What is your preferred way to throw charges?

[alamo5000]

I am doing somewhat of an informal poll so I can sort of 'weigh my options'. Hopefully it's ultimately useful for others in the forum as well.

I am always looking for ways to speed up/increase accuracy/streamline my reloading process. Throwing powder charges is one of the areas where I can definitely improve. Typically I have experienced 'if it's fast, it's not very accurate' and 'if it's accurate it's not very fast'. I know this is not always true hence I am looking at options.

I see things like the Prometheus powder scale and that would be nice as hell to have but the price is way up there. I have almost no experience with electronic powder dispensers but I have been sort of eyeing the RCBS Matchmaster. That said it's a lot of money for an experiment on an 'unknown' [to me] product. I am in no way committed to one method or tool vs the other. I am ALWAYS open to learning (or try to be at least).

All that said almost every electronic type scale I have tried has in one way or another been a PITA to work with. That said I have only tried cheap things here and there. That being said I always see/read/watch reviews where users tend to not be totally satisfied with what they pay for so it makes me wonder about a lot of those scales/powder throws. Also every so often new tech comes around so it's really a moving target.

I am not opposed to spending money if it's worth it but what I am opposed to is just trying random things that may or may not work out very well. I tend to gravitate towards the 'tried and true' things. I am rarely a first adopter of pretty much anything.

Please share your opinions and/or experiences below with what works for you.

 

[Huskydriver]

Auto trickler v3 or gtfo

 

[acudaowner]

it counts the grains of powder one at a time or it gets the hose again , count them one at a time

 

[alamo5000]

Auto trickler v3 or gtfo

I watched a few videos on these a while back. I haven't heard anything bad but I also haven't heard (or been paying attention to it) any real world feedback from actual users.

What does the whole setup cost (including the scale)? Prices I am seeing say somewhere around the $1,300 mark but that's only from a 3 minute Google search.

 

[Rhed]

Prometheus.. nah kiddin! ... I’m running dual AT v3

 

[Graye2]

I watched a few videos on these a while back. I haven't heard anything bad but I also haven't heard (or been paying attention to it) any real world feedback from actual users.

What does the whole setup cost (including the scale)? Prices I am seeing say somewhere around the $1,300 mark but that's only from a 3 minute Google search.

I use the AT V3 ...I think you’ll find plenty of support / feedback for this option in many threads here on the hide. CE products has them shipped for $1K.

Others will say ChargeMaster just as good and you’ll need to decide how much accuracy you want to pay for based on your time and type of shooting you do.

 

[Punkur67]

I watched a few videos on these a while back. I haven't heard anything bad but I also haven't heard (or been paying attention to it) any real world feedback from actual users.

What does the whole setup cost (including the scale)? Prices I am seeing say somewhere around the $1,300 mark but that's only from a 3 minute Google search.

There are TONS of threads with feedback on the V3. If you want to speed up and have accuracy then the AT V3 is what you want. Definitely the best reloading investment I made for my precision ammo

 

[NiteQwill]

Autotrickler V3 or you can just count kernels.

Best reloading equipment I've purchased in 15+ years.

 

[427Cobra]

I do love my Prometheus

 

[Yerman]

A&D FX-120 with AT V3 is what you are looking for.

After that, I would start researching the Giraud Trimmer and the AMP annealer.

Three best time saving pieces of precision equipment available to us for fast AND accurate.

 

[918v]

Redding or Harrells

 

[A&8's]

FX 120i with V3 trickler.

 

[Steel head]

I’ve used scoops, manual powder throws and scales, RCBS and Hornandy electronic powder measures over the years.
The V3 I got last fall blows them all away.
Accurate.
Silly fast.
Not temperamental.

 

[kindabitey]

V3 without a doubt. I run dual cups that weigh the exact same, which is as fast as dual V3's. Check F-class John on YT for a video on this setup.

 

[Rlandry]

I'm one of the "Poors"
RCBS Powder measure, pour in beam scale cup, trickle to correct weight, load in cases using the Area 419 funnel system. Slow but it works and my time is cheap.

