I bought the Chargemaster Supreme, which has the "learn powder" feature. It generally throws faster, and I find its accuracy to be pretty good. I've had some people talk crap about how slow it throws compared to other more expensive systems, but those people just seem to be focused on the point of how long it takes for it to measure out the powder and not taking into account the workflow you can develop around it. When I resize my brass, I generally batch it. Because of my Chargemaster Supreme, I can have it throw a charge while I'm seating a bullet - it saves me a lot of time. (I guess you could call that "serializing"...?)
I keep another scale next to it to make sure the charges have stabilized. It takes about 4 throws to settle in, and even then it consistently throws .1gr under, so i just program it to throw .1 more than i want. It works good and saves me a bunch of time. Im fairly happy with it, especially for the price.
I used to charge and seat. After 2 fired cases without powder...I've reverted to charge all cases...and visually confirm powder.😢 I've learnt that a primer only load has enough puff to seat bullet in the rifling ..thus ..no more use until cleaning rod removed stuck bullet..
Be careful when using air to clean the dispensing tube on a Chargemaster. I had either excess clearance or a loose screw thread on the tube. Powder went into the drive, causing it to bind up. After getting a replacement powder measure from RCBS, I made an 1/8-inch-thick silicone rubber gasket using a 9mm shell as a punch. The gasket was seated behind the hole where powder enters, sealing the thread interface between the tube and the drive. A long rod was used to install the gasket into position. I did suggest that RCBS add a gasket to prevent this problem.
Good video! I had a chargemaster lite, served me well for many years. Now I love my Ingenuity and supertrickler but I agree, most people don't need the 7 second charges with the $1300 price tag.
One thing I noticed right off the bat is they, switched the auto button to the go button location. on my charge master light I can’t tell you how many times I’ve accidentally turned the unit off while reaching for the pan
I’ve found a couple things. In the manual it states to let it warm up with weight on the scale. I have to let mine warm up for 2 hours. And the more you use it the more accurate it gets.
I have one of the Lite units and it works well. What I would be really interested in is weighing a range of sample weights on your $1000 scale and get a feel of the variability of the samples. Possible???
I might look at doing that in the future but in all fairness, I’ve done a ton of testing and it’s really just apples and oranges. If I’m looking at a charge weight of some thing like 50 grains and I throw 100 charges on any of my over $1000 set ups, they are going to throw 100 charges that are all 49.98 to 50.02. The Chargemaster Link/Lite will throw 100 charges that all say 50 more or less on screen but are more like 49.96 to 50.06 if you weighed them on that same $1000 scale. It’s just the reality of $250-$300 setups vs $1100-$1500 ones. You’re also dealing with a strain gauge on the Chargemaster vs Mag Restoration on the A&D or Sartorius scales so that definitely plays a factor as well. Each has a place in the market, just for two different price points and needs.
@@FClassJohn 49.6 to 50.6 grains? - 1 full grain difference from low to high, +.6 -.4, is not acceptable to me and is a lot more than the claimed +-.1 grain.
Or just solve the problem with a beam scale? Nothing beats gravity. I recommend having a beam scale over electronic as a back up for those not looking to spend 500 or more on a digital scale.
I’ve been running that charge master when it first came out, works great but sometimes it will over charge by .1-.2 grains which is no big deal. I’ve noticed it will happen during a specific session as to there may be something aiding it that happening. 9 times out of 10 especially on long sessions it will be exact on the money every time when doing 100’s of reloads at once.
I just bought a Chargemaster link last week as my first electronic dispenser. I am getting familiar with it and for the most part all is going well. I have a question regarding cleanup though. I’ve been very careful not to jostle it around or manipulate it too much as I try to get all the powder out. I see you tipping it and tapping it so I guess that kind of handling is ok?? Also- where can I get one of those drain collectors with the funnel? Thank you for the great video!
