Hornady AutoCharge vs. RCBS Chargemaster vs. Traditional

[4895]

Anyone out there have any opinions to offer on either the Hornady AutoCharge, or RCBS Chargemaster versus the traditional methods I have been using?

I often drop a charge from my Ohaus measure and trickle on a scale using a Lee dipper.

Is it worth the money?

 

[germ]

If I had money burning a hole in my pocket I'd be temped to grab the RCBS. However, I started out with an RCBS 750 Rangmaster. Worked good for a couple years. Then I discovered the zero drifting. Sometimes it would remain accurate (testing with check weights) and sometimes it would drift considerably within minutes and keep on going no matter how many times it was reset. It varies from day to day without rhyme or reason. I bought a Dillon (Ohaus) beam scale and have been happy ever since. How can I ever trust an electronic scale again?

 

[cfullgraf]

I have a Pact automated dispenser similar to the Hornady or RCBS units. I use it only for load development where I am changing the charge weight every few throws.

Once I develop a load, I use one of several powder measures that i have such as the RCBS Uniflow or Redding 10-X.

The auto dispenses are too slow for general reloading but are faster than hand weighing every charge. It is a fair amount of money that sits idle in my reloading room most of the time.

 

[sean eady]

I have the ChargeMaster and like it alot. If you are looking for speed its not breaking any records , but for an accurate drop its great and the auto feature is really nice also.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

There are different mechanics taking place with a digital scale than a beam scale.
With the appropriate amount of powder in the pan and the correct amount of weight on the beam the load is balanced. Any vibration on the loading bench usually affects the fulcrum of the beam scales. Because of this you don't see the vibration affecting beam scales like it does an electric scale where the vibration is acting directly up and down on the load cell.

My Hornady electronic scale will start to drift at zero also but I can usually attribute it to something I'm doing that is causing vibration. Electronic scales will always have this problem because of the way they are built.

My Redding beam scales will float around to the point I can't use them when my whole house air conditioning come on and that's with the vent almost clear off but I don't notice vibrations affecting them near as much as it does my electronic scales, again, because the vibration is acting directly on the load cell because it isn't balanced on a fulcrum.

If I even breath to heavy like when I drop something, pick it up, and sigh, the scales start bouncing all over the place but so do my beam scales, just not as much.

Other than that sensitivity, I wouldn't give up my digital scales for anything. My beam scales haven't seen any use for a couple years now. I dribble on to electronic scales with Unique and it is much faster than beam scales and just as accurate if you know what is screwing them up.

As far as the auto-charging powder measure scale sets go, they are pretty slow. I thought about buying one until I saw one in action. If time isn't an issue then have at it. I'll stick to my electronic scales and dribbler.

 

[Tom488]

I use my Chargemaster 1500 for all my weighing jobs - usually just checking the weight of a charge thrown by my Uniflow. However, I use it in it's auto-dispensing mode when doing low-volume (50 to 100 at a time) rifle loads... things like .300 Win Mag, .338 Lapua Magnum, and .50 BMG. With the smaller loads (less than 100 grains), I find that after I dump the powder into the case, return the pan to the scale, then seat a bullet, inspect it, and put it in the box, I've got the next powder charge all set to go - so there's really no time spent waiting on the dispenser. I find this much faster than throwing a charge by hand, then trickling it up to the correct weight. The time savings comes from the dispenser throwing the charge for you while you do other things.

 

[david bachelder]

I have never seen or used the Hornady. I have a ChargeMaster and it works very well for me.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Tom488, I can see your point. I usually deprime and resize them all at one time, reprime them all at one time, charge them all at one time, and I would be waiting on the chargemaster from charging case to case at one time.

Yea, I can see the way you load yours that you wouldn't be waiting on it. That make sense.

 

[BYJO4]

I have the Chargemaster and it works fine but still prefer using my beam scale along with my powder measure and trickler when not loading on my progressive.

 

[4895]

Thank you all for your input. I don't know if it would be any faster than my current method, however, it seems it is less labor-intensive. I have watched a few videos on youtube with each of those machines in action and I think the RCBS is the better overall. $300+ is a lot to spend on a scale if I were only to load 20 rounds or so. I think I would have to have a lot of brass prepped and ready for the same powder in order to make the extra cleanup worthwhile. Since I can't find much for components, I was kinda thinking I could spend a bit on a nice reloading tool. Maybe I will look elsewhere.