RCBS 5 0 5 scale

[onegunred]

I'm thinking about buying a 2nd scale for backup, I have a 5 0 5 now, and noticed that the 5 0 5 is discontinued. Does anyone know why ? I like my 5 0 5. Thanks, Jerry

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Because RCBS started having their scales made in Mexico. Buy a used 5 0 5 and avoid the Mexican made junk ones. They are NOT the quality of the old Ohaus USA made 10-10's and 5-0-5's. They cannot be fine tuned do the the changes in manufacturing processes and the junk the new RCBS scales are made of.

I'm disappointed in RCBS, one of my favorite reloading equipment companies, for doing this.

[Petrol & Powder]

I've had a couple of old 5-0-5's and currently have a used one now. Don't be afraid to get a used one.

[ioon44]

I just bought a used 5-0-5, to me the 3 beam slides are easer to see. I also have a 10-10 but hard to read the numbers on the roller.

Hard to go wrong with RCBS.

[Bayou52]

My 5-0-5 is about 40 years old. I'm still using it regularly. It's still spot on accurate as confirmed by the use of checkweights at the beginning of each and every session.

Hard to improve on this kind of quality.

My 5 0 5 in action on the bench.

Bayou52

[gwpercle]

I picked up a used 5-0-5 on E-bay and love it. Got it for less than 1/2 price of a new one. It was not used very much, but didn't have the original box or instructions with it.
Look very closely at the photo's and make sure all the parts are 5-0-5 and not something put together from 3 different scales and it is in good condition.
Gary

[fguffey]

http://www.amazon.com/RCBS-Model-505-Reloading-Scale/dp/B001AYWXEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424895229&sr=8-1&keywords=rcbs+505+scale

F. Guffey

4 new, 3 used

[firebrick43]

The Dillion eliminator scale is made by ohaus and is nearly identical to the 505 and half the price.

The working parts are identical. Ohaus just makes slightly different bases obviously different colors for brand identity.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I just received my new RCBS 1010 yesterday from Adorama. It was $149.95 with Free shipping and that is the lowest price I have seen for this product NIB. I have several other scales but I wanted one of these as they are arguably the best mechanical grain graduated scale there is, and will act as my fail safe to check everything else.

I have a Redding #1 scale I have used on an off since 1971, and it was my first addition to my .243 Lee Loader Kit thus eliminating the dippers, immediately followed by a RCBS powder trickler. I then bought an RCBS Powder Measure, and was pretty much set for along time.

I also bought a Lyman DPS III a few years ago and it is a nice tool but is more for loading large quantities of ammo with stick powders where you need to weigh every single charge.

I have since converted to using my RCBS Powder Measure with the little Drop Tube they sell that has the trickler integral to it, onto a small Franklin Digital Scale.

So far this is the fastest to setup and easiest to use way I've tried in my many years of doing this. I can literally be set up and running from a bare bench in less than 5 minutes. With stick powders I set the PM up to drop short by about .5 gr and trickle in the rest, with powders like H110 or other ball powders I can get the measure to drop .1 gr less or dead on, verify on the scale and dump into the round waiting under the powder charging die. This is actually faster than the DPSIII and I don't have to wait for 30 minutes for the machine to "warm up."

But you still have to have a really good mechanical scale just in case, and to check all your other methods. I got the 1010 for this purpose.

Randy

[Motor]

My RCBS kit (1985) came with a 5-10 scale. From what I've seen its a little more "high tech" than the 505. I've had good service from it ever since.

Just saying so you know there is a 5-10 model and its a good scale.

Motor

[Yodogsandman]

I'd just like to add that a low cost, small digital scale, such as a Frankford Arsenal 750 ($23 eBay) could be used to check your other scale and act as a back up. That and it speeds up boolit weighing a lot.

