Out Of The Stone Age

[airedale]

Been measuring and weighing my powder charges with a beam scale and typical drum style powder measures, have zero problem loading larger cases and charges, it is the little light charges along with small cases and large quantities that I do not like messing around with anymore. Decided to try modern and go with an RCBS electronic job and speed things up. It is rated well so I hope I like it.

Al

[Pygmy]

Way cool, Al.... I am still using my  beam balance scale that I bought from Herter's in the mid 1970's... I do have a Lyman beam balance to check it with.... Of course the lightest charges I  measure are 40 grain plus, and I seldom load more than 40 rounds ( more often 20) at a sitting...   Enjoy your new toy, you Old Fart....<<<GRIN>>>...........

[Shoots100]

Auto dispensers are great, just remember to let it warm up and calibrate it before use.

You will also need to adjust the trickle and main dispensing speeds for different powder types.

Ball and short grain powders work the best.

Good luck.

SJC

 

[Nytracker]

I have been thinking  about one of these powder dispenser myself. Have been wondering about consistency.  Im sure some of my handguns rounds I will always run on the beam. .

[airedale]

I have zero complaints with the accuracy of my old stuff, my scale is a Lyman made by O'Haus, a 10-10 model I think it is over 50 yrs old, I actually have 3 powder measures and they have always done the job for me. I like using the Lyman measure pictured because for small charges because of it's extreme accuracy, it is the initial setup that makes me nuts, but once I got her set she is dead on. I have an old large capacity Cortland Redding that I use for the large charges and it has done me well.

Al

[rob-c]

Thought I’d post my semi diy powder drop  since we’re talking reloading . I got a smoking deal on a used Lee classic cast turret and wanted to drop my powder on the press as I’m loading . So I bought the Lee deluxe measure and welded up a mount to position it over my thru expander die. The upright tube is scrap I had laying around with a nut welded in the bottom and the extension is actually a 7/8 box end wrench that the powder measurer  body fits perfect in . It’s held on to the press by a bolt threaded up through the press base and then I screw it on and tighten into position. I used to load all my rifle cases on a single stage , but I’ll tell ya the ammo loaded on the turret is just if not more accurate than the single stage. 

[airedale]

Nifty setup Rob, looks good and I like it, I have one of those Lee presses myself, I used it quite a bit for loading large quantities of handgun ammo. I have no problem with the quality of the ammo it loads but for me it is one of those can't teach an old dog new tricks deals. I have been loading so many years one way (single stage Press) my routine is so ingrained in me I kept going back to techniques I know best and use the old single stage Bair Kodiak press. Hope this new fangled powder measure works out better for me LOL.

Al

[airedale]

The RCBS chargemaster came yesterday, I got it setup on the bench, watched RCBS's video on how to operate it and today after I got my chores done I sat down and put it to work weighing and charging about 100 256 Winchester mag cases.

Right off the bat I could see this electronic job is not as fast as the old tried and true beam scale, drum powder measure and bench trickler. After using the old stuff for over 50 years and thousands of loads I got pretty good at using it with both speed and accuracy.

That being said I do like this gizmo even though it is slow. After I changed my loading routine I became more familiar and got things moving along.

When powder charging I always did the whole batch at once and then moved on with the whole batch to the press to seat the bullet. With the electronic job I started with a sized case, charged it with powder, then set the powder pan right back on the electronic charger to get a new charge and continued on with the newly charged case to the RCBS summit press where I seated the bullet.

This charge master is very accurate right to the tenth of a grain, A little bit of a learning curve but once I got into the groove I started cranking out rounds at a decent pace.

So while I do like the thing because it is all in one and takes up less bench space I do not believe it is any better than the old drum measures and beam scales. Maybe as I use it more I will shine up to it.

So as far as loaded ammo I am set for awhile, I have some 60 gr Wichester open points, a pile of Missouri Bullet company 85 gr lead hard cast that duplicates the old 25-20 round, then some high octane stuff 90 gr Sierra HPs and some Barnes 80 gr copper, I had to remove the plastic tip so they would fit in the magazine and so they would function in the rifle.

Al

Edited November 23, 2022 by airedale

[Lawdwaz]

Looks like nice set up.   

[airedale]

On this windy raw rainy day I figured it would be time well spent churning out a batch of hi performance 357 mag rounds and get some more practice with that fancy RCBS electronic powder measure, I am coming along with this thing. This is the same bullet (Hornady 140 XTP) and powder I used for last year's buck out of my Henry single shot, I tuned this batch down just a bit as they will be shot in my revolver.

Al