Consistant and accurate powder measure?

[BoydAllen]

As a friend used to say,"Give me a drag off of that when you are through with it." I have spent more time with every powder measure known to man, trying more throwing techniques than you have ever heard of or read, and from all of that I have learned that no powder measure will ever throw consistent perfect charges, but if the technique and design is good, and the load not too small relative to the granule size, charges can be thrown that are satisfactory for many applications. For everything else, throw light and trickle, or buy a Chargemaster.

 

[bozo699]

Boyd,
A chargemaster is a good machine but it won't throw nearly as accurate as your tuned up 1010 scale will it?.... I know mine won't work nearly as well as my half tuned up 5-10 scale that you have helped me with, by the way I appreciate the help and it has been a definite improvement over what it was, after sunday I will have a couple of days off, I will jump over to BR central and talk you into finishing the project with me. When the 5-10 is completed I will tune up my 1010
Wayne.

 

[BoydAllen]

Wayne,
I shoot short range benchrest, and occasionally ground squirrels. IMO a chargemaster is plenty good for both. As a matter of fact, by careful powder selection for the latter, and much practice with a measure and a good scale for the former, I am able to throw charges that seem to work fine for me. If I were going to get into 600 and 1,000 yd. benchrest, I would probably just throw and trickle, using any of my powder measures, and possibly a Gempro 250. I have made my balance scales much better than they were, but if one has a stable electronic scale, that is accurate to .02 gr.,they can be very good. The most important feature other than stability is being able to trickle and get good response to small additions. I understand that this scale has this quality, and the price point is attractive. I like my balance scales, but they have their own set of issues, if you are trying to maintain them on the razor's edge of performance.
Boyd

 

[hedditch]

May I suggest a JDS Quick Measure Bench Rest Combo. I have found it to be very accurate and extremely fast. This unit, however, is not cheap. I also like the ability of being able to change powders or loads and be within 10ths of a grain and then I am able to refine it to the exact weight within a couple of throws. I use this unit to load a lot of rounds at a sitting. Load developement: I use a 10/10 scale since I am changing the load every 3 or five shots. I didn't have any, not any, good experiences with the Chargemaster. My brother sent three of them back. Not only that, they are made in China and the JDS is made in the good ole USA. Same with Cooper Rifles: made in the USA in Stevensville, MT.

 

[lynn]

PROMETHIUS!!!!!!! 8)
Lynn

 

[mikecr]

My chargemaster(modified) is more accurate than ANY thrower that doesn't trickle to measured weight..
I'm happy with it as many are who have 'tuned' theirs.

I also would not go back to hand trickling on a digital scale that is more accurate than practical.
I've seen first hand that this is a step backwards(using an Acculab/MX/DI).

A good reloading scale is not so sensitive as to be unreliable on a reloading bench. I think this is why beam scales are still so popular. They are easier to get great results with.
With this, I think RCBS was rational in their choice of scale accuracy. If they had gone more accurate(which would have been easy), it would have been less practical as harder to get great results with.

We are a picky bunch with 1/3 of us distrusting digital scales, while another 1/3 wants even more accuracy, and then there is the 1/3 who prefer no scale at all!
In the end I know of no system more accurate than Prometheus. But I wouldn't trade my chargemaster for one.

 

[Rustystud]

I have about 10 different measures ranging in values $55.00 up to $1,500.00. But the charge master with the straw modification and the individual programing is my choice. Have considered buying a second charge master for two reasons. One for each loading bench. and second for alternating use on large capacity cases.
I have not used the newer Hornady electronic measure would like to hear it's comparison to the charge master.
Nat Lambeth

 

[Mark S in NM]

You can reprogram a CM to speed up or whatever.

http://www.sahuntingrifle.co.za/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=24&func=view&catid=8&id=336

 

[00Scot]

Well it looks like I will be investing in the chargemanster. Anyone interested in a Pact electronic dispenser with matching digital scale?

 

[brian427cobra]

I have a Gen 1 Prometheus, I can charge a case with with 1 kernel accuracy every 20-25 seconds, it's probably more like 3/4 kernel accuracy, I want a Gen 2 Prometheus bad, my Gen 1 is completely manual, on the Gen 2 once the modified Uni-Flow is cycled the unit does the rest with 1/3 of a kernel accuracy in about 14 seconds, these units are balance beam scales, hand made by one man Brand Cole, my Gen 1 cost me 1250 used, a Gen 2 is about 3k, and IMHO is totally worth it, this might not be the ticket for short range BR, but for LR work they get you out of the house and onto the range faster, alot faster.

