As an old pharmacist knows......
did that also
For those who can afford the best in modern weighing, this is a useless post.
However, for those on a budget, it may be helpful.
With a balance, e.g. a beam on a "knife edge fulcrum, where the required weight is placed on one pan and the powder is placed in the other pan, the procedure is a s follows:
A:Be sure that the balance is sitting on a perfectly, solid, free from vibration base. For all balances, even with torsion beams, they must be leveled front to back and left to right. The pans if removeable, must be marked on the bottom, L and R. Most of these instruments will have a threaded levelling foot at each front corner but only a single on in the back center.
B
lace a small level on the top of the balance, at the 12 - 6 o'clock poistion, raise or lower the rear center foot until the level is achieved.
C:Now, place the level in the 9 - 3 o'clock position, and adjust the two front feet at the same time, BUT turning them in the opposite direction. When level, go back and redo B:
D:Because of the friction even in the best balance, one never waits for the pointer to come to a dead stop on center, as it will stick due to friction. Instead, watch for the swings from side to side and try and adjust the powder, grain by grain, until the swings, left and right, as thay gradually diminish, average out.
I realize that with the new electronic precription balances, this technique is no longer needed. In many cases however, these older balances may be picked up very cheaply, along with a set of weights. And they are much more accurate than the lower price scales being sold to handloaders today.
When I load and I want accuracy and/or am approaching a maximum load, I will dump from a Lyman #55 just short of the weight, then dribble, trickle add or subtract what I need to a single powder granule if necessary.
And as for weighing bullets, I have never bothered with good quality factory formed jacketed bullets (obviously, I am not a competitive bench rester!) but if I am using my own cast bullets, I will run them over the balance, discarding those with an obvious void.
