Automated powder dispenser, Which one?

[gonna shoot a wabbit]

Good Evening,

i am thinking of investing in an automated powder dispenser, i am dipping my toes into target shooting and will be reloading significantly more than required for stalking.

I have around £400 ish to spend which puts me into...frankford aresenal, RCBS chargemaster lite, hornady type products.

What are you guys using? is there anything between them in terms of accuracy / reliability ... i believe they have to be warmed up before use ?

Thanks.

 

[trickie]

@gonna shoot a wabbit

Every one who owns one will most likely think there’s is good if not the best. Most will accurately dispense at .1 of a grain. The better options are considerably more and out of my budget and experience

Charge master lite or link as its now been updated
Lynam gen 6 - I have one
Hornady Auto charge

The 3 above all have a price point circa £350. All have pros and cons. I’d do some asking, looking and you tubing to see what the pros and cons are.

For example, I find my gen 6 needs about 5 minutes to warm up - no issue I do that whilst I collate and set up everything else.
It’s easy to zero and I run 10/12 loads and just drop them back in the tub before I start to drop into my cases. It’s very repeatable, on the occasional over drop, I pop in back in the tub and run again.
It has an auto option, you set the weight, start the first drop and then as you drop the pan back on the scales it starts again. I like it. Over drops about 1.5% of the time, never seems to under drop.

Cons, I need 2 identical weight scales to maximise productivity on any case needing more than about 38gr, below that it would increase production but not by as noticeable amount. Emptying is not quite as simple as the videos show, but it’s far from difficult.

I’ve seen the charge master lite in operation, there is not much to choose from, I’ve no idea on the Hornady version.
They all seem to be very accurate and fast with ball and smaller particle sizes . Less accurate and extended time to drop with the longer extruded powders. N555 takes longer than N540 for example but not by much, both are extruded, N555 is only larger by a small amount

Overall, I am very happy with it,

That was warts and all, I also use a surge suppressed adaptor between the dev and the mains socket. £350 is to much to loose for want of a £10 adaptor

 

[wytonpjs]

Charge master lite

Started with a Hornady but the Chargemaster throws fewer “overs” and I’m seeing much less variability on the range.

 

[nun_hunter]

Granted it was a few years ago but I borrowed the Hornady one and found it threw a few too many over charges and was just a bit more fiddly to use. I bought a Chargemaster lite direct from the USA and it's worked very well. Less than about 1% are ever over and I've found extruded powders may take a while longer but it's more accurate as it can drop a single kernel at a time when it's creeping up to the final charge.

 

[User00044]

@gonna shoot a wabbit

Every one who owns one will most likely think there’s is good if not the best. Most will accurately dispense at .1 of a grain. The better options are considerably more and out of my budget and experience

Charge master lite or link as its now been updated
Lynam gen 6 - I have one
Hornady Auto charge

The 3 above all have a price point circa £350. All have pros and cons. I’d do some asking, looking and you tubing to see what the pros and cons are.

For example, I find my gen 6 needs about 5 minutes to warm up - no issue I do that whilst I collate and set up everything else.
It’s easy to zero and I run 10/12 loads and just drop them back in the tub before I start to drop into my cases. It’s very repeatable, on the occasional over drop, I pop in back in the tub and run again.
It has an auto option, you set the weight, start the first drop and then as you drop the pan back on the scales it starts again. I like it. Over drops about 1.5% of the time, never seems to under drop.

Cons, I need 2 identical weight scales to maximise productivity on any case needing more than about 38gr, below that it would increase production but not by as noticeable amount. Emptying is not quite as simple as the videos show, but it’s far from difficult.

I’ve seen the charge master lite in operation, there is not much to choose from, I’ve no idea on the Hornady version.
They all seem to be very accurate and fast with ball and smaller particle sizes . Less accurate and extended time to drop with the longer extruded powders. N555 takes longer than N540 for example but not by much, both are extruded, N555 is only larger by a small amount

Overall, I am very happy with it,

That was warts and all, I also use a surge suppressed adaptor between the dev and the mains socket. £350 is to much to loose for want of a £10 adaptor

Add to the above , they need to be in a draft free environment and on a solid , stable platform .
I have an original Gen 6 , the Chargemaster lite wasn't available at the time .
Having read and watched the various reviews , I'd say Chargemaster over the Gen6 .It's slightly quicker and slightly more consistent.

 

[martin_b]

I also have a Lyman Gen6 and Im very happy, with just the slight privisor that if you use magnum big kernel powders, N570 in my case, you might need a tooth pick handy as you can get a "powder jam" in the dispensing tube.

 

[Salop lad]

I can only agree with all that Trickie says, i have been using the Gen 6 for about 4 years now with no issues, it does have its little foibles, but i think its good value for the price.