Frankford Arsenal Intellidropper GTG!

[daved20319]

As most of my reloading is more on the precision side, I'm still using a single stage press, an RCBS Rock Chucker. Most of the process of making ammo is either fairly quick, or can be done while doing something else, i.e. priming/depriming brass while watching TV (I do both with hand tools). But actually charging cases was a tedious bottle neck, set my thrower to throw light, then trickle up on my beam scale. Tedious, hard on the neck, and still some possibility of errors from parallax. Finally decided it was time to get an automatic dispenser, and started shopping. I looked at all the usual suspects, read lots of reviews, and finally decided on the new FA unit. I'll admit, the primary reason was price, but I'm also a fan, I have other FA tools and all have been excellent.

Got it in last week, but life got in the way, I wasn't able to actually put it to work until the last couple of evenings. In that time, I've run 150 test loads, 1 batch of .223's, and a couple different loads for 6.5 Grendel. In over 150 loads thrown, with 2 different powders and varying weights, I only had 2 over charges, and the machine alerted me to both. Although the scale weighs correctly when compared against my beam and little FA digital scale, it does consistently throw charges .1 gr. light. Not an issue, I just add .1 to my charge weight, and it's spot on. I did get the occasional under throws, but never by more than .1 gr., and the longer it ran, the less frequent the under charges. Although I don't have anything to compare it too, speed seems good, and it's very easy to use. Doesn't seem too picky, either, I have fluorescent lighting in my shop, with a fixture within a few feet, and it still works fine. Lots of other features I haven't tried yet, it has a Bluetooth interface that lets you run everything from your smart phone if you want, and the app includes a load data base that looks pretty good. It's still early days with this, but I'll post again if I A) have problems or B) discover something new and wonderful . Later.

[caleb90]

been looking at these for two reasons. 1 price point 2 the features. i havnt pulled the trigger yet as it is still a new product and arnt many reviews. what reviews there are it seems to be 50/50 goon and bad. let us know how it works

[drewsbow]

I have one and like it so far no problems, have loaded hundreds of 6.5 with it.

[lazyengineer]

Neat! In 2019, and in a world of 0.01gr precision scales for $20 on amazon (that work). There is no reason an RCBS Chargemaster should be $300-$400. While this is a speciality cottage industry item, at its heart is some basic happy-meal level processing electronics, plastic gears, a small electric motor, and a digital scale. It's good to see some competition now between RCBS/LYMAN/FA and others to drive prices down on this!

[daved20319]

Like you, I couldn't find a lot of reviews, but what I did find was mostly good, rather than 50/50. It's a new unit, just released this year, and a lot of the "bad" reviews seemed to be based on the fact that it will sometimes show +/- .1 gr. just sitting there. Mine does that occasionally, but if so, I lift the pan and verify the weight hasn't changed, or I'll put one of the check weights on the pan. Or I'll just hit the zero button and move on. Like I said, I've checked it multiple times against both another digital scale that I trust, and my beam scale, all are in agreement when just weighing something. Don't know why it consistently throws .1 gr. light, but it is consistent so I really don't care. As this thing has Bluetooth connectivity, and FA seems to be intent on supporting it, I suspect there will be future firmware updates, maybe one of those will fix the "problem". In the meantime, all the money I didn't spend on a Chargemaster will buy more components for my Grendel endeavors . Later.

[centerfire]

Neat! In 2019, and in a world of 0.01gr precision scales for $20 on amazon (that work). There is no reason an RCBS Chargemaster should be $300-$400. While this is a speciality cottage industry item, at its heart is some basic happy-meal level processing electronics, plastic gears, a small electric motor, and a digital scale. It's good to see some competition now between RCBS/LYMAN/FA and others to drive prices down on this!

So true, the inside of the CM looks like sixth grader assembled it. Gavintube did a review on the new $900 CM that boasts +/-.04 accuracy and it looks like it works about as well as the FA thrower. The comments on the video aren't very kind either.

[centerfire]

Like you, I couldn't find a lot of reviews, but what I did find was mostly good, rather than 50/50. It's a new unit, just released this year, and a lot of the "bad" reviews seemed to be based on the fact that it will sometimes show +/- .1 gr. just sitting there. Mine does that occasionally, but if so, I lift the pan and verify the weight hasn't changed, or I'll put one of the check weights on the pan. Or I'll just hit the zero button and move on. Like I said, I've checked it multiple times against both another digital scale that I trust, and my beam scale, all are in agreement when just weighing something. Don't know why it consistently throws .1 gr. light, but it is consistent so I really don't care. As this thing has Bluetooth connectivity, and FA seems to be intent on supporting it, I suspect there will be future firmware updates, maybe one of those will fix the "problem". In the meantime, all the money I didn't spend on a Chargemaster will buy more components for my Grendel endeavors . Later.

That's the life of a load cell/strain gage.