Budget Scale/powder thrower Recommendations

[satchamo]

I’m getting back into reloading. Will be doing 22-250 and 243 for my hunting rifles. So we’re talking varget and h4350.

My typical process would be to run out and spend $500 on some sort of electronic thrower because it would save me x time but I’m trying to be reasonable this time so I’m thinking just running a manual thrower then trickling up to my weights BUT I’m open to ideas

Which leads me to my questions:

-what’s a good budget friendly ACCURATE scale option?
-what’s a good manual thrower? I have a cheapo Hornady right now so I’d like something I can dial in with a bit more accuracy.
-should I scrap all these ideas and just grab and rcbs chargemaster?

 

[JamieLee]

I have the AutoTrickler V4, RCBS matchmaster, chargemaster supreme, and the chargemaster link. All are good options. For the money the chargemaster link is a nice little thrower and scale. I use it quite often and if I had to do it all over again, I’d probably buy 5 links before I spent the money on the others I’ve listed. I would use 2 at a time if loading a large amount of rounds. It’s pretty consistent, it’s not really slower than the others and I’ve had good luck so far the last 2 years with it. I have a hard time getting the manual throwers accurate with the extruded stick powders like varget, h4350, h1000…a spherical powder does throw more consistent in manual options. I have a buddy with 3 FA intellidroppers and he’s happy with them, but I have no personal experience.

 

[Castle Rock]

Some balance beam scales and a Redding manual thrower, absolutely no reason to weigh each charge or do any trickling

 

[Weldor]

Sperical I use a Redding, for extruded I use a Lee perfect it works great for long powders. No chopping like the others I've tried. I also use a old Hollywood for sperical.

 

[SloppyJ]

I'm really liking the frankford auto trickler and scale. I let it warm up for about 15min, calibrate the scale, verify zero and roll. It has them thrown out about as quick as I can drop them in a funnel and seat a bullet.

Can't remember what I paid but I think it was right around 200.

 

[Hondo64d]

I’m getting back into reloading. Will be doing 22-250 and 243 for my hunting rifles. So we’re talking varget and h4350.

My typical process would be to run out and spend $500 on some sort of electronic thrower because it would save me x time but I’m trying to be reasonable this time so I’m thinking just running a manual thrower then trickling up to my weights BUT I’m open to ideas

Which leads me to my questions:

-what’s a good budget friendly ACCURATE scale option?
-what’s a good manual thrower? I have a cheapo Hornady right now so I’d like something I can dial in with a bit more accuracy.
-should I scrap all these ideas and just grab and rcbs chargemaster?

If you are using ball powders, with a good mechanical powder measure, you can throw the charges without trickling, with amazing consistency, well under .1gr variation. For ball powders, I’d be looking at one of the Harrells.

If throwing extruded powders, I’ve had the most consistent results with a Lee powder measure. As mentioned in another post, with their rubber wiper doesn’t shear the kernels of extruded powders, leading to more consistent charges. They do, however, tend to “leak” with ball powders. Mine will throw mostly +/- .2gr, with the occasional .3gr error with extruded powders. That seems like a lot, and it is, but it’s better than others I have tried. That’s not good enough to satisfy my OCD though, so I trickle up with extruded powders. They are no longer available, but I used a Dandy Auto Trickler with a Lyman M5 scale for trickling up to weight. Throw a charge about .3 gr light out of the Lee into the scale pan, put pan on the M5, push the button and it trickles up to the desired weight. Very precise, but slow. With the M5, I can detect pointer movement with a single kernel of extruded powders.

Currently, I’m using a Frankford Arsenal Intellidropper, and so far, it seems ok, throwing with well under .1gr variance as verified on my M5. Much quicker than manually throwing and trickling up, and precise enough to satisfy my desires.

John

POWDER MEASURES

accuracy,reloading,powder,measure,bench,rest,benchrest

www.harrellsprecision.com

Deluxe Perfect Powder Measure

Rugged, heavy duty powder measure with easy to set and read micrometer metering chamber. Changing powder is fast and easy with the built-in on/off valve in the hopper.

leeprecision.com

Powder Measures, Scales, & Reloading Tools - Our Tools Make Reloading Easy | Frankford Arsenal

Shop Frankford Arsenal For Simply The Best Reloading Tools. Easily Turn Your Spent Casings Into Finished Ammo with Frankford Tools

www.frankfordarsenal.com

 

[Andouille]

Frankford Arsenal Platinum series scale is under $100 and has been very precise and accurate for me, with calibration staying within 0.1gr over multiple hours use.

 

[JFK]

If loading pretty low volume of around 50 rounds at a time, I’d just roll with the hornady powder dispenser you already have and trickle up. Is it slower? Yes. But not it’s really not that bad and it’s less of a headache than a cheap autotrickler. I use a hornady thrower with H4350 set to be a few tenths low and then dump that on scale. Couple turns of trickler to hit weight and you’re done. The Frankfort platinum scale is what I use I’ve checked it many times against a manual and it’s always on.

 

[buffybr]

I started reloading for my .30-06 in the late '60s with a Herter's balance scale. In the early to mid '70s I also started reloading for my .45 acp and .357 mag pistols and I "upgraded" to a RCBS 505 balance scale and a powder trickler. I then bought a RCBS Uniflow powder measure mainly for my pistol reloading but also measuring, then weighing rifle powders.

Then in the early '80s I bought a Dillon 450 progressive press with their powder measure. I still use that Dillon press and powder measure for all of my pistol reloading and for my .223 and .308 rifle reloading. My Dillon thrown powder charges make moa loads for my .223 and .308 cartridges out to 400 yds which is fine for my shooting.

A few years ago I bought a RCBS Chargemaster electronic powder dispencer for my other rifle reloading.

 

[willfrye027]

With a manual powder thrower and old balance beam scale, I can keep pace with my buddies chargemaster.. but mine will never drift or die unlike his. Huge fan of powder thrower and beam scale with some sort of trickler

 

[SloppyJ]

If you go with the powder thrower, the Lee is pretty solid. I use it with the dies that let you use your press and raise it up in there to throw the charge. With the turret, I can go from spent case to loaded round without taking the shell off the press. I only do that on gas gun and pistols. All centerfire gets my FA intellidropper.

Reminds me, I need to dial in a load and start working on the 1k .223 I need for the S2HU class in June. Not looking forward to that.

 

[Dos XX]

I think the Dandy trickler is available, still, or again.

Dandy 2-Speed Electric Powder Trickler

Enhance your ammo reloading experience with our 2-speed electric powder trickler. Visit Dandy Products LLC's website to order now.

dandyproductsllc.com

 

[LeeMaster99]

Plus one for the FA Intellidropper. Economical, accurate, fast

 

[sdupontjr]

You say for hunting, so that "ASSUMES" low volume, get a good beam scale and don't look back. Gravity is undefeated. I have a older Ohaus M5 beam scale and just recently picked up another older RCBS 502 scale that I had tuned by Scott parker. Found both on eBay for about $50 each. The RCBS 502 is sensitive to 1 kernel of Varget. I was using the Lee dippers but have recently built an automated powder dispenser for the beam scale for about $100.