Looking for a decent reloading scale

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dan dan the XD40 man
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Looking for a decent reloading scale

Post by dan dan the XD40 man »

So I decided that I dont like the Lee Safety Scale, nor do I much care for the 20 dollar "digital pocket scale" that I purchased from ebay.

What would you guys recommend for a decent scale in the 100 dollar price range? I'd like something that actually resets to zero every time I remove the weight, something that has a power cord instead of batteries, and something with a fairly fast refresh time.

All feedback is welcomed!

Thank you.
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Post by willbird »

I would never have a digital as my ONLY scale. So then, I only have one scale, so I will never have a digital :-).

They would be ok for sorting brass or such but I would not use one for weighing powder charges.

Bill
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TBD
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Post by TBD »

It's not $100, but it is the one I use. Replace the batteries right away as the ones that come with it are garbage.
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.e ... t=11082005

I use it the most , but my Lee beam scale is pretty good.
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Post by NordicRX8 »

TBD wrote:It's not $100, but it is the one I use. Replace the batteries right away as the ones that come with it are garbage.
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.e ... t=11082005

I use it the most , but my Lee beam scale is pretty good.
I have the same scale... I check it every time I use it against my Hornady magnetically dampened beam scale, and its spot on. Only issue is the battery only power source. Other than that, great scale. Midway also currently has an RCBS Rangemaster on sale...
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.e ... t=11082005
I might pick that one up when I order my chronograph.
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Sloan441
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Post by Sloan441 »

I use the Dillon and Redding beam scales. I do NOT use a digital scale for everyday reloading.

Any of the better manufacturer's beam scales are fine for reloading. I regard the digitals as an advanced reloading addon for specific projects and would not rely on them as my sole scale.
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Post by Whirlwind06 »

I use the Frankford scale too.
Seems like a lot of the beam scales at set up for much heavier weights that I work with (I only reload pistol)
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Post by Sasquatch.45 »

I have a RCBS digital scale, It accurately reads to a tenth of a grain, and can be set to measure in grams if you would prefer
I used to hate digital scales, as most of the ones that I had seen or used in chemistry had too great of a range of deviation for my liking, and they tended to need frequent re-calibration.
This one has a pair of test weights for double checking, and for calibration.
I was so favorably impressed with this scales repeat accuracy, speed, and reliability, that I got rid of my other scale because I never use it any more.
I leave it plugged in all of he time, so it never needs to be re-zeroed. I always double check with a set of test weights before using it, and it always shows perfect calibration.
Before I got this one, I would have never thought that a digital scale could be this good.
Now, I won’t use anything else.
After the other bad experiences that I had with other digital scales, I don’t blame those of you who are skeptics, I just suggest that you look at a few other brands before you rush to judgement.
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Post by ScottyPotty »

I went a different way.


http://www.rightonscales.com/web/ibalance.htm

or

http://www.oldwillknottscales.com/index ... ProdID=291

or

http://scales-n-tools.com/index.php?mai ... ucts_id=79

I really wanted the Gempro 250 but couldn't justify the price. I found a gently used scale on ebay(paid $56.00). Its the mini pro-100 by American weigh. It has a back light, and the resolution is pretty good 0.05gn, 1543gn max weight, a draft shield and can be used with battery or an AC adapter - which was important to me - I hate buying those little batteries.

It has been great. repeatable and very accurate. I put my beam scale away and haven't looked back.
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Post by willbird »

After the other bad experiences that I had with other digital scales, I don’t blame those of you who are skeptics, I just suggest that you look at a few other brands before you rush to judgement.
I just trust mechanical devices more than electronic ones :-). After the EMP attack from the Chinese you guys can all come over and use my beam scale :-). My scale was actually my dads and near as I can tell he had it when I was born in 1964, it has agate pivot points so it should last virtually forever with proper care, it has worked well for the first 40+ years of it's life anyway.

I do have several sets of Mititoyo digimatic calipers and trust them 100%.

Bill
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dan dan the XD40 man
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Post by dan dan the XD40 man »

Thanks for all the info so far guys!

My Lee Safety Scale gets stuck on the high and low side of the beam, which annoys the heck out of me.

Potty Mouth, I like that first scale you posted, fits nicely into the budget
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AlanM
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Post by AlanM »

ScottyPotty wrote:I went a different way.
I really wanted the Gempro 250 but couldn't justify the price. I found a gently used scale on ebay(paid $56.00). Its the mini pro-100 by American weigh. It has a back light, and the resolution is pretty good 0.05gn, 1543gn max weight, a draft shield and can be used with battery or an AC adapter - which was important to me - I hate buying those little batteries.

