RCBS Match Master

K

kilotanker22

New member
Does anyone here currently own this combo? How well does it function? I know it is a lot of money to spend on a scale, but I do a ton of shooting. I recently bought another beam scale, but I am eyeing this one.
 
I agree. Buy the A&D Fx120i with Auto Throw/Trickler and Bluetooth. I love mine. Fast and accurate. Mine will throw and trickle a charge as fast as 10 seconds. If you trick it out with some bling from Area 419, like the clear Lexan lid, you'll end up spending a little more money. But you'll get a higher quality scale that's more accurate and with a better warranty.
 
not sure why people find hand trickling so burdensome. I average 2 rifle rounds a minute with a error of .02 gn
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I can as well.

But with two dispenser running I can load powder and seat bullets.

Some are more patient than others, or don't mind the time. I would rather be shooting or reading.

To each her or his own. You are not a bad person if you use a beam. You are not a good person because you use an electronic dispenser.

Its not a binary choice of good and evil or right and wrong. Personal choice and preference and I respect those who have the patients, I sure don't.

On the other hand my step dad who is a great person, was great at that stuff was slower than dirt to get going when he needed to and would fiddle until the earth was cold. Made us nuts at times.
 
wow! you guys are definitely in a higher tax bracket than most. $1000 dollar powder dispenser / scale? more power to you, and god bless, but wow! could it be that great? good scale, decent powder measure and trickier will not set you back that much. how much faster or more accurate can it be? maybe I'm ignorant, but that's some ADD at work. to setup a cheap powder measure takes say ten rounds to dump -.2gr of target weight and to trickle the rest is a twist or two of the fingers. This, in my experience is way faster than waiting for an electronic measure to dispense same charge with same accuracy. maybe I'm just not on the same level as you all, but ill take my time and invest the $ in components. Just blows my mind 1K to dispense powder. Cant think of a powder that .001gr difference would make an appreciable difference in performance. I'm sure my opinion is off some where, but for a 1K it better make me a bitchen cup of espresso while it measures my powder :)
 
trust me 308 I thought long and hard before dropping almost 500 on a scale and while I like it to be honest my little 25 dollar battery powered scale is just as precise in it's measurements. The drawback to the $25 dollar scale is size, capacity and it is slower to settle out

If you have a flat node plus or minus .1 won't hurt your accuracy even at long range. However the real time you need to get a close as load as you can to .00 is when load developing. It's a lot easier to find that node is when you are throwing exact as you can get it loads

Anyway just my 2 cents worth. I normally try and load to plus or minus .02 of target weight and not concern myself with the scale error. But then I am not am not shooting LR benchrest
 
When it comes to reloading, I don't enjoy the process, have the time nor want to second guess my scale. I've had several Gempro scales and have owned auto systems by Hornady and RCBS. Didn't like any of them. All took longer to weigh and dispense and the scales would drift.

Going to the A&D scale happened when I was able to buy one for $350 after a rebate. I added the Auto Throw/Trickler system plus the Bluetooth later. I sold all of my single stage presses and bought a Dillon 550 for loading my precision loads. I recouped much of the cost though stuff I sold. But for the first time, I can now say I enjoy reloading my precision loads. I know I can walk into my reloading room and crank out a 100 rounds of accurate ammo really fast. With the system I'm using now, the process is enjoyable and doesn't feel like a grind as in the past.
 
What's the difference in accuracy, bullet drop and muzzle velocity caused by a 2/10ths grain spread in charge weight?
 
I once had a load of Brigadier 3032 and the 155 grain Palma bullet that maintained POI and group size out of my M1A over a range of ±1.25 grains. That's unusual, but the principle is right: find a load your gun likes and you can get all there is to get from it using volumetric dispensing. The trick is, even though the sequential charge weights don't match exactly, the volumes do. More weight in the same volume means slower flame front spread through the powder column, effectively producing a slight decline in burn rate that, with an optimal powder choice, neatly compensates for the higher charge weight. It doesn't work with all powders and bullet combinations, but when you find a combination that does work like that in your gun, you have a charge weight-insensitive load that takes very little effort to get right. Perfect for progressive loading.

A lesson I take from that is, if you want your weighed charges to behave optimally, you want to achieve identical in-case volume with them. This means carefully dispensing them into cases exactly the same way each time.
 
Nick, I've loaded Brigadier 3032 in 223 and if I was +/- 1.25 gr I would notice that since load data for 55gr bullet start load is 23.5gr@ 2760fps max is 25gr @ 3140fps. The above load is from Scott Powder Co manual.

I have Neil Jone BR measure that throw same load every time but it's click adjustment so I know how gr it throws.

50 click on BR would be 27gr/133,27.2gr/322,27.1gr/3032. I think I still have
3-8lbs 3032.
 
Old roper,

Note the M1A is chambered in .308 and not .223. It looks like I typo'd the weight of the Palma bullet by omitting the first digit. It is 155 grains and not 55 grains. I've fixed that now.

