small test if a chargemaster lite

R

retired

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small test of a chargemaster lite

i did some loading with my lite and with small pistol loads and fine powder it ran great
when i went to a 308 load in the 40's not so close. so i thought i would do a short lt30 test.
i did 10 charges at 35.4 and 10 at 35.5.
if i was shooting score and my load was 35.4, i would run the machine at 35.5( my machine)
zero'd before each string.

35.4 ave 35.34 hi 35.42/ lo 35.30

35.5 ave 35.43 hi 35.52/ lo 35.40

machine seems fine for average loading, maybe good enough for short range br,
but for long range i will just use it to feed my a&d fx120i.
part of the issue i think is the cal weights are a little under weight.
2 50g are actually 99.954 , which is 0.7 grains..which is what the drops are off!
 
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part II
i re-zeroed the scale with 2 50.000 g weights.

35.4 came out at 35.38-35.42.

my suggestion is get some precision 50.000g weights

(looking at prices for test weights, maybe better to make
your own if you have a fx120i or better)
 
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part III
i used my a&d fx120i, weighed each cal weight of the
lite, and then added a pc of scotch tape to the pan,
till i had a 50.000 reading on the scale.
wrapped the tape to the weight and checked the weight
99.999 for the 2 weights.
my calibrations on my scale should come out closer to 100.
 
part IV
just ran vv n140, and ran much better than
when i loaded rounds yesterday.
hard to get 0.1 when your cal weights are
off by 0.7
 
I use a charge master

An old one I've had for years. Scales are only as good as their load cell. I use the Chargemaster for throwing charges close, an electric trickler and a Laboratory scale for final charges. Accuracy is only as good as the equipment one uses to get it. The extra step of using the lab "balance" can be proven, easily.

Pete
 
I have one of the best scales available, made by Denver Electronics. It’s great for loading in a controlled inviroment.

It is totally impractical at the range.

I have found that a charge master is just fine for Short Range BR. Truth is, throwing charges from a measure is fine as well.
 
this is the "new and improved" chargemaster LITE.

RAN IT WITH rl26.
really close most of the time,
BUT
the large kernels wreak havoc with
the trickle function
use to feed the fx120i only
 
I know this thread is about the Lite.

I just want to make the point that I grounded the frame of my regular Chargemaster Combo years ago and it has been dead-on stone reliable ever since.

I fire it up and after a few minutes I remove the pan. If it reads -152.9 or whatever it usually does, I don't mess with it. That pan is the same weight as it ever was. In the middle of a loading session, I can check it by hitting zero and removing the pan. Yup, -152.9 again. Key in the charge weight again and keep on truckin'.

I use the "straw in the trickler" technique and have few overages with log powder, like the old IMR4350. I loaded 100 rounds of .264 win mag yesterday using IMR8133 and only had two overthrows. This is a short stick powder. Varget will do 1 overthrow in every 10 to 20 throws.

If you are removing the pan right after it beeps, you are making a mistake. If there is an overthrow, it won't show until it displays the charge count and then displays the weight again. Only then will the true weight show up. I am pretty good at tapping a few grains or two back into the hopper and hitting the correct weight.

You all probably know all this, but just making sure.
 
Depends what one wants

jackie schmidt said:
I have one of the best scales available, made by Denver Electronics. It’s great for loading in a controlled inviroment.

It is totally impractical at the range.

I have found that a charge master is just fine for Short Range BR. Truth is, throwing charges from a measure is fine as well.
Click to expand...

I want every bit of accuracy I can get. I don't think ammo is a good place to say good enough is good enough. I know many disagree with me but I have my own beliefs. I quit loading at the range very early on in my time shooting. I have always felt it's too easy to make mistakes in the field. I know some do fine, or seem to but I have always felt their shooting talents made up for what they were missing from not having the best ammo they could make. Think they would have done and would do even better with perfect ammo.

Pete
 
so one thing i did not know going in was that if you let a load sit
it will let you know if it went over.
as was pointed out
it beeps when it is stable as a weight
it then gives a count of the number of charges weighed
and then shows the weight one more time...this is where you can see
an error before using the load.
i just ran h1000( a well known short range powder!)
at 72.6
twice it went over and show that.
the remaining charges were LESS than +/-0.1

looks like the accuracy will work for short range br.
 
Retired
What was the time it took for the Lite to drop each charge? I was thinking for one of these to use at a match running off one of the small 12V batteries. Of course Erick Cortina figured out how to change the speed at which the original chargemaster operated. Wondering if it is at all possible to change the machines parameters.
 