I can't say for sure how much abuse it can take, but at some point you probably have to turn it sideways to get your powder out so just take care like you've been doing. As for the collection funnel, here's the last email I have for him lorneh08@charter.net
The problem is to really stay into 0.1 grain error. If it's + or - 0.1 grain around the right powder charge, it makes 0.2 grains of error which is too much for precision.
So something odd I’ve noticed with mine. When I first calibrate after warm- up it acts like yours. BUT, if I recalibrate after 100 loads or so the 100.00gr cal will always flash. It’s not solid like when I first do it, or if I do it after 10 loads. still get the single beep when I remove the weights, and the pan weighs exactly the same as it did, but still it’s a weird quark that makes me wonder.
Did you measure the charges? I have the older CM lite and found on my RCBS beam scale to be +-.5 gr. Would be interested what an A&D has to say. Either way I'm going to use it until I upgrade to auto trickler or something like that.
How do I get my powder not to stick to everything? Ive wiped everything down with non-scented dryer sheets, and I’m at 50% humidity. Not sure what the deal is.
I've seen side-by-side comparisons between this model and Hornady's new version. Hornady is more consistant. I love RCBS for most other reloading equipment.
I like to verify my Frankford Arsenal Intellidropper on a second set of better scales. Guess same rules apply.. Good to verify.. Frankford Arsenal Intellidropper can "learn" powders to throw faster...but..my Bluetooth has failed..but...that's not really a problem. Seems important to "warm up" your electric scales for at least 10 min...but..why not half hour.. Would've been good to see verification of the accuracy of the charge weight on better scales... Thanks for posting..
Bought of these recently and it was unusable. Would not stop drifting long enough to zero or calibrate. Not just a few grains but a 100 or so grains constantly drifting. No air blowing, no heat source, left on a few days to acclimate, leveled, own power supply with dedicated line straight to election panel, surge protection etc. Gave up and exchanged it for a beam scale, power thrower and bench primer. For 450 plus here in canada I wasn't going to waste my time exchanging it for another one
I have 4 beam scales…lol, they work good but take forever. They’re all RCBS old and new, two short beams, and two long beams. And I’ve come to like the long beams better, the M500 with a modification to the pointer is dead nuts on.
@@tmurray1972I really wanted this to work but know I can trust my rcbs beam scale. Maybe some day in the future I'll give the electronics a try again. Sure would be nice for pistol rounds.
@@eggbert191Yeah me too. I have small cheap Frankford I use to double check with. But for pistol I would want more than .1 gr accuracy in an electronic scale. Beams will do it, just takes longer.
If you're doing a ladder you don't have to cancel in auto. Let's say you're doing 10rds of 24.0 and your next is 24.5 you just let it dispense an 11th 24.0 then type in 24.5 and hit go and it will continue in auto mode with that half grain.
Yeah that’s fair and certainly wasn’t trying to misrepresent the pricing. I only said that because I have seen them in the $250 range several times in the last 6 months when they are on sale.
Do people who complain about a powder dispenser’s speed just sit there waiting while it’s throwing? I’m usually seating a bullet while the dispenser is working. It takes me about as long to seat a bullet and get an ogive measurement as it does for this unit to throw a charge.
It is big deal if the balance has 4 decimal place accuracy. Ie o.oooo grams. Very important to wear special gloves with calibration weight and to clean calibration weights, weights would also have to be re-certified after certain period. One decimal balance not as important.
Too bad they didn't idiot proof the unloading port. Anybody that's ever used one has discovered that leaving it open while filling the loading tube results in a certain embarrassing result, but usually only once, or twice at the most. maybe three times over the long haul. A spring loaded flap would probably solve that. As for the bluetooth, meh. One more thing to clutter the table.
Legend of Zelda..😜
Bingo!!!!
Missed opportunity on my part… I was late to the show. 😂
Thank you for this great shake down of a affordable unit that the layperson can afford.
I’m new to the game and yes it seems to be high, I am a firm believer in “ you get what you pay for’
I like the fact that it actually counts how many you have done ,keeping count to make sure you haven’t missed any .
