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Practically Shooting

Hornady Auto-Charge Powder Dispenser


Tom

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Seems like the auto powder dispensers have the potential to drop a much more consistent charge than the powder measures on a progressive press. I've found that the stick powders are the hardest to get a consistent drop with on a progressive measure. Which powder(s) have you used with the auto dispenser?

Wayne

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I tried it out with H380 for .22-250 which is not much of a challenge because it meters perfectly through a regular powder measure.

I've played with Varget, which is tough to meter in a regular powder measure because it's stick/extruded. It metered it flawlessly in the 15 or so throws I tried.

An interesting feature is it allows .1gr over, at .2gr over it beeps and displays "OVER". You have to manually reset an "OVER" message.

The downside is it's slow. In the time it takes to meter 40 gr on the fast setting I can easily seat the bullet and measure cartridge length with a few seconds to spare. I think it's still faster than throwing a short charge and manually trickling up but much slower than using a regular powder measure.

Think of it as an auto trickler, because that's really what it is.

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  • 1 year later...

I can't say anything about the Hornady, but I just received an RCBS Chargemaster 1500. The main reason I bought it is because of significant metering inconsistencies I was having with Herco, which is a flake powder I am currently using for .357 Magnum lead rounds (And a fantastic powder for the .357 at that, IMO).

These auto-dispensers are pretty slick devices, that's for sure. Really nice to have restored confidence in the charges being installed.

I also tweaked the programming in mine to speed it up without sacrificing accuracy. Well worth the small effort to do so.

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  • 11 months later...

I just got an RCBS Chargemaster 1500.

I should have done this long ago.

Midsouth Shooters Supplies had it on sale for $289, plus RCBS is giving a $50 rebate when you buy $300. I ordered the scale and a couple of small items to put it over $300, so have $239 in mine.

I like IMR 4064 for some things, but hate measuring the stuff. This lets me use it easier. I just times ten throws of 43.5 grains of 4064.

The fastest was 12.7 seconds.

Slowest: 24.9 sec.

Average 17.6 sec.

Not bad. Obviously not as fast as using a powder measure, but a lot faster than dropping a low charge and trickling up on a scale.

That memory should be handy.

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