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Which electronic powder thrower/dispenser


Richiew

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Unless you want to sink £500+ on a set of A&Ds and an Autotrickler or similar set up then about the best I think is the RCBS Chargemaster Lite. Have a look at Catch's review here:

My experience is similar to his. Its about as good as you'll get without dumping a load of dollar, but you need to be realistic about their accuracy (or any of the similar scales from Lyman etc) if you arent prepared to be really vigilant using them or check what they are throwing.

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For me Hornady Lock and Load like any powder scales spend your money wisely, always check the charge on my Hornady Balance beam scales. Choose a suitable location for using your scales, and don’t rush the reloading.

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thanks guys for the info ,always liked rcbs gear so will look into them . otherwise I'll stick with the beam scales last chrono was 4.5 sd on sierra tmk's in 155grain .Was looking to speed up the loading cycle but if consistency counts then i can stick to the slow way .

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FWIW, I'm selling my RCBS Chargemaster Lite in the For Sale section.

Its the one and same as GT3_richy linked to above.

Ive had balance beams, Target Master and a GemPro 250 and the Chargemaster has been the best of the lot for accuracy and speed.

http://ukvarminting.com/topic/43324-rcbs-chargemaster-lite/

Gimme a shout if you have any questions.

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On 10/13/2018 at 6:47 AM, Richiew said:

.....Was looking to speed up the loading cycle but if consistency counts then i can stick to the slow way .

I've found the Auto Trickler to both speed up the process and retain consistency to within 0.02gr.  Tried various other scales and systems along the way. Yes, it gets costly.....

https://www.autotrickler.com/auto-trickler.html

 

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Hi Martin

thanks for the info and link to videos ,NOW this looks much better - a proper proffesional lab grade scale with a trickler , I should have thought of this before .Used to work in a Lab at ICI and know how accurate they can be .Could just buy a very good scale and use my thrower and trickler  ?.Youve got me thinking of other option s      

cheers Richie

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ordered an A and D  scale just now , trickeler system to follow if all works well . Why do we go along with big makers products that are in effect not too good and not always fit for purpose . theres a lot of much better produts out there if we just take the time or get good advice  to send us in the  right direction . the reloading equipment makers dont always make the best gear for our needs .

thanks Martin for an alternative view 

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10 hours ago, Richiew said:

ordered an A and D  scale just now , trickeler system to follow if all works well . Why do we go along with big makers products that are in effect not too good and not always fit for purpose . theres a lot of much better produts out there if we just take the time or get good advice  to send us in the  right direction . the reloading equipment makers dont always make the best gear for our needs .

thanks Martin for an alternative view 

TBH, I don't think it's as simple as that. I think it's more the fact that the big manufacturers design and make products that will appeal and sell to the mass market. They're far more likely to sell many hundreds of thousands of units world wide if they cost £200-£400, rather than £850+.

I too have an Autotrickler & autothrow combo but the £850 price tag is too high for most shooters. I bet Adam has made less than 500 units to date. Those sales numbers just wouldnt appeal to any of the big companies, regardless of how good the product is. 

I would disagree with your point about the quality of the commercial electronic throwers. Until recently I owned a Chargemaster Lite and through my own testing and evaluation (I haven't seen or heard of anyone else having done as comprehensive a test) I was convinced that it was actually a very good and reliable unit when you understand and work to its quirks. It performed far better than I had expected (certainly for the money) and proved that it too can hold consistent and repeatable charge throws to within 0.02gn or even better. This is as accurate as the Autotrickler and autothrow combo which costs 2-3 times as much.

Many F class and PRS shooters use their Chargemasters to good effect on very small targets a very long way away. Don't hear many complaints from them!

On a personal note,  the reason why I upgraded from a CM Lite to the Autotrickler is that i'm a high volume shooter and have young children, so time spent at the reloading bench is key for me. The CM Lite was very quick, much better than balance beams, a digital scale or even the Target Master. But...the quirk was needing to do remove the pan, replace and do a fine trickle up. When you get into a rhythm it was actually very quick and very accurate. The Autotrickler combo gives me the same accuracy but gets me there a bit faster and with a bit less intervention (trickling up). But for 2-3 times the cost, I'd expect that it does so. 

However the Autotrickler isn't without its quirks either. You've got to get the flow rate just right, using shims under the tricker. You've also got to find the sweet spot for the ramp down in tricker speed. I'd actually say you have more initial fiddly setup time with the Autotrickler than the CM Lite, which is just plug and play.

So it's all relative, swings and roundabouts, not about inferior products.

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11 hours ago, Richiew said:

ordered an A and D  scale just now , trickeler system to follow if all works well . .

 

If you're like most people on this thread then you'll like it......!