I bought the Chargemaster Supreme, which has the "learn powder" feature. It generally throws faster, and I find its accuracy to be pretty good. I've had some people talk crap about how slow it throws compared to other more expensive systems, but those people just seem to be focused on the point of how long it takes for it to measure out the powder and not taking into account the workflow you can develop around it.
When I resize my brass, I generally batch it. Because of my Chargemaster Supreme, I can have it throw a charge while I'm seating a bullet - it saves me a lot of time. (I guess you could call that "serializing"...?)
Thanks for the review. Ive been looking at the Link and your video has been more than helpful in providing confidence in this unit. Thanks John!
You especially convinced me to buy one, should be here today. Thanks for a thorough review.
Thanks very much for the review. It helps all of us reloaders.
Got one a few months ago. Love it.
Decided to buy one. Thanksfor the review!
I keep another scale next to it to make sure the charges have stabilized. It takes about 4 throws to settle in, and even then it consistently throws .1gr under, so i just program it to throw .1 more than i want. It works good and saves me a bunch of time. Im fairly happy with it, especially for the price.
Keep an eye on the level bubble, keep it centered.
I still use the LITE, and I note the “wind screen” affects the platform changing the measurements - I can’t trust it. Excellent video.
Same here. Remarkable - I don’t understand the physics involved, but it’s true.
Rcbs makes great stuff saving up to get one of these measures 👍
Thank you for this . I've been needing a powder measure and not shure what to get . This helps 👍👍👍
I used to charge and seat.
After 2 fired cases without powder...I've reverted to charge all cases...and visually confirm powder.😢
I've learnt that a primer only load has enough puff to seat bullet in the rifling ..thus ..no more use until cleaning rod removed stuck bullet..
Where can I get that drain pan? I am tired of my boxes or whatever i try to use throwing powder all over my bench, that looks to work way better!
Be careful when using air to clean the dispensing tube on a Chargemaster. I had either excess clearance or a loose screw thread on the tube. Powder went into the drive, causing it to bind up. After getting a replacement powder measure from RCBS, I made an 1/8-inch-thick silicone rubber gasket using a 9mm shell as a punch. The gasket was seated behind the hole where powder enters, sealing the thread interface between the tube and the drive. A long rod was used to install the gasket into position. I did suggest that RCBS add a gasket to prevent this problem.
Reloading can get very expesive. Nice unit!
I’ve had my Chargemaster Link for a little over a year now, and really like it. It’s head and shoulders better than my old Hornady Lock N Load one.
Good video! I had a chargemaster lite, served me well for many years. Now I love my Ingenuity and supertrickler but I agree, most people don't need the 7 second charges with the $1300 price tag.
Looks like a good unit for the money, could always upgrade in the future, and the RCBS would serve secondary functions.
Love my Lite!!!
Very very nice powder charge system one pf these days i plan to get one
can not seem to find the powder 3D printed catch tray that you show in this video. Do you have a link to where I can get one ?
One thing I noticed right off the bat is they, switched the auto button to the go button location. on my charge master light I can’t tell you how many times I’ve accidentally turned the unit off while reaching for the pan
Great review.
Glad you enjoyed it.
I’ve found a couple things. In the manual it states to let it warm up with weight on the scale. I have to let mine warm up for 2 hours. And the more you use it the more accurate it gets.
Also i had to buy the MK machining tube pieces to help stop over throws.
I have one of the Lite units and it works well. What I would be really interested in is weighing a range of sample weights on your $1000 scale and get a feel of the variability of the samples. Possible???
