Hornady Auto Charge Pro vs RCBS Chargemaster Lite (part 1)

[@1rovin2]

Excellent informative comparison. I use a chargemaster lite and back it up with a RCBS balance beam. Wish the CM was a tad faster. I find myself waiting for it to finish up. Also, I need to let the CM warm up. If not it the zero can wander a tenth or two. Agree that round count is unnecessary and about as useless as the strobe function on a flashlight.

[@stricklyreloading8494]

you and I must be cut from the same cloth! I absolutely despise strobe flash lights haha. Thanks for watching!

[@pe4015]

Hey Strictly Reloading, I'm am in the market for an electronic powder scale. I just watched your other RCBS Chargemaster Lite vs. the Frankford Intellidropper video. I was on the Midway USA website with a Frankford unit in my cart. Then, I went back to your video and I'm glad I did watch it the whole way through to the end. Went back to Midway and removed the Frankford from my cart. One win for the RCBS. Now I'm watching THIS video before I make a final decision. Appreciate you taking the time to do up these head to head demo's. Speed matters, but what matters more to me when paying for a SCALE, is a more accurate weight even if it is just a few kernels. Best Regards, - Subscriber #192

[@stricklyreloading8494]

Thanks so much PE! I really enjoy reloading and trying new equipment! Happy shooting!

[@wesleyturner1979]

That’s a fancy red paper weight!

[@mddrudge]

Thank you for taking the time to do this great comparison!

[@mcmillansorchards7371]

if price wasnt an issue would you take the rcbs chargemaster lite or the hornady autocharge pro?

[@stevenholmes6582]

I was hoping you would compare the two for reloading 9mm"s. If you get a chance let me know. Thank you. Also if you lay the casing on the side you should get an accurate weight.

[@Gunners_Mate_Guns]

You do an excellent, thorough job with your reviews. No one can claim that you biased the results one way or another.

[@airborne350g]

What camera and monitor are you using to see your beam scale up close? Need that for my old eyes. Great video also.

[@sharky3809]

how has the Chargemaster Lite been holding up? Its been about 4 years since the video. Any issues with the stick powders with respect to short or overloads? Thanks

[@stricklyreloading8494]

I actually sold the chargemaster to a friend of mine years ago after upgrading to the AutoTrickler. He is still using it today and loves it as far as I know!

[@PracticallySquared1]

Great video. The Hornady looks like its much improved over the old one, however I've watched multiple videos where guys have shown the Hornady scale be off. Also you can find the RCBS for $230 if you watch. The Hornady appears to be about $100 more. I think I'm gonna have to stick with the CM Lite.

[@stricklyreloading8494]

Thanks for watching!!

[@keevinboling5635]

How about hitting enter when it comes up to the charge count

[@jessedies2385]

When do we get a charge master lite vs new rcbs match master video?

[@jeffreylowry4291]

Great analysis. It seems like the Hornady Pro dispenser is much improved upon their previous model. Although the calibration of the Hornady scale was off vs the RCBS balance beam, it was always off in the same direction and approximately the same amount. This bodes well for consistency as you pointed out in the video and hopefully an indication that Hornady has fixed the drift issue. I have to agree that the cartridge counter pop up in the display was annoying. Hopefully this is something the firmware guys adjust in the next revision. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Keep up the excellent work.

[@OMDURSECURITYISOURBUSINESS]

Speed settings don't mean crap if the hornady may be slightly overcharged and doesn't tell you. I believe it should be more about how accurate the charge is and that there are no mistakes after all we are dealing with explosives

[@sarkarkhalsa2010]

i say if you set Hornady on 44.2 then its give all the time 44g, but need the beam scale to set this, GREAT VIDEO, THANKS

[@williamratcliff8770]

To clear the round count and check the throw weight, just press Enter. No need to tweak the pan.

[@The4GunGuy]

Really nice video Strictly! I like how you used the beam scale to validate those drops. It's funny how we chase the accuracy, but all in all, a kernel represents about .01 - .03 gr (depending on the powder of course) which translates into about 3 fps difference in velocity. For anything within say 500 yds, that isn't a big difference, but when you get out to 1,000 yds +, it adds up! Good job my friend.

[@stricklyreloading8494]

The 4GunGuy thanks so much again! I made another video comparing the RCBS against the Intellidropper too! From what I can tell, the chargemaster lite is pretty hard to beat for the money! If one could just program it to trickle a little quicker, it would be REAL good!

