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RCBS’s new “Chargemaster”

Wheres-Waldo

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Nov 2, 2008
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Have seen two teaser videos on a unit it development by RCBS of a “Chargemaster” that throws to 0.02gn.
From the SE Regional PRS Page.

Anyone have any details on this? Gossip? Here-say?
 
Bryan Sikes is the one trialing it and posting about it on IG and FB.

his IG is @bryan.sikes


im interested. hoping it's around the $400 mark and not too much more
 
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Just got off the phone with RCBS, who of course wouldn’t give any details, but said they have been getting blown up about this product.
 
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I saw this being posted on the PRS NE page of Facebook. I'd absolutely love that kind of accuracy capability. I've noticed once I improved my powder charge consistency, my performance at competitions increased by a solid 25% more hits on target.

Fun fact: If your velocities are all over the place from a bad powder charge reading...you can't hit steel. Crazy talk.
 
Just because the display shows .02 does not mean much. I doubt this will overthrow the Fx 120i + auto throw/trickler. But who knows, maybe they will brake the trend of terrible scales from reloading companies.
 
I don’t need it to compete with the FX120i.

I need it to fill the void between $300 auto tricklers and $1000 auto tricklers.
I need it to be priced in that void also, and I fully expect this thing to be $500-$600 at least.

I can see now though, that unless I’m able to get on a pre-order, it’s going to be tough to get one when they come out most likely.
 
I'm curious if they have gotten away from using a load cell. That was always the limiting factor in the old units.
 
Maybe a 100$ load cell vs the 30$ load cell on chargemaster and some software tweaks for better predicting throws
 
I saw this being posted on the PRS NE page of Facebook. I'd absolutely love that kind of accuracy capability. I've noticed once I improved my powder charge consistency, my performance at competitions increased by a solid 25% more hits on target.

Fun fact: If your velocities are all over the place from a bad powder charge reading...you can't hit steel. Crazy talk.
What were you using before? Haven't had my chargemaster long but it seems to be accurate within 3 kernels of powder. I can't imagine 3 kernels + or - causing the problem
 
Still slow. Ill continue to save for an autotrickler set up unless this new wonderbread is magical.
 
I saw this being posted on the PRS NE page of Facebook. I'd absolutely love that kind of accuracy capability. I've noticed once I improved my powder charge consistency, my performance at competitions increased by a solid 25% more hits on target.

Fun fact: If your velocities are all over the place from a bad powder charge reading...you can't hit steel. Crazy talk.

25% ??

How bad was the scale you were using?
 
Even a 30FPS ES at 1000 yards translates to a little over 4.5” in vertical, the higher the avg speed, the less vertical dispersion.

Most of us would call ANY group with under 1/2 MOA of vertical acceptable in the precision rifle game, and if your missing over or under, your ES most likely isn’t to blame, even if it were 30FPS.

With that being said, another nature of this game is the confidence you have in your equipment. None of us NEED a $1000 tripod and $6000 rifle, ammo with and SD/ES single digit, but it makes some more confident and perform with more personal determination.

I don’t NEED to cut my ES from an avg of 25FPS down to less than 10FPS to be competitive, but I want to. I want more performance, and I want to reward MFG’s who are innovative with my business.

As long as the price is appropriate, I’d say at $550 or under, I’ll be buying one. I don’t expect it to change my game, but I do expect to see smaller numbers on my MagnetoSpeed.
 
If it doesn’t automatically throw the next charge when I place an emptied pan back on it, won’t even consider trying it.
 
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It's a RCBS powder dispenser.

It'll need 300$ in mods that no one has figure out yet, a Chik fil a napkin, rare earth magnets placed on random places ontop of it, a power conditioner specific to what angle the tilt of your house in relation to the equator is and will need to sit ontop of a stack of Downey dryer sheets (which there will be 50 threads about how thick/thin your stack needs to be) in order for it to dispense the exact same charge every time you turn it off and turn it back on.
 
I got one of the first Chargemasters, it died and they sent me another. That one has worked fine ever since, at least ten years. Yes, I use a power conditioner, yes I let it warm up for awhile before use, yes I close the cover every charge thrown and no I didn't change the programming to speed it up. I slowed it down a touch. If I'm loading 100 rounds or more of match ammo I'll be damned if I'll spend the time trickling.

I understand some folks have had issues, I can only say I haven't. When this one dies as everything electronic eventually does I'll probably pop for the new model.
 
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I’ve been using mine for 5+ years without issue. I do not have a power conditioner and take the cover off completely during use. But I do make sure it’s in a stable area without temperature spikes, warm it up for maybe 5 minutes and calibrate it every use. I also did not speed mine up and slowed it down so that it finishes the last couples grains in a slow trickle at about one kernel of powder at a time.

I have no over/under throws and I’d buy someone’s old one when they upgrade to speed up my loading process, but am in no hurry to do so.
 
I’ve been using mine for 5+ years without issue. I do not have a power conditioner and take the cover off completely during use. But I do make sure it’s in a stable area without temperature spikes, warm it up for maybe 5 minutes and calibrate it every use. I also did not speed mine up and slowed it down so that it finishes the last couples grains in a slow trickle at about one kernel of powder at a time.

I have no over/under throws and I’d buy someone’s old one when they upgrade to speed up my loading process, but am in no hurry to do so.

WTS Chargemaster. May or may not have spots on it that can only be seen with a blacklight.
 
I never turn my CM on until I use it, I use it under halogens, on the bench my press is on. I use the program that speeds it up with the brass sleeve. I threw the cover at a bug in the basement and broke it. I get single digit ES/SD.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful....
 
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I recently sold my 2 yr old CM 1500 on AR15.com FTF for $225. Got a deal on a Fx-120i and then bought the Autotrickler and Autothrow. Nothing wrong with it. Just wanted faster drop times to reduce my reloading time.
 
I never turn my CM on until I use it, I use it under halogens, on the bench my press is on. I use the program that speeds it up with the brass sleeve. I threw the cover at a bug in the basement and broke it. I get single digit ES/SD.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful....
Same here. Except I down't always get single digits, but no doubt the chargemaster isn't holding me back.
 
Looks interesting. Wonder when they will put pricing and specs on the website. I'm very curious as to how this is going to be
 
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If it works as good as an FX120i then it will probably be priced under what a FX120i + Autotrickler cost, around $1,000 would be my guess.
 
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I'm betting $400-500. any more and i think most people would just opt for the proven FX120i. i don't think it's supposed to be on par with the FX120i. i think they are shooting for a more affordable unit with similar accuracy and speed but i don't think it's going to beat it. so it should be priced accordingly. if it's around $400-500 i think they will sell well.

i could be way off base though. or maybe that's just my personal limit i'm putting on myself for how much i'd spend on one. haha
 
For Auto Dispense feature on the 1500, press and hold Enter key on the keyboard of the throw unit until Auto is displayed. To change back to manual dispense, hold the Enter key down until Manual is displayed.
 
Love mine... had it for probably 8 years, and yes I use the straw mod. I’ve also recently sped it up considerably, and I get very consistent drops. Rarely do I have an overcharge, and when it does it is only a couple of rods (H4350 mostly these days) which I pull out with a little dispenser scoop and hand trickle to the number.

I have it leveled on my bench, and calibrate before each use. I also keep an old dryer sheet in the hopper when not in use.

I love mine, and will likely get one of these when it dies.