[mtgrs737]

My very first scale was a Ohaus 505 that my girl friend bought me 40 years ago, I still have it (and her too!) I bought another 505 that is a twin to my first one so that I could set one for powder drops and one for shot drops when reloading shotshells. I cannot praise these scales enough, they work very well and are accurate and easy to read. Many reloaders are going to the electronic scales and I never will due to the fact that I just don't trust them 100% to me gravity is 100% in my book. I also have a Redding scale that I sometimes use and I can recommend it also. Keeping it simple is not a bad thing.

[engineer401]

You cannot go wrong with the 505. Every time I try something else, I go back to the 505. Just like the Rock Chucker, it just works.

[ioon44]

My last electronic scale died so I think I will just use the 505 scale for every thing.

[Mal Paso]

Several years ago I bought a Check Weight Set as a 5-0-5 was the only grain scale I had at the time.

I could have saved the money, the 5-0-5 was perfect. The weight set came with tweezers to handle the weights as fingerprints throw the accuracy off. Something I hadn't thought of.

[largom]

I'd just like to add that a low cost, small digital scale, such as a Frankford Arsenal 750 ($23 eBay) could be used to check your other scale and act as a back up. That and it speeds up boolit weighing a lot.

Most digital scales are accurate to +- 1/2 grain. I use mine [Dillon] to weigh boolits and brass. For powder I use my Ohaus 5 0 5 .

Larry

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I just received my new RCBS 1010 yesterday from Adorama. It was $149.95 with Free shipping and that is the lowest price I have seen for this product NIB. I have several other scales but I wanted one of these as they are arguably the best mechanical grain graduated scale there is, and will act as my fail safe to check everything else.
Randy

Randy,

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but those newer RCBS scales are now made in Mexico, not by Ohaus, using a different and inferior manufacturing process. They are not the scale they once were. I would advise using the Redding scale you have as a reference instead. And I'm a big RCBS fan, owning one of their Pro 2000 auto advance progressives. You can confirm this by noting the casting no longer shows the address (cast into the underside) in Florham Park NJ where Ohaus manufactured the scale.

[cajun shooter]

It's sad that all the good ole companies have reached the 21st century and are now flooded with bean counters who only look at the bottom line and things such as quality are not in their vocabulary. It's all grab the money and run and don't worry about returns as we are making 50% more by using Mexican labor. Sad very Sad!! Take care David

[Steve77]

I recently picked up a newer RCBS 505. It is lousy compared to my vintage Ohaus 505. The newer one had one magnet in the damper installed upside down. Once I amended that, the scale works fine. Clearly, there could be some quality problems with the new stuff.

[1066]

I've recently seen new 10/10 scales made in China - They still say manufactured by Ohaus NJ cast in the base - The cardboard box clearly says made in China or Mexico. I also have Dillon Eliminator scales made in Mexico. - The quality would make you weep.

Search round for a good used RCBS 5-10, an old Lyman M5, A Redding No2 more than 5 years old or even a Hornady/Pacific "M" type. All far better quality than the current production.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I've recently seen new 10/10 scales made in China - They still say manufactured by Ohaus NJ cast in the base - The cardboard box clearly says made in China or Mexico. I also have Dillon Eliminator scales made in Mexico. - The quality would make you weep. I fairly recently spoke to a guy that is an expert tuner on the Ohaus scales made in the United States and improves the scales to the point they really weigh extremely close. He won't take in the Mexican made scales to tune and he stated several reasons, quality being one of them. But more important, he mentioned something about the balance beam and the part that rests in the "V." He stated it was no longer made using the same process and the new process had stamped parts that "could not be made accurate."

Search round for a good used RCBS 5-10, an old Lyman M5, A Redding No2 more than 5 years old or even a Hornady/Pacific "M" type. All far better quality than the current production. This is absolutely the way to go. I have a Redding scale and a buddy uses an older Dillon. Both excellent scales as well. The older Dillons are very similar to the older 5-0-5's.


Your posting of the casting makes me wonder if Ohaus has gone out of country with their manufacturing.

[1066]

Your posting of the casting makes me wonder if Ohaus has gone out of country with their manufacturing.

I think that's exactly what's happened. The ones made in China have a small paper label "Made in China" stuck in the base of the scale but they all have cast in the base Manufactured by Ohaus NJ.

