Buzzsaw
Member
which powders will meter well through the Chargemaster?
.38 special
.357 magnum
.44 Magnum
.38 special
.357 magnum
.44 Magnum
RCBS Chargemaster for pistol
- Thread starter Buzzsaw
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Twoboxer
Member
The Chargemaster does as well as most well-operated powder measures on ball and short stick powders. It is likely to do a bit better when using long stick powders.
So for pistol, choose your ball powder for reasons other than Chargemaster acceptability.
Unless you are constantly changing your pistol loading target weights, I don't know why you would want to use a Chargemaster. A decent powder measure with insertable powder meters (eg Hornady) would be far cheaper, much faster, and just as "precise" as the Chargemaster actually is.
The Hornady (and probably other brands) would allow you to use one powder meter for each powder/charge-weight. You set the PM once and swap to the next meter when you change calibers/charges.
So for pistol, choose your ball powder for reasons other than Chargemaster acceptability.
Unless you are constantly changing your pistol loading target weights, I don't know why you would want to use a Chargemaster. A decent powder measure with insertable powder meters (eg Hornady) would be far cheaper, much faster, and just as "precise" as the Chargemaster actually is.
The Hornady (and probably other brands) would allow you to use one powder meter for each powder/charge-weight. You set the PM once and swap to the next meter when you change calibers/charges.
Any powder you run thru it (or I've run thru it) for handguns does fine. That's the beauty of it.
You're just subject to the meter's +/- sensitivity no matter what you're dispensing.
With fine powders it calls it done (rounds off reading) usually on the minus side (about .5 tenth) frequently.
Courser powders usually less frequently.
One caveat: flake powders, ie: Unique, Green/Blue Dot, occasionally have a few flakes fall off the end of the spout after it's called it good & stopped dispensing, which warrants a second look at the reading before you remove the pan as some may have fallen off after it beeped & you looked.
I'm always working up new ladder loads trying different bullets/powder combos & I love having the ChargeMaster for it.
Saves lots of hassle/time tweaking each time you increase a couple tenth of a grain or when you decide to throw another powder in the hopper to run up a different test sequence.
I saw an advertisement teasing they're coming out with a new version?
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scooter123
Member
I would hope that 1/2 grain error is a typo, because a variation of 1/2 grain is something that I would consider unacceptable for a handgun load.
I also fall into the camp of why use a Chargemaster when RCBS offers some excellent volume based powder measures. BTW, mine is the Competition model and Ball powders such as any of the Accurate Handgun powders (2, 5, 7, &9) or H110 will meter with a standard deviation of 0.032 grains. That breaks down to a variation of +/- 0.1 grain at 3 Sigma. As for flake powders such as Unique, they have a SD of 0.17 grains (+/- 1/2 grain) and when loading Handgun loads with these type of powder I hand trickle every single charge thrown.
Hasbeen1945
Absent Comrade
You can buy a insert for the charge master on eBay. Makes it more accurate. Some people insert straws .
I would probably stick to a volume-based dispenser, even if you were loading on a single-stage and had the Chargemaster right there. While it appears the Chargemaster is plenty accurate when dialed-in, I think a bench-mounted dispenser would be faster and plenty good enough.
Are you thinking of the Chargemaster Lite? I believe it drops (quite a few) features, for a price tag that's $70 lower.
BLUEDOT37 said:
Are you thinking of the Chargemaster Lite? I believe it drops (quite a few) features, for a price tag that's $70 lower.
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The way I like to load mine on my single-stage is, once the ChargeMaster is done measuring I dump the powder in the case, check the case volume, seat the bullet in it, then inspect it.
The ChargeMaster is usually done, or just finishing, the next charge by then. I can't load any faster than that.
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No. In the new Handloader magazine (#322) on page 15 RCBS had an ad teasing "A Better Weigh" coming this Fall. The darked out pictures looks like the replacement for the ChargeMaster 1500.
Just looked on their website & it's going to be called the MatchMaster. Coming in Nov-2019.
Matchmaster Powder Dispenser
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Twoboxer
Member
Midway is offering pre-release orders for the Matchmaster @ $899.
That price is $75-$125 lower than the A&D FX120i and Adam MacDonald's Autotrickler/Autothrow combo.The Matchmaster claims a 0.04gr precision vs 0.1gr for the Chargemaster and +/-0.02gr for the AutoTrickler/Thrower combo.
Besides RCBS "admitting" there's significant room for precision improvement, interesting to me are:
(1) RCBS continues to use precision specs without the +/- prefix when they are shown in print. IME +/- 0.1gr is closer to representative for the Chargemaster, though a tad unfair as about 80% of my own throws were +/-0.06gr when reweighed on an A&DFX120i.
(2) They upgraded the trickler outlet pipe by adding a second one and patenting it. The Autotrickler's performance showed that +/-0.2gr can be achieved even with a stock RCBS manual trickler when automated and under proper control by a good scale.
(3) RCBS calls the Matchmaster's scale "pharmaceutical grade" which is an interesting choice vs the minimum type of scale actually required, ie "magnetic force restoration". The scale (and restrictive motor control) is the problem with the Chargemaster (and other dispenser/scale combos).
(4) The Matchmaster is compact, attractive, expensive, and a single integrated unit. So an important thing will be RCBS's warranty and long term post-warranty support. Buying another when one small part of it fails will be unacceptable.
Calliope
Member
Unless you're planning on using Unique only for your handgun loads, the Chargemaster is slow motion over-kill.
Get a quality rotary powder measure.
My Redding 10X is super precise with any powder other than Unique. It's also way, way, faster.
Bullseye, W231, HS-6, WST, WSF, Clays, N310, N340, Power Pistol....they all meter beautifully on a good rotary.
The 10X also has a micrometer head, so settings are repeatable. Very quick to set up/adjust. Dial in the setting, check the charge with a scale (it's always right on), and go.
Half the price of a Chargemaster and three times as fast.
Get a quality rotary powder measure.
My Redding 10X is super precise with any powder other than Unique. It's also way, way, faster.
Bullseye, W231, HS-6, WST, WSF, Clays, N310, N340, Power Pistol....they all meter beautifully on a good rotary.
The 10X also has a micrometer head, so settings are repeatable. Very quick to set up/adjust. Dial in the setting, check the charge with a scale (it's always right on), and go.
Half the price of a Chargemaster and three times as fast.
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