Digital scale drift

[6bg6ga]

I get 75.4 grains for a nickle. Both scales.

[ioon44]

As shown, if a person looks at enough coin's you will find difference in thickness and weight. I mostly use a RCBS 505 and Lyman check weight's.
The digital scales I have and have had all drift, this is not a problem for weighing brass or bullets but I stick to the 505 for powder.

[Ole Joe Clarke]

A buddy of mine that is getting into reloading recently bought a RCBS 10-10 beam scale, in the original box and instructions. Looked hardly used for: DRUM ROLL PLEASE, $45.00

Have a blessed day,

Leon

[Chill Wills]

When Lyman first offered an electronic scale, I tried one. Sent it back and went through two more in short order. Spent more time messing with it than weighing. Then did not trust it.

Do you remember the advertisements that ran in the 1970's and 1980's Handloader mag.? Denver Instruments? (Answorth) They make a line of electronic scales. In fact all kinds of scales, industrial, commercial and scientific scales. All electronic.

The company owner was a shooter and reloader. He made available one of the models at a discount for handloading though it was not mentioned as price reduced but the same model sold for more normally. They were (are) the price of one very nice rifle.

I have had one for decades now. It is ON 24-7. That is what it likes. It is big and sturdy and feels like picking up a bowling ball.

Does it drift. Yup. I can do a run of 100 or 200 bullets or powder charges and it might loose a tenth BUT it lets you know. As soon as you are off a tenth you ZERO it and keep going.


If you shoot hundreds or some months, thousands of rounds, not loaded progressive, it is well worth having something so trouble free.
Life is too short for cheap crappy reloading scales.

[HangFireW8]

I have the cheap BPI digital scale. It pops to -0.4 from 0.0 at any moment warm or not. Yes I run it on battery. No I don't want to run a cord across my bench to a wall wart. I use one of my beams for powder. The digital is reserved for boolit weighing.

-HF

[6bg6ga]

Still on the fence on digital scales. Would like on however to check the RCBS 5-0-5 and 5-0-2 scales

[XDROB]

I have been using Hornady's stand along digital scale for about 6 years and have not had any reason to doubt it. I have checked it with known weight, along with the calibrating weights it came with. I do let it warm up for 15/20 mins. I have fluorescent bulbs on each side of my table. Overhead. Did not know that they could affect the scale. Until reading through this thread.
Nothing overhead. My reloading area is in a back corner of my cellar, so no real drafts.

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[Chill Wills]

The lights can cause a problem if they are on the same electric circuit. If your scale is battery or outlet powered on a different circuit ..... likely not a problem unless it so close as to cause EMI through the air.

[Dale53]

As I indicated above, I am a "digital man". However, there is nothing wrong with having a balance beam scale as a back up.

Keep in mind, tho', balance beam scales have their issues, also.
1-air movement
2- oil dampening as well as magnetic dampening have had issues
3-dirt or dust under the knife edges
4- rough treatment

You get the idea...

Let the phrase "always vigilant" keep you from harm. Dale53


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[EddieNFL]

I'll probably be criticized for this but cheap and reloading don't go together.

The cheapest is seldom the least expensive.

[308Jeff]

I bought an RCBS Rangemaster 750 in 2009. It worked great for about a year and a half, and then it started having serious problems with drifting away from zero. It got bad enough that I eventually stopped using it as I no longer trusted it.

[pull the trigger]

Mine is a GS1500 Hornady. It is a $30 battery only scale. I dump powder from a measure, set
itnon the scale, then drop it in the case , seat the bullet. When I grab the pan off the scale, it will sometimes, drift from zero. And yes I got into reloading because I am cheap. I end up checking it with the 505 until I finally Just put the digital away. I have heard people say the RcBs chargemaster scale will drift while they are using them also. I hate fuel injection, dont know why this would be different.

[EDG]

Here is my scale story.

A friend of mine bought one of the Dillon Determinators about 15 or 20 years ago when they first hit the market. He could not get it to work right and he brought it by my house for me to check since I had a lot more loading experience. It drifted terribly often .4 grains in about 15 to 20 mins. I was using it in a large closet with battery power. There were no air currents to bother it.
He left and said I could have the thing because he did not trust it. I called Dillon and the tech said that was about par for the course with that price ($99) digital scale back then. He did not think any of them worked great. Basically I had to zero the thing every time for each weighing. In Dillon's defense they did say send it back and they would do what they could.

So I put it in the closet for several years and forgot about it. about 4 or 5 years later I called Dillon again and they said send it back again. I was not convinced that it was a good way to blow $8.00 for shipping. So it went back into the closet. Another 4 years passes and I called Dillon the 3rd time and they told me to return it again. They were about to discontinue the 1200 grain model and I wanted it replaced with another 1200 grain scale. They had just announced a little bit cheaper 900 grain model and I did not want it because of the smaller capacity and the smaller display.