Here's just a couple of typical examples, the first one, the pan hanger bearing is way out of true - This isn't just the odd one it's most of them.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v639/allan1066/th_20140210_194958_zps52708e7c.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/allan1066/media/20140210_194958_zps52708e7c.jpg.html)

And here's a new 10/10 with the knife edges skewed about 15 degrees.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v639/allan1066/th_Snap_20130928_16h27m38s_001_zps130c31a0.png (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/allan1066/media/Snap_20130928_16h27m38s_001_zps130c31a0.png.html)

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Yep, typical chinola rip off copy. I did a bit of net research and apparently Ohaus has quit manufacturing the two RCBS scales and their other beam scales of the same model. So apparently RCBS took a scale to the chinese, who promptly copied it, including trying to exactly copying the casting.

[1066]

Yep, typical chinola rip off copy. I did a bit of net research and apparently Ohaus has quit manufacturing the two RCBS scales and their other beam scales of the same model. So apparently RCBS took a scale to the chinese, who promptly copied it, including trying to exactly copying the casting.

I really don't think these are "Fake" RCBS scales. They are sold by reputable official RCBS dealers.

I think Ohaus make or have them made in China/Mexico to cut manufacturing cost. The cardboard box is clearly marked RCBS 10/10 scale........Made in China/Mexico.

The scales are selling solely on the past reputation of RCBS/Ohaus scales - They must be making a colossal profit on each scale produced. A 10/10 scale now costs $320 in the UK, they must be costing just a pocket full of loose change to produce in China.

There's not one good beam scale in current production. :(

[W.R.Buchanan]

I guess my post got here a little late but here is my retort to your quote.


Randy,

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but those newer RCBS scales are now made in Mexico, not by Ohaus, using a different and inferior manufacturing process. They are not the scale they once were. I would advise using the Redding scale you have as a reference instead. And I'm a big RCBS fan, owning one of their Pro 2000 auto advance progressives. You can confirm this by noting the casting no longer shows the address (cast into the underside) in Florham Park NJ where Ohaus manufactured the scale.

Dave: Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but my scale is made by Ohaus as confirmed by the address on the bottom. But I guess it is really made in China as witnessed by the "Made in China" sticker on the bottom..

China is better than Mexico?,,,, Right?

As a Machinist/ Toolmaker/and part time Process Engineer I tend to look at stuff rather closely and the casting on this scale was probably done in the original dies, and it is perfect.

And I did look this thing over really well since I paid $150 for it, I can find no flaws in the thing anywhere.

One thing that we all are going to have to get used to is the fact that China is making really good stuff now and they get better every day. Sure they still make cheap stuff too, but those things are made for Walmart and the Dollar Store. Everything that is big is assembled from parts made in many different countries... It's all about Thinking Globally!

Go to Harbor Freight and look at the wrenches and sockets sets they are selling for 20% of what even Sears sells these tools. They are as good or better IMHO. Besides, I'm pretty sure Craftsman tools are made in China anyway.

However one thing that has always stuck in my Craw is the fact that my 95 Dodge Dually was made in Mexico! However it just went over 20 years old and 190K and is still my most reliable vehicle.

Sometimes the actual mitts that touch the product don't matter as much as the actual engineering that is supposed to have weeded out and idiot proofed the manufacturing and assembly processes so that the nationality of the mitts don't matter. In short anyone that can work a Impact Wench can do the job.

Mercedes Benz builds cars in Mexico in a plant the Germans designed and built and ride herd on like hawks. This is how you get good stuff made cheaply. You completely Idiot Proof the process so that a Chimpanzee could assemble the product.

Most of the steel available here now is made in a steel mill in Korea that was built by the Germans. All those American Jobs are gone and they ain't comin' back

Lenses for the vast majority of optical devices are made in China on Japanese Lens Grinding Machines ran by Chinese workers closely supervised by Japanese Engineers.

The new fuel lift pumps for both of my Cummins motors both came from China, and still cost Bosch money!

