Chargemaster 1500 combo accuracy

catorres1

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May 16, 2014
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I recently bought a chargemaster combo and had to return the first, but still have a few days to decide whether to keep the second.

Using h4350, the majority, I'd say large majority, of my throws are over, usually by .1 grains, sometimes .2. The scale, when checked with my gempro, is accurate, that's not the problem. It just seems to get down to the last bit, and usually then over throws by a tenth or two, which it indicates. Again, it's not a scale problem, that's been really accurate so far, its the trickler.

I have the straw put in place, have carefully leveled it etc.

So my question to you all is, with h4350, or maybe with other extruded powders as well, what kind of throw accuracy do you expect from this machine?

I have been throwing a load, then while it throws the next, been weighing it on the gempro to bring it within a tenth or better of my target load.

It's still fast compared to what I was doing before, which is throwing somewhat close with an RCBS dump, and then trickling up (the gempro is terribly slow). But for the $270, not sure this is worth it for me..

Another option is to add an omega trickler...ie use the cmaster to get close, then finish the job on the gempro with the omega.

But I was really hoping for a faster solution overall with sufficient accuracy, and that kind of makes the cmaster a really expensive scoop system.

Thoughts?
 
Sorry to hear yours isn't working out. I have had mine a year and it throws maybe 1 charge out of 100 over by a tenth. Have you adjusted the trickle speeds on it? I used the straw mod and adjusted my speeds first thing and it is great. My straw mod is a bit different than the usual though. I run a straw all the way in to the end of the auger and cut it off so it over hangs the dispensing end by about 1/4 in. I then cut a small slit out of the straw where the powder feeds into the auger to slow down how much powder can enter at once. It is still fast and very reliable. I can send you pics if you want to try this version of the straw mod if my explanation wasn't great.
 
I am curious about the "speed" of these combo units. How fast does yours complete one charge? I tried a couple different electronic scales a few years ago, but couldn't get either to hold zero for more than a few charges. Tried all the trouble-shooting tips in the manuals, timed the warmup period, made sure no other electronics were in the room, or even in the next room, no fans creating air currents, etc. No joy. If you can't trust the outcome, I don't need it. My powder process is to throw the charge with an RCBS uniflow, set about 3 tenths of one grain light, then trickle up to the target on the balance beam scale. I did keep the check weights that came with those other scales, and have never had the balance fail a zero test. Checking my performance against the stopwatch, I average a complete charge in the case every 26 seconds over a 50 case batch. If these combos are faster, are they enough faster to justify the price? I've seen loading setups in videos for "mass" production with progressive presses, using as many as five combos to keep up. I don't load that kind of volume, so I'll stick with the old setup for now.
 
I have found with mine that if you let it "warm up" for a few hours it operates faster and dispenses the powder more accurately. I just normally turn it on a few hours before I plan to reload.
 
7mag, your experience with electronic scales is much different than mine. My unmodified CM takes an average of 19 seconds to dispense 65 gr of H1000. Repeatability of the scale is +/-0.05 gr. The feeder over-dispenses about 20% of the time.

In practice, though, the time I spend dispensing a charge using the CM is only about 2 seconds.

When I handload, I have the CM weighing while I’'m handling cases and seating bullets with the press. I just place the weighing pan on the scale and press "DISP" on the keypad (about 2 sec). While the CM is doing it's thing, I seat the bullet into the last case, move the loaded cartridge to the ammo box, and grab and new case. When I’'m done, the CM is finished dispensing the charge and I transfer the charge to the new (empty) case.
 
Sorry to hear yours isn't working out. I have had mine a year and it throws maybe 1 charge out of 100 over by a tenth. Have you adjusted the trickle speeds on it? I used the straw mod and adjusted my speeds first thing and it is great. My straw mod is a bit different than the usual though. I run a straw all the way in to the end of the auger and cut it off so it over hangs the dispensing end by about 1/4 in. I then cut a small slit out of the straw where the powder feeds into the auger to slow down how much powder can enter at once. It is still fast and very reliable. I can send you pics if you want to try this version of the straw mod if my explanation wasn't great.

Lots of great responses here!

Yes, please do send pictures of how you do this, and I'll try it.

I tested 20 loads this morning and 11 were over by .1 grains. It just gets to that last .1 or so, and then overshoots.

How did you adjust the trickle speed on yours?

BTW, on the scale, I am having no problems at all with drift or anything. The scale has been the brightspot!

I am on the fence on whether to keep this or return it. I have until the 15th to return it to Cabelas for a full refund.

I will say, when I was loading on the gempro and trickling with a tricker....to .002grains...it took me FOREVER to get there. This is much faster, but not as precise. But if I could get it to hit '40 grains' or whatever 75% of the time, I would be thrilled.
 
Sorry to hear yours isn't working out. I have had mine a year and it throws maybe 1 charge out of 100 over by a tenth. Have you adjusted the trickle speeds on it? I used the straw mod and adjusted my speeds first thing and it is great. My straw mod is a bit different than the usual though. I run a straw all the way in to the end of the auger and cut it off so it over hangs the dispensing end by about 1/4 in. I then cut a small slit out of the straw where the powder feeds into the auger to slow down how much powder can enter at once. It is still fast and very reliable. I can send you pics if you want to try this version of the straw mod if my explanation wasn't great.

Here is a pic of what my straw mod looks like.
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not sure of its total length. I just inserted it all the way to the back and trimmed it so about 1/4 in of straw hands out of the auger. Really only needed the overhang to take it out if needed. The McDonald's straw is the best fit, I tested a few.
 
I've had mine for a few years and would NOT reload without it. If you make the programming and straw modifications, it will eliminate 99% of your overthrows. Before I made the changes, I would get 50-75% overthrows, especially in the winter when static was bad. Now, I MIGHT get 1 in 100. I check mine against a FX-120i on occasion, and it is usually +/- .05gr, which is pretty good for most applications.
 
I have been having similar troubles with my CM1500. Thanks for posting these fixes, now i gotta wait until 5 so I can go home and try them out.
 
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