RCBS Charge Master 1500 quit working!

[GARD72977]

My Charge master will not do the final trickle. It dispenses the first 2 speeds but will never finalize the charge. I have tappped the powder trickler with my finger to make the last .1 or .2 grains despense. Sometimes off by more.

I have found places that service them but the price is 200 after shopping. I dont think I want to pay that.

Im thinking its a cold solder that has quit making a connection. I may take it apart and resolder the connections. If it works it works. If it dont its garbage.

Im not buy another electronic despenser. Im going back to the old way.

[lightman]

I hope you can repair it. If mine quit working I would get it repaired or replace it.

[RedneckRob]

I hope you get it fixed.

[TCoggins]

I’ve had good luck with RCBS service. My Chargemaster has not had issues, but I bought one for my dad, and it had issues. I ended up sending it back. They replaced it, but tested it with the sakes loads he was using. Might be worth a call to them.

[BK7saum]

At one point they were replacing them for a fee. You sent in your old one and for $xx they would send you a new one. Don't know if that is still the case or not. Sold mine and went to a thrower, electric trickler and an electronic scale.

[1hole]

Well, I regret the failure but those folk who are insistent that RCBS warranties everything they sell forever are going to be disappointed. Actually, those devices were never worth repairing, any returns under warranty were simply tossed and replaced with a new one.

I suspect you have a much more serious problem than a "cold solder joint", that's much rarer than many believe. In some 50 years of precision electonix bench work in the space program, the ONLY "bad" solder joints I've ever seen - maybe a dozen? - were created by clumsy repair efforts, not original construction. I keep a cheap digital scale on my bench for weighing bullets and cases, it's NEVER used for gunpowder.

I bought my first magnetically damped balance beam powder scale (Lyman/Ohaus, not that it really matters) in '65 and still have it. It was dead on when new and it's dead on now; other beam scales are equally dependable. I know of NO digital scale sold at any price with an equal record.

[GARD72977]

You may be right about the cold solder. I watched a youtube video where a guy was having trouble with his keypad. He said it was from a cold solder and after re soldering it worked.

Im no electrician. The powder dispenser works but not for final trickle. Thought it might be worth a shot.

I have had this thing about 5 years. It has not been used very much. I load mostly progressive.

[TNsailorman]

Mine quit dropping the final few tenths and I called RCBS and got a really nice lady who told me to take a pair of needle nosed pliers and very gently pull the tube out until you feel it stop. Then let it go and it will usually clear the stuck grains of powder and dust that accumulates around the tube. It might take a couple of times to clear. I tried it and it worked. I have had to do that a few more times in the last few years and it always fixes my problem. It might not be what your problem is but it won't hurt to try. james

[GARD72977]

Thanks! I will try that tomorrow

[jmorris]

Im not buy another electronic despenser. Im going back to the old way.

If your old way was a manual trickler and a beam scale, for less than $30 you could make that setup more hands free and more accurate than the CM 1500.

Works like this.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxPenA7c0hE&t=21s

[jmorris]

Checking it’s accuracy, using an old 505, against an A&D balance in this video. Note: the A&D is displaying to the hundredth of a grain, not just tenth.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GYWgAdKzHs&t=14s

[highmountaincaster]

I have used mine for almost 13 years now. It’s been nothing but awesome, however I have read of other that encounter issues. I guess it’s just luck if the draw when buying anything nowadays. That’s why I always try to purchase products with excellent customer support and warranty, even if it means I have to pay more for the same product. The RCBS Lite looks nice and it’s a lot quieter than my Charge master.

[1hole]

Checking it’s accuracy, using an old 505, against an A&D balance in this video. Note: the A&D is displaying to the hundredth of a grain, not just tenth.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GYWgAdKzHs&t=14s

Haven't a clue what an "A&D balance" is nor how much it costs to find a balance scale obtaining a .01 gr. readout but I question the accuracy. I mean, a display to .01 gr. is quite possible but doing it with meaningful accuracy is a white horse of a wholly different color.

There is a rational reason why reloading scales read to .1 grain; that's quite enough accuracy for our needs (it's only 1/70,000th of a pound)! Normal powder burn rate variations due to ambient temperature changes between morning and noon can routinely exceed the pressure/velocity effects of weight changes that small so sweating to accurately get to one tenth of that is just spinning our wheels in soft sand!

