Recommend me a charge dispenser

[mattL46]

After seeing how much it cost in your location I totally understand. Thats quite a price jump. Makes the Lee look like an angel.

[Chili Palmer]

- 'Clearly, you have no idea of the cost of the Chargemaster where I live....
€300-450 or so: that is about $500-€675'

Not trying to bicker and argue but then how much do reloading components cost where you live?

My point is.. many times I'll get all torn up why a pack of targets (for example) costs 10-15 bucks. Then I remind myself 1 or 2 30rnd mag(s) of .223 is about the same. Not to mention how much you spent on the gun(s).

If you are shooting / reloading you are spending some coin. The charge master will pay for itself it time / frustration loss quickly.

[Unclenick]

James,

While there are modifications you can make to other dispensers, out of the box I find that among purely volumetric dispensers (no weighing happening) the JDS Quick Measure is most accurate with extruded rifle powder, and the Lee Perfect is second best for about 1/6 the cost. I have both, and while the QM is more bother to set up and get used to, mine rarely throws a charge that is out by more than 0.2 grains and mostly throws within 0.1 grains. The two Lee Perfect measures I have are almost that good as long as the wiper works as it should. If you feel it catch (one of mine catches more often than the other) then the next throw afterward may be high due to vibration from the catch settling and increasing the bulk density the powder in the hopper a little for the next charge. The JDS is unable to cut grains, so it never catches and never gets those powder settling vibrations that cause the dispensing errors in most measures.

0.2 grains precision is acceptable, as, in a typical rifle charge of 40-50 grains, 0.1 grains of powder has, as Denton Bramwell points out, about the same effect as a change in powder temperature of about 3°F. So, to paraphrase him, if you don't worry about a temperature change of 6°F, there's no point in worrying about 0.2 grains of charge error.

[Pond, James Pond]

Not trying to bicker and argue but then how much do reloading components cost where you live?

Yeah, sorry if I came across a bit touchy...

Sadly, everything is absurdly expensive.

I pay about €0.08 per bullet for 0.429 200gr copper plated bullets, so €80 per 1000. I pay €0.19 for an FMJ FN 240gr, and €0.90 for a single hardcast 275gr FN.

A kilo of powder is about €85, a thousand 9mm FMJ Fiocchi cartridges come to €180, 1000 .22LR is "only" €90. ON top of that, Estonian salaries don't hold a candle to anything West of here.

So a Chargemaster would cost me about a years supply of 9mm, 3 years worth of club membership etc....

I am sure they are great and if I bought one I'd be happy, but if a Lee PPM, at about 10% of the cost does almost as well, then I soon relegate the Chargemaster to the "unaffordable luxury" pile....

As I said before the Lee PPM is looking more and more likely.

[Unclenick]

You're at right about twice prices we pay. Any reason beyond import duties and taxes?

[DannyB1954]

I am using IMR 700X which doesn't measure well also. I am going to try putting my Lee perfect powder measure on a separate not so solid table along with a vibratory polisher. Just to be safe, place something between the two to prevent motor sparks being a problem, (like a piece of cardboard).
The vibration may help fill the charge measure for more consistent results.

[Marco Califo]

Danny, that sounds like more trouble than it is worth. You only need a good tap, like from a 1/2 inch dowel. The Lyman #55 has a "knocker" small pendulum you lift and let fall for the knock. The PPM is so light, a consistent tap should get you the settling benefit. I do not use flake powders much as I am not loading shot shells. I never had any trouble with Unique in the Lyman #55. Have not tried it in the PPM, because I like Bullseye and Power Pistol much better (& they meter great).

[Pond, James Pond]

Any reason beyond import duties and taxes?

Also the size of the market.

There are 1.3 million people living here and only a fraction shoot so what they do sell needs to pay for a lot of other stuff.

But being in the EU is an advantage also: it allowed me to buy, without additional duties, all my reloading gear from the UK. Had I needed to buy it locally, costs would have been such that I'm now be reloading with a pair of mole-grips, not a Lee press!!

[DannyB1954]

Marco, I tapped it when I loaded up the measure, tapped it when I dropped the load into weigh tray, and tapped some more when I dumped the charge through the flaring die. I am all tapped out. I bought 8lb of the 700x because it was the last thing on the shelves. I like the way it fires, just don't like the way it meters. Correcting every charge for a 4gn load is going to add up to a lot of correction in 8lbs. 8lb X 7000gn / 4gn = 14,000 corrections.

I briefly seen a youtube video of a guy who pumped air into his powder with an aquarium pump to agitate the powder. I am about ready to try anything at this point.

[skizzums]

have you considered having some of your friends on the forum here buy stuff and ship it to you? i dont know what shipping like that costs, but im sure it would still be more affordable than the prices you have to pay

is there any reason why you cant order this stuff from united staes websites?

[Pond, James Pond]

That is a thought, but eventually the prices are not so different once shipping and customs are taken into account. For example, my Simply Rugged holster cost $75, then there was shipping, then there was the import duty in the end it all cost about $140.

As it happens you can't buy Simply Rugged here, but with similar overheads for, say, Lee reloading gear it works out perhaps a bit more to get it in Europe, but no one gets lumbered with my shopping list!!

Another consideration is US export laws: they are very particular about what leaves your shores. Optics? Even FO sights? Forget it: it could end up in some undesirable's hands as far as the authorities are concerned, so not allowed: believe me I've asked, and I wouldn't someone to inadvertently get into trouble!!

I also don't really want to burden anyone. If I did it once, heck I'd find something to buy every week: they'd be in the post office every other day!!

[Gunnels]

Before looking at changing out your Lee Autodisk Pro you might want to look at a very simple, inexpensive enhancement. I added a baffle to mine and greatly improved my results. Lee doesn't make a baffle for the Autodisk Pro but other companies do and they work fine. Most of them cost less than $10. I bought one from Lyman but there are plenty of them out there.