Scale Shopping.......On a budget... :(
- Thread starter mlehtovaara
- Start date
Rory McCanuck
CGN Regular
- Location
- Middle of Manitoba
titch-- yes, clean the pivots.
Also, remove the two wee phillips screws that hold the aluminum plate on the body.
Under that aluminum plate is a square of agate with a "V" cut into it that the pivots rest in.
Clean them up too. Use an alcohol wipe and get any gunk off of it.
Make sure it is dry, no oil or anything.
mlehto, any beam will work. Almost any of them will be more user friendly than the Lee.
I have an ancient Redding oil dampened, and even it settles down quickly, but I "help" it with my finger.
My Bonanza is all plastic, and so sensitive that I have to be careful to direct my breath away from it.
They both agree with my Lee, and I trust any one of them more than my Hornady digital.
Put a weight on the digital and let it sit a moment and watch the reading get heavier.
Weigh something, take it off and immediately put it back on. Now the reading is off by 0.3gr.
I'm not going to throw it out, it is handy to find the weight of something, but not for trickling.
Trust but verify
A beam can be pretty quick to use, but the Lee could make someone lose their patience with it
before they ever got proficient with it. I'm sure you could find someothing inexpensive in the EE
if you don't want to spring for a new one.
Also, remove the two wee phillips screws that hold the aluminum plate on the body.
Under that aluminum plate is a square of agate with a "V" cut into it that the pivots rest in.
Clean them up too. Use an alcohol wipe and get any gunk off of it.
Make sure it is dry, no oil or anything.
mlehto, any beam will work. Almost any of them will be more user friendly than the Lee.
I have an ancient Redding oil dampened, and even it settles down quickly, but I "help" it with my finger.
My Bonanza is all plastic, and so sensitive that I have to be careful to direct my breath away from it.
They both agree with my Lee, and I trust any one of them more than my Hornady digital.
Put a weight on the digital and let it sit a moment and watch the reading get heavier.
Weigh something, take it off and immediately put it back on. Now the reading is off by 0.3gr.
I'm not going to throw it out, it is handy to find the weight of something, but not for trickling.
Trust but verify
A beam can be pretty quick to use, but the Lee could make someone lose their patience with it
before they ever got proficient with it. I'm sure you could find someothing inexpensive in the EE
if you don't want to spring for a new one.
?? Trickle onto a beam, trickle onto a digital, not that it matters but I don't understand the problem.
i use a hornady lock and load digital scale, for about $100 it works for me, ive shot target matches and just hunting reloads, seems accurate enough for me, just the only thing with it is i seem to touch the pan to double check the 0.1 grn when i need to be that accurate, hunting reloads or shotgun target if i am close its good enough to work.
Of all the scales I have owned, the most accurate balance beams were the 10-10 ohaus, and the pacific model M, after tweaking my chargemaster and regularly checking it, I now trust it to be within 0.1 grains every time.
I have a modified model M pacific balance beam I no longer use that works very very well if you are interested, I even filled the base with lead to make it more bench friendly. PM me if that's what you are looking for. It's capable of reading a single kernel of extruded.
I have a modified model M pacific balance beam I no longer use that works very very well if you are interested, I even filled the base with lead to make it more bench friendly. PM me if that's what you are looking for. It's capable of reading a single kernel of extruded.
I had a fancy digital scale and got rid of it, to fidgety and no faster than the beam scale. I've been using an Ohaus 5-0-5 for 40+ years, same as a RCBS. Got a RCBS chargemaster for xmas and like it but it ain't for a budget minded buyer. The beam scale is just as fast, just won't do it by it's self. I load with a single stage so the chargemaster has a load ready after i seat a bullet. Also use a Ohaus powder measure when doing varmint loads with a fine grain powder, doesn't work well with coarse stuff like H4831.
Yours is a refreshingly frank assessment. I'm not as brave. I tend to defend every purchase I've ever made as being the result of superior technical savvy and particularly shrewd purchasing practices and, if the purchase was a particularly costly one, it further reflects my rare (never wrong) genius at buying things. Needless to say, those who disagree with me are naught but fools. Its a satisfying attitude but one which lures curious new guys into repeating my mistakes. Fortunately, I'm the only one who does this. I'm posting this in order to satisfy the step 4 requirement of my 12 step SAA program; (Sarcastic Assholes Anonymous)
.Ive never taken out the screws and plate before. I just remove the beam and clean the little V's where the pivots rest in with a Qtip.
Ill try it your way next time. thanks
Sorry mlehtovaara for the lil derail
I like the 505 scale for measuring powder. Simple and accurate. I just bought a digital scale on Ebay for $23.84 delivered. It looks exactly like the Hornady scale except for the Hornady sticker and $50+ less $$$ I wouldn't trust a digital scale for powder measuring but I wanted something simple for weighing cast bullets to check uniformity Sometimes you can find cheaper prices and shipping that is lower from the same seller. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AWS-100-...cket-Scale-American-Weigh-Black-/200860245032 Looks like he bumped his price up, but you can still "Make an Offer"
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I have a gempro 250 and I won't be without it. Absolutely fantastic unit. Accurate to 2 hundredths of a grain and very consistent. Doesn't wander and isn't sensitive to the slightest movement. I use to leave it on 24/7 but after a few trials of turning it off and just re-calibrating it before each use after it warms up (5 minutes is what I give it while I'm prepping other stuff) I've decided that leaving it on isn't necessary. Lifetime warranty on it as well!
