What type scale do most use to weigh alloy components?

[Tallbald]

I have an old food scale I can use that has accuracy good enough for carrots and green beans I suppose (if I use it for lead it WON"T be used again for food though), but I don't know what most are finding best for weighing their alloy components. Harbor Freight has a few digital scales, but I'd rather keep my eyes open at Goodwill and thrift stores for something better. I'd prefer an old mechanical postal scale. Thoughts? Thanks. Don

[Echo]

I use an HF scale that cost about $40 a couple of years ago. Weighs up to 70 lbs, by ounces (I think), and I also use a postal scale for light (>5lbs) weighing.

[runfiverun]

I'm cheaper than that.
10$ food scale from walmart it does 12 pounds.
if I'm doing big batches I just use the bathroom scale.

[C. Latch]

My SOWW ingots are roughly the same length and width but maybe 1.6x the height of my average COWW ingot.

I guesstimate that my average COWW ingot is one pound (if I grab a larger one from the pile, I'll offset it by also grabbing a smaller one) and my average SOWW ingot is 1.6 pounds.

My pewter ingots are marked to the nearest 0.1 ounce, by the guy I bought them from here in the S&S forum. I will probably never fire a cast bullet at a target more than 200 yards distant, and in light of that, my very rough estimates seem to work quite well.

[txsnowman2k2]

Digital 360# capacity eBay scale $55.

[MaLar]

I lucked into an old 70# postage scale years ago. It was being tossed on a remodel we were doing. Got it just for asking.

[imashooter2]

Cheap 30 pound postal scale here, with large melts on a bathroom scale. I think the common thread in all of these is going to be "cheap."

[Bigslug]

Digital kitchen scale that goes to about 10 pounds. I think it's a Good Grips one, but it reads in fractions of ounces.

[btroj]

I have a kitchen scale that does up to 5 pounds, bathroom scale for over that. I tend to do large batches so the bathroom scale gets the most use.

[Ed_Shot]

Just looked on ebay.....there's lots of 50# digital postal scales for @ $20 with free shipping. I've had one like that for a few years.

[alamogunr]

I used an industrial scale that went up to 300 lbs for weighing buckets of WW. I use a cheap digital scale, that I got on Ebay, for alloying and mixing lube. It just takes a little longer if i need to weigh over 10 lbs of alloying metal. For the lead(or WW), I just go back to the industrial scale.

[ShooterAZ]

I just use a regular old bathroom scale, non-digital. I'm usually weighing less than 50 pounds at a time, so it gets it close enough for my needs.

[Pilgrim]

All of the weights need to proportional whether you're going for 10# mix or more. I don't think exact weights are all that important as long as you are consistent in how you mix/make alloys. I pour my cleaned up WW metal into either RCBS or Lyman ingot moulds. I "call" the RCBS and larger Lyman ingots 1#, and the small Lyman ingots 1/2#. I've also got some small cast iron molds that are about 2# when filled with WW. My sweeteners are either 95-5 solder or pure tin. The solder was from a scrap yard and was in chunks about the size of a large pea. I weighed a bunch of those and 8 of 'em weigh an ounce, or close enuf to an ounce for my purposes. My pots are either 20# or 10#. I nearly always refill my pots when they are down by about 1/2 of their volume. That's either 10# or 5#. By using the same casting method and process I can check the BHN of my finished boolits. If they are at BHN 14 or 15, my alloy is nearly (but not exactly) the same every time and that is close enuf for my purposes. If you can't tell yet, I like to keep my process as simple and uncomplicated as I can. If I have to sweat the exact ratios of my alloys to get repeated success, I need a different gun not a different process. FWIW Pilgrim

[mdi]

I use my Cabelas digital fish scale. I made up a pan with light chain to hang from the scale (I can "tare" the scale) and it's plenty close enough for alloying up to 50 lbs....

[Tallbald]

Thanks everyone. I will keep my eyes open on line and at the thrift stores here in town. I didn't think it had to be a pharmaceutical grade accuracy scale, but then it has to be able to at least guestimate in ounces too. Those parameters do give me an idea what to look for. Don

[Yodogsandman]

I've never used a scale but, I can see using one for alloying metals of various compositions.

I have a 10# Lee casting pot. I fill it about half way with COWW ingots, add half of a one pound bar/stick of 50/50 lead/tin plumbers solder and finish filling the pot to the rim with the COWW's. I measure the 50/50 with a tape measure to find the half way point, mark it and cut it. Sometimes I just melt the 50/50 into the pot up to the mark. Recently, I tried using just 1/4 stick of 50/50 and it worked just as well. This is very easy for me to duplicate each time for consistency.

[RugerFan]

When mixing up my own #2 (per LASC instructions) I use a digital postal scale. I want to get good batch-to-batch consistancey, especially for rifle boolits.

[ipijohn]

I use my Cabelas digital fish scale. I made up a pan with light chain to hang from the scale (I can "tare" the scale) and it's plenty close enough for alloying up to 50 lbs....

I use the same setup. It also comes in handy for counting boolits or cases.

[bangerjim]

HF 11# digital scale (95364) works great! Especially when on sale and - the 20% coupon.

I mark each ingot with the weight in ounces with a black sharpie.

For (rare) heavy loads I use an accurate UPS scale that goes up to 100#.

bangerjim

[dtknowles]

I use a Pelouze 5 pound postal scale. I usually only weigh the things I add to my range scrap to make new alloys. Fill my pot partly or mostly full by melting ingots of range scrap then add COWW's or lino, or solder or a mix of them to make harder alloy.

Tim