Hornady Autocharge vs RCBS Chargemaster

[Francotirador]

Hello,

I am in the market for an auto charge. Looking for reliability, precision and quality.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Francotirador

 

[ZLBubba]

The Chargemaster is my single most valuable reloading tool. I have it set up between single stage and Dillon 550. For the precision ammo, it throws and weighs my ammo accurately. For my bulk ammo, it's my QAQC check station. On stage three right before I seat bullets, I'll pull out a case at random and weigh how much powder was thrown. If it's within my acceptable range, then I dump the powder back into the case and put it back into the 550. One thing: for the Chargemaster, get the aftermarket powder catch with the built-in funnel. I superglued a quarter underneath it to provide enough weight to reset the scale, and the funnel eliminates and extra step. I also use the McDonald's straw trick so that my powder trickle is more precise.

 

[shooter.dm]

I like the lyman gen 6 it is super accurate I had a rcbs chargemaster but changed to the lyman and never look back

 

[bob7-08]

may i ask you why do you prefer the Lyman over the RCBS?
i never something bad about the RCBS and their customer service;
I will order one or the other in a few days and your opinion would be helpful!(considering the gen6 is 200 euros less expensive than the RCBS..)

 

[Rookie]

I know the Hornady looks like a red RCBS but there have been a lot of complaints here about the Hornady. A lot. My velocity extreme spreads dropped by at least half when I went to the RCBS from using a beam scale and trickler. Its a great tool.

 

[shooter.dm]

The gen 6 seems to put out more precise loads than my rcbs ever did and faster at that

 

[Assault116]

The Hornady is flakey as hell, I have one and it works OK, but I basically just use it to dump about 2/10's light and top off on the beam scale with a trickler. It also repeatedly locks up and just plain freaks out. I'm looking at a Lyman now. I had the previous generation DPS and it worked very well but had sold it a few years back when I stepped away from reloading for a while.

I'll put it this way, I have so little confidence in the Hornady that I'm debating even selling it as I don't care to hand off the POS to some other unsuspecting schlub although it would deffinitely help to pay for the new one.

 

[shooter.dm]

Well I don't know about the hornady but my gen 6 rocks it has a insert for the extruded powders like varget and u take it out for the finer powders and it is verry constant on the charges it throws

 

[CEL317]

I have the Hornady and while I have had challenges with it in the past, it seems to work well now. I did have to have it replaced though. The first one I purchased died during calibration and would not turn back on. I had only had it a few months. Hornady replaced it under warranty of course. The second unit has worked fine though, but I have only had it a few months now too so only time will tell. I did have to slow the trickle speed to get it to stop over throwing. Overall I like the unit and it seems to produce accurate charges. For awhile I would double weigh everything because I didn't trust it, but now I'm good with it. I typically see single digit SDs with my chrony.

 

[RugerSlinger]

I own both and will use both once my reloading room is all setup. I found that if you never shut the Hornady off it works better. I don't know what it is about it but it has been on for over a year and it works well. The RCBS is ready to go after the 15 min warm up I give it. If I shut the hornady off I usually wait 2 hours before using it. The Hornady also overthrows half the time where as the RCBS with McDonalds straw trick only overthrows once in 50rds on average

 

[Creature]

I had a Lyman DPS and it started throwing a little too inconsistent for me. I called up Lyman to see if they would take a look at it for me. I offered to pay to have them do it but they wanted $200. They have horrible customer service and will never see another dime from me. I got the RCBS and it has been working GREAT.

 

[308Gunner]

I use a RCBS and once you reprogram it is fast and still accuarate

 

[sierracharlie338]

Hornady Autocharge vs RCBS Chargemaster

I have the hornady an if you use the slow dispense speed and have the unit COMPLETELY level it works great. I just loaded 50 rounds with it and only had one overthrow!

 

[Francotirador]

Thank you guys,

I think I'm going to go pick up a rcbs and a McDonald's straw!

Francotirador.

 

[milo 2.0]

Thank you guys,

I think I'm going to go pick up a rcbs and a McDonald's straw!

Francotirador.

Wise choice!

 

[High Binder]

I like the lyman gen 6 it is super accurate I had a rcbs chargemaster but changed to the lyman and never look back

The gen 6 seems to put out more precise loads than my rcbs ever did and faster at that

Well I don't know about the hornady but my gen 6 rocks it has a insert for the extruded powders like varget and u take it out for the finer powders and it is verry constant on the charges it throws

I think somebody ^ works for Lyman.

I have the CM1500 and the Lyman 1200 and the CM1500 is WAY better than the Lyman. The Lyman is way faster but can only throw ball powders with any degree of accuracy. If you reprogram the CM1500 it can just as fast and with far more accuracy than the Lyman. I realize you were asking about the Horn v. the CM and I haven't tried the Horn but I absolutely love my CM1500 and the one problem I did have with it (I lost the power adapter - my fault) RCBS replaced it for free and has replaced a few other things I've had from RCBS that I either broke or didn't work all for free and very easy/friendly.

 

[shooter.dm]

The gen 6 is not a 1200 its a 1500 and it throws great with out having to fool with it on All Powders

 

[shooter.dm]

Some people get so bent out of shape when some one says somethin works just as good or better for cheaper

 

[High Binder]

Some people get so bent out of shape when some one says somethin works just as good or better for cheaper

 

[shooter.dm]

Yea I had that coming

 

[Ultraman550]

RCBS and an Ohaus 510 to be double super dooper sure. I check my loads on the beam scale about every 10 rounds to make sure the Chargemaster hasn't decided to fuck with me that day.

 

[High Binder]

Yea I had that coming

LOL! Nice to run into to somebody with a sense of humor, seems more and more rare on the internet anymore.

 

[High Binder]

RCBS and an Ohaus 510 to be double super dooper sure. I check my loads on the beam scale about every 10 rounds to make sure the Chargemaster hasn't decided to fuck with me that day.

I use a set of check weights (the little pack from RCBS). When I'm charging, everyonce in a while I'll toss on a 20/40/50gr weight just to make sure they're still reading right and then go on charging. It's far faster than checking a load on a beam-scale whihc is what I used to do. The weights are only ~$30-$40 and well worth it.

 

[Mad_Charlie]

Ya know, It doesn't matter to much to me what a tool costs (within reason).

What matters to me:
a. suitability for the job at hand.
b. reliability.
c. "service after the sale" ( ANY company can have a "lemon" go out the door).
d. cost.

I have never received good support from Lyman, in 40 years. Always seem to get a woman with the attitude of "Don't bother me"
But I do have a Lyman .308 size die that I bought when I first started loading, still going strong.

I have always received exemplary service from Dillon, Rcbs, Forster, and Hornady.