Thoughts on RCBS Chargemaster and similar dispensers?

[BoydAllen]

All of the fellows who I know who are not necessarily competition shooters but are serious about reloading, have not gone back to a beam scale and trickler after buying and using a Chargemaster. To a man they like them. If you are competing at long distance, then you will probably want something better, but for everything else they have you covered. I have a new Chargemaster Link and I believe that they have made some improvements in the dispensing tube since the original model.

 

[kiwijohn]

A 0.1 grain +/- scale is never going to give the degree of accuracy a "lab scale" can give, does it matter ... I dont know ... depends on what your end use is.
I lived happily in denial with a FA intellidropper and prior to that with a beam and manual powder drop. Any time you put a weighed charge from either of the above onto the platen of a FX or Satoriuos its a bit of a revelation. When you compare two charges even more so.

 

[Chiquita]

I used FA Intellidroper with excellent results. Once in a while, just like any other E-dropper, it goes a bit over. Overall, I was very happy with it.

 

[Konocti's Wigwam]

The ChargeMaster Supreme is better and faster than the 1500. I owned both and sold the 1500. Is a $500 dispenser ever going to be as precise as a $1500 system? Unlikely of course.

I recently got a ChargeMaster Supreme and it's the first electronic throw I've owned. I have been loading with a Gempro 250, a fairly accurate scale, but difficult to trickle with the RCBS trickle contraption I have. I tested the ChargeMaster Supreme against the Gempro and was surprised how accurate the CMS was. My Gempro seems to go up .2 grain after it has time to settle, so it makes manual trickling difficult at best, as it will often go over and I need to remove and trickle again. It's time consuming this way. The CMS saves me a ton of time and for the hunting that I plan, it is more than accurate enough for me.

I fully agree with the other comments, this is not gonna get the accuracy of a Prometeus, or even an Autotrickler v4. Quite a difference in cost however.

 

[MUP]

I just purchased an RCBS Chargemaster 1500 last year and have been pleased with the results so far. I still take the auto dispensed charge and place it on my AnD 120 for verification, but I've been getting great consistency so far, within .1.

 

[William Vogel]

I have the Matchmaster. I have to set it to -.02 grains and use the trickle button to get it to land at the needed charge. Sometimes it overthrows and hits what I actually intended and sometimes it’s under/over. I find the scale to be reasonably accurate but I also calibrate it about every 20 rounds for security because of the invisible insecurity. I believe it’s fairly accurate because of the consistency of my ammunition at the range. Extruded powder tests its metering ability and ball powder as always gives me less consistency at the range. I use ball powder in my 223 guns and have never had good ES and SD numbers. The 223 guns are bolt guns that shoot less than 1/2 MOA but my chronograph numbers suck. Can’t figure that one out and until this summer heat goes away I’m not working up any extruded loads for the 223 rifles.
Speed of dispensing is not really faster with the electronic equipment vs the mechanical thrower and beam scale but I don’t have to drop, move, settle, trickle and dump. The scale is also nice for brass comparison and any other weighing operations. The emptying operation sucks and contamination between powders is inevitable because the powder gets stuck in the rotary valve in the bottom. I have to hold the Matchmaster with the number pad vertical and cycle the valve a bunch to attempt to clear the last remnants of the powder and I find pieces of ball powder in my extruded charges. I remove the tubes and visually check them every change of powder and clean the upper accessible areas of the machine. The only place left for the old powder is in the rotary valve. It’s all plastic and I don’t remove the screws because I’m not going to wear out the threads. You have to be careful and maybe I should waste more powder vs containing all the dump. It’s only a few pieces that I find but I’m sure it’s now in the jug. Maybe I could make a sieve to filter out the ball pieces but I don’t want to handle the powder and contaminate it more with handling.

 

[Bronsin]

I recently bought the Chargemaster Link. Have used it at a couple matches and had good results. It consistently throws .1 under, so I have to just set it higher to get what I actually need. It also needs to throw 4 or more charges for everything to settle in a throw consistent. I should test some groups against my beam just to compare them.

 

[otnot]

I've come to the conclusion that plus or minus .1 grain doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things except in the smaller calibers like .223. I worry more about the weather and me.

 

[Rsadams]

Had mine for awhile now and like it... It's very important to wipe it down with a dryer sheet to remove static electricity.... I mainly use mine to load 10mm with blue dot since blue dot and powder throwers don't really mix... On high power charges I check it with another digital scale to ensure accuracy.... After awhile you can watch it and tell by the way it ends it's cycle if it's correct....

To me the best way is the trickle up method for accuracy as others have said.... BUT for bulk range ammo it works perfectly... It can only get a tenth of a grain accuracy just like most scales under $500... If you're needing better than that I suggest fx120 scale with the auto trickler just be warned the price has some sticker shock value...

Does it work , sure it does and I like mine so far it really helped to wipe it down with the dryer sheet and of course let it warm up before you start using it... I don't regret buying it but I don't use it alot but when I do I it helps... especially for a powder that doesn't work in powder throwers.... If you can afford it then I would try one out.... I use the newest version that replaced the lite... I think it's called the link but I don't use the blue tooth...

 

[STOMP442]

I have been using the charge master since they came out. I am on my second one and been using that one for the last few years. I can not tell the difference on paper between loads loaded with that vs any other method. I love my charge master.

 

[Homerange]

I have the Matchmaster.......
Speed of dispensing is not really faster with the electronic equipment vs the mechanical thrower and beam scale but I don’t have to drop, move, settle, trickle and dump.

This is a result of loading methodology.
If you are charging cases then seating projectiles automatic dispensers speed loading lots.

However to do this you need a firm bench and soft touch so to not impart any vibration into the CM while it is trickling in particular.
By that point I have seated the projectile of the previous load and packed it into a field case, grabbed the next case and funnel and wait for just the trickle to finish and beep to sound.
Before the powder tray leaves the platen the last check is the display for the rare overthrow.

 

[William Vogel]

This is a result of loading methodology.
If you are charging cases then seating projectiles automatic dispensers speed loading lots.

However to do this you need a firm bench and soft touch so to not impart any vibration into the CM while it is trickling in particular.
By that point I have seated the projectile of the previous load and packed it into a field case, grabbed the next case and funnel and wait for just the trickle to finish and beep to sound.
Before the powder tray leaves the platen the last check is the display for the rare overthrow.

I have the chargemaster and beam scale on a bench against the wall. I have a desk with the loading block and charge all the cases. My press, case trimmer and manual powder dispenser are all mounted to a separate table that’s next to the desk. It’s a U shaped arraignment that only shares the concrete slab floor. I don’t impart any vibrations into any of the stations in the loading area. It wasn’t intentional, it was a timeline situation

 

[CharlieNC]

I have a 1500 equipped with a small dispensing insert and parameters adjusted for slow trickling. I watch the final stage of trickling, and as long as that goes smoothly ( ie no clumps or drops from vibration) around 75% are within+/-.05 gr based on weighing thousands of charges for confirmation. That's the same tolerance as my tuned beam scale, but the CM is faster as I i seat bullets as it's working.