RCBS Chargemaster or Harrell’s for powder measurements

K

kenickie22

Member
I'm new to benchrest shooting, and have been lucky enough to borrow reloading tools up to this point. It's time to buy a powder measure, and would like some guidance. I've used a RCBS Chargemaster and a RCBS Uniflow measure. I feel much more confident with the electronic scale, especially with long grain powders, but I know alot of people swear by a Harrell’s. What do you recommend? I also am interested in the Redding BR measures. I don't need my measure to be mobile. Thanks!
 
kenickie22 said:
I'm new to benchrest shooting, and have been lucky enough to borrow reloading tools up to this point. It's time to buy a powder measure, and would like some guidance. I've used a RCBS Chargemaster and a RCBS Uniflow measure. I feel much more confident with the electronic scale, especially with long grain powders, but I know alot of people swear by a Harrell’s. What do you recommend? I also am interested in the Redding BR measures. I don't need my measure to be mobile. Thanks!
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If you want to get close get a volumetric measure, if you want exact get a Chargemaster.
 
if plus or minus 0.1 is good for you then the chargemaster will work...
a harrell's will not....
well lets say it is very powder dependent on its accuracy.
what type of br and what powders ?
mike in co
 
Mike, I'm using Varget, Benchmark & IMR-4198 right now. I'm shooting a factory PSS .223 right now, but I want to buy a real BR gun in the future.
 
I own a very nice Harrel's measure, it has not strayed out of my toolbox since I bought my Chargemaster several years ago.

Dick
 
It's actually +- about .17 for a total spread of just over three tenths of a grain but that's good enough for most people.

al
 
Jerry, how does one tell if it is a vintage model? I use mine, set 0.1 grain less than desired, then check the weight it throws on a Denver Instruments scale. The variance can reach 0.3, thought that is rare. Sometimes high, sometimes low. (This is with 70+ grain charges, so the percentage variance is smaller than with the PPC size cases.) This has stayed constant since purchased, about three years ago -- maybe four. I suppose that is vintage in this electronic age?
 
I just tried my SoninLaw's Lyman 1200 II. We set it to throw 55.0 gr of IMR 4831.
I used a Ohaus 1010 to check the charges. I tested about 30 charges. Most were within .01-.02 grins but two were way off. One was 4.0 light and one was 5.0 heavy. That's grains not tenths.
I cleaned the Lyman up , put it back into the box and will send it back to Lyman.


Hal
 
Have always found the Harrells works best with spherical powers. As long as you keep to the exact same operating procedure its hits within +/- 0.5gr If using cylindrical power I set it up to be 1 gr light and use a trickle charger to make up the weight.
 
abintx said:
Yours must be broken or a vintage model. Mine gives me .1 [1/10th] accuracy day in and day out.
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Sorry, I should have written +/- 0.05 grain. And yes I do have one of he first 1500's (2005) as well as one of the newer programmable ones (2008). I always take 2 to a match.
 
WELL ..i'll disagree with both of your posts and suggest you look at charles e's post.the spread and total variation sound very reasonable for a scale that is advertised at plus or minus0.1. look at al's post ,nearly identical data.
do a larger sample.with a scale that reads better than 1/10 for a check.
if a chargemaster could do plus or minus 0.05 CONSISTANTLY..rcbs would advertise it that way....and they don't.
mike in co
JerrySharrett said:
Sorry, I should have written +/- 0.05 grain. And yes I do have one of he first 1500's (2005) as well as one of the newer programmable ones (2008). I always take 2 to a match.
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right al,
one should never let facts get in the way of thier opinion.....

mike in co
 
On the subject of what works in a couple of venues, Gary Ocock's recent records were shot using thrown charges, and I seem to remember something about 600 yd. notable Sam Hall
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...-yard-nationals-with-rookie-ryan-hunt-second/
throwing his. This is not to say that I am in any way against or discounting the advantages of measuring powder to single granule accuracy, just pointing out a couple of things about how it is done by some at the top.
 
heck nearly everyone shoots better than me...i have no time nor money to practice with right now, but i refuse to give up a variable that i can control.

mike in co
Boyd Allen said:
On the subject of what works in a couple of venues, Gary Ocock's recent records were shot using thrown charges, and I seem to remember something about 600 yd. notable Sam Hall
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...-yard-nationals-with-rookie-ryan-hunt-second/
throwing his. This is not to say that I am in any way against or discounting the advantages of measuring powder to single granule accuracy, just pointing out a couple of things about how it is done by some at the top.
Click to expand...
 
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