That makes sense!

[Denny2277]

I have a 308 that shoots really well that for the last two months I've been trying to work up a load using 178 gain A-MAXes. I had it shooting .5 MOA with 43.3 grains of Varget and Nosler brass. I changed to Lapua brass and tried to tweek my load a little and could not find a node anywhere. From 45 grains down to 42.5 and back again. When I first started with the Lapua brass, I also started using a Hornady Auto Charger. This was the first thing that I checked when I started having trouble with the loads. I checked it against the Dillon scales I'd always used. It was right on. Never thought anymore about it. Well last night I finally checked it again. WOW! the loads varied by as much as a half a grain. I'd already loaded up some that I thought were 44.2 grains. I shot those today and ended up with a 1.5 inch group. I came back inside and loaded five more rounds at 44.4 using my Dillon scales again to check and trickle up the loads. My rifle responded with a .75 inch group. I'll be starting over with my development now.

 

[trebark]

My experience with an RCBS Chargemaster is similar to yours. With some powders like RL15 is throws charges consistently. With powders like H4350, H4831 and Retumbo it will not throw them accurately. But, the chargermaster can throw a charge a lot faster than I can manually. As a result, I use my chargemaster to throw the initial charge, then I move the pan over to my beam scale to verify accuracy and adjust as necessary.

 

[MudRunner2005]

With the chargemaster issue try using the McDonalds straw trick. It really helped to fix mine and got it metering VERY accurate (+/- 0.2 grains).

Also, I never just trust mine when it beeps and says it's done. I wait for it to do a final measure. Plus, you're supposed to properly calibrate the scale every time you use it... It takes 30 seconds, why not?

I love my Chargemaster 1500.

Once you get it dialed in, you'll love the Lapua brass, too.

 

[RT2506]

I have friends that have all these new fangled charge master powder dumping things. Seems they spend a lot of time calibrating and fiddling with them trying to get them to work like they are supposed to. All the while I am a long time finished loading all my ammo on my "stone age to them" equipment. I just use one of the old Lee dippers that is close to what I need and dip it out of a plastic bullet box filled with powder and then trickle in the rest with an old RCBS tickler into my scale. Precise loads every time.

 

[jpd676]

With the chargemaster issue try using the McDonalds straw trick. It really helped to fix mine and got it metering VERY accurate (+/- 0.2 grains).

Also, I never just trust mine when it beeps and says it's done. I wait for it to do a final measure. Plus, you're supposed to properly calibrate the scale every time you use it... It takes 30 seconds, why not?

I love my Chargemaster 1500.

Once you get it dialed in, you'll love the Lapua brass, too.

Alright, buddy, you can't throw this out there and not explain the McDonald's straw trick; what is that? I have the Hornady and it seems consistent if I calibrate it every time. Can you explain what I do with the straw?

 

[MudRunner2005]

This should help explain... It's kinda long, but worth the watch. Anyone who owns a Chargemaster should watch it. I watched it and calibrated mine to the same numbers the guy in the video does, and it made it faster and with the McDonald's straw it started metering with a variance of about +/- 0.2 grains, which is ALOT better than it was before-hand.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-DRJCL0D3A]Reloading Tips - Reprogram your RCBS Chargemaster 1500, Straw Modification - YouTube[/ame]

 

[trebark]

With the chargemaster issue try using the McDonalds straw trick. It really helped to fix mine and got it metering VERY accurate (+/- 0.2 grains).

That's a potential .4grain variance. You can't get a good ES with a variance like that.

Also, I never just trust mine when it beeps and says it's done. I wait for it to do a final measure. Plus, you're supposed to properly calibrate the scale every time you use it... It takes 30 seconds, why not?

Calibrate mine every time. It's about as accurate as yours (+/- 0.2 grains) which is why I verify the loads when it comes to powder it doesn't meter well.

 

[MudRunner2005]

That's a potential .4grain variance. You can't get a good ES with a variance like that.



Calibrate mine every time. It's about as accurate as yours (+/- 0.2 grains) which is why I verify the loads when it comes to powder it doesn't meter well.

I don't just let it dump and then stuff it in the shell blindly...I adjust it however it needs to be. But since the straw trick I would say majority (85-90%) of the time it meters it dead-on, whereas before it was only metering around 10% dead-on.

It helped significantly.