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RCBS’s new “Chargemaster”

My precious?

No gliter, racing stripes or reloading girl of the month.
 
Am I the only one who doesn’t like the powder drain underneath?

First world problems...
 
I have the RCBS Chargemaster Lite, and I flat out love it.

I used to work as a Bottle Blow Molding Machine Tech, and was required to do hourly weight checks of the bottles on a scale that had similar capabilities as this one. So I'm familiar with this type of accuracy.

I'm essentially incapable of taking full advantage of this sort of accuracy and capability, at any price; and I strongly that suspect I am far from alone here in that respect.

I wish RCBS the best of fortune in this endeavor, but I must pass.

Greg
 
I get some darn accurate loads from chargemasters. I'd be be a player for 2 of these if 600 or under. At 850, I can't see it.
Plus at 850, they better up their warranty game on electronics. 1 yr from the manufacturing date aint going to cut it at 850.
 
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I would rather have +/- .1g with blazing speed. I use a regular charge master and my only complaint is the speed. Its worth it over throwing Varget, 4831SC, and H4350 though.

Definetly , i dont see much gain in going much higher precision at 20 seconds per charge.
 
.....aren't we jumping the gun a little? No one even has one to test, and we're discrediting it already. We don't know if this is an "autotrickler v3 killer" or if it falls short. Give it a few months, in private hands for review.

And this goes for me too. But if it's half as good as it's being formatted as, I'd love to have it. My charge throw does vary, and it takes 40-50 seconds to dispense a single charge on my chargemaster lite. I like the idea of a large throw and a small throw straw. There's some really neat ideas.
That’s fair and we’ll try. Good comment!
 
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.02 of a grain is so ridiculous and unnecessary. If you need to improve your groups, .02 of a grain measure ain’t gonna do it.
Cheers

That depends entirely on your accuracy expectations.... Not to mention the error differences between a 0.1 scale and a 0.02 scale and drift.

BTW, the industry standard for CMM inspection is that the inspection tool needs to be at least ten times more accurate than the tolerance expectation you are attempting to maintain. There's a reason for that.

One kernel of Varget weighs about 0.020 grains, so a 0.1 grain scale will at best get you within 5 kernels... if it has not drifted. If it does drift, then you are talking more like 10 kernels of Varget… minimum and that is suddenly 0.2 grain error and you would not have noticed.

If you are a short range shooter, maybe that's no big deal in terms of speed, but that could be enough to affect barrel harmonics if you are a bench rest shooter trying to stay in the zeros.

An F Class shooter trying to hold a 1/2 moa bull out to 1000 yards is also looking to eliminate any vertical variability that he can.

Keep in mind that to hold a 1/2 MOA circle... not a square... a circle, you need vertical perfection to maximize the width tolerance for wind. Once you start hitting 1/4 MOA high or low, the wind tolerance drops to zero and it is a whole lot harder to maintain the bull as you'll catch the next lower score ring out the corners.

In PRS terms, although typically much larger, a diamond shape target would be a tough one for the same reason I mentioned above.
 
I just paid $299 for a Chargemaster 1500 from Midsouth. I wonder if they're starting to liquidate in anticipation of the latest and greatest.

My theory is this. They get the Chargemaster 1500 down to $199, and they sell the new Matchmaster at $500-600. But I don't work marketing in my company, I'm just a test technician. :LOL:
 
so it looks like it's the following:

FX120i V3 full kit $960
FX120i scale alone $470 (after coupon)

RCBS Matchmaster- $500-850???

Frankford Arsenal Itellidropper $200

Guess we'll have to wait and see when the actual units come out and how they perform. I had been thinking it'd get an FA dropper but might wait and see how the green machine does and the street price before I jump on a bandwagon.
 
The FA is supposed to have a calibration setting so you can calibrate for the type powder you are using and get more accurate drops. I am curious to see the specs on the scales being used. Based on price for the FA I am certain it is a Strain Gauge scale. I have no idea what they are using in the new RCBS. Hard to beat the FX120i as it is a Magnetic Force Restoration system, and why they don't float/walk, and why they are more $$. I will stick with my FX system :)
 
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The FA is supposed to have a calibration setting so you can calibrate for the type powder you are using and get more accurate drops. I am curious to see the specs on the scales being used. Based on price for the FA I am certain it a Strain Gauge scale. I have no idea what they are using in the new RCBS. Hard to beat the FX120i as it is a Magnetic Force Restoration system, and why they don't float/walk, and why they are more $$. I will stick with my FX system :)

The FA Intellidropper is strain gauge. Watch some videos and you can watch it drift around. Those types of setups would be so nice if they could use a magnetic force restoration scale but also keep the price of the entire unit sub-$500
 
From my research magnetic force restoration is good but not the best for reloading because it is vulnerable to interference like a nearby space heater or wireless telephone. It also needs to warm up and is sensitive to dusty environments and is sensitive to voltage fluctuation, so you should run from a voltage stabilized power source.