The days of the good old "Made in USA" are pretty much gone and now the whole game is getting the cheap guy's quality up to snuff ,,, Which is happening more and more every day.

You see any Chinese worker has the ultimate motivation to do exactly what his bosses want him to do,,, And that motivation is 10,000 guys outside waiting to take his job if he doesn't cut it.

Very happy with my RCBS 1010 which appears to be virtually identical to any other RCBS 1010 that I have seen. The true test is zeroing the scale at 000 and then weighing the 250 gr test weight. Mine weighed 250.05 or 1/2 a tenth off.

That is close enough to be used as a standard.

Randy

[W.R.Buchanan]

Another thing directed in general ,,,,

Quality is not in the "opinion" of the beholder. It is a product of fit, finish, and function.

AS long as all of these are present and above the norm,,, the product is of "good quality."

If you look at the "Made in China sticker" first and then turn you nose up you are going to miss out on a lot of equipment. more and more as time goes by. Get used to it!

You should be looking at and evaluating the product as to it's usefulness to you in your shop and the value you get for your money.

Why should someone buy a Snap On 3/4" drive socket set for $600, when a $35 set from Harbor Freight will do the job for you the one time you have to do it. Sure the Snap On tools maybe of higher quality but you can't use them enough to either appreciate that quality or get any value in use from the product . The $35 set pays for itself in one use!

Expecting a product to be perfect just because you have spent your "Hard Earned Cash on it" doesn't necessarily mean you are going to get what you ''think'' you paid for. In most cases you are going to get what you "actually" paid for, when the product is corrected to todays value of a dollar.

A $400 gun today is not going to be as nice as a $400 gun from 30 years ago. Mainly because a $400 gun from 30 years ago would now cost $1200 to build.

I see this a lot with guys jabbing Marlin about their level of quality. Marlin was bought by Remington because they were going bankrupt. They had Union Members who were not living up to the reasons why you hire Union Members and as such their quality had gone by the way side.

Remington's task was and is to completely re engineer the Manufacturing Processes to produce these guns on modern machinery at a price that will keep Marlin as a viable member of the generic gun market. The most recent Marlins I have seen are made really well and are still $4-500 guns. Sure the wood is not exhibition Grade, and the fit is done by CNC routers so it is not perfect like it would be on a custom gun,,, but,,,, You are still getting exactly what you are paying for.

Marlins are not now and have never been "high end guns." They are generic working mans guns.

What people don't seem to understand, and since they are not involved in the manufacturing business they probably shouldn't be talking but, When you are building something where there are 100-200 different steps to making a finished product, and there are 30 variations of that product , it takes a while to get all the bugs ironed out. and then add the fact that you have to do this to 30 different guns and you have a monumental task.

And that task is not something that should be bad mouthed when you know nothing about what it takes to accomplish it.

This subject has always bugged me and thanks for listening to my BS.

Randy

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Hey Randy,

If it really is that good, why don't you contact Scott Parker and see if he'll accept that china made copy for fine tuning and let us know what he says. I'd be interested to know if he'll accept it.

[firebrick43]

Another thing directed in general ,,,,


Why should someone buy a Snap On 3/4" drive socket set for $600, when a $35 set from Harbor Freight will do the job for you the one time you have to do it. Sure the Snap On tools maybe of higher quality but you can't use them enough to either appreciate that quality or get any value in use from the product . The $35 set pays for itself in one use!

Randy

Bolts that require 3/4" ratchets require lots of toque. Lots of torque generate lots of energy. Ratchet pawls slipping/shearing cause broken fingers and busted knuckles.

Cracked/broken sockets create more trips to town, possibly 100's or 1000's in down time, and mangled bolt heads.

Broken handles cause broken jaws(its happened, that made a snap on set look cheap!)

While I have some snap on sockets, most are older craftsman(which quality in the last few years is going to hell, because of china) but all my ratchets are snap on in smaller sizes and wrights in larger. I don't warranty broken craftsman tools any more as the Chinese replacement will fail very quickly. I just replace it with a wright or Williams(USA MADE ONES), both very high quality (Williams is same forgings as snap on) with a rougher finish but much lower price.

