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Author Topic: Powder measuring gear revisited.  (Read 2677 times)

Offline JJD

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Powder measuring gear revisited.
« on: January 18, 2017, 07:31:35 AM »
About this time in 2015 I asked for opinions on a powder measure system.
The hands down favorite was the RCBS Chargemaster 1500.
I purchased one shortly there after.
Impressions:
Good things are its fast on many types of powder, easy to use.
Things I don't like;  Warm up time, at least 30 min.  Poor results with extruded powders out of the box. In order to get fairly accurate results with said powder you must make speed adjustments which are not explained in the instruction manual.  The McD. straw fix helps, but come on man, why not make it work that way out of the box.  Lots of info on these fixes on u-tube.

A friend bought a Lyman gen 6 measure, about 6 months ago.  It is about $100 cheaper and works just as well if not better.
Had I to do it all again, I'd go with the Lyman.

Hey, I'm not a bench rest shooter and do not require that accuracy, but I want at least what I had with my previous manual measuring system.

Anyone worked with the Hornady powder measure system?  Impressions?
Spent most of my $$ on huntin, fishin & retrievin dogs, the rest I just pretty much wasted.

Offline Fl0und3rz

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2017, 07:39:51 AM »
Don't know about the Hornady, but it is hard to beat the Lee Dippers and trickle or tap to final weight.  With repetition, you might get 3/10 or better drops right on the money and faster than any auto thrower.

Offline Magnum_Willys

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2017, 08:06:37 AM »
Don't know about the Hornady, but it is hard to beat the Lee Dippers and trickle or tap to final weight.  With repetition, you might get 3/10 or better drops right on the money and faster than any auto thrower.

And the dipper set is $10 and a digital scale is $18.  Under $30 and you have small batch perfection accurate to 1/5 of a grain. 

Offline JJD

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2017, 08:40:02 AM »
I have had two different cheap electronic scales and both were inaccurate when checked against my good balance beam scale.  I kept one because it has a flat surface and is good enough to get general wt of arrows.

Cheap electronics scales do not meet my needs.  I'd go with a quality beam scale over cheap electronics scales myself. 

Dippers;
Playing golf, one could conceivably putt with a driver, but there are better tools available for the job.  I do own a set of the Lee dippers and they did serve a purpose, but batch reloading was not it.
If its all a could afford, I'd do it that way.  If time were not an issue, I might consider ithem as well.  If you figure your $$ would be better spent elsewhere, by all means, keep at it.

Spent most of my $$ on huntin, fishin & retrievin dogs, the rest I just pretty much wasted.

Offline Fl0und3rz

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2017, 09:02:35 AM »
I think your OP states that you have not found the better tool for the job, despite the outlay of cash on an otherwise non-existent problem. 

I'd rather have fast and accurate powder drops with rifle handloads than deal with shoddy tech and youtube fixes when I want to load a batch of rounds.  :twocents:

FWIW, reading about the McD's straw fix is what put me off the RCBS chargemaster in the first place.  If you find something that doesn't require a bunch of hacks to get it to work, I would be glad to hear it.  But I am not one to pay be a guinea pig for a half-working product.

Offline Stein

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2017, 09:06:43 AM »
For pistol, the Lee Turret works great for me.

For rifle, I use a Lee Beam which, like most beam scales, is HIGHLY repeatable.  I would love to go faster, but my experience with digital scales is they just are not as repeatable and I don't mind taking the extra time to know my rounds are as identical as possible.

Offline jay.sharkbait

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2017, 09:15:25 AM »
I use a Redding powder measure and powder trickle into a Dilllon beam scale.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2017, 10:07:18 AM by jay.sharkbait »

Offline grundy53

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2017, 09:54:09 AM »
I have the Hornaday. It works great and is easy to use right out of the box.

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The opinions expressed in my posts do not represent those of the forum.

Offline JJB11B

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2017, 09:58:03 AM »
I like mine
"Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever."
Shane Falco

Offline Bill W

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2017, 10:02:40 AM »
If I ran my electronic scale off of 9V I had to keep re-zeroing it.  Off of 110 it would settle in after warming up.

Offline Fl0und3rz

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2017, 10:30:07 AM »
I have the Hornaday. It works great and is easy to use right out of the box.

Any thoughts on the OP's comments?

Quote
Warm up time, at least 30 min.  Poor results with extruded powders out of the box.

Offline BULLBLASTER

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #11 on: January 18, 2017, 10:47:53 AM »
I'm on my second rcbs unit. The first I got in 2009 and it finally quit on me a month or so ago (gave it to a buddy and he's been using it since  :chuckle:) the new one is so much better. Doesn't need any warm up time and more charges are right at target than with my previous one. I check the barges on a beam scale as well, haven't had one that I can remember being off from what the dispenser said it was.

Offline grundy53

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #12 on: January 18, 2017, 12:06:06 PM »
I have the Hornaday. It works great and is easy to use right out of the box.

Any thoughts on the OP's comments?

Quote
Warm up time, at least 30 min.  Poor results with extruded powders out of the box.
My Hornaday warms fast and handles extruded powder just fine.

Sent from my E6782 using Tapatalk

Molôn Labé
Can you skin Grizz?

The opinions expressed in my posts do not represent those of the forum.

Offline JJB11B

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #13 on: January 18, 2017, 12:19:11 PM »
I have the Hornaday. It works great and is easy to use right out of the box.

Any thoughts on the OP's comments?

Quote
Warm up time, at least 30 min.  Poor results with extruded powders out of the box.
My Hornaday warms fast and handles extruded powder just fine.

Sent from my E6782 using Tapatalk


diddo
"Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever."
Shane Falco

Offline bobcat

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Re: Powder measuring gear revisited.
« Reply #14 on: January 18, 2017, 12:25:52 PM »
I've been using nothing but my Lee dippers for over 30 years. Never felt the need for anything else. But then I don't load a high volume of cartridges. I may load 100 to 150 one year and then not load anything for a few years. Normally the most I load at one time is 20. So the Lee dippers along with my 32 year old RCBS scale and a powder trickler are all I've ever needed.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2017, 12:32:26 PM by bobcat »

 


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