It has been great. repeatable and very accurate. I put my beam scale away and haven't looked back.
I have to agree with the above choice as a minimum resolution for measuring powder charges of pistol ammunition.

I have yet to reload my first cartridge as I am still aquiring everything I think I need to start. However, for about twenty years I traveled the world servicing labratory instruments and tire test machines. I am quite familiar with load cells and electro-balances. The devices I've worked on ranged from 100,000 lbf on the high end to 10 micro grams mass on the low end.

The powder I am going to be using to start is lighter than many others and the range of weight from starting to absolute maximum is ONLY 0.3 grains. That means that if I was using a device that is accurate +/- 0.1 grain I would have an ambiguity of 67% of my total working range!

With a scale with a 0.05 grain accuracy like described above things look a little more reasonable.

For people that like numbers:

7000 grains = 1 pound
1 grain = 0.064935 grams = 64.935 milligrams = 64935 micrograms

0.01 grams = 10 milligrams = 15.4% of a grain

0.1 grains = 6.4935 milligrams

(My opinion ---- changing the electronic gain of a balance so that resolution of the gram scale is 0.01 gm and 0.1 gn on the grain scale is quite possible.)

Also, one caveat when using a mechanical balance, especially one that has only one pan and unequal length arms. Orient your balance so the balance arm is aligned with true north and south. This is definitely true for balances like we use where the mass of the arm is hundreds if not thousands of times heavier than the mass we are trying to weigh.
AlanM
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Post by willbird »

Are you reloading 22 long rifle Alan ?

Just because a reloading scale RESOLVES to only .1 grain does not mean it is only accurate to .1 grain :-).

Typically with small charges what we do is throw 10 or more and then weigh them, this would give you 30 grains with .1 grain accuracy.

The North South orientation is interesting, my scale was used North South for 30 years in dads reloading room, then it was East West the way I had my shot set up, once I get the shop back together it will again be North South.

http://tinyurl.com/2vp5xg

^^^^^^This is the exact scale I have ^^^^^^^

http://tinyurl.com/355mtf

^^^ this link shows the workings a bit better, mine was made before they added the extra weight to allow weighing 1010 grains, mine tops out at 505 grains.

Bill
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AlanM
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Post by AlanM »

willbird wrote:1.Are you reloading 22 long rifle Alan ?

2.Just because a reloading scale RESOLVES to only .1 grain does not mean it is only accurate to .1 grain :-).

3.Typically with small charges what we do is throw 10 or more and then weigh them, this would give you 30 grains with .1 grain accuracy.
Bill
1. :) No, .380, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP.

2.I understand that but I know how marketing people think and what they will advertise even when engineering tells them it's not so.

3.That just means your SAMPLE AVERAGE WEIGHT is accurate to 0.1 gn which is a mathematical value and doesn't tell you how accurate any particular sample is.
That is, by the way, I plan to verify the average accuracy of the VOLUMETRIC measuring system on my blue press.
Shooters that are REALLY interested in extreme accuracy, benchrest competitors, LEO and military snippers, etc. use either automated trickle weighing systems or manually trickle weigh each charge.


If anybody's interested, I'll explain how I know about the EW vs NS problem with consistantly measuring masses at high resolution.
AlanM
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Post by willbird »

Actually Alan almost ALL BR shooters do NOT trickle powder charges, they do not even know for the most part what their powder charge uses. They all use a culver type powder measure and refer to their powder charge as "30 clicks on a culver"

SOME LR shooters do weight each charge, but they select powder grains with tweezers to get the right sized grain to hit the final weight. Traditionally some very long grain powders did not measure consistently with a volumetric dispensor, but more and more the powder makers have developed "short cut" varieties of powders like 4831 that used to have very LONG powder grains.

LE and Mil snipers use out of the box ammo

Bill
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Post by AlanM »

willbird wrote:Actually Alan almost ALL BR shooters do NOT trickle powder charges, they do not even know for the most part what their powder charge uses. They all use a culver type powder measure and refer to their powder charge as "30 clicks on a culver"

Bill
I stand corrected. I guess I made a bad assumption that since there seems to be a lot of trickle charging equipment on the market that people would be buying it. However as I typed the last sentence I realized that what you describe is even more accurate than even I imagined.
AlanM
There are no dangerous weapons; there are only dangerous men. - RAH
Four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo - use in that order.
If you aren't part of the solution, then you obviously weren't properly dissolved.
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