RCBS 1500 Combo

[ricciardelli]

Okay, good-bye Lyman 55, good-bye RCBS 5-0-2, 5-0-5 and 10-10, good-bye powder trickler...

Ordered the RCBS 1500 Combo unit today...anyone have one of these and care to share some tips?

(It takes a long time for an old dog to give-up what has been working for him for over 45 years...)

 

[jhalcott]

hey kid< what you wanna be when you get OLD??
  I really thought you were one of us old guys!
  If i remember right, that thing takes a FEW seconds to drop a charge. Over half a minute for a 60 grain rifle case.I saw it demonstrated at a show and it was better with ball powders than sticks(what isn't). The guy said he did not have any flake powders on hand when asked about their use.Let us (me) know how that thing works for you.Maybe I'll drop my Lee spoons and oil damped scale.

[ButlerFord45]

:-D  I give it two months.

[ricciardelli]

Well, 62 ain't quite all that young...

But as long as I don't wear a cowboy hat, tote two six guns or have a face covered with grey hair, I guess I can be considered a "kid".

Back to the 1500...

The reports I read on it indicated it was the fastest gizmo on the market.  

The ChargeMaster's average "fill" times were 8.95 seconds for 42.2 grains of H-4831sc and 12.3 seconds for 50.5 grains of IMR-4064. These numbers show the RCBS is roughly twice as fast as the Lyman 1200 and about 60-90% faster than the PACT.

And accuracy, for a 44.0 grain charge of IMR-4064, as measured by a scientific balance beam scale was:

RCBS 1500 -- Ohaus 10-10 -- PACT Scale

44.0...........................44.00....................44.2
44.0...........................44.05....................44.4
44.0...........................44.00....................44.1
44.0...........................44.05....................44.2
44.0...........................44.05....................44.3
44.0...........................44.05....................44.4
44.0...........................44.00....................44.3
44.0...........................44.00....................44.4
44.0.....14 seconds.....43.95....................44.5
44.0.....15 seconds.....44.00....................44.6
44.0.....18 seconds.....44.00....................44.3
44.0.....16 seconds.....44.00....................44.2
44.0.....17 seconds.....44.00....................44.1
44.0.....16 seconds.....43.90....................44.2
44.0.....13 seconds.....43.97....................44.2
44.0.....17 seconds.....44.00....................44.3
44.0.....14 seconds.....43.95....................44.1
44.0.....14 seconds.....43.95....................44.3
44.0.....16 seconds.....44.05....................44.3
44.0.....13 seconds.....43.95....................44.1

[steve4102]

I do not have the RCBS 1500, I have the Lyman 1200 :cry: .  As you know it is much slower than the RCBS.  Speed is the only thing wrong with the Lyman, it is a great unit and works perfectly.  If you are loading some really heavy loads you may want to speed up your RCBS also.   With the powder pan on the scale either before or during the powder dumping, take a Lee powder scoop and just pour in some more powder, as long as you don't pour in more than the desired charge it will automatically stop at the proper charge.

[ricciardelli]

Ahhhh....

Now that's the kind of hint I was looking for...

Simple, but something I would overlook.

Thanks...

[ButlerFord45]

Well???

[ricciardelli]

Okay, my first impressions...

1) It is a nice shade of green;

2) I have played with it using 17 different powders and it has consistantly thrown exactly the amount of powder that I "punched-in" as the desired weight (as checked by the three balance scales I have);

3) High speed is FAST, but noisy ... regular and trickle speeds are less noisy;

4) Dumping the hopper is okay, except with fine ball powders, such as H-414 and H-380 are a pain in the butt, but RCBS supplies a little paintbrush to help things along;

5) The clear cover over the pan is crap!  I don't think it is long for the world;

6) Warm-up and calibration are very quick;

7) The table that holds the powder pan is entirely too small for large calibration weights;

The thing that bothers me the most is that there are little stickers all over the bottom of it that state two things...the first is "Warranty voided if opened", and the second is, "Made in China".

[Bullseye]

I had to read this post just when I saw what it was about and who the author was!  I could not believe my eyes, ricciardelli using something like that. :grin:

You will probably like it if you give it some time.  I use the newer version Pact which has speeds similiar to what you listed.  I use it when loading long extruded stick powders but still use the powder measure when I can.  It does seem slow sometimes but I watch TV and while doing and it is accurate.

By the way, my Pact says made in USA.

[ricciardelli]

I still have the Lyman 55 mounted on one of my other reloading benches, and will probably use it for doing handgun loads with ball powder.  It is extremely consistant and quicker than the "power machine" (and a hell of a lot quieter!).

[ButlerFord45]

I guess my real question is: if you had your money back and knew what you know now, would you do it again?
The idea of not having to do all the weighing and trickleing just seems to be a wonderful thing if it works well.

[ricciardelli]

"if you had your money back and knew what you know now, would you do it again?"

No only "Yes", but , "Hell yes!"

[steve4102]

One more thing I do with my Lyman.  When I "Calibrate" it, I use the powder pan from my RCBS 505.  That way all I have to do to check the Lyman for accuracy is to place it on the already zeroed RCBS scale.

[Questor]

I don't quite understand this type of tool. I use a powder measure with a micrometer attachment. It's very fast once I get it set up for the charge weight I want. To get the charge weight I want, I just go to my loading notes and return the micrometer attachment to the right measurement for the load I want to produce. I then weigh a few charges to make sure that I'm exactly right. Then I start loading. Occasionally I re-check the charge weight to make sure everything's working OK. Time to fill, say, a 375 H&H magnum case, is about five seconds, and that includes the time it takes to pick up the empty case, fill it, and set it back down into a loading block.

What advantage does this other kind of tool have over my system?

[PaulS]

Questor,

You mean that you are throwing your charges and not weighing each one?
GASP!
Yep! me too. That was one of the minor advantages of going to double-base powders. They meter so well even through powder measures that won't stay accurate with stick powders that I found my accuracy is better than if I weigh individual charges. I don't try to explain it - I am just happy it is so.

Paul

[Questor]

PaulS:

In my readings on loading, I covered a lot of the material written for people who are into accuracy. This includes benchresters and high power rifle shooters. My understanding is that metering by volume is superior to metering by weight.

[PaulS]

PaulS:

In my readings on loading, I covered a lot of the material written for people who are into accuracy. This includes benchresters and high power rifle shooters. My understanding is that metering by volume is superior to metering by weight.

That is my experience with double base powders. I can always get better accuracy from thrown charges than with weighed charges. I have never be able to throw charges with stick powders that are close to what I want. That is why I chose to go to double base powders completely. Well it was one of many reasons.

[tootalloutdoors]

I just brought my combo home last night and am looking forward to using and experimenting with it today. tootalloutdoors

[VTDW]

I decided to check out the time it takes for my RCBS CMC to dispense powder last night.  I loaded up 10 brass with Vhitavhouri N-120 at 44 gr. @ 9 seconds each from the dispenser.  While the second load was dispensing the powder was thru the funnel and I was waiting for the next load.  Slick!!!

Dave