There are some things that you don't cheap out on. Tires, brakes, wifes anniversary gift, heavy duty tools with lots of stored energy! All these things may prove detrimental to your health and well being and lower your life expectancy.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Fire brick: you know what I am saying here. 99.9% of the public couldn't get enough use out of a 3/4 drive socket set in a life time to justify it's cost.

Dave: who is Scott Parker and why would I want to send him my scale to tune up when it is within a 1/2 tenth from one end of the scale to the other? 1/2 of one tenth of one grain means exactly squat. I think that number is less than 1 Iota isn't it?

I really don't understand the hub bub about these tools. These people stand behind all of their products. I buy tools for my machine shop based on what I need to do, and sometimes I buy cheap stuff if it is only going to be used once or twice at most and still does the job.

As far as this scale goes Why would RCBS sell a ***? These scales are made for Ohaus and they are exact duplicates of the scales Ohaus used to make here, but now can't afford to. All the engineering was done here and I bet all the tooling was made here too. Does it really matter who's beer cans they melted down to cast the base? The base could be made from literally hundreds of different materials and still be adequate for this purpose. All the rest of the parts are either screw machine parts or stampings which could be made anywhere and not affect anything.

RCBS has a pretty good name and to sully it with bad products seems counter productive. Also if there was anything wrong with this scale I just bet they would give me a new one.

Since this conversation started I have had a real close look at my new scale. I see no place on it where it is inferior to anything in either materials or workmanship. In fact it looks pretty damn good to my some what trained eye. Even the paint looks good and the Hammertone finish is consistent thruout the whole base. The plastic cover is perfect the pan is perfect and the beam appears to be perfect as well. What else is there?.

I guess if I had an older one to compare it to, I might be able to see some difference. But since I don't I'll just have to live with this one. I had no intention of paying the same price for a used US made one that may or may not have been abused. I know the history of this one. This is why I bought this one. After watching Ebay for a couple months I didn't see anything that was better or even as good. All the older scales were visibly "Used."

Randy

[jmorris]

If it really is that good, why don't you contact Scott Parker

What ever happened to him? Last email I sent to him was returned with a "this user doesn't have a yahoo account" message and phone call with voice mail were never returned.

[GEBURUH]

Fire brick: you know what I am saying here. 99.9% of the public couldn't get enough use out of a 3/4 drive socket set in a life time to justify it's cost.

Dave: who is Scott Parker and why would I want to send him my scale to tune up when it is within a 1/2 tenth from one end of the scale to the other? 1/2 of one tenth of one grain means exactly squat. I think that number is less than 1 Iota isn't it?

I really don't understand the hub bub about these tools. These people stand behind all of their products. I buy tools for my machine shop based on what I need to do, and sometimes I buy cheap stuff if it is only going to be used once or twice at most and still does the job.

As far as this scale goes Why would RCBS sell a ***? These scales are made for Ohaus and they are exact duplicates of the scales Ohaus used to make here, but now can't afford to. All the engineering was done here and I bet all the tooling was made here too. Does it really matter who's beer cans they melted down to cast the base? The base could be made from literally hundreds of different materials and still be adequate for this purpose. All the rest of the parts are either screw machine parts or stampings which could be made anywhere and not affect anything.

RCBS has a pretty good name and to sully it with bad products seems counter productive. Also if there was anything wrong with this scale I just bet they would give me a new one.

Since this conversation started I have had a real close look at my new scale. I see no place on it where it is inferior to anything in either materials or workmanship. In fact it looks pretty damn good to my some what trained eye. Even the paint looks good and the Hammertone finish is consistent thruout the whole base. The plastic cover is perfect the pan is perfect and the beam appears to be perfect as well. What else is there?.

