Scale/powder measure combo?

rugerjunkie

Hunter
Joined
Mar 15, 2005
Messages
2,048
Looking for opinions on an electronic scale and powder measure combo. Who here uses them? What brand do you have? And what do you like or dislike about yours? And how accurate do you think it is with stick powders?

I usually weigh each individual charge for my rifle loads and am looking to speed up the process since that step is about the most time consuming when loading a decent sized batch of ammo.

And , does anyone use the Hornady model? I may be able to get one of them for dealer cost.
 
I use a PACT digital scale and an RCBS Uniflo powder measure. Nothing to dislike about either, but the PACT has to warm up a bit before I use it. I still keep an old RCBS balance beam scale on hand if needed. In over 20 years of using the PACT, it's never been needed.
 
For me, for rifle, the dispenser/scale combo is the best approach by *far*. I weigh each rifle round, and pistol while working up loads, for the same reasons you do. These units *will* speed up the process if you overlap dispensing Load#2 while seating bullet over Load#1.

I use a Pact dispenser/scale. It is equally accurate/inaccurate with either ball or stick, though it does seem to like VN-140 which is "tiny stick". Some days, some powders, some loads . . . it just wants to throw 0.1gr higher than the target 80% of the time. In those cases, I simply lower the target by 0.1gr so that there are no overcharges.

Overcharges (infrequent) are thrown back. All undercharges are dealt with the same way . . . press the "Dispense" button and trickle more powder in until the scale reads the target weight. After a few of these trickles you get a feel for how to trickle and you quickly hit the target without going over.

My charges are as accurate as the scale is, ie, +/-0.1gr of the target. They have correlated well with beam scale readings.

Bottom line on the Pact is that it works well enough not to replace it, but not so well that I would buy another Pact if it broke. I'd probably try an RCBS because I *think* its a bit faster and there's room for improvement in scale flutter, settling, and hitting the target weight with the initial throw more frequently than 80%.

The Pact scale not only needs time to warm up, but the reading fluttered every time I moved the power cord. Fixed that by adding ferrite cores at each end of the scale AND the dispenser power cord. At some point I'll try feeding the units extremely clean power from an old PC power supply.

Since winter began the dispenser has a propensity to throw 0.1gr over target. While this isn't a real problem (adjust the target down 0.1gr), there's room for improvement :)
 
If I were to buy one it would be the RCBS, but I don't want one a good old fashion powder measure is much faster than waiting for that thing to spit out each load then pour it in each shell with a funnel, their just not for me to time consuming to deal with.
 
I have the RCBS and love it. Like you, I weighed every charge, old habits from bench rest die hard...

I just finished running 8lbs of IMR4895 through it 25gr at a time, no issues with stick powder. Less than 1% of the time it will drop 0.1gr over, I just dump it back in the hopper and continue on. It took right at 45 minutes to charge 100 cases with the above load.

I've used it with IMR 4895, bullseye, unique, 296, H414, green dot, and others without issue.

The only thing I did not like about it was that I failed to rid it of static electricity the first time I filled it. Powder stuck to everything, so I emptied it and wiped it down with a drier sheet and everything was fine. Clean up is easy with this unit.
 
PACT used to make the original RCBS digital scale and it was mechanically identical to mine; different color. I bought mine about the time they came out in '93; yes, I just looked it up :wink: It might be worth looking into who makes the RCBS scales now, but from what I just read, probably China. PACT's website says "All our PACT products are manufactured right here at our factory in Texas and we sell them direct to you. All are backed by our no BS warranty and all carry a 30 day money back guarantee."

I've never had the fluttering problem Twoboxer's had, but I read it's not uncommon. It seems they either do or they don't.
 
Bought a PACT years ago... hated it. Worthless at home (A/C, heater), worthless at the range (air movement, sunlight), would have been in the killing fields as well... IOW worthless for my uses.

I had bought a Harrell's Precision powder measure, made a click log of what it threw with all the powders I used (checked with my RCBS 1010), and had never looked back. Why I bought the PACT??? The HP is great at home, great at the range working up loads with very few shots, great in the field hunting to reload more ammo if needed. Got it done in spades for all my long to extreme range laser accurate wildcats - the acid test. All I added was another drop tube and extra powder bottles. So very versatile with all my custom arbor press dies when not home to use the bench presses/standard dies.

HP came out with some great little presses to use in the field as well with standard dies. If I didn't already have custom arbor press dies for everything I shot, I'd have bought one of them as well.
 
I have the Lyman 1200 DPS III. I reload for handguns. I leave it plugged in to the AC adapter and turned on all the time. It only gets shut down due to power failures. The light over the bench is a fluorescent and is about 4 ft above the dispenser.

I have checked it numerous times over the past 2 years I have owned it against a beam scale and it has agreed every time. I only calibrate after a power failure. Before each session I zero the scale and use the check weight and it has been of about twice a year. Changing powder takes 2-3 minutes, once you get the hang of it.

It does occasionally throw a charge that measures over or under. Overs go back in the hopper. Unders are almost always off by 0.1 gr. Sometimes it does go back and forth between two readings. I take that to mean it is just about on a .05 gr boundary. A flick of the finger on the trickle tube settles it. A couple of flicks adds 0.1 gr.

I use a turret press with this and lets me start with a primed case and work with just that until the round is assembled. This workflow keeps me from putting together a double charge. If I have to leave the press, the round I am working on either gets finished or the powder dumped back in the hopper and the case tossed back in the primed case bin.

I don't load hundreds of rounds per hour this way. If I am inspecting the rounds before putting them in a box, I am not waiting on the dispenser.
 
since the subject is scale and powder measure/trickle... I also use a PACT scale and Lee dipper that's nearest to desired charge weight. I dump the initial dipper load into the pan, then using the same dipper I hand trickle till the scale hits my desired weight. My loads are never at the max loads so I generally will let a single tenth grain get by. After it's done a few hundred (or thousands) times, you'll pick up almost the exact amount needed for the final trickle.

Slow, but efficient :)
 
Thanks for the info everyone. Still havn't heard from anyone using a Hornady unit unless i missed it.

Seems to me if you are going to buy one , take it for what it is and don't expect it to be a cure all/do all for the powder charging process.
 
mr surveyor said:
could be that most of us that replied are just downright cheap :wink:

So am I surveror! But as i get older the laziness is taking over on some ways of thinking! :)
 
Back
Top