minimizing electronic scale drift

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VinceMarksman

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I have ask similar in the past and received several good advice how to prevent my cheap hornady gs-1500 scale f***ness.

I now reload without my cellphone, door is closed and there is no neon light in the basement. But it seems to be a hit and miss. Sometimes it will weight the cup at 128,4-5 and stay there once tared but other times it will weight in at 128,4-5 and once tared it will eventually drift up to 128,6-7-8 or down to 128,3-2.

It pissed me off and I want to throw it on the wall but then I won't be able to reload for a while.

Tonight it did drift several times. I stoped, went upstairs and had a shower and changed clothes (static electricity?) and went back downstairs for more reloading. It did fine for 10 minutes then started to f___ arround again.

Are there any other ways to prevent this very frustrating phenomenon (other then buying a new scale) and are all electronic scale prone to this problem?
 
I have found that static electricity build up on me and my clothes will impact the scale, especially in the winter When the house is dry. if you move closer to, or pass your hand over, the scale and the reading changes, try grounding yourself on some copper water pipes.

I have found static can build up again, especially if I am wearing flannel or micofibre, so would not surprise me that 10 minutes after your shower and clothes change the issue recurs. As well, any chance you are using a plastic pan? I have a Lyman one which holds static very well. Sounds to me like static could be the culprit.
 
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Certified calibration weights to check it might help. If you go this route wear rubber gloves when you handle the steel weights so that their weights remain constant.
 
Its battery powered and its accuracy is governed by battery voltage. So as stated above use good quality batteries and a good battery checker or volt meter to check the batteries.

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all very good info guys, thank you very much.

It makes me realized that the hornady scale included in the hornady kit is not worth much for precision reloading. I don't want to waste my expensive bullets in innaccurate loads.

Are there any sub 200$ alternative that would make the voodoo danse a bit less complex? Something decent that would plug in the wall? I see the hornady one, RCBS, etc but what would you guys recommend for a tried and true sub 200 penny scale?
 
Not that this fits in with your sub $200, but I think my RCBS Chargemaster was one of the best purchases that I've made. It rarely needs to be calibrated, and when it does, it's never off by more than 0.1gram. And when used with a turret press, by the time you come around from the last cartridge, the powder is waiting for the next one. I'm generally a pretty frugal reloader, most my equipment is Lee, but the Chargemaster is worth every penny.
 
correct me if im wrong guys, but looking into this issue, it looks like the most accurate way to weight charges is with a good old mecanical beam scale. Despite being longer, it looks more accurate. It is also not that longer if you consider all the rezeroing and restarting and pissing around an electronic scale seems to involve...
 
VinceMarksman said:
all very good info guys, thank you very much.

It makes me realized that the hornady scale included in the hornady kit is not worth much for precision reloading. I don't want to waste my expensive bullets in innaccurate loads.

Are there any sub 200$ alternative that would make the voodoo danse a bit less complex? Something decent that would plug in the wall? I see the hornady one, RCBS, etc but what would you guys recommend for a tried and true sub 200 penny scale?
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Balance beam.... as you posted, in this price range, I have yet to find an electronic/digital scale that works accurately, consistently, and not drift. The coarser the scale reading, the better it will "seem" but we need down to 0.1gr MAX. 0.02gr +/- is ideal and no cheapie scale is going to do this (I sure wish it would).

The gempro 250 and whatever it is called today, comes close. It will drift BUT it will measure to sub 0.1gr and it actually does measure to the output as long as you manage the drift. But it can be a pain to work with and it will wear out.

pretty much every shooter I know that competes out to 1000yds has given up and invested the money in a quality AND or Santorius magnet restoration scale. Given the years of service and the cost per bang, it ends up being a very positive long term investment. not having the chase a scale is well worth the cost of admission for me.

Missing gets real expensive in a big hurry.

WRT to beam scales, I used the Lee scale for years and it did yeomans service. Tried the RCBS and also own the Redding... really no difference except for range of weight it can measure which is not relevant for me.

Jerry
 
VinceMarksman said:
correct me if im wrong guys, but looking into this issue, it looks like the most accurate way to weight charges is with a good old mecanical beam scale. Despite being longer, it looks more accurate. It is also not that longer if you consider all the rezeroing and restarting and pissing around an electronic scale seems to involve...
Click to expand...

IMO everyone needs a decent quality beam scale even if they also use an electronic scale. RCBS 5-0-5 minimum. The lee safety scale works but it's slow with no dampening.
 
I was at a gun show last Sunday and noticed a used RCBS beam scale priced at $40. . They're not uncommon at most shows. . Why fool around with the one you've got? .
 
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