Opinion on scales

Sheep1

Sheep1

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I have used a Hornady manual scale in the last 20 years with good success. Most of the rigs I have worked on have been hunting rifles. As I have gotten older, I have developed an interest in target calibers and just build a 6 Dasher.

Was wondering what everyone thinks of electronic scales vs manual scales. I say this because as careful as I am with my charges, I noticed an extreme spread of 45 fps in 6 rounds at the range the other day. Wondering if it is the scale and that I should switch to electronic scales.

If the answer is yes, what would be the most reliable electronic scale that stays true? Looking for simple small ones not RCBS charger scale.

Yours in good hunt'n and shoot'n,

Sheep1
 
The only digital scale I own is one of those inexpensive Case-Gard things that you see around for $50 or less. I use it for a quick sanity check and not much else now.

I've been researching the digital scales intended for reloading and I don't think I would buy one of those. They all seem to be made in China and there is no guarantee that the $50 units and the multi-hundred dollar units don't all use the same 96-cent load cell. Until I see the actual electronic specs for the load cell components, I'll avoid the common brands offered to reloaders. I would not trust them for the sort of accuracy you seem to be looking for.

For the hard core accuracy you seem to want, I think you should look at actual scientific instruments that have documented and certified accuracy. You're going to spend a couple thousand for that I suspect. But you will be pretty confident that the instrument is what it claims to be.

For what you want to do, you want an instrument and not just a scale.

Now that said, I have to ask why 46 fps extreme spread is a bad thing. Is that really that bad? What's an acceptable spread? Just wondering!
 
A manual balance scale is perfectly repeatable. While I'm not certain that when I'm weighing 70.6 grains that is the actual amount, I'm certain that the charges are identical, which is what I'm after. A Lee safety scale balances on a razor blade so it's going to be really sensitive.
 
I bought a GemPro 250, very accurate. I will throw a charge, weight it on the GemPro, then on my RCBS 505, and I get the same result every time. I like the speed of the GemPro, and once you learn the little quirks(all electronic scales have their own), it is very confidence inspiring.
 
I have a Lyman digital. It's nothing fancy but comes with a dribbler. I forget the model number but it has been very accurate and consistent. I plug it in and don't use the battery. Apparently they are finicky when battery powered.
 
My scale preference.

RCBS 505, ChargeMaster 1500, GemPro250, and one day A&D Fx120i.

You can find hundreds of reviews on the net.

Cheers,
 
Digital scales intended for labratory or sensitive commercial use are over a thousand dollars. Digital scales sold to reloaders aren't much more than $100, if that.
This tells me something. I use beam scales.
 
This is just my opinion but, I think there are other variables that affect ES more than a perfect charge weight. If you are already fussy about your charge weights using a decent beam scale, then I dont think a digitally measured charge weight will make much difference. I've been using a Gempro250 for a couple years now and it still seems to be my loading techniques that have the most influence on ES. The more work I put into case prep (sorting, annealing, concenticity, etc) seems to have a bigger effect on ES.
 
Being new to reloading I had my mind made up from the beginning that I would get myself a digital scale. However, after some reading and actually setting up and learning my Lee balance beam I have lost almost all desire to even own a digital. I might pick up a cheap digital, LGS has em for about $45 just for a "sanity check" but overall I'm very happy with my Lee balance and how consistent it is.
 
mod7rem said:
This is just my opinion but, I think there are other variables that affect ES more than a perfect charge weight. If you are already fussy about your charge weights using a decent beam scale, then I dont think a digitally measured charge weight will make much difference. I've been using a Gempro250 for a couple years now and it still seems to be my loading techniques that have the most influence on ES. The more work I put into case prep (sorting, annealing, concenticity, etc) seems to have a bigger effect on ES.
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At this point with the limited experience I have it's powder charge accuracy and bullet selection. Now that I have the ability to measure velocity, I'll be testing the items you state to test cause and effect of annealing and concentricity and see if there's a relationship with the results. Interesting points. So far I haven't encountered that.

Temps said:
Being new to reloading I had my mind made up from the beginning that I would get myself a digital scale. However, after some reading and actually setting up and learning my Lee balance beam I have lost almost all desire to even own a digital. I might pick up a cheap digital, LGS has em for about $45 just for a "sanity check" but overall I'm very happy with my Lee balance and how consistent it is.
Click to expand...

I hear ya. A while back I purchased a cheap digital scale when I was loading with a lee loader many moons ago. I too settled on the Lee safety scale as the better tool and now use the digital as the same sanity check as you do to confirm beam scale set up. That's it.

I purchased a used RCBS 502 for $50 and it's a far better scale for dampening rate and readability in my opinion. While it's dampening I use the time to apply dry media to the necks...so for myself I'm not at the point of an automated powder measure system to gain any time. The lee scale sits collecting dust now. Its a good scale for what it's supposed to do however my eyes are more thankful and the process is quicker with the RCBS. For load development I use the dippers from lee and trickle up. (I am a bit old school.:d)

Can't speak to the higher end digital scales...yet.

Regards
Ronr
 
How do you guys sanity-check a beam scale using an electronic scale? If anything can go boinker, it's the ES, not the Beam. I don't understand, it's like trying to measure a calibration weight using a scale to make sure the calibration weight's weight hasn't changed. What am I missing here?
 
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