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Electronic or thrower and scales.
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 6:40 pm
by SuperV
Hey just wondering what people use.
I have a set of 10/10 and a hornardy electronic thrower.
Is a charge master better. Or just a good set of electronic scales.
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 7:19 pm
by bshrestha01
What are you looking to shoot at?
If you are doing plinking and shooting for fun then a chargemaster should be more than enough.
BUT, if you are shooting for competition then you NEED a thrower and proper scales. A chargemaster may be spot on 9 times out of 10, but the 1 time it is off may be the points you lose to be kicked out of the top place (or event the top 10 depending on the grade you are in).
My 2 cents.
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 7:24 pm
by bully_eye
Very happy with my crappy old RCBS thrower and my 10/10 scales. I find the scales very repeatable and the thrower accurate enough to consistently throw a few tenths under then I trickle up. I reckon once I'm in the groove I can throw, weigh and trickle a charge in 30-40 seconds. I like the idea of an automatic system but can't justify the cost when there are so many other things to buy. Maybe one day.
Michael
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 8:09 pm
by DannyS
I have a Harrell thrower and RCBS 10/10 scales. They don't get used. But the charge master does.
Yes, you can buy better systems ie lab scales etc which may improve your verticles, but generally points are lost to wind or shooter technique .
For the price I think the chargemaster does a good job. I'm also sure other will agree and disagree .
Depends on your budget etc.
Cheers
Danny
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 8:17 pm
by plumbs7
I just gave my trickler away because it doesn't get used . But my charge master also gets used all the time. Just roll up a pit of paper or straw and put in the trickler tube . This improved the reliability of each throw to near perfection ( a tip from shooter McReid , thanks) .
Takes a quarter of the time to load match rounds . More time
For the family ! 👍
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 8:25 pm
by ecomeat
My AnD electronic scales show me that an RCBS Chargemaster is often "out" by 0.4 of a grain. I have enough trouble keeping them in the 6 ring when everything is "right".....let alone when charges vary by nearly half a grain.
i haven't used my ChargeMaster since the scales turned up in the mailbox just over a year ago
I use a Harrell thrower, with an Omega battery powered Trickler, and weigh every charge. I need all of the help that I can get !
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 8:35 pm
by DannyS
Tony, now that you are laid up with your broken leg,,I can see this becoming the Tony forum for the next few weeks, good on you mate. Does the hospital have wifi? I'm sure you will be draining it.
Cheers
Danny
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 8:47 pm
by Steve N
A RCBS thrower then an old Ohaus 10/10 and trickler for every round.
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 9:20 pm
by Brad Y
ecomeat wrote:My AnD electronic scales show me that an RCBS Chargemaster is often "out" by 0.4 of a grain. I have enough trouble keeping them in the 6 ring when everything is "right".....let alone when charges vary by nearly half a grain.
i haven't used my ChargeMaster since the scales turned up in the mailbox just over a year ago
I use a Harrell thrower, with an Omega battery powered Trickler, and weigh every charge. I need all of the help that I can get !
I found similar. Chargemasters are great for bulk volume varmint ammo. They arent a precision instrument. Manual throw and trickle up on a scale you trust and know is my preferred option. Ive actually had my powder pan weighted by a lab scale so its easy to see if the scale I use it on is correct or not. A cheap set of RCBS rangemaster electronic scales I have is surprisingly good! But the more expensive chargemaster combo that a hunting mate has is average at the best. Heard good things about the lyman units but again I would favour a thrower to throw half a grain under then trickle up on an accurate scale anyday- even if I make less rounds per hour than others.
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 9:55 pm
by AlanF
When I reload, putting the powder in is a minor part of the process. I don't see a need for speeding it up with a machine, particularly if you lose accuracy. I can get it to the nearest kernel with a Redding No 2 beam scale in not much more time than a Chargemaster. And that's in a tent

.
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:25 am
by plumbs7
Hi all , yes I use a charge master and before my little modification , yes it was all over the place . It now throws a perfect charge every time. But out of 40 rounds maybe 1 charge will go over . With a simple pinch out of the tray to fix that . Every round I use is exactly spot on !
Just thought I might clear that up.
Cheers GS .
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:45 am
by higginsdj
I replaced my Hornady thrower with a charge master because the Hornady kept throwing way over (on the slowest setting - on the other settings it was throwing up to 1 grain over). I found I had to stop 3 to 5 tenths under then trickle up (separate electronic trickler) on Sartorious electronic scales - it was taking forever.
The charge master throws far more accurately/reliably to within 0 to 2 tenths and I trickle up or pull grains using the electronic trickler on a Gempro2 scale (my second Gempro since the first one's display died after 30 minutes of use....). Much quicker (about 1/4 the time) and around 1/2 the throws from the chargemaster are within 0.02gn.
Cheers
David
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 9:54 am
by plumbs7
This is my charge master showing my modification . A piece of paper rolled up and shoved up the dribble tube .
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 6:36 pm
by Tim N
Hi all,
I'll vote for the charge master with the maccas straw mod
At the Tassie team shoot I had to reload and was fortunate enough to have Mirko T change the speed of loading for me and remove the beep
I always let the scale confirm charge after it stops
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 6:57 pm
by Josh Cox
I have the Hornandy lock n load.
Very happy with how it works, but, it is, in my opinion, my unit is not suitable for what we are doing with Long Range shooting.
The scale is rated to an accuracy of 0.1 grain, that is IMHO, marginal, plus there is some sort of programming function whereby it will accept anything from the load value you set to plus 0.1.
So I set 45.0, the machine will accept 45.0-45.1 as a good load, combine with that the quoted scale accuracy of 0.1 of a grain, potentially you could be throwing 44.9 to 45.2, also IMHO, entirely unacceptable.
I purchased an inexpensive set of scale with advertised accuracy of 0.001 grams, effectively 0.015 grains, now we are talking...........
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/281312148645 ... 1439.l2649
So now having compared the new scales to the loads being thrown, my suspicions were confirmed, I also checked my inexpensive scales to a good quality pair of Senor' Loberts, again relationship confirmed.
Our club has an electronic target that does lots of cool things, one of which is measure the time of flight from a muzzle blast sensor to the target, having looked at these and the SD's of the Time of Flight (TOF), the relationship was again confirmed ( well at least the relationship between all the weighing systems ).
Previously I was getting TOF SD's of around 20-30 milli seconds for a string of shooting, now with the new scales I am consistently seeing less than 3 milli second variations with shoots at 800M.
The TOF's are not absolute, but damn they are very very useful.