Well I have been using the Omega Powder Trickler for a month or two now. this is the best $60 I have spent on powder handling yet.
I had be using a chargemaster for some time for my loads. After reading a few articles about the accuracy of different powder handling methods I got curious about the accuracy of my loads. I ordered a Gempro scale. To say I was disappointed is an understatement.
I started dumping charges with the chargmaster and hand trickling on the gempro. Slow is an understatement.
I decided to head in a totally different direction. I had read about the omega and had been thinking about the old timey powder measures for some time. Dumping charges with a powder measure is fast.
I ordered the omega and a hornady powder measure. Really wanted the Redding BR but since this was an experiment and the hornady is only $25 and seems to be just as accurate as the Herrells and Reddings costing hundreds of dollars I went cheap. After the experience with the chargemaster I don't trust scales so I ordered another digital scale. This time it was an ohaus CJ also accurate to 0.02 grains.
So now I have a hornady powder measure I dump charges with, a gempro I trickle with the omega on and a Ohaus I check weight on. This system has cut my charging time by 2/3's.
the hornady has really surprised me. It doesn't take long at all to adjust it to throw very accurate charges. With ball powders if I am loading say 50 rounds I can get it where it will be within 0.02 grains on 75% of the loads. The bad ones I just dump back in and throw another charge. So much faster than waiting on he chargemaster. When I am doing load development with different powder charges every 5 rounds the omega comes into its own. Set the powder measure for the lowest charge and trickle up. Just the push of a button and you can quickly trickle to the 0.02 grains.
With the omega you can easily count the kernels of stick powder and drop one or more at a time. Like most things there is a learning curve. I adjust the angle of the discharge tube with different powders to get the flow rate I want. A grain of varget weighs about 0.02 grains. RL15 is slightly less. This thing is awesome.
Both digital scales drift. Don't care what anyone says. It is aggravating. With 2 scales sitting side by side I catch it very quickly and usually all it takes is to put the powder pan on the scale empty and let it rezero. You are pretty confident with your powder charges when you weigh twice and they agree.
this system probably cost about what I spent on the chargemaster and is much more accurate and a whole lot faster.
The jury is still out on whether it is really worth it to hold your powder charges to a 0.02 grains accuracy. I do know my groups and flyers were reduced when I went from chargemaster accuracy of 0.15 to 0.2 of grain to 0.02 of a grain. Sometime I will do a little test to see of 0.05 is really good enough. I believe I could easily get that from a powder measure.
I had be using a chargemaster for some time for my loads. After reading a few articles about the accuracy of different powder handling methods I got curious about the accuracy of my loads. I ordered a Gempro scale. To say I was disappointed is an understatement.
I started dumping charges with the chargmaster and hand trickling on the gempro. Slow is an understatement.
I decided to head in a totally different direction. I had read about the omega and had been thinking about the old timey powder measures for some time. Dumping charges with a powder measure is fast.
I ordered the omega and a hornady powder measure. Really wanted the Redding BR but since this was an experiment and the hornady is only $25 and seems to be just as accurate as the Herrells and Reddings costing hundreds of dollars I went cheap. After the experience with the chargemaster I don't trust scales so I ordered another digital scale. This time it was an ohaus CJ also accurate to 0.02 grains.
So now I have a hornady powder measure I dump charges with, a gempro I trickle with the omega on and a Ohaus I check weight on. This system has cut my charging time by 2/3's.
the hornady has really surprised me. It doesn't take long at all to adjust it to throw very accurate charges. With ball powders if I am loading say 50 rounds I can get it where it will be within 0.02 grains on 75% of the loads. The bad ones I just dump back in and throw another charge. So much faster than waiting on he chargemaster. When I am doing load development with different powder charges every 5 rounds the omega comes into its own. Set the powder measure for the lowest charge and trickle up. Just the push of a button and you can quickly trickle to the 0.02 grains.
With the omega you can easily count the kernels of stick powder and drop one or more at a time. Like most things there is a learning curve. I adjust the angle of the discharge tube with different powders to get the flow rate I want. A grain of varget weighs about 0.02 grains. RL15 is slightly less. This thing is awesome.
Both digital scales drift. Don't care what anyone says. It is aggravating. With 2 scales sitting side by side I catch it very quickly and usually all it takes is to put the powder pan on the scale empty and let it rezero. You are pretty confident with your powder charges when you weigh twice and they agree.
this system probably cost about what I spent on the chargemaster and is much more accurate and a whole lot faster.
The jury is still out on whether it is really worth it to hold your powder charges to a 0.02 grains accuracy. I do know my groups and flyers were reduced when I went from chargemaster accuracy of 0.15 to 0.2 of grain to 0.02 of a grain. Sometime I will do a little test to see of 0.05 is really good enough. I believe I could easily get that from a powder measure.
