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

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

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

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

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.

Just ordered one! Thank you

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.

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

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.

Great video. Thanks for doing it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

I'll take accuracy over speed

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

What is the warranty they offer for this?

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?

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

Looks like a reliable Hornady product

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.

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?

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?

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

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

1000% agree round count is useless

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?

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?

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

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

can the machine be used with black powder?

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

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

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

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

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

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

100 bucks more for the Hornady? No thank you!

It is obvious that this guy is a rcbs fanboy