Next to a press, powder metering equipment is going to be the most used equipment on your bench. The price and capability of such equipment varies quite widely, and it is no exaggeration to say that you can spend just a few dollars to over a thousand on a means to reliably and accurately dispense powder.
Before we get into what we might use to dispense powder we have to briefly discuss how powder is metered.
How Do We Meter Powder?
There are two primary weighs that powder is measured. Volumetrically, (by volume) or by weight. By weight is pretty straight forward, the weight of powder is placed on a scale and the grams or grains of the charge is weighed. Powder is added or subtracted until it is at the correct value, and then it is placed in the case. There are various means to manually and automatically do this.
Weighing out each charge can be slow, even with automated equipment. I can beat an RCBS Chargemaster on both accuracy and speed with a quality powder thrower. If I want precision, I can get it by throwing a light charge with a powder thrower, and then trickle in the last few grains by hand. On large charges especially, this manual method is faster than the Chargemaster.
Volumetrically is how the vast majority of powder is metered on a commercial scale. Yes, even precision loaded ammunition is loaded by volume and not by weight. Powder is contained in a hopper, and metered into a fixed volume then dispense down into the case. Bench mounted powder throwers work, in principle, the same way as machine mounted throwers on all commercial loaders.
Volume times the density of the powder is equal to an equivalent weight. Volumetric loaders are typical adjustable, either by adjusting a bushing size or a screw, and are checked by a scale. Not all throwers are created equal, and some struggle with throwing consistent loads with some powders, or they can meter them at all. N570, is a particularly troublesome powder to meter in even some of the high end throwers.
Before we get started, we need to address a safety issue. All of the dispensers are for use with smokeless powder. Do not use black powder with this equipment, unless the manufacturer specifically states it is for black powder use. Black powder is very easy to ignite, with concerns around static electricity having the potential to ignite a hopper full of blackpowder.
By Weight
Even if you are planning to load everything using some of the powder throwers on the market, you should own a scale of some sort. Powder manufactures try and keep consistent lots of powder, but normal tolerances will results in lots that are more dense or less dense than others. So published bulk density data, on this site, or in a load manuel may not be spot on.
Also having some means to conduct a “Sanity” check is helpful. You can think you did everything right but yet you dispense half a grain more then you are suppose to. Without a scale you likely won’t know, and with some pistol loads .5gr is difference between a safe load and a potential disaster.
I lost my patience with the Lee Powder Scale.. Every little bump or breeze upsets the scale and it takes forever for it to settle back down. My fat sausage fingers had a hard time moving the weights. Honestly it works, but it takes time and being raised in the digital world, I immediately swapped this for a digital scale. For the same price a small pocket scale can be had, like the one pictured below, and they serve their utility as “sanity” checks.
When most people think of a digital scale for reloading they are thinking a bench top scale. These are precision instruments and they need to be kept on a level surface, shielded from drafts, calibrated on a frequent basis, and cared for. Honestly you shouldn’t expect to pay less than $100 for a quality scale.
Most of the scales you find made by the major reloading supply companies are of the strain gage variety. For the price point these are fine scales, but can be subject to drift, and are typically limited to a precision of +/-.1gr but more commonly you’ll find they are spec’d at +/-.2gr. I have seen a Hornady Scale drift all over the place because it was place under a fluorescent light. This can really shake the confidence you have in a scale if you don’t know what’s going on.
Most laboratory grade scales go beyond what is commonly available at the reloading supply houses. When doing variation analysis you typically want your ability to measure ten times smaller than the least significant digit. What that means is that if I’m trying to measure something to the .1gr, then I want the scale to be accurate to the .01gr. Thus we can have a degree of certainty that the variation observed is real, and not due to the inability of the scale.
For this we need to spend extra on. The most popular scale out there for the serious reloader wanting that “Next Level” of precision, is the A&D FX-120i. These scales are not cheap. When I bought one for the company I was doing load development for they were ~$500. The price has gone up dramatically since then to over $700.
These scales are typically magnetically dampened, and while they use a strain gauge they are far more stable then the strain gauge only versions offered by reloading suppliers. The sky’s the limit once you get to the milligram scale. You can pay $1000 or more. However there is a point at which you will see diminishing returns. I think the cut off for most people will be at the A&D FX-120i.
By Volume
Measuring out powder by volume goes all the way back to the days of black powder. It is quick, safe, and it by far how most machine loaded and handloaded ammunition is done. Typically when power is metered by volume, it is referred to as “powder throwing”, or “throwing a charge”. Thus the equipment used is typically referred to as a “powder thrower”.
Powder throwers really come in two varieties, fixed volume throwers, where there is a cavity of a fixed volume, and variable volume throwers. This is where the volume can be adjusted by means of a screw or knob without the disassembly of the thrower.
