ez-flo, autodrum or rcbs chargemaster ?

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georgiacatweazle

New member
I'm interested in doing more "target" grade pistol loadings.
I have a Lee auto drum that seems to put out very accurate loads. I also have a separate crimp stage on my turret. for my target loads or defense loads for a few calibers i use the lyman e-zee flow trickler, (but it's time consuming) and run the charge onto my RCBS M500.
I'm thinking of having a isolated bench extension to place a RCBS chargemaster combo onto, thinking of price matching at a local store for a decent price.

Is the RCBS going to let me get accurate target loads I'm looking for or maybe stick with trickle charges on the beam or just use the autodrum ?

thanks
 
I love the Chargemaster for rifle rounds but it’s much too slow for loading any significant number of handgun rounds. Plus, I doubt that precision powder charges will even be distinguishable from the noise of uncontrollable variables in system of handgun accuracy and distances... unless you’re talking rifle caliber handguns and long distances.
 
Brian Pfleuger said:
I love the Chargemaster for rifle rounds but it’s much too slow for loading any significant number of handgun rounds. Plus, I doubt that precision powder charges will even be distinguishable from the noise of uncontrollable variables in system of handgun accuracy and distances... unless you’re talking rifle caliber handguns and long distances.
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thanks Brian, seems I need to do some consistency tests with my autodrum, the variation may not be significant enough to warrant buying the rcbs. i'm sure trickle charging while tedious, will give an exact weight, probably may beat out the rcbs too ?
 
I find the chargemaster slow since I went to the throw and trickle routine. I went back to the basics and even use the yellow dippers occasionally. I have even abandoned my trickler in favor of thumb and index finger. I just set the throw a couple of tenths low and keep a small bowl of powder on the bench. Throwing takes maybe 5 seconds to get it on the scale then I take a pinch of powder between thumb and index finger and trickle to weight. I can do two to three rounds in the time my RCBS is making up it's mind and with a webcam modded beam it is much more accurate

That's for precision rifle rounds that use stick powder, for pistol I just use a ball or flake that meters well and throw and go
 
hounddawg said:
I find the chargemaster slow since I went to the throw and trickle routine. I went back to the basics and even use the yellow dippers occasionally. I have even abandoned my trickler in favor of thumb and index finger. I just set the throw a couple of tenths low and keep a small bowl of powder on the bench. Throwing takes maybe 5 seconds to get it on the scale then I take a pinch of powder between thumb and index finger and trickle to weight. I can do two to three rounds in the time my RCBS is making up it's mind and with a webcam modded beam it is much more accurate

That's for precision rifle rounds that use stick powder, for pistol I just use a ball or flake that meters well and throw and go
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so old school works the best huh.

what container do you dump powder into for your dipper ?
 
just a piece of plastic ware that lost it's lid somewhere along the way maybe has a three inch diameter and two depth. I have been contemplating replacing the scale with a high end electronic but have been getting great results with the old beam I have not bothered. At first I was worried about skin oil affecting the powder but after a few chrono sessions I quit worrying

The method takes some practice but it works once you get a routine and no more waiting on the Chargemaster to do it's thing
 
Unless these are long range single shot handgun loads, as some silhouette shooters use, you usually find a standard pistol is the limiting factor on accuracy and that simply throwing charges from a powder measure achieves groups as small as you can get off the bench. But never assume. You need to test it.

I suggest you choose your target load charge weight using weighing for the test rounds used to find it. Next, try throwing 30 charges that weight from your powder measure. Find the highest and lowest charge it threw in that 30 and also the average charge weight it threw. Prime 60 cases and put them in a bag and mix them up to randomize them. Put 60 bullets in a bag and mix them up to randomize them. Then use your scale to weigh out 15 charges into 15 of those cases right at the highest weight you got off your powder measure and 15 more at the lowest weight you got. Seat the bullets and set the 30 finished cartridges in one box and label it box 1. Next, weigh out thirty charges right at the average weight the measure threw (to the nearest tenth of a grain) and put them into the remaining cases and seat the remaining bullets in them and put the finished cartridges in another box and label it box 2.

On range day, put up two targets, 1 & 2, and set up at the bench. Pick one round from box 1 and shoot it onto target 1, then take one round from box 2 and shoot it onto target 2. Go back and forth between the boxes and targets like that until all 60 rounds are down range and with all the holes from box 1 on target 1 and all the holes from box 2 on target 2. This process equalizes out the effects of gun fouling accumulation, shooter fatigue, changing temperature, etc. Loading one-at-a-time eliminates the effect of gun weight changing as ammunition is used from the magazine. Then go look to see if there is enough clear difference in the sizes of the two groups to make the weighing process worthwhile.
 
here is a powder throw trick. Get a cheap funnel and drop it into the top of your powder throw to fill the powder throw. Fill til the powder is to the top of the funnel and periodically refill it as you load cases. It will keep a constant weight on th etop of the powder column and give more consistent throws

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georgiacatweazle said:
i'm sure trickle charging while tedious, will give an exact weight, probably may beat out the rcbs too ?
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Trickle charging may give you more precision than the RCBS but neither of them will make any discernible difference in your rounds. There are so many LARGE variables in handgun shooting, and precision powder charges are such a TINY variable that it will never come through the statistical noise.

Several tenths extreme spread in your charges might make a difference of 1/4” at 50 yards. Not only can I not shoot near well enough to see that, I doubt I’ve ever seen a handgun that could, even in a machine rest.
 
I'm interested in doing more "target" grade pistol loadings.
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What kind of pistol, optics, shooting position. If your talking about an XP-100, with good glass from a bench, it’s difficult to see any difference between thrown vs weighed charges at 100 yards the range is just too short for SD/ES to make a substantial difference unless it’s just a poor combination of powder/measure.

If your talking about “regular” handgun at 25 yards, your never going to see any difference between the two.
 
Mostly I agree that pistol is not going to notice it, but also will note that pistol a tiny bit off makes a big difference percentage wise. How that reflect real world I have never tried to test.

What I would do is get the Lyman 1200 combo trickle charger and electronic scale.

Its my backup now, but I could load really fast with it. Used an old RCBS drum to undercharge and then trickled to what I wanted. down to a 1/10.

My Hornady auto tends to be slow but very spot on.

Your accuracy is purely depended on the accuracy of your weight device be it electronic or pan and scale.
 
I know it was not one of your choices, but I love the my RCBS Little Dandy for pistol rounds. I bought a "perfect adapter" to use it with my LCT, works great.
 
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