(sorry for the delay..i was fishin in mexico!)
i did not time them.
it runs fast and slows in steps as it gets close.
i 'THINK' if you set a a routine of a completed round, all would be fine.
if just filling cases, maybe too slow.

Riverwolf1 said:
Retired
What was the time it took for the Lite to drop each charge? I was thinking for one of these to use at a match running off one of the small 12V batteries. Of course Erick Cortina figured out how to change the speed at which the original chargemaster operated. Wondering if it is at all possible to change the machines parameters.
Click to expand...
 
The grounding

vtmarmot said:
I know this thread is about the Lite.

I just want to make the point that I grounded the frame of my regular Chargemaster Combo years ago and it has been dead-on stone reliable ever since.

I fire it up and after a few minutes I remove the pan. If it reads -152.9 or whatever it usually does, I don't mess with it. That pan is the same weight as it ever was. In the middle of a loading session, I can check it by hitting zero and removing the pan. Yup, -152.9 again. Key in the charge weight again and keep on truckin'.

I use the "straw in the trickler" technique and have few overages with log powder, like the old IMR4350. I loaded 100 rounds of .264 win mag yesterday using IMR8133 and only had two overthrows. This is a short stick powder. Varget will do 1 overthrow in every 10 to 20 throws.

If you are removing the pan right after it beeps, you are making a mistake. If there is an overthrow, it won't show until it displays the charge count and then displays the weight again. Only then will the true weight show up. I am pretty good at tapping a few grains or two back into the hopper and hitting the correct weight.

You all probably know all this, but just making sure.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that tip. I'll try it when I get home.

When I first got my Chargemaster It was more reliable than it is now. Even after caliberating it, charges typically are up to a grain over and random and why I weigh every one on the Lab Balance but I think if one wants to load the same exact load every tie without any divergence, they need to do it with a scale or in the upper quality rigs they seem to be referred to as balances. It's worth it to me to know my loads are as good as the Balance can make them be. Now, I might not read the woindflags right but at least I went to the match as prepared as I could be.

Pete
 
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speed
i tried n133 at 29.3 gr
25-30 seconds at plus 0.02/minus 0.04 accuracy
just 5 drops
 
I will say that before I grounded my Chargemaster Combo I would notice some variation creep in throughout a loading session as I removed the pan to dump powder. It would start out reading -152.9 then go to -152.8 after 30 or so loads and then -152.7 and so on. This caused me to lose confidence and begin weighing every 10th charge on the balance scale. While that proved unnecessary, I still found my confidence was low. Grounding solved all that. It's -152.9 all day long.

There is a metal frame accessible from underneath the Chargemaster. I took some picture hanging wire (actually a woven cable) and grounded it to the heavy metal frame of my loading table, which was made from a drafting table with a heavy door on the top. I no longer even bother recalibrating. -152.9 is -152.9.
 
grounding..... "I use that $#!T on everything!"

It's kinda' like rebooting a computer, grounding fixes beaucoup 'lectrical problems.
 
Scales..........Grounding Exterior Box for Static or Electronics Inside?????

I have an old VIC 123.....it's zero is very consistent after I changed one of the settings to Auto Re-Zero. I can leave it on for days and its still zero when I return.

However I'd still like to ground it.

When grounding scales are you grounding the exterior box for static or the electronics inside?

I looked on my Vic and the only practical place to ground the electronics would be through the ground side of the battery cable when not in use.

Rick M.
 
Ricco1949 said:
I have an old VIC 123.....it's zero is very consistent after I changed one of the settings to Auto Re-Zero. I can leave it on for days and its still zero when I return.

However I'd still like to ground it.

When grounding scales are you grounding the exterior box for static or the electronics inside?

I looked on my Vic and the only practical place to ground the electronics would be through the ground side of the battery cable when not in use.

Rick M.
Click to expand...

NOT the electronics.... the plastics, the box, the housing etc.

This is how dumb it is.....

I have a Harrell powder thrower. It AIN'T GOT a power cord! Wipe it down daily with Bounce sheets. Powder all dancin' about inside like kids at gramma's house.....

I taped a piece of wire to the side of the reservoir and stepped the other end down on the concrete floor.

poof

E'body fall down like naptime..... Little Johnny kernel hung on the wall for maybe a second, then he wabbled and dropped.
 
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