LEE Scale

S

stubblejumper

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While LEE dies seem to be popular, and I even know a couple of people that use LEE presses, I don't know anyone that uses the LEE scale. A friend bought the 50th Anniversary kit, and was ready to give up loading, after one session of using the LEE scale. He told me that it was just too frustrating to use, and he didn't trust it at all. I sold him an RCBS 505 scale, and the frustration went away, and he has enjoyed loading since. His LEE scale met it's end after being destroyed by a 6.5mm bullet, and another friend used a 4lb hammer to fine tune his LEE scale. I have only used a LEE scale once, and I can see the reason for the frustration, it is so slow, and I would never be able to trust it either.
How many people actually use a LEE scale and how many rounds do you load at a session with this scale?
 
I have always used a LEE scale. Mostly because it's the only one I have ever had
I agree that it is slow and finicky but, if you take the time to figure it out, I find that it is quite accurate when compared with a digital scale. The biggest problem I have with digitals is the "wandering zero".

In order to get accurate and REPEATABLE results, the scale must NOT be moved after zeroing. I placed the scale on my bench and traced out the base with a magic marker so it always sits in the same place. If your bench "wobbles" or is not perfectly level, the zero will change if you place it in a different location.
Also, hold your breath when weighing. The slightest air current will change the reading. It is Very sensitive. When my forced air furnace or A/C comes on, I can see the scale move

I reload rifle cartridges with mine. Usually about 200 at a time. I weigh every charge by hand (tip just below desired weight and trickle by hand when the pan is on the scale).
It is a slow process. I average 50 rounds per hour. Starting with primed cases, 200rnds takes me four hours including smoke/pee breaks.
 
I can't think of a scale I wouldn't prefer over the Lee.

Lee makes some good reloading tools but scales isn't one of them.
 
I had one, using it with a Lee Hand Press more than 20 years ago when I was working in a remote gig. Limited living space but lots of opportunity for shooting. I was reloading 30-06. Pretty straightforward. I mean the thing worked for the limited use I put it to.
I am guessing the new units might be of cheaper construction and quality than the one I was using, as I did find it serviceable.
This was of course before the digital scales were as widespread and affordable as today.
 
One of the tricks with a scale is eyeballing the amount of swing above and below. The Lee is the most sensitive , thus quick reacting, so you're not going to be much off. One granule of powder maybe. The thing with Lee isn't quickness, rather the lack of capacity . All my brass weights more than 110 grs. It's also a poor scale weighting things rather than checking weights. I got a green Ohaus 505, now I'm using Lyman 1000.
 
I have an old Redding scale; no desire to replace or upgrade.

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I like mine, used it lots. As others have noted, it's damn sensitive, limited capacity is the drawback. Bit of a learning curve with setting it up correctly. My reloading room had the fresh air intake for the furnace in it, and you could literally watch the needle move up when the furnace kicked in, as the air currents started moving. I like the fact that the beam will shatter if damaged, not bend. If it's in one piece, she's good to go. Lining up tenths of a grain is a pain in the @$$. I still have a couple, as well as a Dillon (Ohaus) an RCBS digital. It doesn't see as much use anymore, but it's solid backup.
In fact, I sold the whole anniversary kit except the scale.
You gotta hand it to Lee - they make use of pot metal and "engineering plastic" for so much of their gear, but their designs generally deliver a huge value for the money. Not flashy, but it works.
 
Use a Hornady Pacific for rifle, but still use the Lee to check and adjust my pistol loads on my turret.
The Lee Perfect powder measure is what I use for rifle loads, cheap but works very well. Bought a Frankford cast iron measure and that thing sucks ass with all powders, not consistent at all.
 
Although there is a fully stocked loading room in San Miguel de Allende that is actually half-mine....with two fully kitted out XL650 presses, one in .38 Special/.38 Heavy Duty...

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....and one in .380 ACP/.380 Cal/.380 Super Cal....

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... the wife and I are not moving back to the Gringo/Canadian over-priced paradise of San Miguel, no how, no way. If I need a 650 suddenly, I can just go and visit (which I surely will do). The family and I are moving back to a more rural setting just outside of Guanajuato City just an RPG-shot outside of the little pueblo of San Jose de Gracia.

San Jose de Gracia. Pop. 152, according to PueblosAmerica. Taken from our property just across the way.

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So, anyway, in the lottery of life I was gifted a complete Lee 50th Anniversary Loading kit "in the box". Getting Lee stuff for free is about as economical as loading gets for me, and to that 50th Anniversary box I have added some extra Lee bushings, an MTM red loading block, a 30-30 Lee case trimmer thingy, and a couple of other little items like 3 H.K.S. Model 27 speedloaders (for me, not for you Wally) and will try to get that box delivered down there sometime this winter. Once that kit is in-country, I'll just order myself a Lee Pro-4000 Progressive With Issues (PWI) reloader from a U.S. site to be delivered to an address in Brownsville from which it will be forwarded-on to a San Miguel address (at some cost, of course) and that will be my Guanajuato hillbilly setup. And yes, I'll be relying on the Lee Scale, at least from the get-go.

Afterwards, when I'm down there and set up I can bring myself a Federal Ordnance Cheap-scale, which is what I use here in Canada and we also used and is still being used in the San Miguel loading room I have mostly vacated. When it's all got to be smuggled in, there is a "loss rate" that one has to accept or go take up golf. For the price of one Dillon Square Deal I can buy two Lee Pro-4000's with issues. And in Mexico, one has the time to fix issues. And load slower. Coffee breaks last longer. Dinner breaks (which used to be four hours in my case when I had the Ice Cream Store) make Canadian lunch breaks look like a slavery system.

I'm all for cheap that almost works most of the time. And it so fits with the Mexican Street Smarts that most Canadians and Americans I ever knew could not comprehend. Drive a modest, slightly older car, and you don't get car-jacked. Dress down and look like a struggling local businessman (but never a tourist, struggling or not) and you probably won't get into a street robbery situation. Don't walk around looking like you have a million bucks and you won't get kidnapped. Slightly crappy but almost decent is "in". The nicest thing you should have on you -- the thing with the most actual dollars sunk into it -- is the the pocket snubby you'll pull to blast anyone who deviates from the norm and tries to stick you up anyways even after you've followed all the rules. And they won't even see that -- if you do it right -- except maybe for that flash just before lights out.
 
Meroh said:
I have an old Redding scale; no desire to replace or upgrade.

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I have that same scale, along with a 505 RCBS. a Lyman beam scale and a Dillon electronic. All of them are excellent and the Lee, will do the job if I treat it properly.

Any beam balance scale will give issues if they aren't leveled properly or the knife edges at the pivot point are dirty, worn round or damaged.

There was a time when you could write a letter to any of the companies making them and they would send you replacements free of charge, especially if you wrote them a nice letter confirming you liked their product.

In the case of the Lee, they sent me a new scale, no questions asked.

The thing with balance beam scales it that they are sensitive to all sorts of things, such as level or a breeze causing them to give a misreading.

Even the air movement from heat registers, when the fan comes on will cause them to drift a bit.

That's why I use mine in a room without drafts.

The knife edges on beam balances can be stoned IF YOU'RE EXTREMELY CAREFUL.

When those knives get dull, they tend to stick and because they're usually either very hard metal or even ceramic lubrication just makes them worse.
 
The Ohaus scales use easily replaceable agate bearings. Agate is a hard semi-precious gem stone. With my Lyman scale, they are not so easily replaced. At my age, I'm not going to be wearing either out. chuckle. On the net, there are posts and articles on scale refurbishing.
 
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