What do you guys recommend as far as scales go? I have a Frankford Arsenal digital, Hornady digital, and Lee balance. I've lost a little confidence as I see 3 different weights on different scales. All 3 are cheapos. Im thinking I need to invest a little more in a good scale and was thinking of steering away from digital.

Chad, this is a question for you. If you have a factory round that you can compare to a base round (known to be good). Couldn't you just weigh the factory rounds to the baseline to gauge without taking it apart? Or do you have to weigh each individual piece to verify?

There is some variation in bullets and brass so it would be hard to make a decision based on overall weight.

No. Mainly, the brass. The brass case weight will vary by 1-2 grains easily. The bullet weight will be very consistent, and may only vary by .3-.5 grains. So to know how much variance there is on the powder inside, the only way to know is to take it apart. The ammo that is made with a ball or spherical powder will have the most consistency in powder charge weight. This is why on my bulk and bulk match 308 Win ammo, I run a ball, spherical, or a very small extruded powder. This will meter the best and give you the tightest powder charge consistency from round to round.

I have a manufacturing background and my head is exploding. I'm thinking about process; In-line QA checks, equipment calibrations, sample data points. The cost savings alone not overloading powder into high numbers of rounds over months and years would be astronomical.

RCBS Chargemaster will change your life! Yes, it's still digital, but it is pretty darn accurate. When I was throwing a powder charge a few tenths under what I wanted, then placing the pan on the scale and trickling the rest of the way, 50 rounds took 45 minutes. With the Charge Master, 50 rounds takes 25 minutes.

Unless, of course your budget allows, then get a Promethius.

I love my Chargemaster and use the scale only sometimes when loading a few rounds, or just some test rounds.I used beams for a long time, but wind and I guess calibration made several of them read differently.
But I'm just a MOP shooter.. Minute of pig. One of these days, I need to spend some time with FiremanJG.

Wow, that aint cheap. But I supposed I've dropped $75 on 3 cheapos and should have just saved a bit more for 1 good one.

My charge master is better than my hornady one. Although on varget it still has issues. I want a Prometheus....

It amasses me that Factory loads are not more consistent on the powder charges.
I like jumping .2 grains between loads when working them up. Just the way I was taught. Fire 1 round then A 3 round of the test load. Let the barrel cool & then fire 1 round then the 3 shot test load group again, and so on till all the test loads have been fired. Just my way.

Overthrows are common with cylindrical powder. If you know a guy with a lathe an insert in the end of the auger makes everything better. Went from 25 overthrows out of 50 before insert, to 5-10 out of 50 afterwards.

I have also heard the McDonald's straws work well

My digital scale was $800+, IIRC.

I tried it. Didn't really help much. Brass 3/4" long, turned down to .308" O.D. and a 1/4" bore down the center isa huge help.

I pulled more bullets from some more factory ammo, and saw similar results again. I didn't write anything down since I was in a hurry, but same high spread.

Like someone else asked have you pulled apart and "normal" size cartridges? Seems like in large cases like 7mm STW and 257 WBY there would be much more room for error. How about a 30-06 family cartage and a 308 family cartridge?

In a competition world factory ammo may not stack up, and a LR shooting it may not, but for what the vast majority of ammo is sold for I'm sure it fills the bill just fine.

One thing I noticed when I switched from factory to hand loading was the lot to lot differences. I would have to re-sight my gun every year when I bought a new box of REM 130 grain core locks. I haven't re-sighted the same gun since I started hand loading for it, not even when I changed lots of powder or bullets, I check it but its still on.

There is a guy over on Predator Masters that makes inserts for the Chargemaster. I got one, and so did a couple of my friends. It went from 10-15 overthrows in 50 rounds to 1 or 2 per 50. Best $12 I ever spent. It totally changed my machine. Both my friends had similar results.

I thought others would post their pulled results. Silly me.

Can you share his contact info? That sounds like a good route to go.

This is the guy I bought my insert from, aluminum or brass. Also makes another that will fit inside for an additional $4.
Works great with Varget. I saw his ad on 6mm Benchrest if you want to see pictures.


Send inquiries to davidmoore6567@netzero.com

Here is the thread where I found the guy. It is the same David Moore listed above.

http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2777008

Thanks, I will reach out to him.

Just an update to the inserts:

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=541&f=5556&t=13710820

....and Mr Moore is going to join the forum shortly.

I'm here. I'll post an add here in the classified section as soon as my permission gets thru. I've been making the inserts going on two years now and have sold many on the AccurateShooter and Sniper's Hide. I see you guys found them on Predator Masters too.