Thread: RCBS Charge master 1500 combo!

After looking into things i am best to probably buy most stuff in NZ instead of America for the extra shipping cost of maybe $30 its not worth the hassle but where would be the best place to get a RCBS Chargemaster 1500 combo, here or overseas.

Quentin(45 south on here) gave me a pretty sharp price couple of years ago.Ill support local if they look after me.

For most stuff, it's virtually as cheap from a NZ supplier and I support them whenever I can get the same item here. But chargemasters have come down a lot in the US recently . I got one from Natchez and it was about half one local price (not 45 Sth) even with freight and under was the GST threshold. It's OK to get the 110v version; just the power pack is different and you can get a 220v pack in NZ for little or off an old cordless phone.

Dont get the 220V unit. The chargmaster is 9VDC anyway. The 220V costs more and is a Euro plug direct on the power supply so you cannot just cut off the plug and put on a kiwi one. I bought the 220V thinking Id be clever but ended up tossing the cord for the DSE supply. I have a Dick Smith multi voltage powersupply with a selection of DC jacks. Easy.

How accurate are these things? Can I just add my powder, tell it I want 25.5 grains and go for gold, or will I still need to trickle etc. The lee unit is a POS currently I just use a dipper and a trickler.

Originally Posted by Brennos

How accurate are these things? Can I just add my powder, tell it I want 25.5 grains and go for gold, or will I still need to trickle etc. The lee unit is a POS currently I just use a dipper and a trickler.

Yes thats what they are designed to do. For us mere mortals accuracy of weights is fine. I have seen a few comments about the scales being + -.1 of a grain and some very expensive scales that are better but Its not something I worry about at all.Iv checked many loads againgst a balance scale.

Originally Posted by Brennos

How accurate are these things? Can I just add my powder, tell it I want 25.5 grains and go for gold, or will I still need to trickle etc. The lee unit is a POS currently I just use a dipper and a trickler.

The scale part of the combo is good. Gave exact same reading as Lee safety scales and another electronic one. That was with the "110v unit " using a 220v cordless phone power pack.

Sometimes a bunch of powder granules all fall out at once so the charge as thrown can vary a bit, up to +0.3 gr in my experience (seldom lower). For most shooting this is fine. You only need better if shooting close to max load (but you should test and prove that 1 or 2 grains above your standard load is still safe in my opinion) or if long range eg > 600m when extreme spread of muzzle velocity can be of interest). I hear stuffing a large MacDonalds straw down the dispensing tube can improve matters but haven't tried it myself yet.

If you wait a few seconds after it beeps the display will cycle through a few things then display the actual weight. You can then choose whether to accept the load or put it back in the hopper. I accept if within +0.1 and have to discard about 10% of throws but that will depend on your powder type etc. I want to eventually get to where almost all (>99%) thrown charges are within 0.2gr and then I won't need to wait and check the actual weights.

Yes the drinking straw works very well, our mcdonalds straws here are smaller so Iv used a piece of alloy tube with some insulation tape around it, even with powders like 2217 and n560 I wouldn't get more than 1-50 that arnt .0 on the scale. The error I was refering to is from the scale itself being out by .1 when its reading exact. Personally I havent seen it and I dont think it makes any noticeable difference anyway but some are looking to eliminate it.

Interesting. Guess its another thing to save for, I was looking at one of those prep stations, lyman i think, the motorised one about $250 odd. But this is probably going to make loading MUCH faster.