Offtopic: Automagic powder dispenser/scale combos

[mobocracy]

I love my 650, but even with a Uniquetek micrometer powder measure it's super tedious to do load development -- eg, loading 100 rounds with 10 different powder charges. I find myself generally just picking a value in the middle and using that (albeit with sound load data, not some-weird-numbers-I-read-on-the-web).

I'd like to do this with a little more precision and am tempted by the "automagic" powder dispensers (RCBS Chargemaster and the Lyman one) where you can enter your desired charge weight and it trickles into an attached scale. This way I can use my 650 for sizing, priming, seating and crimping my test rounds but add in a half-manual step for precise powder charging. Once I find a load that shoots the best, I can use the Dillon powder measure for mass production.

Anyone have any experience with them? The RCBS seems to be the best reviewed on Midway with the Lyman a close second. I'm only interested in a lazy-man's tool -- punch in charge amount and push go. I know there are manual powder tricklers, but that doesn't seem like what I want.

[Matt Cheely]

I've used one but I forget what brand. If you're loading more than 15-20 rounds, it's faster to re-adjust the powder measure....

[yoshidaex]

I've got a RCBS chargemaster i use for precision rifle loads. I tried dispensing pistol/shotgun powder and ended up with static charge issues and powder all over the dispensing area. Its possible to eliminate the static charge problem using dryer sheets and any other tricks to reduce static.

[mobocracy]

I've used one but I forget what brand. If you're loading more than 15-20 rounds, it's faster to re-adjust the powder measure....

Right, I would never do it for high volumes -- but my goal is for say, loading for a new bullet and determining the optimum charge for a half-dozen different charge weights and maybe 10-12 rounds per charge. Enough rounds to get a sense of which works better and which doesn't. Even if I narrow it down to a couple of charges it will be a big help, then I can do 50 of each using the usual methods.

There's no way that BSing around with the Dillon measure can be faster for 10 rounds, especially when you consider with an automatic dispenser I can change charge weights with the press fully loaded with brass, primers, etc.

[rick t]

You can put a 550 powder die and funnel on your 650 and use it to seat without removing the case from the press. ( I think it is a 550 die if that's wrong someone will corect me) I do that on my long line stuff.

Rick

[Matt Cheely]

You can put a 550 powder die and funnel on your 650 and use it to seat without removing the case from the press. ( I think it is a 550 die if that's wrong someone will corect me) I do that on my long line stuff.

Rick

The problem with it is that usually you have to re-calibrate the dispenser to a new powder, and by the time you do that, you might as well do it totally by hand.

I've done that in the past using a electric trickler and it's not as slow as you might think.

[CROB]

As you have a Uniquetek micrometer you could try this (and it wont cost you money!)

For most of my powders, using the Small Powder bar, the micrometer is about 5 marks = 0.1gn (roughly).

So work out what the lightest charge you want to load is, for example 3.8gn and max say 4.5gn.

Then work out what the UniqueTek bar has to be on for 3.8gn and 4.5gn = maybe a 15 click spead on the dial.

Divide up the difference into reasonable steps "OF THE MICROMETER" not the weight.

Dial the starting load, throw a few rounds and put the powder back in the measure, then load your test rounds.

Dial the next setting, discard a few throws, then do your test loads.

Keep going until you have them all.

Finally, weigh the last throw from the measure to make sure you didn't goof up.

You don't really care if the load that works is 3.93gn or 4.07gn, you just need to know what to dial the powder measure to.

I record the micrometer settings for all my loads, and once the powder has settled in the measure, they always throw the same.

When I change loads, I check the powder is roughly what I expect, but rely on the micrometer to give me the same as last time.

Obviously some powders throw more consistently than others.....

[kevin c]

I've used the standard Dillon Terminator scale with an electric powder trickler. It works fairly well, but I came to realize something that needs to be taken into account when you are working up loads this way.

If you throw, say, ten charges and then weigh them together and shift the decimal, you'll get a very accurate idea of the charge going into the case, since the scale is measuring all of each throw and only rounding to the nearest tenth of a grain on the total. The charge in each round will be within +/- a tenth of a grain of the number obtained for each thrown charge at that setting on the powder bar.

If you trickle individual charges onto the same scale getting to the same value as the average you got above, doing ten in a row the same way, and then weighing them all together, you might very well find that the total of the ten is lower by nearly half a grain compared to the first ten. In other words, each charge may be short by 0.04 to 0.05 grains. This happens because the scale will round the trickled charge UP to the next tenth of a grain as the true weight of the charge goes up by 0.05. So each thrown charge will be +/- a tenth of the desired, but with a built in error of about minus 0.05 grains.

Your average velocity done the first way will be just a little more than done the second way. Mebbe not much, but if you hug the PF floors, it could make a difference, and it really is a built in error when using an electronic scale with a trickled load. (you'd probably would have less error using a beam scale, but that would be orders of magnitude slower).

My two cents on why I prefer to throw charges adjusted on the powder bar rather than trickle them.

Kevin

Edited April 4, 2008 by kevin c