I am considering purchasing either a Lyman 1200 DPS II or PACT powder dispenser/scale combo. At this time, I am leaning towards the PACT unit. The Lyman and PACT are nearly identical in price at $229 and $219 respectively. Both also claim to be accurate to 1/10th grain. Are they accurate, fast and reliable? Is anyone aware of a reason to favor one over the other or is neither one suitable?

Thanks,
DKG

I've used a Lyman PACT 1200 for over 2 years and have been satisfied with it. If you go with either, make sure you put it through the recommended 24 hour "burn-in" period to satbilize the electronics.

I can't speak to either one of these units but the RCBS Chargemaster will measure to 1/10gr about 90% of the time. Once it dispenses it displays the weight and at that point will let you know that it is over. Never had one go under. It's great for stick powders such as H4350 that are hard to meter in a dispenser.

Checkout BenchRestCentral or 6mmBR for details on both of the units you are after. There are lots of threads and 6mmBr has done reviews.

How are either of the units as far as speed?
I used to have an older model of the Pact unit, it was slow. They must have had complaints, I see the new model is advertised as "high speed".

Thanks. Based on the feedback here and at other sites, I think I will go with the Lyman primarily due to less complaints about speed. DKG

I'm using the RCBS Chargemaster 1500. It's right on target 99% of the time, but it is kinda slow. I got around the slow speed by altering my sequence. Rather than charging all the cartridges and then seating bullets in all of them, I seat the bullet in cart 1 while charge 2 is being metered. By the time I'm done with the bullet, the next charge is in the pan ready to go.

lesterf

Loaded some rounds today and timed a few on the RCBS 1500. About 12s for approximately 40g H4350. In general smaller length powders (Varget) will be faster and longer (H4831) slower. However if I was loading ball powder or a smaller extruded (Benchmark) powder I would use a good powder measure and not one of the automatic dispensers. IMO these units really only hold an advantage when the powder is difficult to dispense.

My routine is similar to carl425 in that I fill the cartirdge w/powder, replace the pan on the dispenser which automatically zeros and starts, then press the bullet, and start over. The dispenser is faster than I am.