Is it me or is it my Hornady Auto Charge?

kam582

kam582

New member
I've had a Hornady Auto Charge for a little over 6 months now. I really haven't used it that much, but have been doing some reloading this winter in prep for Spring and prairie dogs. I have noticed an occasional light load, by maybe a tenth of a grain, when I put the load in my beam scale. I was frustrated by this, and even called Hornady about it when I first got the unit. They wanted to blame the beam scale. Well today, I started to really investigate it and have noticed that when I weigh the 10 gram calibration weight that came with the unit I get any where from 154.2 grains to 154.4 grains. Occasionally I will get a reading of 154.5 grains. It is supposed to be 154.3, and it does read that most of the time, but not all the time. I have no fluorescent lights or any h/c vents near the scale and I do use the cover when weighing charges. I do have a speaker about 8 feet from my setup. My question is, is this normal? Am I being too anal? It really bugs me that it won't read consistently. Right now I'm ready to call Hornady, or even drive out there, even though it's about 2 hours from here.
Thanks

I'm going to edit this to also add that the display is not displaying properly. Some of the numbers cannot be seen, like it's cold or something, even though I warm it up for 15 minutes and it's 68 degrees where I am using it. Any ideas on that?
 
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Don't know if I will be any help or not, but here we go.

I bought a RCBS Rangemaster 750 electronic scale a while back and it was fluctuating enough to drive me crazy. I was constantly rezeroing it during a single loading session. Come to find out, it had something to do with the electrical current in my house. The outlet it was plugged into. Thankfully, it can also be ran on a 9volt battery. Ever since I have started using it with the battery power, it has run flawlessly. Actually, I like it better now because I can move it around the bench without having the cord hanging in the way.

Good Luck!
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my gunsmith bought one and was having the same problem, he called hornady and they said it was fine. it would be off by .5 grs at times and that is dangerous. he sent it back and got his money back. the chargemaster is the way to go.
 
Originally Posted By: Ricky BobbyDon't know if I will be any help or not, but here we go.

I bought a RCBS Rangemaster 750 electronic scale a while back and it was fluctuating enough to drive me crazy. I was constantly rezeroing it during a single loading session. Come to find out, it had something to do with the electrical current in my house. The outlet it was plugged into. Thankfully, it can also be ran on a 9volt battery. Ever since I have started using it with the battery power, it has run flawlessly. Actually, I like it better now because I can move it around the bench without having the cord hanging in the way.

Good Luck!
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Along with this I have heard having a cell phone too close to it can screw with your readings. I keep mine across the room just to be safe.
 
I thought I would let folks know the outcome with the Hornady Auto Charger in case anyone else was having the same issues. I got on Hornady's web site this morning to get a phone number. While there I looked at their FAQ page and there I found the answer. It appears that static electricity will throw off the scale in the auto charge. It tells you to rub the powder tube with a dryer sheet to remove the static. I tried that and it started weighing the calibration weights consistently. I sure didn't know that.

Anyhow, I still called because of the other problem with the faded numbers. While on the phone I asked the tech if static would cause a fluctuation of + or - .2 of a grain and he stated definitely so. I then told him about the faded display and he did not even hesitate. He told me he was sending UPS to my house to pick up the unit and he would replace it with a new one. He was sorry about that problem and was very helpful. Good customer service is a great thing.
 
That is why I don't and wont use an electronic scale to weigh powder charges
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, they would work OK for sorting brass and bullets by weight.
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DAB
 
I remember reading a few posts about elect measuring devices when they first came out. Quite a few said that flourescent lighting could cause a problem. Is this still the case? I still rely on My 110 scale, and havent tried the electronics yet.
 
My Lyman DPS will sometimes throw +.1 - .2 over. If it`s .2 I sometimes dump it back in the hopper.I guess it depends on how picky (anal)I want to be and just what exactly I`m doing (load developement I try to keep them as close as possible).I have used a dryer sheet to keep the static down, but was not aware it would throw things off. I will use one more often and see if it makes a difference.
Glad to hear they are fixing you up with a new dispenser, I have been in there a few times and it appears to be a good company,good people, and a good place to work.

Ornery; I convinced a friend he should get one, and he did, and he`s so picky that he just uses it as a powder throw basically,in conjunction with the powder trickle and his 110 scale.
 
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