RCBS charge master....

[Rsadams]

Been thinking about buying one lately to use with blue dot for 10mm loads... Every thrower I have hates blue dot ( Lee , RCBS , Dillon ).... I have the Dillon powder through die setup on my 550 but weighing out charges with old eye sight is getting old fast...

My question is I know in the beginning they were having some problems with machine failure after about a year and inconstant powder drops... Now that years have passed have they worked the kinks out.??? I can afford the lite version but the other two models are out of reach for me right now being retired... I guess I could also use it for my large rifle loads but right now I would mainly be using it for dispensing blue dot for the 10mm....

 

[RegionRat]

You ask a good question, but I don't know of one of these companies that shares data on their failure and return stats.

As a consumer you can only gather a clue from the internet forums and the ratings on shopping web sites, but it is hard to know if they are sending out lemons or not since some folks seem to use a loud speaker for everything and others don't report at all.

I have gifted several powder dispensers in the last two years and all of them are still running. I did wait for almost a year after COVID since the forums seemed to be full of failure complaints and shortages, but then had no choice cause several folks wanted to start reloading themselves. Those were three of the RCBS and one of the Hornady. I too was worried about all the failure reports on here and other forums, but after a point you don't have a choice but to take a risk or do nothing.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Hornady unit but it is roughly the same idea as the RCBS units in that same price level, and there are as many complaints on those as the RCBS on the internet.

Because of the nature of a rotating tube pump, and the type of load cell scales these units use, you have to be careful to keep the ES of your charges down or they can go over 0.2 grains. If folks are telling the truth, these units will have an ES on the order of 0.4 to 0.5 grains if the operator just flies through and accepts every drop. You would not call them fast either, but they certainly can reduce your fatigue level. YMMV

 

[Rsadams]

You ask a good question, but I don't know of one of these companies that shares data on their failure and return stats.

As a consumer you can only gather a clue from the internet forums and the ratings on shopping web sites, but it is hard to know if they are sending out lemons or not since some folks seem to use a loud speaker for everything and others don't report at all.

I have gifted several powder dispensers in the last two years and all of them are still running. I did wait for almost a year after COVID since the forums seemed to be full of failure complaints and shortages, but then had no choice cause several folks wanted to start reloading themselves. Those were three of the RCBS and one of the Hornady. I too was worried about all the failure reports on here and other forums, but after a point you don't have a choice but to take a risk or do nothing.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Hornady unit but it is roughly the same idea as the RCBS units in that same price level, and there are as many complaints on those as the RCBS on the internet.

Because of the nature of a rotating tube pump, and the type of load cell scales these units use, you have to be careful to keep the ES of your charges down or they can go over 0.2 grains. If folks are telling the truth, these units will have an ES on the order of 0.4 to 0.5 grains if the operator just flies through and accepts every drop. You would not call them fast either, but they certainly can reduce your fatigue level. YMMV

Thanks for the reply... Right now using the RCBS 10/10 and trickle up method is incredibly slow and even painful leaning over trying to see where the scale is... Because of that I am making mistakes like forgetting to push the handle forward to prime the next case.... I always keep I very close eye on powder levels before seating a bullet and moving on.... Maybe I just need to develop a pattern on doing it... The Dillon has me spoiled but the blue dot powder just will not meter.... I have seen as much as 4/10 of a grain off set charge with it... Unfortunately I have 4 pounds of it so I am going to use it.... I never dreamed a flake powder wouldn't meter when I bought it... Unfortunately right now you have to buy what you can get....

 

[Juma]

CM is robot reliable. Got 1500 and Lite. Keep buying if had the coin. Super accurate.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

The failures seem excessive because the ones that have ran for 15yrs now you never hear about. Run it on a battery only and you wont have issues

 

[shoot4fun]

I did have a failure on one. Traced it down to a bad power supply.
The tech at RCBS sent me an email with a link to the proper replacement from Amazon.
Never used it for pistol powder though. It seems the margin of accuracy could be an issue for throwing pistol powders but, again, I never used it for pistol loading. I relied on a Dillon powder measure for that.

 

[SEM]

I use a lot of BlueDot, I use Lees cheap perfect powder measure it is the only reliable one I have found when it comes to BlueDot, When new I dissemble the entire measure and coat it with Ivory bar soap, you can just like your washing your hands apply to every part or dissolve it in a small bowl and dip each piece, the trick is not wipe it off just let it dry, I normally drop charges from 4 to 14 grains ,After a lot of use it is suggested to recoat it I have not after several years of use, My RCBS charge master is over 15 years old it is just painfully slow

Hope this helps

 

[3Ackleys]

I have a CM with 10 years on it. Had to replace a power supply about 3 years ago, but it runs good. For pistol ammo I use a Hornady ammo plant with the Hornady LnL powder measure. I have loaded thousands of 10 mm with Blue dot, without issue. Also have loaded lots of 22 TCM,32 H&R, 38/357,41Mag, 44sp/44mag.