RCBS ChargeMaster 1500

[Nam Vet]

Bought a RCBS ChargeMaster 1500 2 months ago. Have a Lee 4 Hole Turret Press. Been using it for about 1 year. The Pro Auto Disk was never consistent throwing charges. Got tired of weighing the charges over again with the Lee Safety Power Scale which is very accurate. But watching it bounce up and down got old really fast.
Now I weigh every 10 charges on the Lee scale against the RCBS scale just to play it safe. So far the RCBS is always on target. Have heard pro's and con's about the RCBS.
Would like to hear some of your thoughts on it.

 

[ants]

You're using the Chargemaster dispenser combo. It dispenses and weighs the charges.

This is one of the most accurate and reliable units on the market.
I also own the Hornady, Lyman and Pact units. RCBS is superior.
I vomit at the thought of the Pact. The Hornady is pretty good.
The smaller Lyman gen 5 is surprisingly good! But the RCBS is superior.
It's nice to double check on the manual scale but I don't do that any more.
It's up to you, but once you get confident in the RCBS you can set the other aside.


If you have the Lee dies, the Powder Through Expanding die comes with an attachment
that fits on top, it is a receiver for the Lee powder funnel. Insert that adapter and a funnel.
Screw the adapter all the way down and use the die body to adjust the flare/bell you want for the case mouth.
When you pick up a charge in the pan from the Chargemeaster you simply pour it down the funnel
and visually check to make sure it all went down, then put the pan back on the Chargemaster
and proceed with the seating and crimping. In the time it takes to resize and prime the next case,
the Chargemaster will have another charge waiting for you.

Although this would work with any single stage press, it works exceedingly well
with a turret press. I've use the Lee 4-hole turret and the Redding 7-hole.
The RCBS Chargemaster is excellent with turret presses. With one caveat:
You need to visually check to make sure all the powder went down the funnel.
Do that and you will get consistent charges every time in your turret press.


Small hint: Use the clear plastic cover for every charge. It keeps breezes off the pan
which helps the microprocessor hit the mark more rapidly and more reliably.
Learn more how the processor works and you'll put the unit on a SOLID surface
and use the clear plastic cover every time.

 

[ants]

Just a thought to add: If you use the Lee adapter on the Powder Through Expanding Die,
you need to use the Lee powder funnel. The OD of the spout is correct.
Other funnels don't seem to fit. The Lee funnel is the right one.

Thanks.

 

[quaid]

Ants (above) method had been my method for the past 8 years. You're looking at a 100/hour rate on a Lee turret press. The charge master flexibility is great for quick changes in powder charge weight in load work ups and caliber changes.

It's really annoying to weigh and wait an extra ~30 seconds when the chargemaster throws a too heavy charge- but the scale number is clear as day in front display.

The instructions will tell you how to turn off that horrible beep after every thrown charge.

 

[Gadawg88]

I give the Chargemaster 1500 combo an A+. Been using mine for about two years now. Very accurate and consistent. Great for working up loads and for general rifle reloading. Not cheap, but it is probably my favorite reloading purchase. I don't generally use it for pistol reloading. The Lee Auto disk almost always gave me +/- 0.1 gn throws with most powders, but now I use the Lee Auto drum and it is superior in all respects IMO.

 

[Reloadron]

I've been using the RCBS Chargemaster for a few years and I like it. It is accurate and repeats which suits me fine. Prior to the Chargemaster Combo I would dump a light charge using my RCBS Uniflow measure with a baffle and then use a trickler to get to my final weight. I have a few other dispensers but now the RCBS Chargmaster is about all I use.

Ron

 

[conrad427]

I have done it with a little Inglehoffer mustard jar full of powder, with a teaspoon into a 502 scale. Then I bought an RCBS powder measure, once you get a baffle and get your technique down, it is seldom off even a tenth.

I now have the chargemaster combo, and it is slooooooooow! I use it for hunting loads in batches of 25 or less. Anything over 25 I can justify the time to dial in the manual measure.

Dont get me wrong, I like the Chargemaster, set up is so easy, especially for small batches.

One thing to watch out for is when using coarse extruded powder, like the Reloader 19 I was using last night. Sometimes the large kernels fall out too fast once it is in trickle mode, like the last couple of tenths. So the scale beeps and says you are at weight, but you end up two tenths over. Not a big deal, and does not happen with fine powders. Just kind of annoying. I sort of bought the Chargemaster because I did not like running extruded through the Uniflow, the CM is not totally ideal in that regard, but you can tweeze a kernel or two out.

 

[ants]

For the problem Conrad is describing, there is a programming adjustment but it's not in the basic instructions. (It is in the instructions for other brands of combo dispenser units, but not Chargemaster.) You must search for it online.