What I found to be the best is the ones that use a tuning fork system like Vibra. There is a local vitamin producer nearby and the place is full of Vibra balances. I assume there's a good reason for that.

As I understand it, they sense the tuning fork pitch change caused by the load like a guitar string tuner would detect if you are in tune.

I personally have the HT 220 0.0001 g model and its awesome. No warm up cycle... fast ... like really fast... internal automatic calibration and not susceptible to phone interference, or voltage fluctuation.

I'm probably splitting hairs though because while the Vibra has advantages, any 0.0001g balance in that price range is going to be very good as long as you guard against the factors mentioned here.

I would recommend the Vibra HT 220 to anyone interested in an excellent balance.

Here's a link to one for around $1000
 
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If youre going to spend 1k bucks then at least get something that does the powder weighing for you like the fx120i and auto throw.

Im not gonna pay a grand to not cut out any of my work flow or time expenditures. Youre paying more to work just as much.
 
You can get the FX120i brand new for $475 to your door from Canada from CE Products link directly on the Autotrickler website.

That’s what I did. Got the scale first, made a “home-made” stand to sit over the top of the scale, attached my Lee Powder Thrower to the top of the stand...it dumps into a funnel, the funnel drops through the top of the scale and into a 1 cup measuring cup, and I also have a Frankford Arsenal trickler on top of the stand that dumps into the funnel. I probably complete a charge in under 15 seconds anyways, just the filling portion, by the time I grab the cup and dump it into a piece of brass and restart the process it’s obviously more than 15 seconds. Pretty fast but not as convenient as the Autothrow/Autotrickler
Can you please post the link, cheapest I could find this was $745
 
It is on the Cambridge web site. Select purchase in US dollars and use "Cambridge" discount code. You can search this site too, plenty of info on here about how and where to purchase the AnD.
 
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Can you please post the link, cheapest I could find this was $745

What GWAIN said. Go to Autotrickler website...there you will find links for the fx120....go to the Cambridge Environmental website...add the scale to your cart...use Discount Code CAMBRIDGE.....wala, 475 to your door, at least in continental US
 
You can order the Autotrickler and Autothrow from the Cambridge site for one-stop shopping.
 
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If youre going to spend 1k bucks then at least get something that does the powder weighing for you like the fx120i and auto throw.

Im not gonna pay a grand to not cut out any of my work flow or time expenditures. Youre paying more to work just as much.

Hang on a minute here... the Vibra also has an RS232 serial port... so I see no reason why you could not connect the same automated trickler system that you are using with the FX120 or other scales.

It would be worth while to confirm cross compatibility before throwing it under the bus.

They are made only about 30 minutes away from my weekend practice range just outside London Ontario and a buddy has one on order, so I will test it when it arrives.
 
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Hang on a minute here... the Vibra also has an RS232 serial port... so I see no reason why you could not connect the same automated trickler system that you are using with the FX120 or other scales.

It would be worth while to confirm cross compatibility before throwing it under the bus.

They are made only about 30 minutes away from my weekend practice range just outside London Ontario and a buddy has one on order, so I will test it when it arrives.
Having an RS232 connector doesn't mean anything. There are separate auto tricklers for A&D FX scales and Sartorius scales. Vibra is not listed on the Auto Trickler website. He could most likely make one for the Vibra but I can't see it being worth his time as you are probably one of very few reloaders who use that scale.
 
The web site says

AutoTrickler is compatible with most 1 and 0.1 milligram models of Sartorius Entris, Practum, Quintix, and Secura, and the discontinued GD503.

I just got an email from Adam...
Sorry, it won't work with Vibra. It's not a universal system, it only works with specific A&D and Sartorius interfaces.

oh well, I'll just have to keep doing it the way I have been.... with tweezers for the last kernel or two.
 
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AutoTrickler is compatible with most 1 and 0.1 milligram models of Sartorius Entris, Practum, Quintix, and Secura, and the discontinued GD503.
Sartorius is the brand, Entris, Practum, Quintix, and Secura, and the discontinued GD503 are models under the Sartorius brand. Same thing with A&D FX's. Sartorius is going to use similar protocols and communication formats with it's own scales but it is not following a universally accepted specification. Vibra is its own brand, there is no reason Vibra would use the same protocols as Sartorius or A&D unless it was somehow related as a sister company or something.

RS232 is spec defined but supports an array of baud rates and other settings that you will have to know ahead of time to even be able to communicate with the device. Then you need to know what data to send to the device to be able to read the scale output so that you know when to stop/start trickling.
 
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