How well a powder thrower meters powder is highly subject to the type of powder being thrown and the meter’s design. For example, fine ball powders such as Win 296 or H110, can sometimes “seep” out and round the thrower making a mess, other powders such as N570 are so thick and bulky they don’t meter well in the Harrells powder thrower despite being an excellent thrower.
The powder geometry coupled with additives such as graphite can vastly improve or hinder it’s ability to meter on automated equipment. Despite testing well in a lab, when it is run on a Camdex, or Set Point loader, it can present a challenge. I personally ran into this with Reloder 26 and loading it in 6.5 Creedmoor on a Set Point loading machine.
These are things to keep in mind when looking at powder throwers, none of them are created equal, and the performance of all are subject to the characteristics of the powder being metered.
Some people might frown on the thought of using the Lee Dippers for measuring out powder. However when used in combination with an inexpensive scale they are viable and quick way to measure powder without breaking the bank. I have used them to scoop out a charge and get me close, then trickle in the last few grains by hand to get me spot on. Metering large charges can be done faster this way then can be done with $300+ auto powder dispensers with no loss in precision. For ~$13, it’s hard to ignore.
Budget minded people might consider getting the inexpensive Lee Perfect Powder Measure. I do not like giving negative reviews, but I was less than impressed with its ability to meter ball powders without creating a mess. To be fair, it seemed to meter fine with the extruded powders I tried and the charges of ball powders were consistent but the powder would seep out from the sides. Lee also manufactures an all metal version of this powder thrower for $75 MSRP. I have not tried that one. If it was me, I’d stick with the Lee Dippers and a scale while I save up for a nicer thrower.
The Lee Auto Disk Thrower is a prime example of a fixed volume thrower. In order to change the charge you needed to pull the thrower apart and rotate the internal disk to a new cavity. I believe this style of thrower is out of production replaced with a charge bar that allows you to change the volume by turning a screw. These were inexpensive throwers that were included with Lee Progressive Press the Lee Pro 100, and they worked. I loaded several thousand rounds using a thrower just like this.
(As a side note the majority of progressive presses will include some form of a press mounted powder dispenser. How well they work is wholly dependent on the manufacturer and the type of powder you are dispensing. The one on my Dillon 550, has work fine, but I have mainly metered pistol charges with flake and ball powders. I may find it struggles with extruded powders. I do not know if a Dillon powder thrower could be mounted on a RCBS Progressive press, in theory it should work, but in practice it may be a disaster.)
Nearly all of the bench powder throwers follow a similar design. There is an external barrel that has a micrometer screw. The screw adjusts the internal volume of the barrel. When the lever is in the down position the barrel fills with the powder charge, when it is in the up position the charge is dumped into the case.
As mentioned with the Lee Thrower, not all builds are created equal, the materials that the body and thrower are made from will give you a smoother feel, and will allow you to feel when an individual powder grain is being cut. (Occasional grain cutting with an extruded powder is to be expected and will not harm your load) As with most things you get what you pay for and a quality thrower will last a lifetime.
My personal favorite thrower is made by Herrell’s. These are an all metal adjustable powder thrower that meters very uniformity, and has a very smooth feel to it. Unlike the RCBS or Redding Throwers most of the metering is done with an internal barrel.
When using a powder thrower it is important to be as consistent as possible. With the Herrell’ the lever goes up, there is a pause, and then I let the lever down and the powder dispenses. It’s hard to describe the relative quickness of the moment, but it is one smooth motion up, pause, and smooth motion down. There is no jerkiness or taps on the top or the bottom of the stroke.
In order to evaluate if you are throwing the correct charge, throw the charge 10 times. For example if you are targeting 23.0gr then you can throw it ten times and the weight should be 230.0gr. Usually it will be a few tenths off one way or another but that is fine. You can call it good, or you can adjust the dispenser up or down and repeat. If its a larger charge, like 60.0gr then you might only be able to do 5 consecutive charges, in which case you take the total 300.0gr and divide by 5 to get the average charge thrown.
Auto Dispensers
Auto dispensers are the sleek and sexy powder dispensers on the market. Nearly every company offers a model. I’ve used two different kinds and have found them to be satisfactory, and be constrained by more or less the same issues. They are slower than a powder thrower if you are looking to do batch loads, and most all of them have varying degrees of success of precisely metering the indicated charge.
They all typically work in a similar fashion. They have a hopper full of power, and a hollow tube rotates to pick up the powder and slowly trickle it onto a scale. Each brand controls the metering slightly differently. They all typically have a fast, medium and slow speed, and the scales are all typically accurate to +/-.1gr. Type in the desired charge weight and hit dispense. The dispenser will attempt, to meter the desired charge.
The RCBS Chargemaster is the auto dispenser that I have seen most used in a professional environment. That isn’t to say that it is the best one out there, but it does seem to have a reputation for lasting a long time. It has a rather clever design, as the majority of the electronic controls for the Dispenser are contained within the scale, and both the scale and the dispenser can be bought as separate units.