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/turn-your-fx-120i-into-a-prometheus.3897203/page-40

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hi all 

didnt want to rubbish the commercial gear as I'm sure it all works well ,but wanted to point out that we can get side lined into a certain product set .we all tend to follow brands ,I have had 3 landrovers which I thought were the best 4x4 ,they all leaked were noisy and unrefined but did the job well once you knew their ways . changed to a Shogun auto and was so shocked that I'd put up with landys and now have luxury ,quietness ,can talk to passengers and still manage 75% of what the landy could do . lab spec scales are always going to be so much better than cheaper models in accuracy ,  resolution and repeatability .going to see the difference between a charge on the beam scales compared to the A+D scales then weigh out charges as before but using quality kit .might not be any faster but will get rid of paralax problems looking at a pointer on the beam scale .Remember when using scales in the labs at work we didnt need to be using check weights everytime we turned them on, they usually got calibrated once a year .

Thanks for the replies , safe reloading

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22 minutes ago, Richiew said:

going to see the difference between a charge on the beam scales compared to the A+D scales then weigh out charges as before but using quality kit .might not be any faster but will get rid of paralax problems looking at a pointer on the beam scale .Remember when using scales in the labs at work we didnt need to be using check weights everytime we turned them on, they usually got calibrated once a year .

Thanks for the replies , safe reloading

A simple camera system is the easy and cheap way to eliminate any parallax error with a beam scale:

 

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I use a modded Lyman Gen 6.  Absolutely zero complaints.  Shot my best ever 600m score with loads thrown from the Lyman.  You can pick them up for around the £250 mark and they're equally good as the RCBS on consistency, and better imho in other respects of design.  you pays your money and makes your choice.

For short grained powders I swear by my Redding BR3 thrower.  With practice, it can throw every load to within 0.1 with some powders....just avoid using longer grained propellants as like most other "match grade" throwers (irrespective of price), they can chop the grains, and be sensitive to sudden crunches when doing so which causes inaccuracy of charge.

For speed it's hard to touch the electronic throwers.  I've halved or less the time needed for loading.  Used to go the beam scale and trickle but honestly, 0.05 to 0.1gr makes b*gger all difference to loads that I've tested for ES.  In fact the best ES I ever recorded in a batch of ammunition was loaded using the Lyman, so all this half kernel load nonsense is just that...nonsense, unless each and every case is identical in volume....which they wont be.

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Thought the crunching powder thrower was just the sloppyness of my rcbs gear glad to know its the fault/ characteristic of the powder .Just getting TNT to redeliver the scales so might have some toys to play with for next weeks reloading session .

Lots of ideas to follow up too ,   many thanks to all

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On 10/17/2018 at 10:26 AM, VarmLR said:

I use a modded Lyman Gen 6.  Absolutely zero complaints.  Shot my best ever 600m score with loads thrown from the Lyman.  You can pick them up for around the £250 mark and they're equally good as the RCBS on consistency, and better imho in other respects of design.  you pays your money and makes your choice.

For short grained powders I swear by my Redding BR3 thrower.  With practice, it can throw every load to within 0.1 with some powders....just avoid using longer grained propellants as like most other "match grade" throwers (irrespective of price), they can chop the grains, and be sensitive to sudden crunches when doing so which causes inaccuracy of charge.

For speed it's hard to touch the electronic throwers.  I've halved or less the time needed for loading.  Used to go the beam scale and trickle but honestly, 0.05 to 0.1gr makes b*gger all difference to loads that I've tested for ES.  In fact the best ES I ever recorded in a batch of ammunition was loaded using the Lyman, so all this half kernel load nonsense is just that...nonsense, unless each and every case is identical in volume....which they wont be.

In what way is your Lyman Gen 6 modded? 

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Deja-vu.   This has all been covered in detail RE electronic loaders (search function is your friend?).  Mine has the addition of a Shooting Shed "thingy" added to improve uniformity and reduce the tendency of powders to clump towards the slow trickle at the end of each throw.  It has halved or less my loading time so worthwhile over beamn scales.  They remain more accurate but no-one really needs to be loading to half kernel accuracy...or even kernel accuracy come to that!

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Ah yes. I too have one of those.

I was initially thinking you had devised a highly technical method of enhancing stability. 

As for myself, mine works it's magic by way of a Faraday cage.

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On 10/16/2018 at 7:18 PM, 1066 said:

A simple camera system is the easy and cheap way to eliminate any parallax error with a beam scale:

 

This is the set up I use have done for years I can not fault it for accuracy and ease of use.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Loving the new A+D scales ,just using them as scales at the moment with the rcbs thrower and trickler set up . new load with N150 seems to have longer kernels and as such doesnt flow through the funnel so well , must remember to tap the funnel and check its empty before loading the next case - know this as had a few mishaps already with powder all over the loading block .  BTW had to order a check /calibration weight as an extra to fully cal the scales , all happy now . 

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