Omega Auto Trickler vs a high end digital scale

[jrb572]

I never really used it with the chargemaster. It was quicker using the Scott Parker layman. I got rid of my chargemaster before I got my gem pro. With the Lyman I had it set where it would shut off about 1-2 grains low and I would trickle up to the finish weight. I like the omega but going from one powder to the next you almost have to retune it to the new style powder. I went Prometheus because it supposed to be super accurate on its own. You might have to trickle a grain here and there. I've been told once it's up and running correctly the Prometheus will charge faster than what I'm using now.

 

[jlow]

So when you weigh a few identical charges on your RCBS/Omega setup, and then weigh them on the GemPro, how is the repeatability; are the charges all the same, or how much different? Why did you decide to get the Prometheus?

I think that is highly unlikely since the RCBS is only capable of trickling to 0.1 grain accuracy... So regardless of how much control you have with the Omega, you are still only able to discriminate a 0.1 grain change. The Prometheus like the autotrickler will do 0.02 grain sensitivity - the BIG difference is the PRICE..... If you thought $1,500 (which is NOT the cost of the A&D/autotrickler combo) was a lot of money, you need to find out how much the Prometheus cost to RENT.....

LOL!

 

[MJT]

I think that is highly unlikely since the RCBS is only capable of trickling to 0.1 grain accuracy... So regardless of how much control you have with the Omega, you are still only able to discriminate a 0.1 grain change. The Prometheus like the autotrickler will do 0.02 grain sensitivity - the BIG difference is the PRICE..... If you thought $1,500 (which is NOT the cost of the A&D/autotrickler combo) was a lot of money, you need to find out how much the Prometheus cost to RENT.....

LOL!

I saw a video of one of the scales that were accurized by Scott, and the balance is far more sensitive than a stock one. I was curious to see how the Omega's photoelectric eye would work with that; the best way to figure that out would be to weigh the charges on a digital scale.

 

[MJT]

I never really used it with the chargemaster. It was quicker using the Scott Parker layman. I got rid of my chargemaster before I got my gem pro. With the Lyman I had it set where it would shut off about 1-2 grains low and I would trickle up to the finish weight. I like the omega but going from one powder to the next you almost have to retune it to the new style powder. I went Prometheus because it supposed to be super accurate on its own. You might have to trickle a grain here and there. I've been told once it's up and running correctly the Prometheus will charge faster than what I'm using now.

So I hear you saying the accuracy/repeatabilty of your beam scale/Omega setup might be similar to a digital scale, but not convenient when using various powders. Maybe once you get running on the Prometheus, you could throw a few charges on the beam/Omega and weigh them on the Prometheus?

 

[jrb572]

I saw a video of one of the scales that were accurized by Scott, and the balance is far more sensitive than a stock one. I was curious to see how the Omega's photoelectric eye would work with that; the best way to figure that out would be to weigh the charges on a digital scale.

Yes the Scott Parker scale will show 1 grain of Varget when added. Yes the Prometheus is not cheap and not for all. It is a lease. But give Brand a call he's a great guy. I can try to show the difference between throws from the Parker scale to the Prometheus. But I don't know if the gem pro is the scale to do that.

 

[jlow]

I saw a video of one of the scales that were accurized by Scott, and the balance is far more sensitive than a stock one. I was curious to see how the Omega's photoelectric eye would work with that; the best way to figure that out would be to weigh the charges on a digital scale.

It really comes down to what you are looking for. A beam scale as you said works perfectly fine and have good sensitivity but I would guess that it is not a speed demon. The advantage of the A&D FX-120/autotrickler is that it is very fast and very accurate at the same time - pretty much a Prometheus but at something like 1/5 the cost and also it takes up much less room.

If you shoot a lot and find yourself dreading the weighting, the A&D FX-120/autotrickler is the most cost effective, high quality, and high throughput machine out there. There are LOTS of guys on this board that have brought it. It is so fast it changes how you think about how your reload because you can actually weight out loads that you know you will likely never use but have it just in case that load works and you can use the pre-weight powder to put the load together at the range.

The often abused saying "game changer" does indeed apply here...

 

[MJT]

It really comes down to what you are looking for. A beam scale as you said works perfectly fine and have good sensitivity but I would guess that it is not a speed demon. The advantage of the A&D FX-120/autotrickler is that it is very fast and very accurate at the same time - pretty much a Prometheus but at something like 1/5 the cost and also it takes up much less room.

If you shoot a lot and find yourself dreading the weighting, the A&D FX-120/autotrickler is the most cost effective, high quality, and high throughput machine out there. There are LOTS of guys on this board that have brought it. It is so fast it changes how you think about how your reload because you can actually weight out loads that you know you will likely never use but have it just in case that load works and you can use the pre-weight powder to put the load together at the range.

The often abused saying "game changer" does indeed apply here...

looked at the video by Adam, that's insane. I load about 6,000 rounds during the summer so this thing would sure speed things up. How is the drift on the scale do you know?

 

[Twoboxer]

An A&D FX120i costs about $550 and is the least expensive mag force restoration digital scale we have found so far. It reads to 0.02gr and normally doesn't drift at all. That's why it is popular, and that's why the autotrickler was initially designed for that scale.

The experience using one is unlike using any (strain gauge) digital scale you can purchase for a lower price.

An Omega does absolutely nothing to produce consistent loads. What it does very well is make hand trickling easier, and it can be pretty good at dispensing a single particle of many powders on demand, replacing "tweezers".

As you've seen, the autotrickler receives the current weight and stops trickling within 0.02gr of your target. How close the throws will be to your target depends mostly on how much a particle of your powder weighs. This approach would not be practical with a strain gauge scale for one or more of a variety of reasons.

 

[1066]

This was a "Daily Bulletin" article, originally dating back to 2011, showing a humble RCBS 502 scale and an auto trickler at work. No - Not an Omega, but it may give an insight, for anyone unfamiliar with these systems, of how they work.

Article and video HERE

 

[johara1]

If you shoot competitively, you must learn what it cost to go to these matches to loose. You can then justify the cost, i soon learned what worked and what didn't. I went from 7" groups to 2" groups at 1000. I started with a beam scale to a tuned beam scale and a omega trickler. Finally a GD503 with the trickler plus the annealer and bullet sorting and point equipment. It is all part of the puzzle, now it comes down to barrel quality and bullets..... jim

 

[jlow]

looked at the video by Adam, that's insane. I load about 6,000 rounds during the summer so this thing would sure speed things up. How is the drift on the scale do you know?

The A&D FX-120 is very stable but a Youtube is worth more than a thousand words - Adam's words in the video:

Check it out.