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Another Chargemaster Tip

CharlieNC

Gold $$ Contributor
After trying all the programming suggestions, and the straw and metal inserts, it was still apparent that the Chargemaster should be capable of dispensing charges better than +/-.05 gr. This may be a surprise since the display only provides 0.1gr resolution to the eye, but through experimentation I had determined that the internals function at a higher degree of resolution.

I continued to experience a few "small" overthrows when the final trickling dispensed a clump. Underthrows occured when any level of vibration or disturbance (due to my other work on the bench) imparted an extraneous force which the scale interpreted as the meeting the desired weight. PRECISE TRICKING IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS TO ACHIEVE CHARGE CONSISTENCY.

Hunting in my office / reloading room I came upon an option to try as an insert to achieve finer "single stream" tr


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After trying all the programming suggestions, and the straw and metal inserts, it was still apparent that the Chargemaster should be capable of dispensing charges better than +/-.05 gr. This may be a surprise since the display only provides 0.1gr resolution to the eye, but through experimentation I had determined that the internals function at a higher degree of resolution.

I continued to experience a few "small" overthrows when the final trickling dispensed a clump. Underthrows occured when any level of vibration or disturbance (due to my other work on the bench) imparted an extraneous force which the scale interpreted as the meeting the desired weight. PRECISE TRICKING IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS TO ACHIEVE CHARGE CONSISTENCY.

Hunting in my office / reloading room I came upon an option to try as an insert to achieve finer "single stream" t




What scale do you use to verify your results?
 
My CM is very accurate with the McD's straw and programming mods. Gives me +/- .04gr accuracy on throws. Have never had an over or under throw with any powder to date.

I've never had any of the clumping issues I read about from time to time... I wonder if this is caused by humidity where people live? Montana is a very dry climate. Perhaps that's why I've never had powder clump up on me.

I don't leave powder in the hopper for extended periods of time either. If I'm not going to get back to reloading with that powder in a day or two, i drain the powder back into its sealed container
 
My CM is very accurate with the McD's straw and programming mods. Have never had an over or under throw with any powder to date.

I'm not going to be the one to start the poll, but if we took one, I believe you would be the ONLY one polled that could say that.

Your Chargemaster is probably the only one in existence that has never over, or under thrown a powder charge. I've NEVER had a reloading session where mine didn't under, or over throw powder charges. With the mods, and straw, or mods and stock tube. And everyone that I know, have similar experiences.

I am, however, happy for you.;)
 
I'm not going to be the one to start the poll, but if we took one, I believe you would be the ONLY one polled that could say that.

Your Chargemaster is probably the only one in existence that has never over, or under thrown a powder charge. I've NEVER had a reloading session where mine didn't under, or over throw powder charges. With the mods, and straw, or mods and stock tube. And everyone that I know, have similar experiences.

I am, however, happy for you.;)

I swear on my own life that "to date" in 3+ years of owning the CM it has never thrown one single charge over or under the set target weight. I researched the CM in great depth before purchasing then waited for a good sale to come around. When it arrived at my house, I did all of the known modifications straight out of the box before i ever threw my first powder charge with it. It has never failed me once. I have used every type of ball and extruded powder in the IMR, Hodgdon, and Alliant lineup. Have used a couple Accurate and Ramshot powders as well.

My last reloading session I threw 600 charges with the CM for my 204 Ruger using RL15 for spring gopher season. I even sped up the final trickle times slightly over the normal programming mods due to the large volume in that session. Not ONE single mishap.

I may be the only one that can honestly make that claim in your poll, but thats fine with me. Its the Gods honest truth!

I have read everyone elses issues with the CM many times over. Now i can add your issues to the pile. Honestly cant say why mine works so well. Maybe i have it set up a little different? Dont know. But i wouldnt sell my CM for anything. Its even accurate enough that it turned my GemPro 250 into unused decorative table fodder. And I only use my FX120i for rifles that require the utmost attention to detail. Other than that the more accurate scales just sit there hoping for a turn at the table.
 
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Is there a modification that makes the scale display two decimal places? It appears to only display one decimal place when set to read in grains for which the stated resolution is +/- .1
 
Is there a modification that makes the scale display two decimal places? It appears to only display one decimal place when set to read in grains for which the stated resolution is +/- .1

Yes the CM only displays 1/10th grain increments. Tho judging by the verified thrown weights of my CM, I believe it is measuring more accurately than that internally.

I'm not sure how the OP is checking his weights down to the 1/100th of a grain... It would have to be an extremely accurate (and probably extremely expensive) secondary scale for verification.

I can check my CM throws on a FX120i which has a resolution of 2/100th of a grain (.02)
 
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I can check my CM throws on a FX120i which has a resolution of 2/100th of a grain (.02)

At what amount of charge weight variation do you detect a change in POI? I want to start shooting at 600 yards plus and curious to know if I too need a scale having .02 resolution...
 
Oops! Well some how the final portion of my post was lost upon posting. The new insert was taken from the tip of a cheap ball point pen as illustrated. Weights were checked on a Bald Eagle whereby the pan was tared before every weighing to eliminate drift.
 
for competition ?
for fun
steel or score targets
bench rest m f class, or mil targets.

mil targets are very large
f class is getting tuffer and tuffer
benchrest is tuf period.
the tuffer the game the more attention to loading details.
At what amount of charge weight variation do you detect a change in POI? I want to start shooting at 600 yards plus and curious to know if I too need a scale having .02 resolution...
 
that scale is .001 grams, which is .015x grains...which is not the same as .01......
in rounding numbers .0049 is rounded down,, .005x is rounded up...
the 01 grain is more like 0.02 in this case.
still doing very well
Oops! Well some how the final portion of my post was lost upon posting. The new insert was taken from the tip of a cheap ball point pen as illustrated. Weights were checked on a Bald Eagle whereby the pan was tared before every weighing to eliminate drift.
 
For those of you who have done it all, what upgrades should be done to the Chargemaster? I have had and used one since they came out and never done an upgrade. Thanks
 
for competition ?
for fun
steel or score targets
bench rest m f class, or mil targets.

mil targets are very large
f class is getting tuffer and tuffer
benchrest is tuf period.
the tuffer the game the more attention to loading details.

Currently shooting 300 yard bench rest, the current focus being on minimizing group size. I at times experience “flyers” that I didn’t call when shot broke, and it’s not always vertical. The most likely source is me, but my scale resolution is only +/- .1 grains and that makes me wonder about charge weight variation... at least for the vertical portion!
 
the first thing a br shooter will ask, "did you have flags out?"
at 300 it will be noticeable.
there are IMHO, three levels of br shooters.
thrown charges, poorly results plus or minus .3 or more seldom makes the top 10
thrown charges, better thrower, developed skill in throwing top 10 is possible
skilled chargemaster users, top 10 not an issue, missing wind call is bigger issue.
if you are not going to scale to .01/.02m then a chargemaster , tuned seems to be the ticket.
the issue IMHO is the the best powder thrower will still screw up with a powder that foes not meter well.

Currently shooting 300 yard bench rest, the current focus being on minimizing group size. I at times experience “flyers” that I didn’t call when shot broke, and it’s not always vertical. The most likely source is me, but my scale resolution is only +/- .1 grains and that makes me wonder about charge weight variation... at least for the vertical portion!
 

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