I HATE my RCBS chargemaster.

[Wildstreak]

I absolutely hate my RCBS chargemaster. It is God awfully inconsistent. I’ve tried the Mk machine insert (slip on, whatever), I’ve tried to tweak my charge setpoint to allow for overcharging. It’s completely level, I let it warm up for at least a hour before using it. My garage is closed up so there is no wind hitting it. My cell phone is on the other side of the garage. I have LED lighting. It’s a piece of crap. It might throw 10 in a row that are spot on then the next 20 will be 2 or 3 tenths over. I can literally spend 2 hours trying to load 20-25 rounds.

I’m done with this piece of shit. What are my options other than dropping $1500 on a scale and auto trickler?

 

[Mule3006Elk]

I do low volume reloading
I use 5-0-5 scale
Very consistent IMO
PM if you have ?. I figured out a way to significantly increase the consistency.

 

[Dos XX]

Scale and Dandy trickler. Use a scoop and dump powder onto scale by hand and then trickle up. I'd get the Fx120 scale. It works and you could upgrade to an autotrickler later if you want to.

This will work with a good beam scale, too.

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[Jr4]

Buy once cry once, been there I gave in and bought the V4 and absolutely love it

 

[Wildstreak]

Buy once cry once, been there I gave in and bought the V4 and absolutely love it

I was trying to avoid this but I think that’s what it is coming to. Last I checked there was a significant wait time on the V4. I assume it’s not any better now.

 

[ID_Matt]

Probably not your issue, but bumping your reloading bench can cause overthrows if you are seating bullets while throwing powder. I have had 3 different chargemasters - lites and 1500. Haven't had any issues. It'll throw .1 or .2 over every once in a while, i just grab a few kernels and toss back in the hopper. Takes 3 seconds. Is it a certain powder that it does this on? Or all your powders? Some of the larger kernel powders like N570 can be tricky.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Try taping a piece of McDonald's straw inside the dispensing tube. I've never had an overcharge with the straw installed using h4831sc, h1000, h50bmg, or blackhorn 209.

Also, how stable is your electricity? If your lights flicker you might want to plug into a battery backup device to smooth your voltage out.

 

[Lawnboi]

Hate the chargemaster as well, 20% overthrows pissed me off.

Get an auto trickler v4. You can order separately and make it feel like two 500$ purchases

 

[long hunter]

Beam scale and a Trickler, old school is sometimes the best school.

 

[rayporter]

loading at a match in georgia a few years ago and a bud was looking for a battery hook up for his CM. i had a long cord to plug into the truck and took it to him. he said he was on his fourth CM and this one was like all the others and would not read consistently. one look and i told him to quit putting his elbows on the table as he ran the CM. he loaded fine after he quit resting his arms on the loading table.

i frequently load near the firing line and can watch the powder kernels jump when shots go off, even with small capacity cases. occasionally that will cause an over throw.

 

[Rob5589]

Have you contacted RCBS? Not my experience with both the CM and Lite.

 

[MuleyFever]

Mine goes a tenth over every now and then. I just use a tweezers and remove a few kernels and move on to the next.

 

[hicountry1]

I have the chargemaster lite.
Love it. Throws one a tenth over very infrequently.

Never go back to the balance scale and manual trickler

I turn mine on, check it with bullets I have set aside, and know the weight of, and rock on.

About every 20 I weigh a bullet just to check. Always dead on

I use 55grain, 100, and 140 grain bullets of known weight.

The 55 is actually 55.1. Always dead on

 

[amassi]

Did a little experiment. I have the autotrickler v4 setup but never got rid of my charge master lite.
Threw 100 charges of 38.0 h4350. This lite has no modifications, warmed up for 15 mins. Plugged into a surge charger in garage
Checked every 10th charge on an adfx120.
4 over charges, 1 under. The overs were easily dumped a kernel or 2 back into the hopper. The under trickled to 38.0. 44 mins, 59 with warm up.

 

[Tod osier]

I absolutely hate my RCBS chargemaster. It is God awfully inconsistent. I’ve tried the Mk machine insert (slip on, whatever), I’ve tried to tweak my charge setpoint to allow for overcharging. It’s completely level, I let it warm up for at least a hour before using it. My garage is closed up so there is no wind hitting it. My cell phone is on the other side of the garage. I have LED lighting. It’s a piece of crap. It might throw 10 in a row that are spot on then the next 20 will be 2 or 3 tenths over. I can literally spend 2 hours trying to load 20-25 rounds.

I’m done with this piece of shit. What are my options other than dropping $1500 on a scale and auto trickler?

I get your frustration, I hate stuff that doesn't work. I have a chargemaster and it works great.

I can absolutely see why some have trouble. I've spent a lot of time on great balances for work and find the chargemaster works well for how inexpensive it is. I have it on a bench that is bolted to the foundation and sitting on a concrete slab in the basement. When I'm home alone, I can throw charges without error (or an error here and there) for an hour, when my wife is home, I get way more even given how vibration proof my location is. I have no doubt that people have trouble in less ideal situations.

If the thing overthrows, dip in with a spatula and scoop the extra out and move on. It isn't that big a deal. I used to re-throw, but there is no need.

 

[Lawnboi]

Did a little experiment. I have the autotrickler v4 setup but never got rid of my charge master lite.
Threw 100 charges of 38.0 h4350. This lite has no modifications, warmed up for 15 mins. Plugged into a surge charger in garage
Checked every 10th charge on an adfx120.
4 over charges, 1 under. The overs were easily dumped a kernel or 2 back into the hopper. The under trickled to 38.0. 44 mins, 59 with warm up.

View attachment 501914

You got a magic cm lite. My will consistently throw a tenth over to the tune of 20-30% with h4350. Loading 250 rounds makes me want to pull my hair out

 

[amassi]

You got a magic cm lite. My will consistently throw a tenth over to the tune of 20-30% with h4350. Loading 250 rounds makes me want to pull my hair out

Maybe it is haunted

 

[Lawnboi]

Maybe it is haunted

I don’t blame mine for giving me a hard time considering how I talk to it after 3 overthrows in a row.

The autotrickler was a good investment.

I didn’t have problems with the cm lite with Xbr or ball powder though.

 

[Green Bullet]

Mine works great. How do you know it’s not working right? Are you remeasuring on another scale?

 

[ID_Matt]

You got a magic cm lite. My will consistently throw a tenth over to the tune of 20-30% with h4350. Loading 250 rounds makes me want to pull my hair out

When it over throws, do you dump it back in the hopper and start over? It seems so easy to me to just grab a small pinch of a couple kernels and throw it in the top of the hopper.