In the shed just a bit ago...

[Tom W.]

I called RCBS today and talked to a real person. He asked if I have had it for a while, which I have, and used it a lot. He suggested that the agate bearings may have worn out and that is causing the trouble. I was surprised, and asked if it wouldn't be the balance beam. He said no, the agate bearings were probably worn. Anyway I'll be getting a new set of bearings to install and try. If they don't work I'll send it back and they're going to send me the RCBS 500 scale. We shall see. It will probably be Monday before the bearings arrive.


And Wayne, that was the first thing I checked for. Once I had a little jumping spider that decided to make a home in the balance beam. I was wondering why the scale was moving so erratically. There the little booger was, hiding in the weight.....

[robg]

Have check weights and use jkt bullets as checks as well ,gas checks are good check weights for fine amounts.

[Tom W.]

The bearings arrived today. Maybe tomorrow or sometime during the next week I'll install them and see if they are the problem.

[Tom W.]

Well, the bearings that came in were .005 shorter than the original bearings and would not seat securely. The scale and new bearings are boxed up and ready to go to the Post office and off to RCBS. I'm not going to use something that isn't safe anymore. They can repair or replace at their discretion, but the 5-0-2 scale is no longer listed on the website....
If I didn't have quite a few boxes of ammo already loaded up I'd be somewhat urinated......

Oh, and the bearings that I got were ceramic, not agate.....

[Tom W.]

I called RCBS again today to see if my scale had arrived. The CS rep looked it up and it was there. I'll be getting a 500 in the mail shortly.......

[MOA]

Ahh a new toy just in time for the reloading season here in Bama land.

[GrahamVT]

How do you like the new RCBS 500?

[Tom W.]

It just arrived today. I took the unopened box that it came in and took it to the shed , but I needed to get the grill ready, as today was the first day in a month or so that I could grill without fear of heat stroke. So I lathered up some chicken legs with olive oil, Everglades seasoning, a touch of Chipotle sauce and sat out back and waited for Lori to come home.


It was very tasty!

Tomorrow I'll open the box and assemble the scale parts and zero it out.

[1hole]

I called RCBS today and talked to a real person. He asked if I have had it for a while, which I have, and used it a lot. He suggested that the agate bearings may have worn out and that is causing the trouble.

Tom, I'd raise the B.S. flag on what that "expert told you.

I've used an Ohaus 1010 (long sold under both the Lyman and RCBS brands) balance scale since '65. Only God knows how many pounds of powder has gone thru that little pan and the scale reads exactly the same today as it did when I first took it out of its box.

The "V" cuts in those very hard agate bearings need an occasional cleaning with a mostined toothpick to remove tiny bits of dust but I can't imagine any bearing "wear". After all, even a pan full of powder doesn't put much pressure on the bearings and the pivots are knife edges that rock in the bearings so there is little or no movement to cause any kind of wear on them.

[Tom W.]

They have it now. The new one didn't take long to zero.

I don't always believe everything that they say, but as it was replaced I'm happy.

Their customer service is great.

[knifemaker]

If you had the air conditioner on while checking the RCBS beam scale, the air current blowing from the conditioner will throw off the scale if the current is blowing across the scale. I have a cooler in my shop as well and when checking the scale I make sure the cooler is off as I have found it to effect the scale reading.

[Jruby38]

It's a no brainer. I adjust and check the scale with a 30 cal. Sierra Match King bullet. They are exactly 168 grains. They also will shoot under 1/2 inch out of my Savage model 12 varmint rifle.