As you observe, it has a fast mode and a slow mode. It throws powder quickly in fast mode and then switches to slow mode as it approaches the target weight. But if it switches 1 grains before target, it will undoubtedly overthrow certain powders before it slows down. You can adjust the programming to slow down 3+ grains before target weight or 15+ grains before target weight. Here is one place to begin looking http://www.accurateshooter.com/gear-reviews/speed-up-your-rcbs-chargemaster/ but heed the warnings. There is no automatic return-to-default. Don't screw it up.


Speed: For turret applications like Nam Vet requests, the Chargemaster takes less time to produce a charge than the human takes to seat bullet, remove from shellholder, set new brass case, resize and decap, prime on downstroke, and then rotate to the charging station again.

On the other hand, if you charge in a charging block the speed warnings are correct! It is much slower to dispense via any automatic dispenser than using a high quality powder measure like Redding BR3 or Harrell's. For high production in a loading block, those other powder measures are superior.


Hope this helps.

 

[noylj]

If your Auto-Disk is inconsistent, you are either demanding better than +/- 0.1gn, with the occasional 0.2gn miss, which is true for ALL powder measures I have ever worked with, or you are doing something wrong or the measure needs to go back to Lee for inspections. The Auto-Disks I've used are VERY consistent.
As to the ChargeMaster, mine is fast enough to keep up with my Dillon 1050s, so yours should be able to easily keep up with a turret.
You want the Lee plastic powder funnel on the top of the Lee PTE die "funnel" to pour the charge into.
I only get major over-shoot when I change powders and dispense for the first time. I usually set the charge at about 1 gn under or I simply throw that charge back in the hopper.
After that, the most I get is a 0.1gn overshoot (which is totally not important) and is easily "fixed" simply by taking a moist finger and picking up two to three grains of powder.
The only time I have had a problem was when throwing charges of less than 2.5 gn. The measure would dispense in slow speed the whole time and that would take awhile.

 

[Poper]

I've had the RCBS Charge Master since the first year they came out.
Sometime during year three it suddenly began erratically reporting the powder charges. That is the read-out was very inconsistent. I Called RCBS and they asked me to send it back to them. I did and they sent me a new one to replace it.
About 2 years later it happened again. RCBS replaced it again. It's been fine ever since. <Knock on wood.>

Most of my loading is for bottleneck rifle cases. It is a little slower than I am with the .30-06 class cases and calibers, but on the .222 Rem. it is faster than I am by a little. .308's are close to 1:1.

I have no gripes with the CM. It does what I need it to do. Keep in mind, though, I do not do mass loading for pistol or semi-auto rifles.

 

[Nam Vet]

Once again any questions I might have had have been answered.
Not looking to break any speed records. Just want to be consistent.
Started to handload in the early 80's with a Rock Chucker. Then life got in the way and sold the whole shooting match. Never stopped shooting just loading. Started handloading again 2 years ago when the cost of ammo became to much to handle. Now I spend the same amount but shoot twice as much.
Very happy with the ChargeMaster all loads are consistent. Glade no one had anything negative to say about it. The link to
.accurateshooter.com/gear-...-chargemaster/ was big help.
Once again thanks for all your input.

 

[25-5]

I got the Combo a couple of years ago. Mostly for multiple rifle ammo, but include .38 S&W to keep a closer tolerance than dumping.
The YouTube has videos on how to reprogram it for speed, but it's fast enough for me. I did do the straw up the spout.
I am very happy with it. Beats the heck out of a powder trickler and scale.

 

[jmorris]

This is the newest, old thread, on the chargemaster I found. Any of you that own one, do they act like these?

 

[Reloadron]

This is the newest, old thread, on the chargemaster I found. Any of you that own one, do they act like these?

Couldn't tell you. I have walked away from mine while it was zeroed and returned maybe 10 min later and the zero was fine. For normal use I just use it as intended. I set my powder information and start doing powder throws. In the beginning I did check the scale and messed with it a little but for the most part I set it up and start throwing powder, typically between 50 and 100 charges at a time. When I do set it up and use it I leave it on for several hours. If I plan to load in the afternoon I set it up maybe four hours before I start loading. It works and does what I expect it to do. Then too, it was a gift and something about a gift horse comes to mind. Next time I use it I'll maybe play around with it a little more and see if I can get it to drift.

Ron

 

[AR-Bossman]

This is the newest, old thread, on the chargemaster I found. Any of you that own one, do they act like these?

So what are loading that uses 12 individual grains of powder?

 

[jmorris]

Nothing, just a known quantity and I wanted to see how they operated vs my other electronic scales (picked .2gn because they are supposed to be accurate +\- .1gn). Why I have two, that way I can see the difference side by side of one that has been powered up for 24 hours vs one that was just turned on.