IMHO. :)

[jmorris]

The video has nothing to do with need, rather a demonstration of the ability of the inexpensive beam scale to detect a very, very small change in mass and a trickler to be stopped at the same time.

We could take a look at how sensitive the load cell is on the CM 1500 for comparison. Note that two of them side by side don’t even act the same. It’s short (132 seconds) watch to the end with the 505 above and you can see the difference, before your very eyes. No tricks, I promise.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmxBSOOL7Ks&t=5s

As far as questioning a device you haven’t a clue about, you might be better convinced if you researched it yourself but you are correct on the resolution vs accuracy topic. It is to .02gn not .01. FWIW the beam/photoelectric setup has a repeatability higher that the resolution it could be adjusted to, at least on the 505.

[jmorris]

I am not saying they are junk and should be thrown away, those two are mine and I still use them. That doesn’t make me unaware that the beam scales can do better than them, as far as repeatability, needed or not.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA0_KDjbBGQ

If you don’t need any accuracy/repeatability standard, I’d be using any measure or just a dipper. They are “close enough” for lots of stuff and quite inexpensive.

[highmountaincaster]

The video has nothing to do with need, rather a demonstration of the ability of the inexpensive beam scale to detect a very, very small change in mass and a trickler to be stopped at the same time.

We could take a look at how sensitive the load cell is on the CM 1500 for comparison. Note that two of them side by side don’t even act the same. It’s short (132 seconds) watch to the end with the 505 above and you can see the difference, before your very eyes. No tricks, I promise.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmxBSOOL7Ks&t=5s

As far as questioning a device you haven’t a clue about, you might be better convinced if you researched it yourself but you are correct on the resolution vs accuracy topic. It is to .02gn not .01. FWIW the beam/photoelectric setup has a repeatability higher that the resolution it could be adjusted to, at least on the 505.

I recently had the same thought of how accurate my charge master was compared to my Redding beam scale. Mine stays within in +_ .1 tenth of a grain. Still that’s a possibility of up to .2 tenths deviation from one round to the next. I wanted to load my pet load on a beam scale and actually see if there was and distinguishable difference in effecting group size. Never got that far before the shortage though so I guess it will have to wait.

[jmorris]

I wanted to load my pet load on a beam scale and actually see if there was and distinguishable difference in effecting group size.


I would bet most people would never see any difference. 100 and 200 yard benchrest matches are won every weekend with loads thrown from measures, not weighed/trickled, just thrown by volume. Those are people shooting for the smallest, one hole group. At ranges that close, other factors outweigh ES/SD in importance or the winners would be doing something different. Like that of 1000 yard competitors, where consistent velocity is much more important but it wouldn’t surprise me if no one reading this thread shoots that far or even has a place to do so. So even if it does matter, it doesn’t to them.

[BK7saum]

I don't disagree with those stating the beam balance is plenty accurate. As long as the agate bearings are clean and the knives sharp, my RCBS beam balance (505?) is very sensitive and accurate, registering a change with 1 kernel of larger extruded powder.

However I have access to and use a Sartorius scientific electronic scale that has a readout to 0.0002 grains. The accuracy and precision is way more than necessary for reloading, but you can see the weight change when small kernels of powder or small amounts of fine ball powder are trickled. I have check weighted the expensive electronic scale enough against the beam balance to know that I trust it. I have loaded large rifle charges and worked up loads that are less than 1/2 moa and in the single digit extreme spreads. Do I have to use an expensive scientific scale for that, absolutely not, but it is nice to "see" the powder trickled as the weight is shown.

I was using a camera with the beam balance. that was a nice setup. You could tell when it was a touch light and a kernel of extruded powder would put the scale slightly heavy. No complaints either way.

I did not like the Chargemaster. I found it drifted too much and would throw +/- 0.2 grains. Have a lot of throw backs and re-weighs. Too much time wasted. I can throw a charge and trickle up much faster when throwing 25-105 grain charges.

Brad.

[omgb]

The point of connection between the scale and the dispenser can become corroded. It did on mine. I pulled it apart and shot it with contact cleaner. Then I plugged the two parts together several times. That fixed my problem. Still, I don't trust the dang thing and end up using my 1010 much of the time.

[GARD72977]

I took mine apart.its Clean with no powder inside.

I may try contact cleaner spray. I have a feeling its going to become a manual trickler. A momentary button and a battery will take care of it