Electronic Powder Dispenser

[badkarmamib]

I missed the boat when you could pick one up for $170, but now I want one. How do the RCBS Chargemaster Link/Lite, Hornady Auto Charge, Lyman Gen6, and Frankford Arsenal Intellidrop compare? Simplicity and repeatability with ball (CFE223) and small stick (Varget) are my main concerns. Thanks!

 

[AJC1]

I'm guessing someone is working on an auto trickler for the new Creedmoor sports scale. Probably be a cheaper version of the fx auto trickler.

 

[ciwsguy]

I missed the boat when you could pick one up for $170, but now I want one. How do the RCBS Chargemaster Link/Lite, Hornady Auto Charge, Lyman Gen6, and Frankford Arsenal Intellidrop compare? Simplicity and repeatability with ball (CFE223) and small stick (Varget) are my main concerns. Thanks!

I recently purchased a RCBS Chargemaster Link for use with stick powders as my Hornady powder measure usually hangs up with stick powders. The Chargemaster link works very well with stick powders, but with ball powder, there is a lot of “bouncing balls” spillage bouncing out of the powder pan, resulting in (in my eyes) excessive powder cleanup. With stick powders I might have 3 sticks or so to cleanup after use.
My RCBS Link is also very accurate and I’ve never had an over charge using it. Every drop so far is spot-on.
So I’ll keep the Hornady powder drop for ball powder and use the RCBS for stick and flake powders only.
There are some YouTube reviews on the Lyman gen 6 and other electronic powder dispensers. I’m sticking with the RCBS Lite

 

[dh1633pm]

I have a RCBS ChargeMaster Supreme. Controls are more complex than needed. Works better through the phone app. Faster than my old Hornady Auto. Does well with ball or stick. If loading more than a few, I use them both. It was more than I wanted to spend, but it works well. Cry once they say.

The power supply for the Hornady quit. It was out of warranty. I called to buy one. They wouldn't sell me one. So instead they sent me a new one, free of charge.

 

[stillquietvoice]

I used a friend's Lyman gen6 loaded nearly 1k of ammo using both ball powders and stick, aa2230, tac, big game and h 4350 seemed to do well with all of them would on occasion drop a tenth or so over or under, but not a big deal. It did bounce more of the ball powders from the pan vs stick powders also not a huge deal. It did work fairly fast and sped up my reloading process.

 

[markr6754]

I have no experience with the others, but I've been using a FA Intellidropper for several years and it is pretty much all I use. Once in a while, when I really don't care about exact drops, I'll switch to my manual Hornady powder dropper...but all rifle loads, and the overwhelming majority of pistol loads go to my Intellidropper. It is fast, it is repeatable, it is accurate and it puts powder in the pan, and nowhere else. The cat's meow is the Powder Calibration function, which I run prior to any work. Takes about 30 seconds, certainly under a minute, and determines the best discharge speed for the initial throw, followed by trickling up to the set charge. New charge of the same powder can be set anytime, and it operates in Manual or Auto (new charge thrown when empty pan is set back on the scale).
When new, it tended to get about 2-3% undercharge in small pistol loads, especially with Universal. Now, undercharges are rare. I've never recorded an overcharge.
Emptying the powder hopper truly sucks...but I'm living with it. I caught a sale, and got my Intellidropper for $171.96 delivered.