Automatic Power Dispenser

[Pirate69]

This is probably one of those questions that you ask three people and get five different answers. I am interested in an automatic power dispenser. Anyone have an opinion on which are the best for the money? I see a RCBS on sale for $290. Is it any better than a Lyman, Hornady or the other cheap knock-offs? I would love to hear your candid feedback. Thanks.

[shooter93]

I have a Lyman and it does work well but I may also get the Hornady, I've heard nothing but good things about it.

[TCFAN]

I have the RCBS and it work great. Had it for 2 years and no problems so far..........Terry

[Iron Mike Golf]

I have the Lyman and been using it for 2 years. It holds calibration within 0.05% for months at a time. I think it needed recalibration once this year. I just check the weight and if it's more than 10 mg off, I recalibrate. Usually on and +/- 5 mg (or dead on).

[Bent Ramrod]

I have the RCBS and it works very well. It holds charges within 0.1 gr and check weighs them to make sure. (Once in a while, a couple granules will fall out of the trickle tube after the weighing has stopped and this can increase the weight a tenth, if you are weighing large stick powders.) The automatic weigher does not save much in the way of time, because the trickling goes about as slowly when mechanized as when done by hand. But the labor saving is tremendous, if you have to have weighed charges.

[Jon K]

RCBS...also you can use hard to meter powders.

Hard to beat the RCBS Customer Service. Warranty on electronics is 1 year...but send it in w/$42, it will be replaced or rebuilt... shipped to your front door.
Lyman won't do the same.

Jon

[Lizard333]

I have the Lyman. Been using it for a couple of years and I love it. No complaints. Pretty quick. I picked it up at a garage sale for 150$. Never been used.


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[alrighty]

I have the RCBS and it works very well. It holds charges within 0.1 gr and check weighs them to make sure. (Once in a while, a couple granules will fall out of the trickle tube after the weighing has stopped and this can increase the weight a tenth, if you are weighing large stick powders.) The automatic weigher does not save much in the way of time, because the trickling goes about as slowly when mechanized as when done by hand. But the labor saving is tremendous, if you have to have weighed charges.
I bought the RCBS chargemaster scale/dispenser combo while it was on sale at Natchez a while back and Bent Ramrod's post is spot on.I find it somewhat of a time saver unless I am loading 70 grains plus,then it is a wash.I do find it to be very accurate but you do have to calibrate it each use.The calibration is easy peasy and takes less than a minute or at least it seems like it.The only time a couple of granules falls out for me is when I bump the powder tube while grabbing the powder cup.I also highly encourage you to buy the plastic powder pan/funnel as it also eliminates the need for a dedicated funnel.Worth mentioning also is when I was researching reviews some told about overhead fans and even vibration causing problems.I have not had any problems other than turning my ceiling fan to low.My reloading room is in the basement with low ceilings as well.I love it for working up loads when you are changing the charge every five rounds.It does have a memory so you can store and recall your pet loads when needed and even lists the powder type to help prevent disaster.The more I use mine the more I am impressed.As Bent Ramrod stated it is a huge labor savings and now is something that I would hate to be without.

[No_1]

I have the RCBS and also bought it on sale. Great unit, accurate and a real time saver depending on how you use it.

[gray wolf]

I have been through 3 of them from RCBS in the last years,
if you want to believe the scale then have at it. The scale will read the desired weight
25 out of 28 times, not bad
until you cross check it on a balance beam and find it to be up to .2 + off
If that's good enough for some --fine, I'm not one of the some.
All three units took at least 25 seconds to drop charges. stick powder was a disaster cause some stick powder is .01 for each kernel.
The first unit was given to me new in the box, the other two were back and forth from RCBS --all time they swore the unit was all checked out and working fine.
It sits on my shelf with a towel over it so it's not dusty when I sell it.
IMHO I don't see how anyone can use one without a beam scale to back it up
and check the loads. Sorry they are not for me, I don't need a dispenser to drop low charges and trickle them up.
But hey don't let me discourage you, it's just that .1 .2 and .3 off is not what I want. I can get that from a scoop. Did I say I didn't care for it ?

[Hardcast416taylor]

I bought the Hornady unit about a year back. It works alright, I guess. It has the ability to overdispence both stick and ball powders no matter what dispencer speed you have it set on. My RCBS 505 beam scale still gets the most use.Robert

[wv109323]

The original RCBS Powdermaster was made by PACT and is still sold and serviced by them. It is a separate electronic scale ( can be used as a stand alone scale) and powder dispenser. IIRC you can get scale and powder dispenser for $189.00. Check out their web page.
The dispenser can take up to 45- 50 seconds to dispense the powder. The accuracy of the unit is usually + 0.0 or - 0.2 grains. At 45-50 seconds you can approach doing the same thing with a mechanical scale and powder trickler. It is more work doing it manually. The dispenser does handle stick powder as easily as ball powder. The PACT unit has a learning curve and dispenses any powder with said accuracy.
I think the unit is worthwhile if you need to load match quality ammo and lots of it such as a competitor in NRA High Power Rifle. For plinking and small quanity work it is not needed.

[Sakdog]

I have owned a Lyman DPS3 system and I liked it. The system served me well during a growing period. I grew into a turret press using a Lee auto disk pro measure and the adjustable bar. (checking my throws with the DPS scale) This set up worked good for me for a long while but every now and again I would have an undercharge (especially using large flake powder). One day I decided to use the "disks" it was this single act that got me comfortable with the concept of going to a full progressive setup. I find that using the fixed volume disks I can consistently get +- .1 grains. I sold off the DPS because I inherited an Ohaus Analytical plus digital scale. (weighs accurately to within .001 grains) I find that my auto disk setup drops within plus or minus a tenth and that my lee PPM does the same (with a consistent actuation method)

I would have to say that if you find a powder metering method that can beat +-.1 grain repeatability you should consider yourself the most fortunate person in the world.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got a pact unit with a seperate dispensor and scale and a lyman unit that is all in one. The lyman is a bit faster but my old pact is used more. I just have more faith in it and i like the seperate scale for other things. Both do the job though.

[Doc Highwall]

I have the Lyman and I like it. As to throwing large charges just dump a charge into the pan that is 5-10 grains under the weight you want and hit dispence.

[Love Life]

I have had the RCBS chargemaster combo for awhile. I love it!! While I am seating the bullet it is pouring the next charge for the next round to be loaded.

After years of the beam scale it sits in the cabinet gathering dust. I keep it as a backup.

[Ola]

I have Hornady:

It's more accurate I would ever have believed and in the end it is quite easy to use. If you buy one, don't be a typical man: study the instructions!

I have no idea how the other Automatic Powder Dispensers work, but with Hornady you basically play with the duration and speed of the final trickling. I have NOT used the ultimate long stick powders but it works OK with N140, Varget and other similar powders. With "pistol powders" it is also surprisingly fast.

BUT, there is one thing that I do not like: the Hornady machine is just way too "plastic". It just feels cheap.

[abunaitoo]

Being old, and kind of set in my ways, I don't have much trust in a digital scale.
I have one. It works good, but is to sensitive for me.
I have just gotten an old Lyman Auto Scale to work the way I want it to.
Can't see how anything else can be as good as it.
It's old technology that uses a balance beam scale to mesure the amount of powder charge.
Seeing a mechanical beam move as the powder charge is being fed just makes me feel safe.
You can find these for sale from time to time. Price is normally lower than the newer digital powder feeders.
You might just look into it. you might like it.