Built a new reloading bench

[FJ540]

My Lyman 1200 dps3 throws about 10% over charges (by quantity of charges thrown, not weight missed), but I'm usually vibrating the bench with a single stage press at the time. I leave the cover off the reservoir and toss the miss-charges back in to repeat another go around - hardly worth crying over. I'd bet that even with the occasional overage, it's still well below the deviation of a rotating volume based powder measure. Everything I do for accuracy is done single stage with digitally thrown charges. My progressive is strictly for handgun and blasting ammo. Maybe Dillon is better with their side sliding measure, but my Hornady isn't consistent enough for my liking at +/-.5gr with Varget.

If you're having trouble with an auto dispensing scale, you might be missing (or rather needing) the reduction insert for the end of the tube. I can't run stick powder without it or I end up .2gr over often enough to get mad; so I just leave the reducer in all the time.

Got any gators down there Sam?

[BigDog58]

Can you reprogram your Lyman? My RCBS Chargemaster allowed me to reprogram the fast/med/ and trickle speeds and at what point I want each to engage. I has read about the McDonald's Straw Trick that helps stop dropping over charges. I found a guy on Accurate Shooter that makes a brass insert, that fits into the dispense tube (does better than McD Straw) and not one single round has dropped an over weight round. He does make them for other powder measures too, he just needs the ID of the dispense tube.

I also let my Electronic Scales run a minimum of 24 hrs before I use either of them. I have the Chargemaster and a Pact scale. I also put rare earth magnets (traps) over my electrical cords and have had zero stray current issues from other electronics.

You might look around Youtube or other forums to see if your machine can be reprogrammed (tweaked) to give better results. I can also get you the guys contact info, if you decide you might want to try one of his inserts.

[Seismic Sam]

Interesting information, but looking at an automatic scale that costs $300 or more, most of that money has to have been spent for the trickling function and the software to make it run, which means the heart of the beast is still a cheap electronic scale that measures to .1 grain, and no better. As such, it is encumbered with all the round-off errors that have been described before, so it's really not an improvement. If somebody decided to really deliver the goods and put a Gempro 250 in one of these systems, then you might have something worth buying.

[Erud]

Interesting information, but looking at an automatic scale that costs $300 or more, most of that money has to have been spent for the trickling function and the software to make it run, which means the heart of the beast is still a cheap electronic scale that measures to .1 grain, and no better. As such, it is encumbered with all the round-off errors that have been described before, so it's really not an improvement. If somebody decided to really deliver the goods and put a Gempro 250 in one of these systems, then you might have something worth buying.

Well, that's why it costs $300 and not $1k+ like high end lab scales. For $300, you get a lot of useful functionality. Can you outshoot a .2 grain powder spread? There aren't many who can.

[Ghost]

My chargemaster was $53.53 New from Amazon. I love Amazon.

Nice bench

[MJY65]

Can you outshoot a .2 grain powder spread? There aren't many who can.

Almost no one can, except when they are on the Internet.

[MJY65]

My chargemaster was $53.53 New from Amazon. I love Amazon.

I love Amazon too, but they show the RCBS Chargemaster at $296

[Ghost]

My chargemaster was $53.53 New from Amazon. I love Amazon.

I love Amazon too, but they show the RCBS Chargemaster at $296

Not Jan 3rd 2015

[VMAX97]

That is an amazing price, I bought my several years ago at around $300.

[FJ540]

When I start needing to measure the diameter of a single hole for out of roundness from all 5 shots going into the same place, I still probably wouldn't buy a better digital dispensing scale.

Btw Sam, I stopped checking it with my beam scale more than biannually (for giggles) a couple years ago. It's always been on. +/-.05gr is plenty good enough for me. It's within the margin of my ability to read a balance beam and it tells me in plain numerals when it effed up and I need to dump the charge back.

[Erud]

Don't get me wrong here, I am in no way suggesting that there is no point in measuring powder with something more precise than the Chargemaster. All I'm saying is that the Chargemaster does a pretty darned good job of the task it was designed for, for what it costs. It's all a moot point anyways, as SS's new bench will likely be reduced to a pile of smoldering ash due to his shoddy electrical wiring before any of us can talk him into buying one.

[FJ540]

Since Sam's retired and obviously has time on his hands for making benches, he should do an experiment to see how much deviation bore temp makes vs .05gr variations of loads. One last thesis paper to publish before the bench burns.

Still wondering if you got gators where you ended up, or did you choose some fancy suburb that's protected by levy and will get washed out the next Hurricane in April? We all know you can't be throwing accurate charges on the boat.

[Seismic Sam]

Well, seeing as I don't shoot matches, all the stuff about getting a .100" group versus a .300 group is theoretical as far as I'm concerned, but I CAN see a very clear difference between charges out of my Lee powder measure and laboriously weighing each charge to .001 gram on my Mettler lab scale. Doing it "the hard way", the Standard Deviation goes through the floor, to the tune of reducing the SD by 1/2 to 2/3rds, and often getting down to single digit SD's. There is no way in hell that uniformity like that level doesn't make a difference in shooting a group. There can be other factors that may negate this uniformity, such as a cold wind blowing up Scratch's bare butt during a match, or Tootsie blowing a shot to the 9 ring (three targets over.... ) when a pretty girl walks by, and he's trying to shoot and dig mini Hershey bars out of his pocket at the same time.

And considering that you can get a Gempro 250 for around $130 when a "high end" POS scale costs maybe $50, going from $300 to $400 isn't much of a price increase for a poor man's Prometheus.

[FJ540]

I've gotten SD's in single digits with the Lyman. It runs on batteries too, so you can bring it to the range if you wanted to (I very well might this spring).

[crbutler]

I use a chargemaster a bunch also. Works well enough that I can hit prairie dogs consistently at 500 yards- after I figure out the wind anyhow...

Will increased precision in your scale reduce that cause of inaccuracy? sure.

Is it significant?

I don't know. One AMU guy said they use them. If its good enough for them, its better than I can shoot. I don't know if it really is quantifiable on target, even if it is measurable in ballistic readings off the chronograph as you guys are saying. I don't know any benchrest guys who use them for match ammo, but then again, as far as I am concerned, those boys are into voodoo. (turn your case 1/2 turn widdershins while invoking the patron deity of ammo making... repeat 3 times and do this only when the sun is more than 30* above the horizon unless the month ends in Y) I can't argue with their results, but I can't duplicate them either.

Sam, you definitely are a noob carpenter, and less than noob at electrical work, but if it works, who am I to argue with success? Just don't let your pup play with the table...