Nature Boy
Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2015
- Messages
- 8,256
I said I wasn’t going to do it but I did it anyway.
I bought this FX120i scale with Auto Trickler
My GemPro 250 was serving me well accuracy wise but hand trickling to the kernel when loading for a monthly match was very tedious. Multiply that x3 if my kids want to shoot and that pretty much pushed me over the edge to make the purchase.
It comes preprogrammed to run the tricker so set up was easy. Level the scale, plug the trickler cord into the serial port and turn it on.
There no key pad to punch in your charge weight. To set your target weight you have to load the pan manually so it takes a little add-subtract-add-subtract with the powder until you have it exact. Then you press the “Print” button. From that point on when you put the pan on the scale that weighs less than your target the auto trickler kicks on and keeps running until the target is reached. There’s a speed adjustment that requires some tweaking to keep from over throwing the desired weight, but once that was set it was dead on charge after charge.
Next I worked out a method that has cut my loading time by more than half. I’m a fan of single piece flow vs making in batches. I think it’s more efficient and less prone to errors.
I prime and load a case on my 650 so I’m ~3g short of my charge weight. I transfer that to the pan and put it on the scale. While the trickler is finishing off the charge I’m priming/short throwing another case. I take the power off the scale, poor it back in the case, seat the bullet and repeat.
Not having to focus on manually trickling to the 0.02g on each round justifies the cost of the unit for me. The added accuracy and near instantaneous measurement of a change in weight are a bonus, but not enough of an improvement on the GemPro by themselves.
Over the weekend I ran the two scales side-by-side and they both agreed within 0.02g with the GemPro generally reading lower than the FX120.
I also shot some rounds on Sunday in comparison to see if the chrono could detect a difference in the charge weight consistency.
Shooting my 6BRA loads, 10 rounds each:
GemPro250, SD 5, ES 15
FX120 w/ Auto Trickler, SD 3, ES 13
Not a lot of difference on velocity variation but a HUGE difference in eliminating the tedium at the loading bench.
I bought this FX120i scale with Auto Trickler
My GemPro 250 was serving me well accuracy wise but hand trickling to the kernel when loading for a monthly match was very tedious. Multiply that x3 if my kids want to shoot and that pretty much pushed me over the edge to make the purchase.
It comes preprogrammed to run the tricker so set up was easy. Level the scale, plug the trickler cord into the serial port and turn it on.
There no key pad to punch in your charge weight. To set your target weight you have to load the pan manually so it takes a little add-subtract-add-subtract with the powder until you have it exact. Then you press the “Print” button. From that point on when you put the pan on the scale that weighs less than your target the auto trickler kicks on and keeps running until the target is reached. There’s a speed adjustment that requires some tweaking to keep from over throwing the desired weight, but once that was set it was dead on charge after charge.
Next I worked out a method that has cut my loading time by more than half. I’m a fan of single piece flow vs making in batches. I think it’s more efficient and less prone to errors.
I prime and load a case on my 650 so I’m ~3g short of my charge weight. I transfer that to the pan and put it on the scale. While the trickler is finishing off the charge I’m priming/short throwing another case. I take the power off the scale, poor it back in the case, seat the bullet and repeat.
Not having to focus on manually trickling to the 0.02g on each round justifies the cost of the unit for me. The added accuracy and near instantaneous measurement of a change in weight are a bonus, but not enough of an improvement on the GemPro by themselves.
Over the weekend I ran the two scales side-by-side and they both agreed within 0.02g with the GemPro generally reading lower than the FX120.
I also shot some rounds on Sunday in comparison to see if the chrono could detect a difference in the charge weight consistency.
Shooting my 6BRA loads, 10 rounds each:
GemPro250, SD 5, ES 15
FX120 w/ Auto Trickler, SD 3, ES 13
Not a lot of difference on velocity variation but a HUGE difference in eliminating the tedium at the loading bench.
.