 

[JLP.Payette]

I've run dual chargemasters for a few years and they have been awesome but I just upgraded to an Autotrickler V3. Waiting on delivery of the V3.

 

[HemiPowrd]

AutoTrickler V3. It will throw a new charge accurately in 7 - 10 seconds.

 

[Darkside-Six]

Auto trickler v3 or gtfo

this!

 

[Krob95]

Grab a handful of powder and throw it at a tray of cases. Simple shit.




Autotrickler V3 with the area 419 “upgrades” or nothing.

 

[salks]

I use a charge master lite with the McDonald's straw upgrade. Works. Some day I will have a fancy powder thrower.

 

[kthomas]

Autotrickler V2 is what I use with FX-120i. Works great, really happy with it. Fast and accurate.

If I was to buy today, it would be the same setup, only the current V3 version.

 

[bax]

I am doing somewhat of an informal poll so I can sort of 'weigh my options'. Hopefully it's ultimately useful for others in the forum as well.
...
Please share your opinions and/or experiences below with what works for you.

I have an Ohaus 1010 balance beam scale, a Dillon battery powered digital scale, a Denver Instruments Reloader 4, a Denver Instruments MXX-123, and a Sartorius. I had an RCBS Chargemaster. It was okay but I stopped using it after I bought the Autothrower so I sold it. I have several throwers including a Redding, RCBS, an original Culver, and some Dillon throwers for a 550.

I use the AT v3 with the Sartorius. It is fast, reliable, and very accurate. I regularly use the Dillon throwers and the DI Reloader 4 and once in a while the Culver. The other stuff gathers dust. The Autothrower is great and Adam is great to work with. Buy that. You can stop worrying if your powder charge is right and worry about the other six key things.

 

[alamo5000]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

With a lot of stuff that I load having ultra precision isn't a requirement. 9mm or 45ACP, 300 BLK, a lot of my .223 is shot from a 10.5 inch SBR so for most of it I don't have perfection in mind.

That said I like the precision side of things too. I'm going to do some soul searching (not really but I like how that sounds) and figure out the best use of the money or rather which order to buy stuff in.

 

[SnkBit]

JGS Quick Throw is great for precision rifle cartridges. Ive been running one for years on my 550 with excellent results.

 

[Steel head]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

With a lot of stuff that I load having ultra precision isn't a requirement. 9mm or 45ACP, 300 BLK, a lot of my .223 is shot from a 10.5 inch SBR so for most of it I don't have perfection in mind.

That said I like the precision side of things too. I'm going to do some soul searching (not really but I like how that sounds) and figure out the best use of the money or rather which order to buy stuff in.

For pistol or pew pew rifle I have 2 powder measures.
One for pistol and one for rifle, super fast throws good enough for the purpose.

 

[alamo5000]

For pistol or pew pew rifle I have 2 powder measures.
One for pistol and one for rifle, super fast throws good enough for the purpose.

Yes. This is my thinking as well.

That said I am also doing some precision and long range stuff as well.

I'm considering getting a full progressive set up because in general I will use that a lot more I think. That all said and done I can reload just fine with what I have but when it comes to charging it takes me a lot longer.

In the end I will have all this stuff but I just want to get a better idea so I can get a game plan. Any kind of major purchase (for me north of $1k) I like to have a plan in place. Also now considering the fact that everything is OOS if I did buy a brand new Dillon I would be on backorder for dies and all that.

If I go for the scale/charge system mentioned here I might be able to knock that out in short order.

I could just buy it all and just pay it out but I have a thing about debt. If I don't have the cash in my hand for optional things I won't buy it. Just a thing I do for financial discipline.

 

[HousePlant]

At this point I'm weighing the powder and using the little pan to pour the charge into the case using a funnel. One. At. A. Time.

 

[alamo5000]

At this point I'm weighing the powder and using the little pan to pour the charge into the case using a funnel. One. At. A. Time.

For most of my shooting I just used a powder drop. During the pandemic bullshit I've been shooting a lot of .22LR, 9mm, and AR calibers so it works out well. I don't have to be precise there.

Going forward though I'm kind of planning ahead about what will have the most bang for the buck long term. I'm going to allocate funds accordingly.