I might look at doing that in the future but in all fairness, I’ve done a ton of testing and it’s really just apples and oranges. If I’m looking at a charge weight of some thing like 50 grains and I throw 100 charges on any of my over $1000 set ups, they are going to throw 100 charges that are all 49.98 to 50.02. The Chargemaster Link/Lite will throw 100 charges that all say 50 more or less on screen but are more like 49.96 to 50.06 if you weighed them on that same $1000 scale. It’s just the reality of $250-$300 setups vs $1100-$1500 ones. You’re also dealing with a strain gauge on the Chargemaster vs Mag Restoration on the A&D or Sartorius scales so that definitely plays a factor as well. Each has a place in the market, just for two different price points and needs.
John, you missed a decimal place. 49.98-50.02 for the A&D and Sartorius. Correct?
@@FClassJohn 49.6 to 50.6 grains? - 1 full grain difference from low to high, +.6 -.4, is not acceptable to me and is a lot more than the claimed +-.1 grain.
@@Jiminico No, just fat fingers the decimals. Sorry about that.
Or just solve the problem with a beam scale? Nothing beats gravity. I recommend having a beam scale over electronic as a back up for those not looking to spend 500 or more on a digital scale.
I got an older chargemaster 1500 off Facebook for 120$ shipped. Works for me.
I always enjoy your videos and this one is not exception. Where did you get the funnel pan that you emptied the powder into?
Here's a video on it ruclips.net/video/_Yt6H7ug9rA/видео.html
They are really consistent .checked off every 10 rounds I can’t fault mine at all.
I’ve been running that charge master when it first came out, works great but sometimes it will over charge by .1-.2 grains which is no big deal. I’ve noticed it will happen during a specific session as to there may be something aiding it that happening.
9 times out of 10 especially on long sessions it will be exact on the money every time when doing 100’s of reloads at once.
I have found that it depends where I reload,might get a bit of air movement perhaps from a window being open or an Air conditioner operating.
I just bought a Chargemaster link last week as my first electronic dispenser. I am getting familiar with it and for the most part all is going well.
I have a question regarding cleanup though. I’ve been very careful not to jostle it around or manipulate it too much as I try to get all the powder out. I see you tipping it and tapping it so I guess that kind of handling is ok??
Also- where can I get one of those drain collectors with the funnel?
Thank you for the great video!
I can't say for sure how much abuse it can take, but at some point you probably have to turn it sideways to get your powder out so just take care like you've been doing. As for the collection funnel, here's the last email I have for him lorneh08@charter.net
Loved the Legend of Zelda games.
Thank you for the review
My pleasure!
The problem is to really stay into 0.1 grain error. If it's + or - 0.1 grain around the right powder charge, it makes 0.2 grains of error which is too much for precision.
Great video! Thank you for the support and information.
Do you find that it preforms as equally with different types of powders? Ball, extruded ect?
Useful video, thanks! Do you observe powder bouncing out of the pan during throws?
Mine keeps jumping around and has been back to RCBS more than my house MB ..
Wish I could afford this man
Would tapping the base wall upset the program calibrations ?
So something odd I’ve noticed with mine. When I first calibrate after warm- up it acts like yours. BUT, if I recalibrate after 100 loads or so the 100.00gr cal will always flash. It’s not solid like when I first do it, or if I do it after 10 loads. still get the single beep when I remove the weights, and the pan weighs exactly the same as it did, but still it’s a weird quark that makes me wonder.
Did you measure the charges? I have the older CM lite and found on my RCBS beam scale to be +-.5 gr. Would be interested what an A&D has to say. Either way I'm going to use it until I upgrade to auto trickler or something like that.
How do I get my powder not to stick to everything? Ive wiped everything down with non-scented dryer sheets, and I’m at 50% humidity. Not sure what the deal is.
Wonder if this would work if you were to download the app on a chrome book?
Hi John, thank you for your review. Will area419 base plate fit from CM light to CM Link?
Would like to know if I’m going to upgrade .
Thank you
I've seen side-by-side comparisons between this model and Hornady's new version. Hornady is more consistant. I love RCBS for most other reloading equipment.
Would you say that as long as you have solid brass prep, that you can still have very tight SD/ES with 0.1 grain variance in powder charge?
