SD Handgunner
New member
I have always hated working with long grain extruded powders. It has just been a pain to get each and every powder charge exact. I would always set my Redding Powder Measure a little light, then trickel in the last 1/2 grain of powder to get the charge exactly right. Well all of that has changed now. I now use a new PACT Digital Precision Powder Measure & Digital Precision Powder Scale.
The heart of this system is the PACT Digital Precision Powder Scale. This scale is set up to read in either grains, or grams, and has a capacity of 999.9 grains in 1/10th grain increments. The scale can be used in conjunction with the PACT Digital Precision Powder Measure, or buy itself. Setting up the scale is fairly straight forward. Simply plug in the supplied 12-Volt AC wall transformer into the side of the scale, and into a wall outlet, and turn the scale on. The scale will briefly display "test" then it will zero itself. Once this is completed the scale will display 00.0, and the decimal point should not be blinking. The scale is now set up to read in grains. To rezero the scale, press "TARE" (ZERO). This will zero the scale with what ever is on the scale platen.
To calibrate the scale, remove the powder pan from the platen. Press the "CAL" button twice, and the scale should read - - 0 -. Next push the "CAL" button again. Now the scale will read HOLD for a few seconds, then display - 2 0 -. Now place the 20 gram check weight on the center of the platen, then press "CAL", and the scale will read HOLD again, and then display - 5 0 -. Remove the 20 gram weight, and replace it with the 50 gram weight. Press the "CAL" button again. After displaying HOLD again, the scale will ask for 70 grams. Place the 20 gram weight on top of the 50 gram weight, and press the "CAL" button once again. After displaying HOLD, the scale will ask for - - 0 - again. Now remove both weights (20 gram, and 50 gram), and press the "CAL" button one last time. The display will come up reading zero. Once all of this is done, the scale can now be rezeroed with the powder pan on the platen.
When I first started using my PACT Digital Precision Powder Scale, I also weighed each charge on my Lyman Balance Beam Scale for a double check. I would dump charges of H-322, W-748, and Varget through my Redding Powder Measure, and note the weights on both scales. I did 10 test charges with each kind of powder. I was amazed at the accuracy of the PACT Digital Precision Powder Scale. When a charge was weighed on the Lyman Balance Beam Scale, and I thought the beam was perfectly centered, I would put the charge on the PACT Digital Precision Powder Scale, and note the reading. Several times when I thought the weight was exact with the Lyman, the PACT Digital Precision Powder Scale would show a variance of 2 tenths of a grain. I also checked the consistancy of my old Redding Powder Measure, and even with W-748, it was not as consistant as my old Lyman Scale had led me to believe.
When setting up the PACT Digital Precision Powder Measure, the PACT Digital Precision Powder Scale, and the PACT Digital Precision Powder Measure must be set up next to each other. The reason for this is that information is transfered from one unit to the other via an Infrared Data Port. There is a hole on the side of each unit, and this is how the data is transfered via Infrared Data Transfer. The powder is dispensed through two trickel tubes that are run by an electric motor. One is for slow speed trickeling, and the other is for high speed trickeling. These flow tubes look much the same internally as the tube on a manual powder trickeler.
The PACT Digital Precision Powder Measure is powered buy a 9-Volt DC Transformer, and again plugged into to a wall outlet. Once the PACT Digital Precision Powder Measure has been connected to the power source, the SCALE light on the dispenser will slowly blink, and the scale should be reading 00.0. Now we need to make these two units talk to each other. Start by pressing the "CAL / MENU" button on the scale. The scale will ask if you want to calibrate, tell it NO by pressing the "ZERO/NO" button on the scale. Next the scale will ask if you want to print, again tell it NO by pressing the "ZERO/NO" button on the scale. Now the scale will ask if you want to go into the trickel mode, tell it YES by pressing the "GRAMS/YES" button on the scale. Now the scale has activated the Infrared Data Port.
Once all this is done, the SCALE light on the PACT Digital Precision Powder Measure should have stopped blinking, and be on steady. If it is still blinking the holes for the Infrared Data Transfer are not properly lined up so the data is not being transfered properly, or the scale is not in the trickel mode. Now we are ready to calibrate the dispenser. What this operation does is records the flow properties of the powder being used. This step must be done anytime you use the dispenser if it has been powered down, or anytime you change to a different powder.
