Electronic scales

[joeb33050]

Does anyone have experience with Frankford Arsenal electronic scales? Midway has Micro 750 grain for $30 and DS750 for $37.
I need advice, had to send the Hornady/Pacific back, it only displayed .2 grain intervals.
Thanks;
joe b.

[Johnw...ski]

Does anyone have experience with Frankford Arsenal electronic scales? Midway has Micro 750 grain for $30 and DS750 for $37.
I need advice, had to send the Hornady/Pacific back, it only displayed .2 grain intervals.
Thanks;
joe b.

My opinion is .2 gr is plenty accurate, as long as the scale repeats every time.
Buy the best scale you can afford annd don't look back.

John

[danski26]

You get what you pay for IMHO. A $37 scale will disapoint you i believe.

[c3d4b2]

I do not know what you are intending to measure with the scale, so the following information may not be applicable.

I looked into electronics scales and the less expensive ones were not very repeatable. It seems they have trouble with the readings shifting during use. The other complaint is they were not responsive enough when powder was trickled onto a pan.

This scale is outside the price you have listed, however this is the type unit people are using for accurate measurements.

http://www.6mmbr.com/mxx123test.html

[captaint]

JoeB - I have a little MTM elec scale. I've not used it much for powder, but for boolits it is ripper fast and accurate. You would be all week weighing boolits on a balance beam. I'm really happy with mine. Think mine was about 30 bux. Mike

[mold maker]

The price on new electronics doesn't equate to 15 years ago or the most bells and whistles. I paid almost $100. for my first hand held calculator in the 60s. Today they are the size of a CC, cost less than a dollar, do more and are just as accurate.
I bought one of the FA scales when Midway first offered them. So far they do the job just like my Pact unit that is 25 yo. They are packable to carry to the range, and so far have stood that abuse. I even sat on them.
At the price, their even a great backup for those that buy the very best, and it screws up.

[Down South]

I bought a little jewelers electronic scale on Flea Bay for about 20 bucks or so. I wouldn’t trust it for powder but it works great for weighing boolits.

[Storydude]

I'd say go with a PACT. that way, you can add the electronic measure at a later date.......Even though my PACT electronic measure is relegated to load workups now...

[Trifocals]

I purchased the Frankford scale from Midway a couple of weeks ago, just to weigh bullets. It appears to do that job well. I don't plan to use it to weigh powder. For the price it's similar to a low price digital watch, disposable. If it quits working throw it away and buy another one.

[danski26]

I spent the money and bought an Aculab scale. It measure to .01 grain. It uses strain gauge technology. It is flawless.

[Trapshooter]

I bought the $30 Midway scale a couple months ago, also intending to use it primarily to sort bullets. It doesn't appear to be as sensitive as the balance when trickling the last couple 1/10 grains, but after spending a little time fooling with it, I was able to learn how to use it in the powder trickle mode.

The software in the computer appears to do quite a bit of averaging to accommodate vibration and temperature drifts. There is a lag between dropping the powder kernels and the display update, which appears to be a variable depending on how much the weight changes. Smaller changes appear to cause longer delays.

I had pretty good success dropping charges that were a little light, trickling in the last few kernels (1/10s), and waiting for the display to update. Then I would take the pan off the scale, wait for the scale to zero, then return the pan to the scale. I usually got the same reading as the trickled reading. If not, I checked with Mr. OHaus for a final verdict. This process gave pretty consistant results, however I was not dropping charges that were close to the edge, so if the scale was off as much as 2/10 grain I still wouldn't have been in trouble.


If I was going to use it for my primary powder measure, I would want to have a selection of calibrated check weights for the range of charges to be thrown (0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 grains) to verify scale's accuracy and sensitivity at the weight I was measuring. First weigh a combination of weights which add up to something close to the target charge, then add the .5 grain, and see if that reading is also correct. I would also check zero, and span every 5 or 10 weighing cycles.

Just like a balance, for best results, it has to be level, and isolated from vibration and air currents. Being electronic, it is also sensitive to a bunch of other things too (trust but verify :) ).

Trapshooter

[cajun shooter]

I bought a RCBS micro-pro for around the $100 mark. It's made by PACT. It's been back 3 times for repairs. I bought a mini scale off flea bay for $28 and it weighs perfect. You can weigh powder charges, bullets, the whole 9 yds on it. I have a check weight set made by Lyman that I bought years ago and the cheap scale always is right on. With todays electronics In think you can buy and receive a good item for less.

[Trapshooter]

I agree, you get a lot for the money with modern electronics. The only issues I have found are resolved by learning how the box works, then working with it, rather than against it. Sometimes the product designer or programmer doesn't understand how the device will be used, and you have to figure out what he was thinking to get the most out of the product.

Trapshooter