IIRC, the load sweet spot I had was 40.5 grains to 43.0 grains over a Federal 210 primer (this was the early '90s and the military sensitivity spec primers weren't out there yet at that point). I'm not sure what the book limit was, but the chamber and throat were not particularly tight on the barrel that gun was wearing at the time, so the pressure numbers will be below what a standard pressure gun finds for them.

I'm sorry the Scott plant burned down and you can't get their powders any longer. I still have some of their 4065, which works well in .30-06. But once it is gone, it is gone.
 
308: I sure am not into that RCBS Super, I got my dispensers on sale. Not would I put money into one of the upscale (pun intended) scales. Even if it made a difference (note Bart B querry) I can't shoot that well anyway!

A lesson I take from that is, if you want your weighed charges to behave optimally, you want to achieve identical in-case volume with them. This means carefully dispensing them into cases exactly the same way each time.
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Has me head scratching again. So you then have the cases rattle around between the dispense, bullet seat, into a ammo box, then lay on their side while you shoot?

I don't see all that not making things unequal again?
 
What's the difference in accuracy, bullet drop and muzzle velocity caused by a 2/10ths grain spread in charge weight?
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that would depend on the load. The goal is to look for zero or single digit change over several tenths, but changes can be rather drastic and even surprising at times.
 
In 45 years of reloading for fun, I've never felt deprived using an RCBS 10/10.....and a Uniflow.....using a single stage or a progressive, but then I'm not a benchrest shooter and never scale each and every load. You guys talk about patience or lack of it? Trickling every load period requires patience way beyond mine.;)

$1000 RCBS or A&D scales aren't targeting the likes of me..... I don't even have or want a hand trickler. :) I do have a GemPro.....only use it to double check the 10/10.....it sure isn't any faster or better.....and doesn't work at all during a blackout.
 
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7.62 NATO M118 match ammo has at least a 3/10ths grain spread of IMR4895 powder. Its 174 grain FMJBT match bullet tested at best, about 10 inches in national match lots from bolt action test barrels.

Rebulleting any lot with Sierra match bullets of 150, 168 or 180 grains ended up testing about half MOA at 300 with 150's and about half MOA at 600 with the heavier bullets. All in semi auto match M1 or M14NM best quality rebuilt rifles.
 
I have seen what Bart B is saying and that is why I don't worry about it.

4/10 spread is the norm for me. Once I get a load I just bulk it and don't worry if its a tenth too high - I don't think they ever charge low.

On the other hand I got a .180 or so 5 shot at 200 meters, I had 4 into one going and through a flyer (I knew it was off and called it, no claims it would have been 5 into one, just it was going to be off to the right)

Sadly then I revert to 1/2 - 5/8 MOA. Sure is fun though.
 
The way I load I can get my charge to within my scales error factor in about the same time as to let it fudge a bit so why not. It's just as easy to do things right. When I don't I usually regret it
 
RC20 said:
On the other hand I got a .180 or so 5 shot at 200 meters, I had 4 into one going and through a flyer (I knew it was off and called it, no claims it would have been 5 into one, just it was going to be off to the right)

Sadly then I revert to 1/2 - 5/8 MOA.
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What's the best way to claim accuracy? Smallest or largest few shot groups fired?
 
Recently I was loading up some rounds for my 260. For powder measurement, I was using a Lyman 1200DPS3. I’ve had it for 5 years or more. I had about 20 rounds yet to measure powder for when the Lyman died. Measured weight fine, but would not throw the desired weights of powder. Well, heck. So I brought out the reliable old Lyman 55, the powder trickler, and I weighed with a PACT unit that was already warmed up. After years of using the Lyman, I had forgotten just how slow reloading was when going ‘retro’. With the Lyman, and now with the RCBS, while I’m seating a bullet, the auto thrower is measuring out the next load of powder. So some of you guys stay ‘retro’, and I’m happy for you, but I have moved on.

As to accuracy, I’m shooting most of the same rifles I had when I used the RCBS 1010 scale, and I have seen no decline in accuracy while using the electronic thrower.

I guess all I get from the electronic thrower/measure is speed of loading. I’m Ok with that.
 
RC20 said:
Has me head scratching again. So you then have the cases rattle around between the dispense, bullet seat, into a ammo box, then lay on their side while you shoot?

I don't see all that not making things unequal again?
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Weighed charges handled by real people wind up experiencing transportation and handling variability, too, so they also see cartridge-to-cartridge burn rate changes when handling isn't identical. The only question is whether that is worse for the wider weight spread, and I don't know the answer or that the answer is uniform for all powders. If some of the density variations among volumetrically dispensed charges are due to randomly tending to get more slightly larger grains in one charge than in the next and that difference is also self-compensating, you can see volumetric dispensing is at an advantage over weighing of charges in that circumstance. If the powder grain size variation is perfectly averaged out in each charge, then maintaining matching performance in loose charges hinges on identical handling of each round.

That brings up the other workaround, which is to use a slightly compressed load so the grains are locked into place by the seated bullet and don't shift with normal handling. That is what you find when you pull bullets from Federal GM308M.

So, as with many load-related matters, it depends.
 
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