Any tips on picking a powder scale?

[Rockzilla]

have both but use the ole 10-10 scales, Lyman D5, most are tuned by Scott, he
does great work and they work great as far as a Dial-O-Grain there was 2 for sale
recently on Flea-bay.

-Rock

[psweigle]

Digital are only good for weighing brass and boolits, imo. A beam scale is much more accurate as they do not have a tolerance of +/- 2 tenths as do digital.

[10-x]

Have several old RCBS beam type scales. Sent the original back to mfg. for inspection/ calibrating, has worked fine just like when new. Im not sure about the new china made RCBS equipment......

[str8wal]

gnat's rear accuracy in powder measuring

A good beam scale like the RCBS 5-10 and a set of check weights would be better for that than a digital, IMO. I just can't bring myself to trust 'em.

[ascast]

Digital are only good for weighing brass and boolits, imo. A beam scale is much more accurate as they do not have a tolerance of +/- 2 tenths as do digital.

All you need to know right there. 30-06 brass ( WWC 56) runs around 146 grains IIRC and boolits, 180 ? 200 ? 38-55 boolits 265 up to 360, 45-70 run 300-550grns. If you really need the +/- 2 tenths that psweigle speaks of, you use the balance the refine the group. If you go electronic, be careful if your pushing the red line 2 tenths might cause trouble.

[John Boy]

http://www.dx.com/p/1-7-lcd-high-pre...1#.WOa2z7i51F8 and free shipping

[gwpercle]

Have several old RCBS beam type scales. Sent the original back to mfg. for inspection/ calibrating, has worked fine just like when new. Im not sure about the new china made RCBS equipment......

RCBS is now made in CHINA !....that's pathetic !
I find it ironic that the best auto parts I can find for my 1968 Chevelle are those made in Mexico and Taiwan , the junk out of China usually does not function. They are going to destroy us by taking away our manufacturing abilities and flooding the market with things that don't work.
Sad , very sad....but RCBS will have more profit I'm sure.
Gary

[mortyg]

I use a Ohaus 10-10
lyman M5 redone by Scott Parker
Jennings JS-VG20 very accurate and sensitive to .05 of a grain and not expensive only 300 grain capacity.
For regular loading it is not as important but when you are loading to the maximum pressures with a lot of powder a tenth or two is too much to be off.

[Idaho45guy]

Dont overlook the Frankford Digital, its not green or red with the associated price tag, but does everything I want it to do and is repeatedly accurate. I mostly use it to back up my beam scale, set up my powder dump, and weigh bullets for variation and so on. At the price point if it became unreliable or failed tomorrow I would have no issue with dumping it in the trash and getting another.

That's what I ended up buying and it showed up a couple of days ago. Think it was $30 or so...

The thing I hated about my Lee scale was reading the tenths was about impossible and it seemed every little thing threw off the measurement. Bump the table and it would move the little tenth slider. Take the tray off too fast and it moved again. Frustrating.

[1066]

I know the Lee scale can be a PITA to adjust but did you know you can lock the tenths slider by pushing in the little button?

[SARuger]

Sportsman's Warehouse sells the Redding #2 (RS2) for $65

Buy it! Its a great scale for the money. I have a couple.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

RCBS is now made in CHINA !....that's pathetic !
I find it ironic that the best auto parts I can find for my 1968 Chevelle are those made in Mexico and Taiwan , the junk out of China usually does not function. They are going to destroy us by taking away our manufacturing abilities and flooding the market with things that don't work.
Sad , very sad....but RCBS will have more profit I'm sure.
Gary

The buyers must have something to do with it. I have a single-beam Redding scale which I haven't used in a few years. I bought a digital scale from China on eBay - and a spare in case of malfunction, at £9.99 each delivered. It weights 20g. to a claimed accuracy of .001 grammes, which is about a fourteen thousandth of a grain. I also bought a 500 grain. Is it really delivering that accuracy? I don't know, but it change when you add a paper disc made by punching paper for binders, and it checks out as accurately as the Redding will go. I also bought an even cheaper 500g. one with .01 gramme accuracy, which is useful for finding out how many bullets are left in a box, and I have the use of a 2kg. kitchen one if I keep out of the way.

