Use of Powder Dispensers vs Powder Droppers??

[Dobeman887]

I have been reloading for around 10 years or so and am yet to get an electronic powder dispenser. I have two Hornady Powder droppers (one set up for pistol cartridges and one for rifle loads) that I have used since beginning. Living in the Mid-west I haven't had the need for many loads using powders that are more cylindrical, thus more difficult to meter correctly through my powder dropper. As I work up loads for the beginning of hunting trips out west I am creating more loads using powders more difficult to meter (IMR 4350, H4350, etc). I love using Ramshot rifle powders because they are round/spherical powders and measure more smoothly. Point is, do I NEED an electronic powder dispenser if I am going to be creating a great number of loads for my .270, 30-06, and 300 Win Mag? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Pickettpuncher]

I had one for about 2 years. Wasn’t overly impressed and got rid of it. I drop and trickle every load I make.

 

[TaperPin]

Maybe it’s like how people usually have a fondness for where they grew up over all others - it may not be ideal by any metric that can be thought up, but it feels like home. Pushing a button like a vending machine doesn’t feel right.

I increased the enjoyment of throwing charges a little bit by adding a nice looking powder measure stand positioned exactly where it feels right, bought a more solid feeling cast iron Redding trickler, added better lighting, and replaced the loosey goosey plastic tray with a machined aluminum one. It’s not really faster, but just looks and feels better. Money well spent. Next on the list is a custom handle for the measure to replace the cheap feeling aluminum one.

 

[Dmoua]

A good electronic dispenser is worth it imo. I enjoy shooting more than reloading so less time at the bench is better. It also depends how much you are loading per session. I can’t imagine how dreadful it would be to load 200-300 rifle rounds in one session without one.

 

[seand]

I don’t think you need it, especially for hunting loads. I don’t use an electronic dispenser or a trickler. Few years ago I shot a couple tests at 600 yards, 20 shot groups and found no difference between thrown and weighed charges. I had been weighing charges with stick powders for 20 years before that and believed I needed to. Folks assume precisely weighed charges will significantly improve SDs but I don’t think that’s really true in most cases. And not enough to make any difference at 600 yards.

The Lee perfect drum measure is about as good as it gets for a manual powder measure for stick powders. I keep one set up for each load, and just swap them out as they are so cheap.

 

[seand]

Link to a post on snipershide from miles Neville (Hornady engineer) , scroll down to post #35.
Link

 

[schmidty3]

A really nice electronic scale (fx-120) is what you need for ultra precise charge weights. How you get it into their doesn't matter. A dropper and then onto the scale and trickle to finish would be pretty quick and super precise.

 

[waspocrew]

I use my electronic dispenser (RCBS chargemaster) for large rifle rounds. Recently, I picked up a powder dropper and with ball powder it has significantly sped up my loading of 223 and 300 BLK. Small extruded powders work well (even up to Varget), but if I move up to larger kernels, I go back to the chargemaster.

 

[TaperPin]

Link to a post on snipershide from miles Neville (Hornady engineer) , scroll down to post #35.
Link

That’s a great bit of info.

 

[Tanner]

I went from throwing .3-.5gr low and trickling up, to using a Chargemaster and so far the ChargeMaster is a way better mousetrap for me as I can seat the previously charged case while the next case is filling, so loading goes way faster.

For ball powders I will still throw charges.

 

[ddowning]

Another gunsmith that won a lot of prs/nrl matches loaded his match ammo on a Dillon 1050.