I guess if I had an older one to compare it to, I might be able to see some difference. But since I don't I'll just have to live with this one. I had no intention of paying the same price for a used US made one that may or may not have been abused. I know the history of this one. This is why I bought this one. After watching Ebay for a couple months I didn't see anything that was better or even as good. All the older scales were visibly "Used."

Randy
I purchased a Chinese 5-0-5 scale
It take about 3 seconds longer than my old one to give a reading
also the base is so light that you need to add weight to it
It is very accurate but slow & needs weight added to base

[EDG]

This article discusses Chinese labor costs. The paper was written by a Judith Banister a former statistican for the US Censur Bureau.

http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2005/08/art3full.pdf

[Tackleberry41]

I was not impressed with RCBS when I went to go buy a new scale. Had a 502 bought back in early 90s when I started reloading, the balance beam and pan got lost in a move. They wont sell those parts 'calibrated' was the answer I got. Okay so bought a new one. Wow what a difference, the old one was Ohaus, the new one the base weighed about half as much. And out of the box would not zero. I know just take some shot out, but guess that means they did NO QC on it. The adjuster screw threads were not right, was afraid to chase them as thin as the housing is, so old base new beam.

I guess that beam is not exactly a calibrated part like they told me. The reviews on places like midway did not fill me with confidence on RCBS other scales. Same stuff, shoddy casting, etc, etc. If Ohaus still made them they would be 2x the cost, and they would lose sales, so they went with low quality to maintain market share. Its funny as some tend to look down on Lee, but at least they don't charge extra for the lower quality.

I have an old pacific I got off ebay, but it won't read consistent. Weigh a charge, then check it on my RCBS and Lee, its off sometimes light sometimes high. Not sure if its just worn out or not adjusted right.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I have 2 electronic scales, a Dillion and a Hornady auto dispenser/scale. I also have 2 old RCBS scales, an 5-0-5 and a 10-10. I also have packed away in their original boxes 2 Redding #1 scales, 1 has a nickle colored beam and the other has a brass colored beam. Of all these scales I rely on and use most often the RCBS 5-0-5. I have 2 sets of lab check weights from my college days that I check the scales with from time to time, the RCBS and Reddings have never varied.Robert

[mdi]

Wow. really disappointed to hear RCBS scales are now being made in Mexico and China. I've been using a Lyman/Ohaus for mebbe 20 years and it still works, but was seriously thinking about a new scale (just because). Was looking at the 5-0-5, but I guess I'll check out the Redding scale...

[shooterg]

I have 2 old ones, one labeled Ohaus, one RCBS. Both fine. But knock Lee if you must - my Lee scale is just as accurate, if not as fast to use.

[David2011]

My backup to my older 5-0-5 is another older 5-0-5. A buddy that has a 10-10 told me it doesn't do a better job than the 5-0-5 in his opinion.

David

[dragonrider]

I have two 505 scales and they are my go to units. Easy to adjust and easy to read. You can't beat em with a stick.

[1066]

A buddy that has a 10-10 told me it doesn't do a better job than the 5-0-5 in his opinion.

David

There's no reason that it should - the 10/10 shares exactly the same knife edge/floating agate bearing set-up as the 502 and the 505.

[Tackleberry41]

So what is a good scale to buy? I looked on Midway, and alot of them have pretty bad reviews, they all seem to be made by the same place, just different color. So all seem to share the same issues.

The hornady is claimed to be US made on Midway. But still had a decent amount of bad reviews. Lyman has apparently gone to plastic housings vs metal. Midway barely has a selection of balance beam scales, I know everybody is going electronic, but I prefer the old way.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I kind of think you need both and electronic scale and a mechanical scale. One thing I noticed about my 1010 is that the movement of the beam as you added individual granules of powder was smooth and consistent. I literally could be seen to move when adding one granule of 4895 at a time. That is pretty sensitive.

The Electronic scale can be as much as .05gr - or .05 gr + and still read the same number, then when it clicks over to the next number it can be the same amount off. Really this doesn't amount to anything in loading ammo, but the mechanical scales are more accurate if you want to split hairs.

You can quickly check one against the other too which is reassuring.

