Both MXX123 and Chargemaster-overkill?

[Kevin_Duckworth]

Is the Chargemaster "good enough" that check weighing with the MXX123 is unnecessary? Or does the Chargemaster make a convenient way of getting it mostly right, and the MXX123 finishes the job?

Alternatively taking a different view altogether, "don't bother with the Chargemaster, go straight to the MXX123"?

Thanks for your input.

Kevin

 

[chuckw2]

Interesting question Kevin. To answer both your questions is simply yes. I own both machines, and they are both overkill. I have not used my Chargemaster in over six months.

My MXX-123 is worth its weight in gold, I simply would not reload without it. I have several other digital and beam scales but they are not even close to my MXX.


I use a Harrell's to drop and then trickle up to my desired weight on the MXX. I am pretty fast this way but mostly I do it because I can get the charge weight dead on. This too is probably overkill. Does it really matter if I have 45.3 or 45.5 grains of N-165?

I shoot mainly at 600 and 1000 yards, there are so many environmental things to deal with not to mention operator error at these distances. I still try to eliminate as many of the variables as possible. The MMX helps with this.

When I am loading 1000 .223's to shoot dog with. I would not use anything but the Chargsmaster...

They both have their purpose.

Chuck

 

[chuckw2]

Dave,
My Chargemaster is an early one also.. I haven't made any modifications to it. When I do use it I am always well below max loads because I do not trust it 100%

Chuck

 

[ReedG]

IMHO the Harrel's or Redding powder measure will throw as accurately as the ChargeMaster will "dispense". Just about all the world and national benchrest records were set with "thrown" charges with no weighing at all. I think we in the reloading community are becoming gadget freaks and trying to rationalize it.

But guess it beats TV ...

 

[Kevin_Duckworth]

Agree about the fine grained BR powders like VV133 etc that meter "nicely".

However while YMMV I find that Varget for instance does not throw nearly so consistently through my Harrels as say VV133 or H322.

I'm really posing the original question more from a long range point of view,with its associated powders.)

Kevin

 

[JamesnTN]

Well.........

I own the newer charge master and use it still on all my extruded powders as anything that drops powder will not do a good job of throwing these larger grns of powder.
Do I trust it aboslutly????? No way. My only trust in it is to set it .1 grn shy and sometimes it will throw a charge on the money. Most time it's under and a few times it's over.

My Harrell is not as accurate either I dropped a load other night that was .4 under, and then the next charge was .7 grns over.

My DI 603 has helped me tremendously in consistincy, The same will go for you if you use the MXX-123 in conjunction with throwing your powder from a dispenser or dropping it from a measurer.
One day those short range guys will get the picture as I can prove what .1 grn in a small case does in accuracy.
The trhing with those guys is they all feel they have to load at the range and just change as the day goes on. Us Long range shooters load at home and go shoot the next day and shoot groups in alot of instances that'll shoot right there with the short range bunch. If SR has an ES of 30 fps they may not see the result on paper but it's there they just accept that .1-.2 group but that one shot that made it from a "0" to the bigger group could had very well been that one charge that had too much powder or not enough. They will never know though.
This is why my loads will be within .01 + or- of my desired charge.

 

[dreever]

I think at 100 yards it will be darn tough to measure the difference between thrown charges vs weighed on the target. Hence the reason most short range benchrest competitors just throw charges with their Harrell's measure.
At longer ranges it's a different story. Weighed charges and bullet concentricity definitely come into play.
I've weighed hundreds of charges thrown with my Harrell's Premium BR measure on my MXX-123 and even though they may be within .3 most of the time there is always that one or two that are way off. Shooting at 500 meters and beyond I won't trust .3 to be good enough. I want my powder charges to be right on and the concentricity of my loaded rounds to be .0005 or less, and yes I believe I can see the results on the target.

Overkill? No, I don't think so. It all depends what your expectations are.

Danny

 

[montanaearl]

danny, what do you do special to get these wonderfully concentric rounds?