Snakeoil
Well-Known Member
Today, I got to use my buddy's Autotrickler. We have a 1000 yd, 2-day match next week and I needed 120 rounds plus sighters for the two days. Doing it the old fashioned way with my Uniflow and a trickler is tortuous and why I never was interested in precision rifle shooting back in the days of mechanical scales. The Autotrickler is a version 3 I believe. He got it last year and I see they now have a Version 4 and it is very different from his. I've read that some prefer the Version 3 over the 4, but for personal reasons, not quality or performance.
For those not familiar, it is a powder measure similar to a Uniflow, but operated by a stepper motor. Then there is a separate trickler that is also run by a stepper motor. Both are connected together with a high grade pharmaceutical type digital scale that is accurate to 0.01 grain. I may be wrong about that. It might be 0.001 grain. It's been a while since I read the scale spec.
Once you set up the scale for the desired powder charge, you put the cup (a glass shotglass with a handle) on the scale under the spout and it automatically dispenses a load. It shuts off when the load is correct. You dump the cup into the case and put it back on the scale. By the time you put the case in the press and seat the bullet, the next charge is just finishing up and sometimes it is done and waiting for you. I was using H4895 which is very coarsely cut stick powder and it meters poorly. So, the initial powder drop can vary by a great amount making trickler time longer. They recommend setting up to be within 0.1 gr of the desired load. But with that powder, it was close to impossible. Getting it that close resulted in regular overcharges from the powder measure which means dumping it and starting over.
Once you are set up, loading goes very smoothly. No frustration over hand tickling in powder and then going over and similar annoyances. I loaded 100 rounds in about an hour and that included my teething period. Went to lunch and loaded the other 50 and I'm ready for the match.
If I decide F-class is for me, I'm gonna need one of these or at least build something similar. The Version 4 is about $500 and the scale is another $500. They do not make the scale. But they have selected it from a high end vendor. Google Autotrickler if you are curious. They are also the makers of Shotmarker which we use at Forbes and boy does that make life simpler. Info on that is on the same website.
For those not familiar, it is a powder measure similar to a Uniflow, but operated by a stepper motor. Then there is a separate trickler that is also run by a stepper motor. Both are connected together with a high grade pharmaceutical type digital scale that is accurate to 0.01 grain. I may be wrong about that. It might be 0.001 grain. It's been a while since I read the scale spec.
Once you set up the scale for the desired powder charge, you put the cup (a glass shotglass with a handle) on the scale under the spout and it automatically dispenses a load. It shuts off when the load is correct. You dump the cup into the case and put it back on the scale. By the time you put the case in the press and seat the bullet, the next charge is just finishing up and sometimes it is done and waiting for you. I was using H4895 which is very coarsely cut stick powder and it meters poorly. So, the initial powder drop can vary by a great amount making trickler time longer. They recommend setting up to be within 0.1 gr of the desired load. But with that powder, it was close to impossible. Getting it that close resulted in regular overcharges from the powder measure which means dumping it and starting over.
Once you are set up, loading goes very smoothly. No frustration over hand tickling in powder and then going over and similar annoyances. I loaded 100 rounds in about an hour and that included my teething period. Went to lunch and loaded the other 50 and I'm ready for the match.
If I decide F-class is for me, I'm gonna need one of these or at least build something similar. The Version 4 is about $500 and the scale is another $500. They do not make the scale. But they have selected it from a high end vendor. Google Autotrickler if you are curious. They are also the makers of Shotmarker which we use at Forbes and boy does that make life simpler. Info on that is on the same website.