Randy

[Tackleberry41]

The Electronic scale can be as much as .05gr - or .05 gr + and still read the same number, then when it clicks over to the next number it can be the same amount off. Really this doesn't amount to anything in loading ammo, but the mechanical scales are more accurate if you want to split hairs.
Randy

A friend thats all he has is a basic RCBS electronic scale, I don't like it. Balance beam you can trickle in a little watch the beam get where you want, or leave it a little shy, but you know how much. His, you trickle, its not there, its not there, its not..oh now its over.

[Litl Red 3991]

Most digital scales are accurate to +- 1/2 grain. I use mine [Dillon] to weigh boolits and brass. For powder I use my Ohaus 5 0 5 .

Larry

Actually, most digitals are +- one tenth of a grain.

They are so fast, it's easily possible now to sort an hours worth of casting output in a minute or two. And that makes it possible to sort your reloading output if you wish, or instead of sorting being your goal, you could simply run those 50 cartridges over the digital to look for double powder charges or what happens more often, un-charged cartridges. Funny thing is I didn't feel the necessity when I was younger. Even funnier was discovering how much more accurate my match ammo is thanks to the sorting AND a lot less funny has been discovering how bad a choice flake powder is for lighter loads.

I load "cowboy" pistol loads in 50 round runs. It takes just over a minute to check for short-seated primers by sitting them on a flat surface. My choice of surface is the platform of a $25 digital. If it rocks, the primer isn't seated enough. The weight that shows up on the digital tells me if that round got double charged or is uncharged. My right hand moves that cartridge off while the left is placing the next one on the platform. A couple of seconds per bullet costs a couple of minutes tops. The confidence gained is priceless.

[Ric-san]

I just drop checked my electronic scale...time to get me a 5 0 5.

[brassrat]

I just ruined my old 505. It was someone elses but mine for a few yrs. I made a plastic bottom and poured range scrap and a bunch of spent primers in and filled with melted candle wax. Gave it a real good cleaning and polish of knives. Made my base much more solid and put in a perimeter of a couple of screws and other. This thing seems to be awesome now and showed a Horn. 45 gr J-word as exactly on. Thanks to someone, somewhere with this mod, a few days ago.

[EDG]

A digital can work ok for weighing a solid object such as a case or a bullet.
However they are not so hot for powder, especially trickled in power and very light loads of powder. The scales are subject to stick slip and to load cell resolution errors. If you want to believe plus or minus one tenth of a grain if you want to but that will never cover the stick slip issues. Your complaint about flake powder points right to the problem with digital scales.

You should consider changing your process control. Weight variations in bullets or cases can fool you into thinking you are ok when you you have an error.
It is better to look into the case and check the powder height.


Actually, most digitals are +- one tenth of a grain.

They are so fast, it's easily possible now to sort an hours worth of casting output in a minute or two. And that makes it possible to sort your reloading output if you wish, or instead of sorting being your goal, you could simply run those 50 cartridges over the digital to look for double powder charges or what happens more often, un-charged cartridges. Funny thing is I didn't feel the necessity when I was younger. Even funnier was discovering how much more accurate my match ammo is thanks to the sorting AND a lot less funny has been discovering how bad a choice flake powder is for lighter loads.

I load "cowboy" pistol loads in 50 round runs. It takes just over a minute to check for short-seated primers by sitting them on a flat surface. My choice of surface is the platform of a $25 digital. If it rocks, the primer isn't seated enough. The weight that shows up on the digital tells me if that round got double charged or is uncharged. My right hand moves that cartridge off while the left is placing the next one on the platform. A couple of seconds per bullet costs a couple of minutes tops. The confidence gained is priceless.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

One can find perfectly good used scales on E-Bay (and some that are not) for reasonable prices and get around the controversy about where the newer ones are made and by who. many of the vintage models made by Pacific, Redding and others are still around. They were solidly built. I have been using a couple of brown crinkle finished Reddings for many years and they work well. Worn scales can be tuned and will deliver good accuracy. A good set of weights will keep them honest. LLS