[@The4GunGuy]

@@stricklyreloading8494 Totally agree...Even my comparison between the Chargemaster Lite and the much more expensive V3 AutoTrickler with the A&D FX-120i scale didn't really produce a measurable difference for the drastic price difference in my opinion. The AutoTrickler is a bit faster and the A&D does measure to .01 gr, so for PRS shooting that is a benefit.

[@MrOffshore]

I wish you had reweighed on the dispenser scale after adding the 2-4 kernels...I’d be interested as to how much weight the 3 kernels were...if the Hornady is that consistent, you could adjust it to throw the correct amount. Or, switch dispensed loads between machines to see what they’re saying. You are right...the charge count should be it’s own number on the screen or not at all...not needed, but live weight is very important. Great video!! Thanks for posting.

[@stricklyreloading8494]

Neither the Hornady or the RCBS will reflect a 3 kernel change in powder weight (unless you were only about 3 kernels away from the next tenth of a grain). It usually takes around 6-7 kernels before they will read a change.

[@Skilpadjie1]

Just lay the ammo horizontal on those nice indents Hornady made on the scale so to measure long ammo.

[@stricklyreloading8494]

I actually thought about that after posting this video haha. Good thinking!

[@seanl1054]

Hi there from the UK Strickley Reloading and a huge thank you for some really informative videos. Ive lost count how many videos ive watched of people unboxing powder dispensers, calibrating them and running them. Yours I think are the only ones that go indepth and show the consistency and accuracy of these machines. Ive been contemplating buying one of these for a while now and after watching both this vid and your vid with the Frankford ive decided that for the amount of reloading im doing I really cant justify the price for these machines when I can probablly get more consistent and accurate loads by throwing powder and trickling it up. So thanks again for your vids my friend like I said hugely informative and ive saved some pennys but gona buy me one of those beam scales if you dont mind me asking which model is it.

[@stricklyreloading8494]

Thanks so much for your comments! I’ve been to the UK many times playing music! My bean scales are the RCBS M500

[@mrjmartinez15]

I'm wondering how much the calibration weights weigh on your beam scale. Nice video. Thanks

[@stricklyreloading8494]

The calibration weights for the chargemaster lite are 50 grams each, which is more than the 505 grain capacity of my beam scale.

[@righteousone8454]

Thank you for taking your time. I don't want to call Hornady crap, but looks like inaccurate crap. It should be better at that price point.

[@mattwestlake6784]

I think what you're into at this point is the calibration weights that RCBS use on their machines are just a hair different than the weights that Hornady & Frankford use. The fact that it's so consistent show's me it's a scale calibration (from the factory) issue, and not a "throwing light" issue... I bet if you used one of the hornady beam scales you would see the RCS throwing heavy, and the Hornady being spot on.

[@CyclicCollective]

Thanks for this great review; what I took away from this was both units were excellent but the Hornady was slightly faster and perhaps little more consistent, certainly not less consistent. Almost always 3 kernels underweight each time was impressive. It would be interesting to see if that would be corrected if you recalibrated. I would be happy to own either but I ordered the Hornady Auto Charge Pro because it was a lot cheaper than the RCBS Chargemaster Lite here in Australia. I paid $499 AUD for the Hornady Auto Charge but the best price I could find for the RCBS was $650 AUD.

[@stricklyreloading8494]

Glad my video was some help to your decision making! Thanks for watching!!

[@gunner45357308]

I purchased a RCBS Chargemaster lite and used it for 18 months, it then stopped working. The touch pad will not always respond, sometimes it will not calibrate, it will not stabilize at the 100gm step. It will also not turn off, I have to unplug it. It was used once a week or so, calibrated every time. RCBS says well it is over a year old, so sorry not covered under warranty. Here is a repair shop and they can maybe help. I have not called the third party repair shop number they gave me yet. Don't know what the cost will be to repair it. Safe to say I would not recommend an RCBS scale. Update the repair shop gets a flat rate of $155 to repair this unit, plus I need to pay for shipping it to them. What would you do?

[@stricklyreloading8494]

very sorry to hear about your bad experience. I don’t think I would spend anymore money on your scale. I would buy another dispenser, and buy it from Brownells because they offer a lifetime guarantee on anything they sell. If it stops working anytime in the future, you can send it in and they will give you your original full purchase price in store credit. I think the new ChargeMaster Supreme would be a good option. The Frankford intellidropper would be a good budget friendly choice as well.

