RCBS Chargemaster vs Hornady Lock&Load AutoCharg

[gadawg31]

I been throwing this idea around for a while and now I think I am ready to buy. What are your thoughts on the RCBS Chargemaster combo and the Hornady Lock&Load AutoCharge dispenser? Both seem to get really good reviews, but for those of you out there that load way more than I will ever think about doing, let me know your thoughts. A while back, I bought a decent electronic scale and now I use my manual powder dispenser and then weigh each load for my rifles. I thought by buying one of the combos, it would speed up production a little bit, without comprimising my loads. If there are some others that I may have missed, let me know. Thanks.

JD

 

[rcmodel]

IMO: You won't compromise your loads just throwing charges right out of the powder measure without weighing them.

Thats the way the benchrest champions do it.

A +/- 0.2 grain charge in a typical rifle caliber will amount to about a 10 FPS varaition between shots.

You could get more then that out of two different cases or primers.
Or the sun goes behind a cloud on a hot day.

rc

 

[Flatbush Harry]

While I agree with RC in general, when I first began hand loading, I used a powder thrower and weighed every nth charge (where n was some number between 5 and 10). Depending on the powder, I was getting variation of as much as 0.5 or 0.6 grains. This led me to worry, not only about consistency, but also about safety for my near max loads.

After laying off reloading for some years, I returned to it and got an RCBS ChargeMaster 1500, which received the best reviews from a variety of sources. I have been delighted with mine for some years and have pretty much eliminated one variable from the process. I recently dug out my old Lyman #55 and may start using that again to speed up handgun loading. That said, I would still recommend the RCBS Ammomaster and RCBS' customer service.

FH

 

[Mike 27]

I have the Hornady, and it works great. It is quick and very accurate. I have double checked it a few times against my other scales, and they are all spot on with each other and my calibration weights. I picked it up for a steal on black Friday, really the reason I got it.

 

[gadawg31]

Thanks guys for the info. Gives me something to think about. I think for the type of reloading I will be doing, if I went with one of the forementioned scales, I don't think it would hurt anything. I know I would be comprimising on speed if I tried to use it with my pistol rounds, but its a hobby for me so killing time is a good thing when I reload. The jury is still out, but hopefully I will make up my mind soon. Thanks again for the info. As always I can seem to count on some good honest feedback from you all. Take care.

JD

 

[918v]

I have the RCBS. What I like about it it is stable even in a breezy environment and under fluorescent lighting which allegedly causes some scales to wonder.