Mind you, I have several check weights and a carefully preserved used primer which I keep to check for changes. But I recently acquired the best lit room I ever worked in, bu installing four cheap LED ceiling lights. On, off or the whole house contact breaker tripped makes no difference. I do some work with chemicals and precious metals, and I find the ability to change instantly from grains to grammes or ounces very useful. People like RCBS can order attractively embossed green casings from China, but I very much doubt if they are ordering special higher quality internals. You can't expect more of it than working right.

[robg]

Don't like the Lee scale ,prefer the Lyman but I've got a small battery scale of amazon so I can check one against the other luckily they agree .

[Safeshot]

RCBS, Never look back.

[TNsailorman]

You guys that have used Scott Parker and willing to recommend him would be doing everyone else a favor if you shared his contact information with the community. There are more than a few scales out there which could do with a little TLC and owners who don't know how to provide it. james

[Rockzilla]

You guys that have used Scott Parker and willing to recommend him would be doing everyone else a favor if you shared his contact information with the community. There are more than a few scales out there which could do with a little TLC and owners who don't know how to provide it. james

here is an article on tuning balance beam scales and talks about Scott along with
contact nfo..

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/...peatability-2/

and another article...
Contact nfo at the bottom

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/...-scott-parker/

-Rock

[1hole]

I once worked as a precision electronic instrument calibration and repair tech at the Cape. I have a small digital and and two old balance scales. I use the digital for bullets and cases because they won't get me killed, my powder goes across the mechanicals; they read exactly the same as they did when new in 1965.

IMHO, anyone who finds a digital to be "faster" than a mechanical scale is using it improperly. Digitals provide instant numbers but all I've seen require a couple of seconds to stabilize; my magnetic damped beam scales do just as well. I see no meaningful speed advantage in a digital Especially if you're weighing and trickling up every charge, few digitals follow a trickler very well.

It isn't 'lights' as such that bothers digitals, it's the magnetic fields in old florescent fixtures; ditto any other source of electromagnetic fields - motors and radios for instance. Digitals are also susceptible to line voltage variations and room temperature changes. Neither of my beams care about any of that. And, unlike digitals, beams don't drift and they aren't very sensitive to slight leveling differences. If it looks level, it is level; set it down and adjust the "zero", then use it.

I might like a digital dispenser IF I was a high volume rife shooter but I'm not and I only buy tools that actually serve my needs. I know for sure MY weighted charges are right! Most - if not all - digital dumpsters are only spec'ed about half the accuracy of most beams and beams will never wear out or lose calibration --- unless the user physically damages it.

I tell everyone if they want to weigh powder get a magnetic damped beam scale from Lyman, Hornady, Dillon, Redding or RCBS; there are no significant user differences between them. IF I had to buy a new one tomorrow it would be Redding because of its heavy base.

[TNsailorman]

I have found digitals to be highly sensitive to any air movement such as air conditioners, fans, opening as closing doors and even in some cases, ones own movement during the reloading process. I have learned to compensate for these things when I use digitals. I enjoy loading so I sometimes use methods that others would not want to take the time using, but it is my way. I have at times used Lee powder scoops or a powder measure that will drop a powder charge a little short, say a grain or two. Then drop it onto a digital scale and trickle the final few grains until weight is correct. Then check weigh on a beam set of scales. I know, its overkill but it makes me happy and I feel I get a really correct charge this way. I'm in no hurry anyway, I'm retarded--ur-make that retired. james

[jem102]

Sportsman's Warehouse sells the Redding #2 (RS2) for $65

Buy it! Its a great scale for the money. I have a couple.

Bingo!

[Idaho45guy]

I know the Lee scale can be a PITA to adjust but did you know you can lock the tenths slider by pushing in the little button?

LOL! Didn't realize that! Used that function my last reloading session and was ashamed I didn't know that...