xcaribooer
Regular
- Location
- The fishing highway
I have an rcbs manual scale I would like to check for accuracy , without the proper weights is there something else I can use? 180gr lead?
scale check
- Thread starter xcaribooer
- Start date
You should get a set of calibration weights, you can't really use a bullet because it might not be exactly 180 grains
I have a 20 and 50 gram calibration weight.
If you have a friend with a reloading scale take your 180 grain bullet over to his scale and then compare to yours.
I have a 20 and 50 gram calibration weight.
If you have a friend with a reloading scale take your 180 grain bullet over to his scale and then compare to yours.
Alternately, if you have any friends in a lab. they might have a precision laboratory scale. You could take a small piece of aluminum, such as one of those cable clamps used for stainless steel cable (plus a file for fine-tuning), weigh it, then use that for reference. I made one up from a piece of aluminum angle, although I didn't have a file with me to file it down to a convenient weight. (It weighs 37.577 gr.)
Stuart
Stuart
I wouldn't trust a single projectile. I have tested mine periodically with a 40gr, 69gr and 165 and heavier bullets I have on hand and find its within 0.1 gr accurate across the range. There's some bullets that are variable weights in a box, but some seem very consistent. Once you've determined your scale is accurate, after that its all about consistency. Even if your scale was always a touch light or heavy (0.1gr), as long as you are consisent and using the same scale it should be good. If in doubt, weigh a bullet of approx the same powder charge you are about to weigh and know nothing funny is going on.
I had the same question about my digital sacale and one of the guys here posted a link to the mints coin weights. I used that and then bought a balance scale as my digital rounded off the weights.
I cross check my powder charges between the balance and digital scale now and as long as I am using even weight loads they have both read the same.
Cactus
I cross check my powder charges between the balance and digital scale now and as long as I am using even weight loads they have both read the same.
Cactus
I can't understand this bit about calibrating a manual, beam scale.
The manufactured calibrated it when it was designed. That's what all those little notches are, and there is no way you can change them, or would want to.
The only "calibration," needed, is to see that it reads zero when it is empty.
Put it on a level surface and try it. If it is within one tenth grain, I would just adjust the screw that sets the base-up or down a hair, until it balances at zero.
If it were out more, there are locking nuts on the end of the beam. tickle them a bit, until it balances at zero.
End ofthe story. Nothing more required and you are guaranteed it will be correct.
The manufactured calibrated it when it was designed. That's what all those little notches are, and there is no way you can change them, or would want to.
The only "calibration," needed, is to see that it reads zero when it is empty.
Put it on a level surface and try it. If it is within one tenth grain, I would just adjust the screw that sets the base-up or down a hair, until it balances at zero.
If it were out more, there are locking nuts on the end of the beam. tickle them a bit, until it balances at zero.
End ofthe story. Nothing more required and you are guaranteed it will be correct.
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True- "if it can't break, why fix it?" I made my little calibrated weight just to see how accurate my Lee scale was. It was close enough to dead on as didn't matter. Maybe not close enough for molecular biology (my gf's area of expertise) but certainly close enough for reloading.
Stuart
notsorichguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- The city that rhymes with fun
x2!!
Besides what you are looking for is consistancy and repeatability in a reloading scale.
Does it really matter if what you think is 45.5gr of Varget is really 45.3gr????
If you did a ladder test to build your load it will be correct FOR YOUR SCALE. That is all you really need to know.
Cheers!
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
A balance beam scale reads accurately along only a portion of the beam. When zeroed at 0.0 grs, my 505 gives a true indication of weight at 20 grs but not at 90, and much of my loading is in the 80-100 gr range. For this reason I balance the scale for the precise weight I intend to weigh using the check weights, and there can be significant difference between the weight on the pan and the reading on the beam. Many of the newer scales do not have the the locking nuts on the end of the beam. Check weights are cheap piece of mind in my opinion, particularly when maximum loads are used.
- Location
- Central BC
pick an object or 2 and take them to your local drug store. If the pharmacist is a decent guy or gal, he/she will weigh it for you on their super duper accurate scale, then you have a reference point. Worked for me.
And here I thought a 505 was a good scale! Obviously that scale has a defect. The world of commerce operated for 200 years, or more, on the beam scale.
We know a factory bullet can not be relied upon to weigh precisely what it says it weighs. But a number of bullets of a certain weight will average very close to the given weight. I once used my Redding scale to weigh each of a box of 130 grain CIL bullets. Just looked at my records. 41 of the 50 weighed between 2/10 under and 2/10 over the 130 grain mark. Scale had to be correct at 130 grains.
After reading your post here, I weighed a bunch of bullets. 200 grain Nosler were reading mostly 1/10th to about 4/10s under. Thought maybe the scale was out a bit.
Then tried 200 grain Speer, and they weighed a similar amount over the 200 mark, without changing the scale!
Three different brands of 150 grain bullets were all very close to given weight, as was Speer 90 grain.
As a point of interest, Sierra was closest to given weight and Nosler partition had more variance than any other I tried.
In short, there is no way you could say, with regards to handloading, that my 46 year old Redding scale was not showing the proper reading for what was on the pan.
The original question was how do you calibrate a beam scale. My answer was, you can't. You can set it at zero and test it's accuracy, but you can't change the calibration notches the factory made on it.