So when you purchase and RCBS benchtop scale you can go on to add the dispenser at a later date. Some people might find that to be handy, looking to upgrade down the road, or replace a scale or a dispenser should one or the other fail. As far as I am aware this is unique to the RCBS Chargemaster.
Personally, I think the RCBS Chargemaster works fine, I am not sure it works better then other auto dispensers on the market, but I think sometimes it handles some of the fine ball powders a little better. As with all powder throwers in this relative price range, it does have a tendency to over shoot, and you can watch it do it. It’ll be wavering on the edge of the perfect charge then it’ll bump the trickler once more and you’ll cry out as it drops .2 of a grain over what you wanted.
At the time of this writing it looks like Hornady has released a new auto dispenser called the Auto Charge Pro. It’s a pretty big redesign over the Hornady Lock-N-Load Powder dispenser that I have owned for well over 5 years. I really can’t say much on the new design other than to say the base specs look very similar to ever other powder dispenser in this price range on the market. Adjustable speeds for different powders, similar scale accuracy of +/-.1gr, and a touch screen control board.
The Lock-N-Load Powder Dispenser that I have experience with works fine. I don’t use it as much as I used to, as I am typically batch loading and with that comes setting up the powder thrower. However it can be handy if I am doing a ladder test, or loading up a small batch of test rounds where the time it would take to set up the powder thrower is longer than punching in the charge in the dispenser and waiting on it.
I have found that the Hornady Lock-N-Load dispenser is sensitive to the lighting or high frequency electronics. It has a tendency to drift if you leave the charge on the scale for some time, something I never saw with the RCBS Chargemaster. This maybe something they addressed with the new model, I don’t know.
If I were to take things to the next level, the folks over at Area 419 have made up an auto dispenser kit that I would be extremely interested in testing. These guys have turned the FX-120i milligram scale into an auto dispenser, using a conventional thrower in combination with a trickler.
The main downside I see to all of the auto dispensers on the market is the speed. They are slow, and a quality powder thrower can beat them. If the bulk of the charge is thrown to within 5gr of the target, and the remaining 5gr are trickled in, this potentially saves 50% of the time. Will it be faster than a properly set up thrower? I don’t know, I haven’t tested this but it sure is snazzy. Area 419 sells the kits complete with the supporting electronics for $1400. If you already have the scale the upgrade will cost you $450.
The big value for me in this setup is the milligram scale. As I feel strongly that any scale should be on an order of 10x more accurate than the least significant digit. For a .1gr accuracy, then I should have a scale capable of accurately reading .01gr. Having an auto dispenser that works with the FX-120i scale does get my attention.
That is where I feel the RCBS Matchmaster may have missed the boat. No doubt they improved on the dispense speed, which you may have noticed, is my primary complaint when using auto dispensers for batch loading. They do improve the resolution from a typical +/-.1gr to a +/-.04gr, but some of these other features seem to be lost on me. For example controlling up to 8 units via bluetooth? I have seen multiple charge masters being used when doing small batch loading of 50 BMG, or similar powder hungry cartridges, but it is rare.
It is important to note these are my critiques without even touching one of these new units. I do like the idea of two powder meter tubes, as I feel that the standard size that comes with most powder dispensers is too coarse for a fine meter of .1gr to finish off a charge. I also like the connectivity with my phone, even if I don’t see the need of connecting 8 units simultaneously.
Should I have the money to spend on a new unit, I personally would lean towards to Area 419 unit. As it has more of what I would like to see in a “Precision” auto dispenser, and be willing to pay the extra to get an auto dispenser that gives me that +/-.01gr accuracy.
Wrapping This Up
The astute among you will have noticed that I haven’t covered funnels, drop tubes, or tricklers. I plan on covering some of those in a separate write up. This write up is focused solely on powder metering. When I started reloading, I really enjoyed the technological marvel that is the auto dispenser.
However now that I have worked in the field and been able to use different tools, I lean heavily towards the powder thrower as being my tool of choice. With that I also have a seperate digital bench scale to check my powder thrower, making sure that it’s throwing the right charge consistently.
I think most budget minded people wanting to get a taste of the hobby will be well served with the Lee Dippers and a simple pocket scale. However for those who have the money, a quality RCBS, Redding, or Lyman, powder thrower coupled with a name brand bench scale will serve you for the majority of your reloading needs.
If you are a professional or someone that doesn’t mind spending extra for quality, I highly recommend the Herrell’s powder thrower, and coupling that with an FX-120i bench scale. Whether or not you want to spring for the auto dispense accessories that 419 offers is up to you. I might.
As far as an auto dispenser goes, my general impression has been they are fun, and useful for small batches, where you want to do a ladder test or a load development, but I have found them to be too slow for batch loading. As I mentioned before I may change my mind should I have an opportunity to evaluate the improvements that have been made with the RCBS Matchmaster, or 419’s Automation of the FX-120i. If that is the case I will certainly have a detailed write up on the subject.