which scale is correct?

[plow]

I've got an rcbs beam scale and a cabelas digital, however they never seem to agree. Usually they digital runs 0.2 to 0.3 grains higher than the rcbs. :veryconfu

[midnight]

Buy a set of check weights. Then you will know.

Bob

[LUBEDUDE]

Very much agree with Midnight.

To add:

My electronic scale is very sensitive to any air current no matter how mild. I turn off the A/C and any fans when I weigh.

Also others here have noted that the transformers in flourescent lights can affect accuracy as well.

Good Luck

[Ben]

plow


A man with one watch knoweth the time, a man with 2 is never sure.

[462]

I trust gravity.

Electrons have minds of their own.

[Walt]

Both should be correct when properly calibrated.

[375RUGER]

my balance beam has never lied. the digital on the other hand...let's just say it's finicky. I only have it for use with a powder dispenser and the bb is always the marshal.

[edsmith]

use the digital for boolits, the beam for powder.

[imashooter2]

I once passed a shiny new dime around to my friends to weigh on their scales. Here are the results:

34.4 Dillon elec
34.5 Lyman beam
34.5 Redding beam
34.5 PACT elec
34.6 Dillon beam
34.7 RCBS beam

The old adage is true: "A man with a watch always knows what time it is. A man with two is never sure."

Pick a scale and work up your loads using it. Absolute accuracy isn't as important as repeatability.

[1bluehorse]

I once passed a shiny new dime around to my friends to weigh on their scales. Here are the results:

34.4 Dillon elec
34.5 Lyman beam
34.5 Redding beam
34.5 PACT elec
34.6 Dillon beam
34.7 RCBS beam

The old adage is true: "A man with a watch always knows what time it is. A man with two is never sure."

Pick a scale and work up your loads using it. Absolute accuracy isn't as important as repeatability.

Thats pretty cool. I just did that with a not so shiny old dime, all three scales I have on the bench weighed it exactly the same. 35.5...yes I have and use check weights.. Oh, the three scales...RCBS 750, RCBS 1500 Chargemaster and an old Lyman D7 beam. (fastest to settle beam scale I've ever used, drop something in the pan, it "bounces" up once, settles on the way down)...my old Pacific, up and down, up and down, up and down....:popcorn:

[wallenba]

I'm old fashioned I guess. Just don't trust them new fangled electronic widgets. I bought an electronic caliper because my eyes are getting bad. I measured the same thing four or five times in a row, and got different readings about 1/3 the time.

[Springfield]

Put some oil in the cavity of the pacific where the flat paddle is and it will settle faster.

[Certaindeaf]

Gravity is a constant and so is Rube Goldberg, apparently.

[plow]

I use the beam scale for measuring powder and after setting the weight I check it on the digital (had a bad experience where I got sloppy and forgot to properly adjust the weight. Lets just say too much bullseye results in a package going to S & W. Now I always check on digital just to be on the safe side). I like the rcbs but I prefer my old redding scale that I left with my dad for him to use.

[robertchambers]

No need to buy any weights...You can check/calibrate a scale with a Sierra bullet...they are "dead nuts" on. If your still not sure which scale is "off" weigh ten Sierra bullets one at a time. You'll know before you get to number 5. Probably the others like Nosler,Remington, Speer, and Horady are exact as well...I just always reach for Seirra first.

[PanaDP]

With electronic scales, let them warm up for a half hour before you use them and build a little 3-sided wind shield to go around it. It makes all the difference.

[jcwit]

Both scales work with gravity! Don't believe it, stick a digital scale on the ceiling and see how far you get with it.

[huntnfish72]

bb is final

[1hole]

"which scale is correct? "

It's kinda hard to tell here, my lighting is poor; could you hold them up closer to the keyboard?

[plow]

I'll keep using the rcbs as my main scale.

[13Echo]

Both scales do work with gravity, the difference is that the beam or balance scale is measuring mass by comparing it to a known, calibrated mass, the counterweights. The Electronic scale is measuring the change in current or resistance in a strain guage and using that to infer the weight, not mass, of the object. On the moon with its greatly reduced gravity the balance beam would still give the correct mass. On the other hand the weight of the object would be greatly reduced and the electronic scale readings would be wildly different. The take home message is don't use the electronic scale anywhere but on Earth, preferably at sealevel.

Jerry Liles

[Cherokee]

balance beam rules, check weights and zeroing. With a digital, you never know if its right unless confirmed with the BB. I learned that the hard way.....

[W.R.Buchanan]

I have a Redding #1 I got in 1971. I just got a digital a few months ago. It is faster.

If you don't calibrate them you never know if they are right or not. use the check weight.


I have also been using the Sierra Bullet method for along time to check my Redding scale. Point being using a known weight to check the scales readings. Being set upon a level surface kind of helps too.

Scales will sometimes read different in different ranges. It might be dead on at 100 gr but read a .1 or two high or low at 400 gr. This is why you calibrate at several different weights.

My cheapo digital is +/-.1 after it is warmed up, and is much faster to use.

Someone above stated that dead nuts accuracy is not needed, and that's completely true. Repeatability is what matters.

.1 gr of IMR4895 is 5-6 granules of powder. A variation of this amount means nothing.

Randy