A better way to measure powder?

Wyomuleskinner

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 13, 2020
Messages
160
I have the v4 AutoTrickler I love it. It is money well spent. However, I was using a Frankfort arsenal prior to my v4 and although my es is slightly improved I don't notice any difference in my ability to hit targets down range. The v4 is nice but the Frankfort arsenal was no slouch. I haven't used other Auto dispensers so I don't know about them. I think you would be quite happy with a Frankfort.
 

gpkhill2

FNG
Joined
Dec 9, 2012
Messages
73
I've owned a couple motorized powder dispensers. One Lyman and one Hornady. Both were finicky. I've went back to a powder thrower and trickler with a Creedmore sports TRX 925 scale. It's faster and more precise
 

Novashooter

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 14, 2023
Messages
286
This is one of those things you just have to try and find out. For certain you will want a better scale than that Hornady digital scale. I never gave much thought to tricklers, they either work or they don't. I've never seen one that worked better or worse, they are just a tube that trickles powder. I've never used the Hornady powder measure, but they appear to be fine. I've used quite a few powder measures, some are better than others, but none are that bad. That Hornady one looks like a good simple design. If you are using an old school stick powder like IMR 4064, Reloader 15 etc. then none of them are that much better than the others. The best you can hope for is plus or minus .3 grains (depending on powder charge). These kinds of powders are usually very forgiving though so that isn't that bad. Most people drop low, then trickle up from there.

I've also used an RCBS Chargemaster. It's a cool unit but it does have drawbacks. One of the issues I found is that it is not nearly as accurate as many claim it to be. It is more accurate than a powder measure, but it's not perfect. I once measured 30 throws from it onto my beam scale and it varied plus or minus .1 grains. Some of that is from a less than perfect electric scale, some is from trickling too much. That's definitely good enough for most people, but it is not as accurate as hand trickling and a beam scale. Another issue you can get into is scale drift. All electric scales drift as they warm up, and if you don't know this you can end up being .2-.3 grains off, maybe even more. Also be certain the unit is not sitting on the reloading bench, or at least do not do anything on the bench until it is done charging. Any vibration will throw it way off. The biggest problem for me was the speed. For people only loading precision or hunting ammo, it should be fine. I found loading 100 rounds at a time was not going great this way.

Today a lot of the time I run my charges straight from the powder measure. If I'm going for precision, I will drop low and trickle up. I haven't kept up with how the current units are, but as of about 5 years ago I could drop and trickle a charge about twice as fast as a Chargemaster. Getting a good beam scale with magnetic dampening is the key for both accuracy and speed. I'm not even sure what model I have, it is an RCBS, looks like an M500. There are probably better ones out there, but there's probably better auto-dispensers than a Chargemaster too.
 
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UCO___

FNG
Joined
Apr 14, 2022
Messages
10
Since your goal is to get a v4, why not up your game now by changing your scale to the one the v4 uses?

A&D FX-120i

 
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