 

[sailhertoo]

At 14 sec's a load I doubt it.

 

[bozo699]

I have a Gen 1 Prometheus, I can charge a case with with 1 kernel accuracy every 20-25 seconds, it's probably more like 3/4 kernel accuracy, I want a Gen 2 Prometheus bad, my Gen 1 is completely manual, on the Gen 2 once the modified Uni-Flow is cycled the unit does the rest with 1/3 of a kernel accuracy in about 14 seconds, these units are balance beam scales, hand made by one man Brand Cole, my Gen 1 cost me 1250 used, a Gen 2 is about 3k, and IMHO is totally worth it, this might not be the ticket for short range BR, but for LR work they get you out of the house and onto the range faster, alot faster.

I always say you get what you pay for, I don't own one of these scales but I will soon, sailhertoo said he doubted 14 seconds, I don't think it takes a full 14 seconds with the GenII
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sqNcs-uWzY

Wayne.

 

[BoydAllen]

After seeing the Prometheus videos, I did a little head scratching, and was able to rig up a way to throw powder directly from one of my measures into a scale pan while it was on the scale (with out powder bouncing out). I had positioned my trickler so that it was also able to add powder with the pan in the same position, and had rigged up a web cam to show a magnified image of the balancing of the scale on my video monitor. With this setup, I could simply drop a charge trickle to weight and then dump the pan into the nearby funnel sitting on the mouth of a case. With some concentration, I could do this in around 15-16 seconds. I suppose the next step would be to set it all up using a digital scale. While I admire the Prometheus, it is way over my budget, and besides, for the kind of shooting that I do, I have absolutely no need.

 

[00Scot]

I have a Gen 1 Prometheus, I can charge a case with with 1 kernel accuracy every 20-25 seconds, it's probably more like 3/4 kernel accuracy, I want a Gen 2 Prometheus bad, my Gen 1 is completely manual, on the Gen 2 once the modified Uni-Flow is cycled the unit does the rest with 1/3 of a kernel accuracy in about 14 seconds, these units are balance beam scales, hand made by one man Brand Cole, my Gen 1 cost me 1250 used, a Gen 2 is about 3k, and IMHO is totally worth it, this might not be the ticket for short range BR, but for LR work they get you out of the house and onto the range faster, alot faster.

I'm afraid to ask but what does something like the Prometheus go for? Either Gen I or Gen II

 

[BoydAllen]

See reply #29, this thread.

 

[00Scot]

See reply #29, this thread.

Thank you. I didn't notice the price since it didn't have the $ with the price in the body of the post

Hollly hellll that is a lot of money. That is certainly not for the casual reloader/shooter. If you are shooting competition or loading custom loads for sale then I could see spending that kind of money. But for anything else I couldn't.

 

[bozo699]

See reply #29, this thread.

Thank you. I didn't notice the price since it didn't have the $ with the price in the body of the post

Hollly hellll that is a lot of money. That is certainly not for the casual reloader/shooter. If you are shooting competition or loading custom loads for sale then I could see spending that kind of money. But for anything else I couldn't.

I suppose you could fit all your money in your coffin but I doubt it would do you any good at that point so I plan on spending some of it real soon on one of these fine scales
Wayne.

 

[00Scot]

Don't get me wrong. That thing is amazing! But at over 30 times the price of the regular Uniflow powder measure that it uses as the base measure I think is a little much. At least for me.

You could buy the chargemaster for $300 or the Prometheus for $3000. Either way you end up with the correct charge that you wanted after each throw. Yes the Prometheus is 10 seconds faster per throw. But $2700 dollars faster?

Now if it deprimed, full length sized, trimmed, deburred, uniformed the primer pocket, inside neck turned, reprimed. dumped the charge, and seated the bullet then I would buy 10 of them and run em 24/7 and start selling custom loads at bulk prices on the internet. But 3k for a powder measure/dispenser? Really?


Sorry, don't mind me. I'm just jealous because I can't afford one ;D

 

[338Lapua]

2 chargemasters in tandem.... 10 second between loads for an average 45 gr load... six hundred bucks LOL.

 

[Rustystud]

338Lapua:

Do you have any interference between the two IR readers on the two RCBS Charge masters working in tandum?
Nat Lambeth