To calibrate the dispenser, start by pouring the desired powder into the powder dispensers resesvoir, and press the "CALIBRATE" button on the dispenser. The dispenser will start and stop several times, running both the high speed, and slow speed powder tubes. Once the dispenser has completed its calibration cycle, the "CALIBRATE" light on the dispenser will quit blinking, and be on steady. Depending on the powder being used, the dispenser will dispense roughly 150 grains of powder during the calibration cycle. Now we are ready to dispense powder.
Yesterday I was loading for my .243 Savage Striker, and was dispensing 35.5grs. of H-322 powder. Once the scale and dispenser were set up, I then simply pressed 35.5, and then depressed the "MEMORY" buttom on the dispenser, at which time the memory light on the dispenser light up. At this point, the Scale, Calibrate, and Memory lights on the dispenser should be ON, and not blinking. To dispense the set charge of 35.5grs., I simply depress the dispense button on the dispenser. Using Hodgdon's H-322, dispensing 35.5grs. takes 35 seconds. (I should also note that dispensing 44.0grs. of Hodgdon's Varget also took about 35 to 40 seconds, however dispensing 37.0grs. of IMR-4320 takes about 50 to 55 seconds.) When the proper charge is deposited on the scale pan, and the dispenser has completed it cycle, the dispense light on the dispenser will quite blinking, and the decimal point on the read out of the scale will quite blinking. (If the decimal point on the display on the scale is blinking, the scale is still reading, and the weight has not stabalized yet.
I loaded 171 rounds of .243 ammo yesterday, and for the most part, this system is quite accurate. There are times that the dispenser will stop a tenth of a grain or two short of the desired charge weight. When this occurs, simply momentarily depress the dispense button on the dispenser prior to taking the scale pan off of the scale. When doing this the dispenser will add a few kernals of powder, and make the charge weight right on the money. In the weighing of 171 charges yesterday, only 5 charges were one tenth of a grain heavy.
So far I have only tried H-322, IMR-4320, Varget, and W-748 in this powder handling system. However I did note that different powders have different flow properties. In fact the literature that comes with the unit states that with extremely fine ball powders such as Hodgdon's H-110, it is possible for the powder to jam between the two feed tubes in the dispenser. So far I have not encountered this problem. It is also my experience that this dispenser dispenses longer grained extruded powder faster than it does shorter grained extruded powder, and ball powder.
All in all I am truly pleased with the performance and accuracy of this system. As far as setting up these units to start loading, believe me it took much longer to write out the proceedure than it does to actually do it. Is it worth the price paid, well in my case, my PACT Powder handling system was a gift, however if you load a lot of ammo, and are using long grained extruded powders, this system is invaluable.
The heart of this system is the PACT Digital Precision Powder Scale. This scale is set up to read in either grains, or grams, and has a capacity of 999.9 grains in 1/10th grain increments. The scale can be used in conjunction with the PACT Digital Precision Powder Measure, or buy itself. Setting up the scale is fairly straight forward. Simply plug in the supplied 12-Volt AC wall transformer into the side of the scale, and into a wall outlet, and turn the scale on. The scale will briefly display "test" then it will zero itself. Once this is completed the scale will display 00.0, and the decimal point should not be blinking. The scale is now set up to read in grains. To rezero the scale, press "TARE" (ZERO). This will zero the scale with what ever is on the scale platen.
To calibrate the scale, remove the powder pan from the platen. Press the "CAL" button twice, and the scale should read - - 0 -. Next push the "CAL" button again. Now the scale will read HOLD for a few seconds, then display - 2 0 -. Now place the 20 gram check weight on the center of the platen, then press "CAL", and the scale will read HOLD again, and then display - 5 0 -. Remove the 20 gram weight, and replace it with the 50 gram weight. Press the "CAL" button again. After displaying HOLD again, the scale will ask for 70 grams. Place the 20 gram weight on top of the 50 gram weight, and press the "CAL" button once again. After displaying HOLD, the scale will ask for - - 0 - again. Now remove both weights (20 gram, and 50 gram), and press the "CAL" button one last time. The display will come up reading zero. Once all of this is done, the scale can now be rezeroed with the powder pan on the platen.
When I first started using my PACT Digital Precision Powder Scale, I also weighed each charge on my Lyman Balance Beam Scale for a double check. I would dump charges of H-322, W-748, and Varget through my Redding Powder Measure, and note the weights on both scales. I did 10 test charges with each kind of powder. I was amazed at the accuracy of the PACT Digital Precision Powder Scale. When a charge was weighed on the Lyman Balance Beam Scale, and I thought the beam was perfectly centered, I would put the charge on the PACT Digital Precision Powder Scale, and note the reading. Several times when I thought the weight was exact with the Lyman, the PACT Digital Precision Powder Scale would show a variance of 2 tenths of a grain. I also checked the consistancy of my old Redding Powder Measure, and even with W-748, it was not as consistant as my old Lyman Scale had led me to believe.