[@patrickdirckx8300]

Your powder holder is the difference from manual scale to the auto's

[@garrytalley8009]

Nice video. RCBS for some reason always seem to be more together on their scales than all the other companies. My CM lite no longer works correctly but when it did it was fabulous. Not sure whether I can fault RCBS on this either because I could have messed up using a wrong power supply. Older models used AC instead of DC and I may have accidentally plugged the wrong one in before it messed up. So I will be needing to replace it most likely again with an RCBS or perhaps try to have the unit repaired if possible. Nice video you did show me enough I didn't like about the Hornady to take it off my short list of replacements for my auto powder measure.

[@PHILSHOE81]

Wow, I bought my chargemaster lite about 4 years ago and it is a lot faster than the one you use. It is also lighter in color, almost like a light green not dark green like yours. It is about as light as the start button, go button. I wonder if over the years they reprogrammed it to run slower for some reason. It dispenses right up to 2 tenths to 1 tenths of a grain really fast and trickles that last tenth. Wonder why they would make it slower?

[@stricklyreloading8494]

Phillip Shoemaker I bought mine back when they came out in late 2017. That’s cool that yours is quicker!

[@PHILSHOE81]

@@stricklyreloading8494 wow I wonder why mine is so different

[@stricklyreloading8494]

@@PHILSHOE81 i have no idea! i'd love for you to time yours throwing a charge of 44gns of Varget, IMR4064, or H4350 and let me know what that is so i can compare to mine!

[@Gunners_Mate_Guns]

FWIW, there are several videos showing how to modify the speed for the Chargemaster 1500. It would be interesting to see if the same key combination (ENTER+EDIT) could be used with the current three models (Link, Supreme, and Matchmaster) to the same.

[@stricklyreloading8494]

I know it was not possible so do on the Lite. I believe the Chargemaster supreme does have a “powder learn” feature.

[@10ring]

Has there been an update that alerts you to an over charge with the Hornady, or displays the weight after a throw instead of round count?

[@stricklyreloading8494]

I haven’t heard anything if there has been. I also no longer own that dispenser. Let me know if you find out anything!

[@10ring]

@@stricklyreloading8494 Which one did you end up keeping?

[@stricklyreloading8494]

@@10ring at the time I kept the Chargemaster Lite, and I think I also had an older Chargemaster 1500, but I wound up getting an Auto Trickler V3 sometime ago.

[@stricklyreloading8494]

Hey! I just noticed your profile pic! Is that an Elio?!?

[@10ring]

@@stricklyreloading8494 Lol, yep, I was all about getting one after talking to the lead engineer at the Dream Cruise. Thanks to Obama, the loans needed for new automotive tech were only given to EVs.

[@mvic61191]

Strickly reloading, thanks for your video it was very subjective and informative. I have the RCBS chargemaster lite and experience similar episodes as you. The unit can be quite slow when it gets towards the top end of the charge. I actually bought the hornady unit, had it delivered and it does not work. It will not calibrate and is drifting from -100.0 grams to 300 grams, I can not even zero the unit. Something must be wrong but after watching this video I think I might just return it and wait for something better. Thanks. Do you think getting the hornady auto charge pro is worth it if I already have the chagemaster lite?

[@stricklyreloading8494]

Thanks so much for the comment! And Hmmmm that’s a good question! I think if you already have the Lite and it’s fast enough for you, I would say wait and let’s hope RCBS releases a “version 2” of it in the near future! I did wind up sending the Hornady back mainly for this reason, and also because I figured if I really wanted it, the price will likely come down after the new wears off!

[@psykoklown874]

My CM Lite quite often picks up the wrong button press. It's not just you. Does yours randomly dispense at full speed until it hits weight (usually an overthrow)? It can be pretty slow to trickle.

[@stricklyreloading8494]

Yep, mine will do that same thing at times! Not very often though.

[@Goflyrc2]

Awesome video, great information. Would like to have seen you punch in 44.1 grains and 44.2 grains on the Hornady and see what it would end up at on the beam scale. Do you think you would punch in just .1 or .2 over when you actually are reloading? Thanks again.

[@stricklyreloading8494]

You know, I meant to do just that and totally forgot about it! from what I seen, I believe entering 44.1 on the Hornady would have made it agree with the beam scales much better. I believe the scales in the Hornady are very good!

[@vikingcat2640]

Can you set the chargemaster to only drop your bulk charge?

[@DanielAhmar-v9s]

I believe that you left the setting on Hornady scale on H and the other settings on the fastest, hence its not the most accurate setting?

[@308guy8]

I've got the charge master lite and I have had good luck with it so far

[@spencerstrickland]

They are very hard to beat!

