What Powder Measure are you guys using?

[Shrek]

If you are going to throw stick powders , which you are most likely , then a cheap lee and a trickler will do the job fine. Set it a few tenths short and trickle up. Put the extra money left over into something else you need. My Perfect Powder Measure has been throwing just short charges for me for years and I have never felt a need to buy an expensive culver type measure to cut up my H4350 , Varget , H1000 , and Retumbo. If you are not throwing fine grain powder then the best measures are not suited to your needs. The quick measure looks interesting because it promises not to cut powder but it's still measures volume and it won't be consistent because of powder bridging with stick powders. The cheap lee has a rubber sweep that rarely cuts a kernal. Chances are that you are not going to be making large volumes of rilfe ammo so why spend bank to build a system that will not work well for your application. A Chargemaster on the high end or a cheap Lee and a trickler. Electrics go bad , sometimes drift for unknown reasons like lights or your blender running in the next room. I can toss a short load on my Lyman M5 and tricler up about as fast as a Cargemaster or faster and it doesn't ever not work and it's probably 40 years old and I'll use it until I die. I had mine tuned by Scott Parker and it's dead nuts on every time.

 

[GKPrice]

since I wrote that last comment about the "chargemaster" types I was told by an old friend who's "OLD OLD SCHOOL" that the chargemaster is the greatest thing since sliced bread so I'll shut up on that topic - I've been using a Redding BR-30 for many years now and it has worked just fine, I get in a rhythm like Shrek describes and can load rounds fairly quickly - "that" buddy of mine who shoots the .300 Jarrett also uses a Harrells and he swears by it - I DID recently read a piece about "tuning" the balance beam scale and I might give that a try ...(maybe)

 

[Justin Crossley]

If you are going to throw stick powders , which you are most likely , then a cheap lee and a trickler will do the job fine. Set it a few tenths short and trickle up. Put the extra money left over into something else you need. My Perfect Powder Measure has been throwing just short charges for me for years and I have never felt a need to buy an expensive culver type measure to cut up my H4350 , Varget , H1000 , and Retumbo. If you are not throwing fine grain powder then the best measures are not suited to your needs. The quick measure looks interesting because it promises not to cut powder but it's still measures volume and it won't be consistent because of powder bridging with stick powders. The cheap lee has a rubber sweep that rarely cuts a kernal. Chances are that you are not going to be making large volumes of rilfe ammo so why spend bank to build a system that will not work well for your application. A Chargemaster on the high end or a cheap Lee and a trickler. Electrics go bad , sometimes drift for unknown reasons like lights or your blender running in the next room. I can toss a short load on my Lyman M5 and tricler up about as fast as a Cargemaster or faster and it doesn't ever not work and it's probably 40 years old and I'll use it until I die. I had mine tuned by Scott Parker and it's dead nuts on every time.

I totally disagree with this. I personally find it much faster and just as accurate to use my Chargemaster instead of throwing and trickling.

 

[pyroducksx3]

If you put a 2" section of a Mcdonald straw in the end of your charge master it will throw much more accurate loads.

 

[Shrek]

I'm not against a Chargemaster I just don't feel it has a great advantage. It's a lot of money and they go bad regularly. Sure they'll likely warranty it but in the mean time you're SOL. I think everyone who loads should have a beam scale and how to use it if only as a backup.

 

[Shrek]

If you put a 2" section of a Mcdonald straw in the end of your charge master it will throw much more accurate loads.

It will help with a beam scale and trickler also. Helps the powder come out one stick at a time instead of a clump.

 

[Justin Crossley]

How many have you had go bad on you Shrek?

Pyro,
That sounds like a good trick. I haven't had trouble with powder clumping or anything but I will keep this in mind if I do.

 

[Shrek]

Justin , I personally have never had a chargemaster go bad because I haven't owned one but I do get to read the testimonials of how good the rcbs customer service is when they replace them for members on other shooting oriented forums. I have had three bad electronic scales and that's why I went back to a beam scale. I can throw a charge and dump it into a case every 15 to 20 seconds when I pay attention and don't turn the trickler too fast and overcharge and have to dump it back into the hopper. I go a kernel over and I start over because I can't stand it even though I know that one kernal of H1000 in a 69.9gr charge doesn't really make any difference other than me knowing it's there.

BTW , clumping isn't a good description. I mean when three or four Kernals of powder come out at once. The straw seems to make them line up and come out one kernel at a time.

 

[pyroducksx3]

I never had any bad issues but I'm super anal on my throws. So if it doesn't throw exactly what I want I pour it back in and rethrow. I was getting about 65% perfect throws. Since the straw Its like 90%. So it just makes it more consistant.

 

[GKPrice]

It would seem to me that this thread has outlined one fact, that there are at least 2 schools of thought on loading equipment ! Honestly, I haven't tried another digital scale for at least 8 years simply because the beam scale has been working for me - If I'm going to load for volume (like a PD shoot or something) I weigh every 12th load (don't ask why 12, can't tell ya) otherwise it's hunting loads and I will always weigh each one - when I'm to decrepit to hunt much and I'm just loading for family and friends (or freedom fighters ) I might take a whack at one of those Chargemasters because they sound like a cool invention, but I pretty much like life simple for now

 

[Matt Cashell]

I have a Chargemaster, and it quit working. I sent it in and got it back about a week later. That was four years ago and I haven't had a moment of trouble since. I feel like it really saves me time. YMMV.

 

[KINGSNAKE]

I have had my chargemaster for 7 years now and I really like mine. I don't take mine to the range. I do all my reloading in my house so my chargemaster doesn't see any abuse. If you were taking it to the range that might increase the chance of having problems.

 

[HuntHarder]

I just switched from the throw and trickle to my new chargemaster. Anyone who tells you not to do this, has never owned a chargemaster. The machine is amazing. Saying electronics go bad is like justifying using the first range finder that you had to dial both images together to get a range instead of the new electronic ones. Not a good argument.

Buy a chargemaster and do not look back. I can not believe it took me this long to see the light!!

 

[waterrat]

I've been useing a Redding #3 BR for 20 years now with a RCBS beam scale and a little Franklin digital. Most of the time I just throw the charges from the measure and they surely shoot better than I'm capable of anyway. My Dillion 308 set-up would be less than MOA with the right loads and for the bush that's more than enough!

 

[Travis Bertrand]

The quick-measure came in.

 

[Shrek]

Looks well made from the pictures. Please let us know how well it works. Since it is supposed to not cut powder I'm interested in it. If I could get accurate and undamaged loads of Retumbo thrown I'd come off the cash....maybe

 

[kpk]

I totally disagree with this. I personally find it much faster and just as accurate to use my Chargemaster instead of throwing and trickling.

I'm going to respectfully disagree again. I've had several powder measures and all I use anymore is a Lee perfect for Varget and RL15 .308 loads. I set mine to drop a tenth or two short and then trickle with an RCBS trickler. I only trickle because every load I make is exactly the same, and I weigh every charge anyway. Only takes 2 seconds to trickle up when it's already on the scale.

The Lee perfect is absolutely capable of throwing +/- .1 grains every single time by itself though. I was really against getting a "cheap" Lee to use for reloading for my long range target loads, but after using it I'm glad I switched to it. I bought after seeing it was highly recommended over on the hide.

 

[mtswampfox]

have the pact unit about fifteen years old , or whenever they first came out. took a dump couple months ago but pact brought it back to life no charge cept for shipping. for volume loading the harrell is more than ok