know of something that weighs five grains or 15 grains?

[44minimum]

I've been having problems with my lee scale, seems to be hanging up and not swinging back and forth very smoothly, so I got one of these Frankfurt arsenal electronic scales from midway. I did everything according to directions but something is haywire with one or the other. I'm not very familiar with using the lee scale so I don't know which one to believe. I'm trying to weigh out 15 grains of H110. Anybody know of something that weighs 14 or 15 grains, or something that weighs five grains that I could put three of in there? How many grains of H110 will a 38 special or 357 magnum case hold?

[rhead]

A copperhead brand .177 pellet is listed at 7.9 grains. 2 would be 15.8 grains. not exact but in the right range.

[44minimum]

Close enough.. Thanks

[Bent Ramrod]

A nickel weighs 5 grams. There are 15.432 grains in a gram, therefore a nickel should be around 77 grains.

Use an unworn nickel if you have one. Some worn ones go 75 grains.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

A full size asperin weighs five grains.
Morgan

[mooman76]

On the Lee scale, make sure it is centered good when you set it up or it rubs something and won't float freely. I weighted a couple small pieces of brass and wrote on them with majic marker to use as check weights when I got my electric scale. The Lee scale should be dead on if you zero it out and get it to work freely.

[jhrosier]

A new (post 1982) penny weighs 38.6 grains.
It makes a handy check weight for your scale.
Jack

[Lloyd Smale]

didnt that scale come with a calibration weight?

[RBak]

Like many others, I discovered early on that owning more than one scale is a nerve racking experience.
You quickly learn that one particular scale will flat-out lie to you, while the others will do their best to confuse you.....

FWIW, I have four scales at present. Two are electronic, and two are balanced beam....all four will lie like a dog under certain conditions.
Although they all weigh very close to the same, they are seldom, if ever, exactly the same....go figure!

While looking for a 5gr Aspirin, as I have also heard this was the best to verify / calibrate your scale, I came to the conclusion that they may no longer exist...the only aspirin I have been able to find on the shelves was listed as 325mg.

Now, having said all this, I have to say I don't see a real problem here.
What I consider "better quality" in a scale, is one that will repeatedly give you the exact same weight with the exact same object, time after time, after time, after......

Russ...

[blackthorn]

Years ago when I started loading, I bought an RCBS 10/10 scale and a set of Lyman weight checks. Whenever I set up to load I use one of the checks to set the scale and I have found that, once set the scale will repeat reliably. Over the years I have manufactured several metal slugs from electrical boxes into specific charge weights using a file. These are for charges that I use regularly in specific rifles and they are kept in the die boxes. It is a bit of work but once done scale set up is quick and easy.

[JSnover]

Generally speaking, I like Lee equipment. It's simple, cheap and often pretty clever. But the first two pieces of reloading equipment I replaced were my Lee scale and Lee powder measure.

[bishopgrandpa]

Lyman makes a scale weight check set with about five or more weights that are inexpensive and work just fine.

[MT Gianni]

The most important feature of a scale IMO is repeatability. If your load is 14.8 gr instead of 15 and safe as well as accurate then the most important feature is that it measures that load evenly every time. Gianni

[Morgan Astorbilt]

When I still had my shop, a small part of my business was mechanical scale repair/calibration. I won't go into the different classes of test weights available, or the variations caused by temperature changes in beam-type balances. What IS important in reloading scales, is not so much fine accuracy in determining true weight, (within .2gr. is good enough), but REPEATABILITY. Reloading data are just guides, and max loads should be approached with care. As long as your scale will allow you to reproduce accurately(<.1gr.) the same load you worked up, it's doing its job.
Most variations in beam scales are caused by temperature changes, and require the use of the zeroing device. Another is damage to the knife edges and/or bearings (steel or agate) this can be checked by gently trying to move the beam horizontally in both directions and checking if the weight indicated changes.
Torsion balances (quartz fiber) are immune from this, but aren't used outside of laboratory scales. If memory serves, Herter's used to market steel wire torsion reloading scales
Morgan

[44minimum]

Thanks for the input guys. Electronic scale came with the calibration weight but my nephew was helping and lost it. I got enough info to go on and I think I have a problem figured out but I'm not gonna say for sure, because if I say for sure that I have it figured out then it will surely get screwed up again.

[badgeredd]

I've been having problems with my lee scale, seems to be hanging up and not swinging back and forth very smoothly, so I got one of these Frankfurt arsenal electronic scales from midway. I did everything according to directions but something is haywire with one or the other. I'm not very familiar with using the lee scale so I don't know which one to believe. I'm trying to weigh out 15 grains of H110. Anybody know of something that weighs 14 or 15 grains, or something that weighs five grains that I could put three of in there? How many grains of H110 will a 38 special or 357 magnum case hold?

I happened to see this while I was putting some boolits through the sizer and adding GCs. I weighed the Hornady 44 GCs and ten of them weighed 7.5 grains each. Figure most of us would have some laying around.

[Ricochet]

A full size asperin weighs five grains.
MorganA standard aspirin tablet contains five grains of aspirin (now normally shown as 325 milligrams.) Trouble is, it's commonly mixed with "excipients" like starch. It'll likely weigh more than 5 grains.

[trooperdan]

I weighted an Equate brand, 325 mg and got 5.9 grains.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

I stand corrected. An aspirin was the only thing that I could think of, that was labeled 5 grains. That's no longer the case either, with the trend to modernize chemical labeling.

With regard to calibrating scales, a trip to the local pharmacy with a small piece of metal, where a kind pharmacist would weigh it, would give the weight in milligrams, which could be converted to grains by dividing by 64.8 (64.79891). This could be saved, to check your scale from time to time.
Morgan

[Lee]

Digital Scale Etiquette;

1. Fresh battery, A battery getting old can and will mess up your day.

2. When using a test weight, as well as weighing charges, ALWAYS keep it centered in the pan. I have 2,(Franklin and Harbor Garbage), they both read well, agree, and repeat, but ONLY IF the item being weighed is centered on the pan, on the scale. Put a weight off center and you're asking for error. (ask me how I know!)

3. Keep it level. Or else! (ask me how I know!)

4. Patience, with ANY scale, is a virtue........(ask me how I know!)

Hope this helps some..........................Lee;-)

[Ed Barrett]

Another thing to watch is air movement. A friend of mine set up a very nice loading room in a metal shed he built the room insulated it and put in a wall air conditioner. even with the vent vanes pointing the air flow away from the bench the balance scale would change and the electronic scale reading would be jumping up and down.