[@308guy8]

I'll take accuracy over speed

[@pearlrival3124]

What is the warranty they offer for this?

[@jjgriffin3275]

Opinions, would you say this is worth $150 more that the FA Intellidropper? In terms of features, accuracy, warranty, speed, quietness, everything?

[@irokromkrom6534]

can the machine be used with black powder?

[@stricklyreloading8494]

The manufacturer’s instructions say no.

[@waterishdrake8693]

😭😭😭😭😭😭 why didn’t you weigh the overcharge before throwing it back!!!!!!

[@vacationinsouthsweden4018]

I like to see the amounth of charges that I have trhown. It is for me an extra check.If I am on my 25th case and i have thrown 25 charges i just know i didn't loaded a case twice. Nice vid! Thanks and greetings from Sweden.

[@racer3212]

Just ordered one! Thank you

[@michaelwood9212]

I would rather accuracy over speed, do seconds really make that much of a difference after all

[@ZZ-uf4zv]

RCBS for the Win...... Accuracy beats speed any day that ends in y...

[@tadbarker7082]

Great video. Thanks for doing it.

[@Gunners_Mate_Guns]

I can't say that I care much for the overhang on the Hornady you unit. The round count staying on without showing the current weight is another real problem. I'm glad that I have my Chargemaster 1500. Oh, I also have a PACT unit that still works great.

[@brian-wh9bj]

hit the dispense button after it is finished on hornady it will display the weight

[@stricklyreloading8494]

Thanks! Yeah, I found that out in my “part 2” video 🤣

[@uclajd]

Dude 45 minutes and only part 1. You need a TL;DR summary.

[@stricklyreloading8494]

Haha no kidding. I don’t know where the time goes in making these things. Just watch it at 2x speed 🤣. And the part 2 is some things I figured out about the scale after making this video. Thanks for watching!

[@chriscahill6897]

I have a RCBS charge master I purchased in 2016 or 2017 still going strong I owned 2 hornady previous model off 1 video both developed problems 13 months 14months So I stick rcbs

[@chuckliu7344]

Looks like a reliable Hornady product

[@prismunit2]

Thanks for the video brother, so after all is said and done it’s looking like the charge master lite i have is worth sticking with then huh? Hah

[@stricklyreloading8494]

Thanks so much for watching! the RCBS is a hard machine to beat overall. Easy to use, accurate, and pretty inexpensive compared to other models! I would LOVE to see RCBS make a version "2" of the Lite to include a feature to adjust trickle speed, similar to that of what Hornady did.

[@prismunit2]

Strickly Reloading yeah that’s the one feature I do wish it had, at least for when I am making my plinking Ammo that’s not in need of being super consistent.

[@keneff7904]

@@stricklyreloading8494 Hi. I bought my Ghargemaster Lite 2 days ago and love it like a brother. Seems to be accurate and consistent. But "inexpensive"? Mine cost me NZ$700.00. It's gonna take a long time reloading for it to pay for itself!! But no remorse here. I'm getting a bit old and shaky, so it's great not having to re-throw charges more than once, to get the powder into the case. Thanks for the review. Much appreciated. Ken

[@GarrettHamilton]

How long have you had that one single nitrile glove for? lmao

[@stricklyreloading8494]

This glove was passed down to me by my dad who got me into reloading. I hope to pass it down to my son one day as well! 🤣🤣🤣

[@GarrettHamilton]

@@stricklyreloading8494 haha heck yeah man! Keep on passing that baby down!

[@jjgriffin3275]

1000% agree round count is useless

[@kylehendrix3531]

Just hit enter when round count is on screen and it will go back to the weight. No need to lift pan.

[@stricklyreloading8494]

I noticed that after playing with the scale several hours later haha. I did make a "part 2" video on the Hornady where I mentioned that. Thanks for the input! Let me know if you discover any other handy tricks on the AutoCharge Pro! I'm thinking about getting another one.

[@TheLevihubler]

Looks like hornady for me. Normal settings are faster and just as accurate

[@eugene7890]

Nice video

[@blackhawk7r221]

Sadly, both are Chinese low quality/high profit products. But it’s all we’ve got nowadays.

[@scanyoursector5731]

100 bucks more for the Hornady? No thank you!

[@robertmettler1910]

It is obvious that this guy is a rcbs fanboy

[@stricklyreloading8494]

Hmmm I wouldn’t necessarily say that. I like a lot of different reloading company’s products and use them regularly. I have a Redding press, Lee priming tool, Frankford Arsenal case trimmer, Hornady bullet comparators, and so on.