RCBS CHARGE MASTER LITE ?

[jotrot]

Im in the process of looking to buy an auto dispencer for my high volume loading for small varmints in 204ruger, 223rem. and Im looking for some opinions on the chargemaster lite.

Thanks

 

[DngBat7]

The chargemaster & lite are very good units. I feel they are superior to all the other similar models by other company’s. Most reliable and accurate In my opinion. Next up model would be the Adams auto trickler & 120i. I had the chargemaster and was fantastic. Sold it only because I also had Adams setup. Did not need both

 

[hogpatrol]

Depending on the powder, for varmints, you may be able to throw charges as accurate as the RCBS units.

 

[cw308]

I have the ChargeMaster 1500 for 15+ years , didn't need the memory , if they had the lite back then I would have been better off . Just as good as the 1500 without all the features I never use . Keep it simple , it's a nice unit . Hornady also makes one .

 

[Mark M.]

After reading a lot reviews and research on all the different auto dispensers for the last year or so, I purchased the chargemaster lite, and I have not been disappointed, in fact I'm impressed, it's perfect for my needs, I have spot checked it for accuracy and it's been right on, I purchased threw Brownells when on sale also using the 10% and free ship code, it was under 200.

 

[jotrot]

Thank you, enoying the feed back

 

[rwj]

I agree with @hogpatrol that a powder throw may well be consistent/accurate enough for varmint loads. Certainly faster if you’re using a progressive press.

The Lyman Gen 6 is similar to the Chargemaster Lite and has worked well for me, final charge weight is achieved via trickling onto a “tuned” beam scale when the application requires.

 

[dcali]

For varmint loads, I'd just use a powder measure and a fine-grained/ball powder. The Chargemaster is good, but not what I'd want to use for high volume. I'd get the lite over the old one if I didn't already have a 1500.

 

[jpx2rk]

I have a LITE and use it with Varget and BenchMark w/o issue. I would spot check the LITE with a beam scale and were within the stated tolerances of +/- 1/10th grain with a few misses. I got one of the machined inserts for the dispensing tube and it slowed the LITE down to a crawl when trickeling up to the target weight, but it did improve the accuracy. The mickey D's straw may work better but have not tried it.

 

[MikeMcCasland]

I have both a lite and a CM1500; get the lite. As stated above, the lite has all the key features of the CM1500, with none of the extra crap you'll never use. The only down side is, you can't 'tune' the lite like you can the CM1500, so it'll be a bit slower to throw charges.

This probably isn't the case with everyone, but my lite was way more trustworthy/responsive/repeatable than my early revision CM1500 ever was.

In fact, I just got an FX120i and that CM lite was dead on probably ~75% of the time. There was some variation, but not as much as you'd expect...maybe an ES of .14gr out of 100 rounds but a very low SD. If you pay close attention to it trickling, you can usually weigh to +/- a kernel or two.

That said, HogPatrol is correct. You probably don't need an auto trickler for varmint work, and a manual thrower will be significantly faster than either CM lite or 1500. Assuming you have a decently wide 'tune window' on your load, being off .1-.2gr (and if you work on your form, you can usually get pretty consistent throws) isn't really going to show up until you're really reaching out there (for varmints).

tl;dr - If you're going auto-trickler, the Lite is a great option, but you probably don't need anything more than a good manual dispenser.