSB are the "Same" unit...
I sent my (thanks Rusty) RCBS in, with a check to PACT to have the guts replaced and made up to new.

The new PACT/RCBS despenses 3X faster, and can go over 100 gr ...

which works for me.

If your chargemaster is SLOW, send it, and a check for 90 bucks, to pact, and they'll rebuild it to new

funny thing, though.. they were rooster proud and kinda arrogant in telling me "your unit will ship in 4 weeks from arrival" ... So I called on week 6, and Week 7, and week 8 (though 2 days early) ....

I love "Easy to meter" aka, ball, powders!

I borrowed a buddy's one time and thought it was pretty cool. Then I bought one.

I sent it back pronto.

I have no idea why anyone would use one of these things unless you have enough time and money on your hands to burn.

The damn thing is so slow it's pitiful.

It's 5 times as fast to set your uniflow powder measure to a drop weight of about a grain lower than what you want and use a trickler to get it up to the desired charge. Weigh it on a balance scale or the one I use, 75$ Chargemaster 750

Natchez lists them for $289.99 but they are out of stock. I got one from them about a year ago that was listed as $259.99 but out of stock and when they came in again the were $279.99. I find the powder like H110 leaves particles in the end of the dispense barrel.

Rad

Depends. When I'm doing bulk reloading I use ball powders and my 20 year old Horndady Pro-Jector.

When I'm doing precision reloading, I don't mind waiting 30 seconds for a charge to process. I want that 1/10 grain accuracy (not that it makes any real difference...I'm just anal about these things).

Besides, when I go to the range I don't shoot much more than 40-60 rounds of centerfire and I can only get to the range maybe once a month. So, it's just not that big a deal to me.

quote:

Originally posted by mho:

That said, one thing that irritates me, is that it commonly (20-30%) manages to go above the charge selected - primarily with extruded powders. OK, since the tool is so good, I only accept charges which are "right on the money" - not .1 grs above or below the selected charge weight, something I generally accept when throwing charges with a powder measure. The insistence on absolute charge weights (at least to the precision the scale offers...) may strictly not be necessary. It is probably also difficult for the trickler to know how much powder will be trickled into the pan with a given movement of the trickle tube - in particular with large grained propellants...

Another, somewhat minor, irritant, is that I still find it too slow to charge cases with the Chargemaster and seat bullets in one go. If I do this, I constantly find myself waiting for the next charge to be completed, bullet long since seated in the last case... So I have to find ways of doing other jobs (e.g. preparing cases) while charging my cases with Chargemaster. This is slightly stressful as I have to move between jobs (e.g. case preparations, pour powder into next case), and it is mandatory that I visually inspect all charged cases before I start seating bullets (assuming double or missing charges can be spotted visually).

- mike

Hey mike

The way I do it is to set the charge weight lower. With stick grains like IMR4831 I might set it .4 gr lower, with short cuts like RL22 set it .3 gr lower and with ball powder set it .01 gr lower. Like in this example with RL22 I want 60 gr so I set it on 59.7 gr


It might drop 59.9 gr


so just take a sharp instrument and nudge a few granules off the end until you are right on


I always powder charge 3 or 4 cases and then start seating bullets while the powder is dispensing. I have the next case sitting in the shell holder and the bullet ready and when I hit the dispense button I immediately seat the bullet (which for me is 4 or 5 strokes because I seat a little, rotate and seat some more). Since the press is right next to the dispenser it is important to get the seating strokes done while the dispenser is in fast mode and not dropping the final few kernels since the jarring on the bench will cause problems.

If I am dropping ~60 gr or so then the dispenser has always beeped before I can seat the bullet, place it in the loading block and get the next charged case and bullet ready. If I am loading ~90 gr or so then I do have time to finish before the beep happens.

It is a rhythm and by the time I have charged all the cases then I am within 4 or 5 cases of being finished with charging and seating.

Saves a lot of time and you must have a slow unit.

That is interesting Woods, I'll try to see if the "manual trickling" might do the trick for me in terms of incorrect charges.

I hope your reference to my "slow unit" is a reference to my Chargemaster and not a statement about my mental ability...

- mike

I bought one in Dec. It only loaded approx 200 rnds, and now it flickers off & on mid charge. Sometimes quitting for good. Turn it back on, and it will work for a few,... or wont, no pattern.

I've had an email into RCBS since Monday, and no response. The customer service line has been busy all week too.

I guess they must be busy, but it isn't getting my expensive toy fixed.

I'll be patient, as I know they must be swamped. FWIW, I did really like it when it worked.

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
INteresting ..
the pact and the RCSB are the "Same" unit...
I sent my (thanks Rusty) RCBS in, with a check to PACT to have the guts replaced and made up to new.

The new PACT/RCBS despenses 3X faster, and can go over 100 gr ...

which works for me.

If your chargemaster is SLOW, send it, and a check for 90 bucks, to pact, and they'll rebuild it to new

funny thing, though.. they were rooster proud and kinda arrogant in telling me "your unit will ship in 4 weeks from arrival" ... So I called on week 6, and Week 7, and week 8 (though 2 days early) ....

I love "Easy to meter" aka, ball, powders!

This used to be true but no longer is.