Electronic vs. Mechanical Powder Dispensers: Pros and Cons

Most reloaders of modern metallic cartridges use a powder dispenser (or “powder measure”) to achieve this goal. The original dispensers were mechanical. They require the user to operate a lever up and down, which rotates an internal drum that catches and dispenses a set amount of powder. More recent years have seen the rise of electronic powder measures. Most of these devices use an internal motor and scale to trickle the correct amount of powder onto a pan, which is then used to load each cartridge individually.

Of course, newer isn’t always better. Mechanical and electronic powder throwers have costs and benefits, and the right one for you will depend on what cartridges you reload, what you use them for, and how much time you have to spend at the reloading bench.

But whatever you use, it has to work. The consequences of loading and firing an improper powder charge can be deadly, so you should think carefully about your decision and weigh the pros and cons of each.

Time, Money, and Precision

The perfect powder thrower would be fast and precise and wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg. But this world isn’t perfect, so you’ll have to choose two of these three categories.

For this comparison, I used the RCBS Uniflow mechanical powder measure and the RCBS ChargeMaster Supreme electronic powder measure. There are other styles and brands of dispensers, but these are two of the most popular for hunters loading rifle cartridges with a single-stage press. A progressive press opens up a whole world of automatic dispensers, but we’ll leave that can of worms closed for now.

Out of the gate, the mechanical measure has one obvious advantage: cost. The Uniflow is only about $100 while the ChargeMaster will run you north of $400. There are cheaper electronic measures that work just fine, and if you want to be precise on a budget, you can always use a trickler and a scale. But I don’t see any electronic powder measures for less than $200, which is twice what you’ll pay for most mechanical throwers.

A mechanical thrower will save you money, and it’ll save you time as well. If you set up your cases in a case holder, you can simply hold each case under the mechanical thrower, work the lever, and load each one. It takes maybe two seconds per case, which means you can do a full set of 50 in less than two minutes. Even adding time for double-checking the charge weight bumps up that time to about five minutes for 50 cartridges.

An electronic dispenser, on the other hand, can take 10 or 15 seconds to dispense each charge, depending on the model. The ChargeMaster Supreme works by trickling powder into the pan until it reaches the correct weight. It can do the first 90% of the charge very quickly, but the last 10% is slowly dispensed until the correct weight is reached. The “Learn” feature on this model cuts the time approximately in half by calibrating the dispenser to the powder you’re using. However, as you’ll see below, you sacrifice some precision by increasing the speed.

Quibbling over five or eight seconds might sound silly, but as any reloader can tell you, saving 10 seconds on each operation (sizing, trimming, loading, etc.) can add up over the course of 100 or 500 cartridges.

If your priority is to churn out many cartridges quickly, a mechanical thrower is the way to go. But if you care about maximizing precision and loading exactly the same amount of power in each case, an electronic dispenser will win almost every time.

That’s because it combines a trickler with a scale to dispense exactly the right amount of powder. If you’re willing to wait for it, you can make sure you have the same powder charge in every cartridge. Unless you weigh each charge from a mechanical thrower and either adjust it or put it back in the hopper and try again, a mechanical just can’t compete.

That being said, you might be surprised to learn how precise a mechanical dispenser can be. I dispensed 20 charges with my mechanical and 20 with my electronic using two different types of powder shapes: stick and flake. I used the electronic ChargeMaster on “Learn” mode to try to compete with the mechanical’s speed. As you can see, while the ChargeMaster held a clear edge with the stick shaped powder, the smaller flake powder was remarkably close.

Cylinder Shape

Disc Shape

Standard deviation expresses how much a set of data points depart from the average of those points. In this case, it’s expressed as a percentage (also called the “coefficient of variation”) because each dispenser was set for different charge weights.

Mechanical throwers have trouble with the larger, rod-shaped powder grains because they get stuck in the rotating drum. The lever sometimes catches on its way up and the resulting powder charge deviates more from the average. You could mitigate this issue by throwing another charge whenever that happens, but that slows down the entire process. Many popular big-game rifle cartridges work well with that kind of powder, so it’s something to keep in mind if that’s what you plan to reload.

Rifle powder grains can have different shapes and sizes that will impact the precision of a mechanical thrower.

But the mechanical dispenser held its own with the smaller, flaked powder. The weight spread was 0.01 grains larger, but the SD was nearly identical. The ChargeMaster is still more accurate if you’re willing to wait a few seconds longer, which isn’t a problem if you load a bullet in each case as the powder dispenses. Still, as someone who uses a mechanical dispenser for all my practice ammo, I was pleased to see how consistent those charges are.

Last Shot

For handgun cartridges or range ammo, a mechanical thrower is clearly the way to go. It’s cheaper, faster, and consistent enough that you won’t notice a dip in accuracy. And, frankly, if I don’t anticipate a shot beyond a couple hundred yards, I’d be comfortable using a mechanical thrower for that ammunition. At that distance, seven-hundredths of a grain isn’t going to make a lick of difference in a 6.5 Creedmoor or .308 Win. As long as you verify the charge weight every 10 or 20 rounds, you can use a mechanical thrower for hunting ammo in some situations.

But maybe you’d rather not leave it to chance. If you care about extreme precision and want each cartridge to have exactly the same amount of powder, an electronic dispenser is the best option. I used a hand-trickler for a long time, and the ChargeMaster Supreme is so much faster and more convenient, I’ll never go back. It gives me the peace of mind to know that each charge is exactly the same, and all I have to do is hit a few buttons and it works automatically.

Modern powder dispensers may not have been much use to Daniel Boone in the forests of colonial America, but I’m grateful smarter people than me have figured out ways to keep charges safe, consistent, and effective.