I just noticed that both drifted back to zero and I didn't know if that was common among them.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

You should run the test again but instead, zero them both, put 20 grains (as measured on your beam scale) on each pan, and then add 12 kernels of powder to each pan and see if it drifts then. I would be interested in those results.

 

[AR-Bossman]

Nothing, I wanted to see how they operated vs my other electronic scales. Why I have two, that way I can see the difference side by side of one that has been powered up for 24 hours vs one that was just turned on.

I just noticed that both drifted back to zero and I didn't know it that was common among them.

You know I'm just being a smartbutt. I think at that low level of grains, you are in the "programming" of the chargemaster.

 

[jmorris]

I think at that low level of grains, you are in the "programming" of the chargemaster.

I think you are correct as it seems to self zero itself and if you run the test that /neuservrrat suggested it works as it should. Question is why have a scale that zeros on its own? Seems like it could only add errors, and kind of makes a zero button pointless, if it can move the reference point on its own.

That said there are many parameters that can be adjusted on the scale and RCBS provides no information on any of them. Does anyone have a programming manual for one of these that indicates all of the parameters?

I have found some information on line but it has been incorrect thus far, for the units I have. FWIW they are not the same, one is 12vdc input, the other 10vdc.

 

[AR-Bossman]

I think you are correct as it seems to self zero itself and if you run the test that /neuservrrat suggested it works as it should. Question is why have a scale that zeros on its own? Seems like it could only add errors, and kind of makes a zero button pointless, if it can move the reference point on its own.

That said there are many parameters that can be adjusted on the scale and RCBS provides no information on any of them. Does anyone have a programming manual for one of these that indicates all of the parameters?

I have found some information on line but it has been incorrect thus far, for the units I have. FWIW they are not the same, one is 12vdc input, the other 10vdc.

I would be interested in knowing if the self zeroing is actually accurate or if some error is induced. Have you compared the CM1500's to your manual scale at all?

Yeah RCBS isn't too hopped up on the idea of owners programming anything. Plus, there is NO RESET. YOu mess up a parameter, you better know how to get it back to normal if it does something you didn't intend.

 

[jmorris]

It's definitely an error as the .2gn of powder doesn't get any lighter as evidenced by the correct reading, temporarily, when reintroduced to a zeroed scale.

The manual scales don't shift from zero unless I move them and they become unlevel requiring a foot adjustment. I only have a small sample of other scales to compare them two (3 beam and 2 digital) and they don't act the same.

And yes there is no reset, and after noticing the 10v model consistently was faster to finish than the 12v model I wrote down both sets of parameters on the back page of the manual(s) before noticing they were identical. Very good warning too as the "tune ups" I have found online actually range from just making them worse to awful. After one set I found the scale wouldn't ever throw the correct charge.

 

[Reloadron]

I have found some information on line but it has been incorrect thus far, for the units I have. FWIW they are not the same, one is 12vdc input, the other 10vdc.

Interesting as mine is yet different using a 9.0 VDC wall wart. I doubt the wall wart is regulated so any regulation takes place on board the scale. As to any firmware hacks I have seen a few like those found at Accurate Shooter:
ChargeMaster Hacks — How to Optimize Your Green Machine but haven't tried any since the thing works and I don't want to screw with it. My view being if I screw up a parameter, as AR Bossman mentions, my charge master will be on a road trip to RCBS. This as I explain "I really don't know what happened, it was working fine and then it committed scale suicide or something". Having me look like the dog in this picture:



Ron

 

[jmorris]

It's not just the power supply but different stickers on the machine and also different in the manuals too.

 

[Reloadron]

RCBS at least gave you stickers, albeit different stickers but stickers. There is no voltage label on mine at all:





They all seem to have a 1.0 Amp supply but mine has no label for the voltage and the wall wart is 9 Volts. I have never opened the scale to look at the innards. Actually it is annoying as I try to keep the wall wart with the scale as I have literally dozens of wall warts lying around and would not want to mix them up.

I should just make a label for the scale so I know what it should be.

Ron

 

[Blue68f100]

I've started labeling all my power packs. They all look the same and most have the same connector which makes it easier to mixup. Just take a Sharpie pen and write on it.

I've played with the parameters some. Mainly to slow it down to keep it from overshooting. What worked best was to put a piece of brass tubing to restrict the opening. I liked brass better than the plastic tube to keep static down. Brass flows smoother than the plastic too.

I have not noticed mine auto zeroing. This may be feature used when the dispenser is in auto mode. I do zero mine every 10 dumps or so by using a another tray. The auto will not start zero is off.