Lookin for advice on potential powder dispensers. I currently run a Lee auto-drum powder dispenser on a feed though charging die. It’s been great for loading all my pistol cartridges the last 5 years. But now I’ve really gotten into shooting 6arc and attempting to load some rifle cartridges and so far the auto drum ain’t working the greatest for these bigger volumes. Either that or it’s my powders, I guess? Anyways I’m looking to speed up and accurate the powder measuring process. Looking into the electronic dispensers with the built in scales. Are they worth it? Any suggestions?

All ears here .My stone age RCBS and bridged 4064 needs improvement .

It's hard to beat a single scale when reloading on a single stage press for control.. I'm not much for digital.

It depends on the volume you are going to load. All rifle shogun and handgun loads should be measured for the greatest uniformity. If you are not interested in giving yourself the best and only looking ammo to shoot to get your gun sighted in and then to hunt with you would maybe be better just to buy factory ammo and shoot what you're gun likes best. If you want to invest in loading equipment then you will have to have a good reason to spend the money. All I can say is that most people would save a lot of money by just using factory ammo. That being said I have a RCBS match master powder dispenser and also a digital scale by Hornady. I also have a trickler and a old beam scale. I also have 4 different powder dumpers. I bought the Match Master for larger volume loading because I am now loading 1000s of rounds for varmint hunting. I would still measure each load the old way if I was only testing and shoot a few rounds. I will never be money ahead because I enjoy the time and for me it is worth what I see on target. But you can do just as accurate loading with far less investment. Buy measuring gages and learn about seating bullets and neck tension and range test everything.

I burned up several RCBS Chargemasters before I wised up.

Have been using a Hornady Auto Charge now for a few years with nary a hiccup.

You don’t need an electric dispenser, but man it sure makes life easier and faster than dumping and hand trickling extruded rifle powders.

I didnt like extrinsic scales . To sensitive to drafts type of lighting and such. Went back to a beam scale. I uses a million or see powder volume bumper and us a rcbs trickler if im wanting it mor accurate. Different powders measure more consistent than others.

See if 8208 is a good powder dmfor 6mm arc. It meters very well for me and is my choice for 223. No need for any more tahn the powder dumper. It meters like a ball powder.

I second the motion on xbr 8202 I use the lee drum on a dillion 550 for 6.5 grendal so it should meter well for the arc plus it is a great accurate powder.

I used a beam scale for years, and I think it is more accurate. But I switched to a RCBS electric powder dispenser and scale. While I think the beam scale is a more accurate measure, the electronic one measures accurately enough I can't tell the difference on targets. Even in my long range rifle. Loading for something very accurate with very small powder charges it might make a difference. I have a 218 Bee Improved that would fit that description, (sub 1/4 MOA) but I haven't shot it enough in the last few years to use up all the ammo I had loaded for it before I bought the electronic dispenser and scale. I think I've loaded for every other rifle caliber I own without noticing an accuracy difference.

Some powders do throw much better than others, I prefer ball powders for pistol calibers for this reason, throwing them without weighing each charge on a progressive press. The Ramshot line of powders are all ball powders and throw very well, you might try one of them in your 6mm arc and see how it throws and shoots.

My current powder is Leverevolution, being that I’m chasing speed on a potential hunting load. It’s the only powder supposedly gets those 100gr pills up into 243win territory. Not needed I know. But it’s cool and it helps kill. I will look into the 8208. I wanna crank out a pile of range ammo for the wife and kids. They love that little cartridge and they can shoot it well. My 10yr has rung steel on a 10” plate out to 400yds. Really builds confidence.

A few weeks back I was putting together some load ladders for load development........using the dinky cheap Lee Perfect Powder Measure (PPM) to get close, would then trickle up with weight measured on a beam scale, which was so accurate that only a couple kernels of H4831sc would bump the scale 0.1 grains at 47 grain level. The Lee PPM consistently dropped within that 0.1 grain level, and if off, was usually the 0.1 grain under. There is a guy on the High Road Forum that has run tests and weighed over 50 drops and found the same thing. They are that accurate. You would not think so looking at them, but they are. And the Lee PPM Deluxe is very slightly better.

Now comes the fun part.........load increments used in those load ladders was 0.3 grains. When you get the load ladder right, overlap of velocity in those nodes is in range of 0.5 grains. So being off 0.1 grain is irrelevant. Calculate what the velocities are from min to max..........divide charges to get FPS per 0.1 grain, the run that thru a ballistics calculator and you find practically zero difference in elevation of bullet impact out to whatever practical distance you might be shooting to.

Bottom line is the LEE PPM is what I'm using......and it works for what I'm doing. There is a knack to use it, however, and that mostly relates to slowing down the process, so as to give powder time to fill the cylinder.......and time for it to dump. Instead of a hurried up/down......it's an up.....pause.......then down.

On the digital setups, I'd be curious to see what results are if you take 20 drops from one of those, then put that powder charge on a beam scale. Will that be dead nuts on.......or does that also vary by 0.1 grains.......or more.

I’ve double checked a lot of charges off an electric dispenser with a manual scale.

For a long time I manually weighed every 5th charge when I first made the switch to electric. I too was skeptical.


There’s not a shooter out there that can outshoot the SD of modern electric dispensers.

A bigger issue to me than electric vs manual, is one scale versus another.


I used to have two RBCS 5-0-5 manual scales.

They were consistent to themselves. But not to each other. One consistently weighed ~.2 grains lighter than the other.

Not a big deal if it’s kept consistent to your individual reloading world. But something to consider when taking into account pet loads from other sources.

I run a Hornady auto that I just started running beside a lyman scale with my trickler

The auto scale is good give or take a 1/4

For serious stuff I still trickle on a balance beam