When setting up the PACT Digital Precision Powder Measure, the PACT Digital Precision Powder Scale, and the PACT Digital Precision Powder Measure must be set up next to each other. The reason for this is that information is transfered from one unit to the other via an Infrared Data Port. There is a hole on the side of each unit, and this is how the data is transfered via Infrared Data Transfer. The powder is dispensed through two trickel tubes that are run by an electric motor. One is for slow speed trickeling, and the other is for high speed trickeling. These flow tubes look much the same internally as the tube on a manual powder trickeler.
The PACT Digital Precision Powder Measure is powered buy a 9-Volt DC Transformer, and again plugged into to a wall outlet. Once the PACT Digital Precision Powder Measure has been connected to the power source, the SCALE light on the dispenser will slowly blink, and the scale should be reading 00.0. Now we need to make these two units talk to each other. Start by pressing the "CAL / MENU" button on the scale. The scale will ask if you want to calibrate, tell it NO by pressing the "ZERO/NO" button on the scale. Next the scale will ask if you want to print, again tell it NO by pressing the "ZERO/NO" button on the scale. Now the scale will ask if you want to go into the trickel mode, tell it YES by pressing the "GRAMS/YES" button on the scale. Now the scale has activated the Infrared Data Port.
Once all this is done, the SCALE light on the PACT Digital Precision Powder Measure should have stopped blinking, and be on steady. If it is still blinking the holes for the Infrared Data Transfer are not properly lined up so the data is not being transfered properly, or the scale is not in the trickel mode. Now we are ready to calibrate the dispenser. What this operation does is records the flow properties of the powder being used. This step must be done anytime you use the dispenser if it has been powered down, or anytime you change to a different powder.
To calibrate the dispenser, start by pouring the desired powder into the powder dispensers resesvoir, and press the "CALIBRATE" button on the dispenser. The dispenser will start and stop several times, running both the high speed, and slow speed powder tubes. Once the dispenser has completed its calibration cycle, the "CALIBRATE" light on the dispenser will quit blinking, and be on steady. Depending on the powder being used, the dispenser will dispense roughly 150 grains of powder during the calibration cycle. Now we are ready to dispense powder.
Yesterday I was loading for my .243 Savage Striker, and was dispensing 35.5grs. of H-322 powder. Once the scale and dispenser were set up, I then simply pressed 35.5, and then depressed the "MEMORY" buttom on the dispenser, at which time the memory light on the dispenser light up. At this point, the Scale, Calibrate, and Memory lights on the dispenser should be ON, and not blinking. To dispense the set charge of 35.5grs., I simply depress the dispense button on the dispenser. Using Hodgdon's H-322, dispensing 35.5grs. takes 35 seconds. (I should also note that dispensing 44.0grs. of Hodgdon's Varget also took about 35 to 40 seconds, however dispensing 37.0grs. of IMR-4320 takes about 50 to 55 seconds.) When the proper charge is deposited on the scale pan, and the dispenser has completed it cycle, the dispense light on the dispenser will quite blinking, and the decimal point on the read out of the scale will quite blinking. (If the decimal point on the display on the scale is blinking, the scale is still reading, and the weight has not stabalized yet.
I loaded 171 rounds of .243 ammo yesterday, and for the most part, this system is quite accurate. There are times that the dispenser will stop a tenth of a grain or two short of the desired charge weight. When this occurs, simply momentarily depress the dispense button on the dispenser prior to taking the scale pan off of the scale. When doing this the dispenser will add a few kernals of powder, and make the charge weight right on the money. In the weighing of 171 charges yesterday, only 5 charges were one tenth of a grain heavy.
So far I have only tried H-322, IMR-4320, Varget, and W-748 in this powder handling system. However I did note that different powders have different flow properties. In fact the literature that comes with the unit states that with extremely fine ball powders such as Hodgdon's H-110, it is possible for the powder to jam between the two feed tubes in the dispenser. So far I have not encountered this problem. It is also my experience that this dispenser dispenses longer grained extruded powder faster than it does shorter grained extruded powder, and ball powder.
All in all I am truly pleased with the performance and accuracy of this system. As far as setting up these units to start loading, believe me it took much longer to write out the proceedure than it does to actually do it. Is it worth the price paid, well in my case, my PACT Powder handling system was a gift, however if you load a lot of ammo, and are using long grained extruded powders, this system is invaluable.