New Tool! RCBS Charge Master 1500

Hatcher's Armory
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Forgive the mess,
I put our brand new RCBS Charge Master 1500 through it’s paces last night in Hatcher’s Workshop. It is a impressive powder dispenser. Here is my run down:

Pros:

  • Very fast and accurate scale. The scale on the RCBS is very quick to respond, you can watch the speed of the dispensing dynamically change as the machine runs. Pretty cool.

  • Manual Trickle Mode. if hitting the exact measurement is what you want, you can set the load lower and manually hit the trickle button to guarantee you don’t over shoot. Time consuming, but if it matter to you, you can do it.

  • Far fewer over charges. The slow trickle on this machine seems to be 30% of the lyman, which lets the powder settle better in the trickler leading to far fewer avalanche trickles. I only had 2 tenth of a grain over charges in my loading of 100 rounds. The lyman had enough that Russell and I just started to accept them instead of re-running the charge.

  • Very East to CLEAN! you open the dump on the side and once the powder is out, you run a dispense cycle to clear the tube. Then you just blow the guy out with some air and wipe the surfaces with a paper towel.

Cons:

  • SPEED. The RCBS is slower due to the trickle mode being so precise. This isn’t an every load issue, but it can take the unit a while to trickle two tenths of a grain when it is being precise. So there is a cost to the precision.

  • A bit confusing to setup. Setting up the machine for the first time is un-intuitive. But, once you’ve done it a few times, it isn’t a big deal.

I’m thinking this is a machine we require training on, not because it is dangerous, but because it can be confusing and we need to have standards for cleanliness of the tool. If you guys agree, I’ll build a class and get it on the schedule. I can also show a few people that want access now because they are currently ready to run some rounds.

Thanks for the help,
Nick Sainz

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We need to take a drier sheet to that hopper to de-static the thing. I have money for you by the way.

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I’ll be at the space tonight,
I never knew dryer sheets were so helpful. Seems we can use them for everything. I’ll add them to the list of items we need for the room.

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I agree. It also generates revenue as well as showing participation

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On a side note, that’s a pretty old can of powder.

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Got to love the antiques. :blush:

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I wouldn’t mind having that can when its empty.

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I refill it,
But you might be able to get one from Russell.

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Are you looking for IMR 4895 or will any can do? Are you going to use it for smokeless powder? It’s not a good idea to put a different powder in a labeled can.

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No just like the look of the old cans. I wouldn’t dare put any powder in it & break one of the cardinal reloading rules.

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8 posts were split to a new topic: Cans and Charcoal

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Update:
I wanted to thank @wandrson, @TBJK, and the BOD,
At the BOD meeting yesterday, the board reimbursed half of our purchase of the RCBS Charge Master. So Hatcher’s now has about $170 in our committee account. So thanks for your investment and support in our committee.

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