I finally sent the scale in after about 8 or 9 years and it still looked pristine in the original box. Dillon sent me a new scale about a week later and it was the 900 grain model. I was disappointed until I turned it on and used it. It worked like a hammer first time every time and still does.

In the mean time my friend bought a RCBS 750 Rangemaster (made by PACT) . And then he died. He family gave me the scale and a few other things. I tried out the RCBS scale and it worked fine also.

So I now have 2 digital scales that work well. However I would never trust them due to the potential for slip sticking of the posts on top of the load cells.
So I use them for weighing bullets and cases.
I had a Lyman mechanical scale that I really dislike, and two RCBS 5-10 mechanical scales that I got with large buy of a guy's equipment. I also had bought 3 Lyman/AMT Autoscales which have the same beam as the RCBS 5-10. My friend also had 2 RCBS 5-10 and 1 RCBS 505 scale. All these scales worth great. The Lyman Autoscales are for loading large batches. With multiple scales running I can set them all to the same weight and they can trickle out charges faster than I can dump them.
For small lots I like the 505 the best. So I have 4 5-10s that are just spares. I also had a Bair triple poise beam scale that looked exactly like the old Pacific and Hornady triple poise scales but I gave it to my brother.

Summary: I will never trust a cheap handloading digital scale for powder charges. I might trust a high quality scale for that but I have way too many scales to buy another and I get along fine with what I have. I have enough mechanical scales to start off a few more new loaders so I will probably donate them. In the mean time I set the mechanical scales that I used with check weights any time I weigh powder.

[375RUGER]

The unit does need to warm up. Electrical line interference has an affect on them too. I use a ferrite bead interference choke on my power cord, because the one plug in the loading room that my scale works perfectly on is in a bad location for operating the scale, and an extension cord doesn't help. When I really want to throw charges closer than 0.3g, I throw them short with the powder dispenser and trickle the rest with my balance beam. This isn't an issue if I run it in the other outlet.

[1hole]

Back in the mid 60s I worked at the Cape maintaining/calibrating precision electronic measurement instruments; I had good job security because that stuff isn't very reliable. I weigh powder only with a balance (beam) scale, my digital is ONLY for weighing things like cases and bullets because that won't kill me if it goes nuts.

Things from China (as virtually all reloading scales are) is much like a guy in a move almost said, "Chinese electronic stuff is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get."

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got a pact dispenser and scale, a small batter pact and a one piece lyman dispenser scale. All of them work great. Unless your spending 300 bucks or more on a precision balance beam scale there can be just as much variation in a cheap balance beam due to friction as there is on any digital scale. Bottom line is either can be off even a .1 of a grain. An amount that doesn't mean a pinch of ### to a handloader. Now ive also got a couple cheap kitchen digital scales and sure wouldn't trust one of them to weighting powder charges. Also I do calibrate my digitals before EVERY use. It takes about a minute to do. Not a big deal and get yourself some accurate check weights. Most good scales come with them. Ive chuckled before at guys who bash the digital scales but when they tell you there using some cheap plastic lee balance beam scale its me that gets the last laugh. My buddy (against my advice) bought one of those lee o press kits with supposedly everything you need to load. I was there when you unboxed it. When I saw that lee scale I started laughing. tossed it in the trash and went home and got him one of my rcbs scales. Same thing with that cheap plastic powder dispenser. I had an lyman dispenser that I really didn't like that was still hands down better then that JUNK. Bottom line is id no sooner give up my star sizer or loading on a progressive press then give up my digital scales.

[ulav8r]

My Lee dippers do not drift, do not require warm-up, and can be used during a power outage.

I use 2.77 grains of Unique in a 380 with Sierra blems, don't remember which dipper. This is just barely a starting load(old Unique, not current) that cycles my Llama reliably. If using a near max load I would use a dipper and trickler with a scale.

[jmorris]

I use 2.77 grains of Unique in a 380 with Sierra blems, don't remember which dipper.

It would be impressive if you could throw to the hundredth of a grain consistently with any measure, much less a dipper.

[racepres]

It would be impressive if you could throw to the hundredth of a grain consistently with any measure, much less a dipper.

,
And...Who... can prove that exact weight is resulting in more accurate loads than exact Volume???

Constant Fight and Disagreement on that...
Since I shot my very best group ever with a Volume charge...I use Volume..YMMV
makes me laugh as I have a Friend who cuts Sticks of powder to get his "perfect" charge...he has yet to shoot consistently better groups than a another guy using a Dillon...with thrown charge...

Life is wayyyy too short to fool with .01 of a grain of Powder...
And any Lee equipment I have seen in use...seemed at least adequate...less expensive, but at least as good as the casual operator..

I don't bash anyones equipment after being outshot by a Young man using a Lee Loader [smack it with a hammer one] and a Dipper...right at the bench!!!!

[fiberoptik]

So the moral of this story is: digital bad, balance beam maybe bad, volume kinda bad.....everything must be weighed with the old style balance beam used in the Bible, all against proven check weights on the opposite side. Good luck finding a charge matching said check weights!


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