Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles rcbs chargemaster. good? you decide

I just finished up ordering my newest toy, An RCBS chargemaster 1500 combo. I like many of you wondered if it was really worth it and if it was in fact as good as it was supposed to be. I took my search to youtube to see if there were any videos of people using them and to test the speed of my current method against the speed of the RCBS, the Hornady, the lyman and the smart reloader. I beat the speeds of the lyman, hornady and smart reloader with the hornady being the slowest of them all. then I took on the RCBS. WOW. I got smoked. this fellow on there reloaded 2 shells per my 1/2 and he was taking his grand old time too. I was sold then and there. cabela's has them on sale right now for $329.99 then if you have a $20 off a $150 purchase....not to mention the $50 RCBS rebate. I had to have one and I can't wait for it to come in. Here is a link to a video on youtube to show how it works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwAAC35bSRc&feature=related

I love mine, set it to auto drop when it senses the powder pan on the scale and it will drop a 95gr charge of R25 for my 338 Rum almost as fast as I can seat the bullet in the previously charged case

Don't need YouTube. Mine is sitting on the counter next to me and works great!

There was a similar thread a few weeks ago and it seems most prefer the RCBS. I'm sure more of us will be along shortly.

I've had great service from mine over the last 3 years.I still use the check weights quite often though,better safe than sorry. Monashee

I agree with using check weights, and I often check a few of the chargemaster thrown charges against my old Ohaus 10-10. That said, the thing has been reliable and accurate. It does like some warm up time, but most scientific balances do too. Lab balances take a student licking and keep on ticking.

But, my chargemaster is not as fast as Mallardaddict's! It is one of the first...are the new one's faster?

Mine is only a year old. I always give it 5 minutes or so to warm up and zero it with the weights each time.

Not sure how long it takes to dump 95 grains but I jut clocked it with 52grs of R19 as this what I'm FF'ing my 280ai with and it took 23 seconds.

The RCBS Chargemaster is an excellent tool. BTW, Natchez Shooter's Supply has the Chargemaster on sale for 279.95 with the same rebate from RCBS.

www.natchezss.com

Mine works great as well. Don't know why it took me so long to buy one.

yes it is cheaper on there but you are no longer eligible for the $50 rebate because it is under $300.00. Still by the same token cabela's is $329 - natchez $279 is $50.00. I would rather buy from Cabela's though.

I have one of the old ones and like it a lot. I would imagine that if I hadn't been too cheap to spring for one of the current dispensers, I would like it a lot better. Then, I was looking that the PACT web site yesterday and noticed that they offer an upgrade to my RCBS dispenser for $75. This will make it work as fast as the new RCBS dispensers. That is the route that I will probably take, once I finish working up ladder loads for my new 9.3x62 Hawkeye.

Mines been great for the most part. I've had some issues though, trying throw around 5 grains of universal or 25 grains of H-4895 gives me erratic results.

There is apparently a way to change the values it uses to decide when to speed up and slow down, and I think that is what is causing the issues.

Its one of those tools you dont know how you lived without. It makes working up new loads a breeze just punch the charge weight in and go.Only takes a couple minutes to change out to a different powder also.

True enough, you must spend $300 to be eligible for the $50 rebate regardless who you buy from. Gee, add another inexpensive item or two to make $300... Buy from whomever you prefer...

Natchez is GTG plus I live in Texas so I don't have to pat tax. Cabellas, I pay shipping and tax, the shipping is usually where they get ya.

I just loaded 150 rounds of 38 spl. with 5 grains of Ramshot Zip yesterday,and mine worked like a champ....I would check every tenth load with my RCBS 505 scale and it was right on the money...It did throw 3 rounds a couple of tenths over,but I can live with that.

I bought a RCBS combo about 6 weeks, but do to a death of my employer and moving last week I have not even turned it on yet. What do you mean by warm up? To room temp or turned on and it needs to warm up internally from being on?
TIA

Most digital scales need an internal component warmup to stabilize. Just power up your dispenser first thing, and while you are getting out the other components it will come to temp.

I'm perfectly content with my Hornady dispenser. I don't reload as a race and so it's plenty fast enough for me.

I do love mine.

Had it since they came out


So I did decide and would so again

Snake