Hornady powder dispenser (auto)

[skeetlee]

Anyone get there hands on this new powder dispenser yet? I was wondering how they are? Do they run off a battery or electric only? I am wanting another dispenser i can take to the shoots with me. I dont want to take my rcbs out of the house as it is pretty darn accurate, and i would hate to mess that up. the hornady is priced right, from what i have seen, but is it a case as to, you get what you pay for? Hornady is a good company so i am sure it will be ok. I just havent heard anyone talk much about it. Anyone here using one? Lee

 

[EdwinD]

mine did not make it through the first day!

 

[7stubby]

I got one back a month ago and have been very, very pleased. 2 times faster then the Chargemaster. I had a Chargemaster and sold it because I liked the Hornady. It my not be able to store charges in memory and all the bells and whistles the Chargemaster has, but its is fast and throws dead on pretty much all the time. And I have compared them side by side, one throws a charge take it off pour it in the others pan, and its the same, 30.0grs of Varget weighs 30.0grs on the other. My vote is the Hornady and I have used it for the last month to load over 500 rounds. Just my 3 cents.

 

[Joe O]

mine did not make it through the first day!

So tell us the story.I'm interested in the speed.What happened?

 

[Steve692]

Ive had one for about two weeks. Double checked weights every which way I could........zero problems and if it says it went over .1 grain........that is what it checked out at on the balance scale too.

That RARELY happens to me so far. Maybe twice out of a 100 charges that range from 29-52 grains.

So far? LOVE IT!

 

[EdwinD]

Hornady is a great company!

They will resolve any problem I have.

 

[juliomorris]

Mine is accurate and fast depending on the powder. BLC-2 is slow but IMR4350 is fast.

 

[StraightPipes]

Well boys, "how fast is it"? If you can seat a bullet between charges, its just like all the rest.

Now, if you can "load a block" of cases at a decent pace without getting board we might have something here.

 

[7stubby]

With loading a 6 Dasher with 32.2 grains of Varget, the time I pour the powder into the case then set the pan back on the scale and then seat a bullet, then check length, look at the loaded round, then place it in the ammo box. The next charge has been sitting there waiting on me to pick it up and repeat the process. Its twice as fast as the Chargemaster I had and dead on too. And thats on normal speed too.

 

[StraightPipes]

7stubby

I realize that most of these machines are not "totally" accurate when you speed them up. I see that you can do some other things between charges, myself I load powder into an entire block of cases before moving on to the seating of the bullets.

This machine has 3 speeds. How long does it take to throw your charge of VARGET into the powder pan?

 

[7stubby]

Takes about 10-15 sec for a 30.0 gr charge of Varget on normal speed. I compared the Hornady with the RCBS and the RCBS took almost 30 secs to throw the same charge side by side. Hope this helps.

 

[StraightPipes]

Now were saying something here!! 10-15 seconds is moving right along.

I talked with Hornady today, they couldnt give me the time in seconds. But, they did say this; this machine will stop just for a second at the end of the pre-set cycle (charge weight) and go into "trickle mode" to finish the cycle. It tends to be quite accurate at "normal" speed which I assume is "low" speed. If you stick it into high gear, it might over-run a couple of tenths.

Its about time the industry has built something with an "accurate speed" for the task at hand. I couldnt justify 2-300 dollars when I could do it faster with a pinch of my fingers.

7stubby, thanks for the information.

 

[StraightPipes]

Hey fellas, when you want to change powders will the drain tube on this thing allow "ALL" the powder out of the reservoir?

I can just see me turning this thing upside down and shaking it. HaHa!!! Really now, I stopped building "tri-plex" loads long ago. Tell me that you can see "for sure" that every last kernel is eliminated from the entire mechanism before filling it with a different powder.

 

[riverwolf1]

Hey guy's still haven't seen one of skeetlees questions answered! What kind of power ,Battery or electric or both?
If it run's on battery anyone know how long the battery lasts with constant use ?

 

[7stubby]

Electric. No place for batteries. Using Varget powder. Any other questions??

 

[riverwolf1]

Thanks 7stubby, I think that will preclude it being used at the range, as a portable unit? I looked at 2 different suppliers and it didn't say how it was powered! The rcbs can be powered by battery which seems to be the way to go if your toting it to the range.

 

[jesker]

I have a Hornady and a RCBS side by side and keep both running at the same time to keep up. I prefer the RCBS for accuracy, the Hornady is a pain to get the powder out of the hopper to clean, it is AC power only

 

[StraightPipes]

Jesker, thanks for telling us about the cleaning pain of the Hornady. So, how much of a pain is it? I really wasnt joking about shaking this thing upside down to get all the powder out of it. With "any" of these dispensers, can you be sure the entire unit is free of powder before you dump in a new or different powder?

 

[juliomorris]

I think it cleans up easy. You can remove the cylinder and rotate it. It is just as easy as the RCBS to clean up. To get the powder out of the tube I set it to 50 grs and let it dispense and that usually gets all the powder out of the tube fairly quickly. I also check every 5/10th load against my RCBS digital scale and it always reads the same. I think its as good as the RCBS not better. Maybe faster with some powders. If you are having problems with overcharges try increasing the trickle point 2-4 grs it works great for rl-15 and blc2. Its in the directions on how to do it.

 

[7stubby]

Update on my Hornady Auto-Charge. 2-3 weeks ago, it seems it took a turn for the worst. Was loading so 7WSM using H4831 and every charge it threw was half to a full grain over from where I wanted to be. Tried it on slow and normal speeds. Still got the same thing. I loaded 50, then said I'm done with this crap. Went to a manual powder thrower and a digital scale. I've had it with electronic powder throwers. Just my rant.