Auto Powder Measure/Scales- Chargemaster, CM Lite, and others
Yesterday at 11:51 PM
I am new to reloading.  I quickly learned that dispensing that powder and weighing it is a major pain in my ass.  I am loading for precision. Mostly 6.5 Creed so my development batches often had a powder difference of about .2 or .3 grains.  Using the powder measure that came with my Hornady classic press kit.  Along with the measure I got a RCBS stand, and am using the small basic digital scale that came with the kit.  Getting the precise amount of IMR 4350 using the measure and trickler was first off all extremely messy I ended up using a Tupperware pan to hold the tray to keep the extra powder from flying everywhere.  Generally it took a number of minuts for me to give 3-5 stroker with the measure and some time trickeling in powder to get my 40ish grain load.  Although I got faster as I went I found the process tp be a huge pain in the butt and very frustrating and messy.

Naturally I began shopping around for a device to automate this process.
the brands/models I have looked at are:
-Hornady- the reviews I read/watched where not great for this device.  Over charging seems to be an almost constant problem with this device.
- RCBS Chargemaster 1500- good reviews, not perfect but compared with the Hornady seems miles better.  One con for me is it seems to have alot of features in the computer that I simply dont need; a 30 round memory capacity for example.
-RCBS- Chargemaster Lite -  A new product, have not found any feedback
I am interested to hear peoples experiences with these measures and or other that I have not listed, like the Layman for example.

Thanks

One option is to consider:

#1 You need to be consistent in the operation of the powder measure.
#2 Once you have a "routine" your variations should decrease.   When I use an RCBS Uniflow I use a firm upstroke and a double tap to settle the powder and then firm stroke down.
The old manually operated Dillon PM was capable of +/- 0.01gr using IMR 4895.  The current measure does not offer that consistency with the fail safe rod and case activation IMHO.
#3 for load development just set the measure on the low end and then use a trickler to finish it off.

You can program the Hornady powder measure to start to trickle earlier.

It has two modes of operation
1) dump powder
2) trickle powder

Example. You need 42.7 grains of IMR 4064. Hornady will dump 41.2 gr as fast as possible. Then trickle 0.5 gr. If it goes over a lot just set it to trickle from 0.5 gr to 1.0 grain. I have one it works fine.

I just bought the Chargemaster and so far I'm happy with it. Did the straw trick and get maybe 1 in 10 over charges using H4350. Not too bad. I may mess with the programming later but for now it's fine. Natchez has them on sale right now for $259. Had mine in 4 days.

Did you consider the Chargemaster Lite?  I am trying the determine what the features (or lack there of) that warrant the $60+ price difference,