Absolutely. 100%
Hello, RCBS link or Lyman gen 6? Same quality and precision?
What are your thoughts on the Lyman gen 6 sir ?
To be fair, haven't used a Lyman in quite a while so I can't say on the Gen 6. Sorry.
The first word my children learned to read was "Link", so yes, I know,,, lol
Would have been nice to take the 50g throw and stick it on a balance beam scale to double check it.
I like to verify my Frankford Arsenal Intellidropper on a second set of better scales.
Guess same rules apply.. Good to verify..
Frankford Arsenal Intellidropper can "learn" powders to throw faster...but..my Bluetooth has failed..but...that's not really a problem.
Seems important to "warm up" your electric scales for at least 10 min...but..why not half hour..
Would've been good to see verification of the accuracy of the charge weight on better scales...
Thanks for posting..
Bought of these recently and it was unusable. Would not stop drifting long enough to zero or calibrate. Not just a few grains but a 100 or so grains constantly drifting. No air blowing, no heat source, left on a few days to acclimate, leveled, own power supply with dedicated line straight to election panel, surge protection etc. Gave up and exchanged it for a beam scale, power thrower and bench primer. For 450 plus here in canada I wasn't going to waste my time exchanging it for another one
I have 4 beam scales…lol, they work good but take forever. They’re all RCBS old and new, two short beams, and two long beams. And I’ve come to like the long beams better, the M500 with a modification to the pointer is dead nuts on.
@@tmurray1972I really wanted this to work but know I can trust my rcbs beam scale. Maybe some day in the future I'll give the electronics a try again. Sure would be nice for pistol rounds.
@@eggbert191Yeah me too. I have small cheap Frankford I use to double check with. But for pistol I would want more than .1 gr accuracy in an electronic scale. Beams will do it, just takes longer.
Can you turn down the volume of them BEEEEP? I have a lite, and hate that
Not that I'm aware of, I only think you can turn the beep off.
If you're doing a ladder you don't have to cancel in auto. Let's say you're doing 10rds of 24.0 and your next is 24.5 you just let it dispense an 11th 24.0 then type in 24.5 and hit go and it will continue in auto mode with that half grain.
I wish it was "a little over $200." Is actually $300.
Yeah that’s fair and certainly wasn’t trying to misrepresent the pricing. I only said that because I have seen them in the $250 range several times in the last 6 months when they are on sale.
Do people who complain about a powder dispenser’s speed just sit there waiting while it’s throwing?
I’m usually seating a bullet while the dispenser is working. It takes me about as long to seat a bullet and get an ogive measurement as it does for this unit to throw a charge.
Have the frankford,,,thoughts,,,,these all look about the same to me……
My chargemaster after 1 year was off 0.2gr. RCBS didn't want to replace it, so I decided not to buy any RCBS product ever again.
It is big deal if the balance has 4 decimal place accuracy. Ie o.oooo grams. Very important to wear special gloves with calibration weight and to clean calibration weights, weights would also have to be re-certified after certain period. One decimal balance not as important.
Banging on it to empty the powder cannot be good
You hit the calibrate to fast, you are supposed to wait for the STABLE sign to come on before you hit calibrate.
Too bad they didn't idiot proof the unloading port. Anybody that's ever used one has discovered that leaving it open while filling the loading tube results in a
certain embarrassing result, but usually only once, or twice at the most. maybe three times over the long haul. A spring loaded flap would probably solve that.
As for the bluetooth, meh. One more thing to clutter the table.
John stop showing me good products to buy……..Im going broke
RCBS stuff are way too expensive for what you got.
Really? I have found their stuff comparable or better than other brands in terms of value.
@@thelittledetailscr7231totally agree! Rcbs stuff is way better priced than other brands.
Slow and overcharges 1 in every 3 charges. Just buy something else
Great concept. Poor execution. RCBS scales all walk and constantly need resetting.
You Tube, really? a 15 min infomercial on a 18 min video ? you are really getting lame.