Scale Check Weights

[azcoyhunter]

I have just acquired a Scale,
But I want to make sure it is accurate.
What are the best check weights to use?
What do you use?

How much does a dime? Penny? Nickel? Quarter? weigh

I guess it would depend on which nickel you have......

[mooman76]

Coins have different weights due to wear and metal content. I made my own by weighing some different size pieces of brass on a beam scale and then I wrote on them with a marker the weight.

[Reverend Recoil]

I use the Lyman weight set to calibrate my scale. I worked well.

[Kskybroom]

I use 10 Cast bullets (430) Differant alloy, numbered. Weighted on Five fellow relaoders scales, We trade once a year

[Le Loup Solitaire]

One can of course buy a set of checkweights ready made, but they aren't cheap like a lot of other things these days. A popular route to go is the use of coins. It is not practical to go by dates on them as alloy content has changed for some of them over the years. They should be clean and once weighed should be kept together in some small container such as a pill bottle. Handling them with a tweezer is considered good practice. In the realm of U.S. coins you have the penny, nickel, dime and quarter and the half dollar if you can still find one of those. I made a set many years ago and had a friend who was a pharmacist weigh them for me on his work scale. I recorded the weights on a label and taped it to the outside of the container. Not everybody has a friend in a pharmacy so other suggestions would include a jeweler, an assay office, or someone with a reliably calibrated quality (the last 3 words are important) scale...electronic or beam. You can also use coins from other countries..instead of U.S. as well as add them to the ones listed above. Filing notches in coins will change the weight and enable you to have a larger selection of identifiable weights if you need them, but you have to keep a visual record of what you did and pay attention when using them. It is not an area where you want to or can afford to... make mistakes. The second alternative for checkweights and not using coins, is the use of short lengths of wire. Copper is popular but other metals will also work. A small prob with this choice is being able to identify which one weighs how much, and the only way to do this is to keep track of them by how long each one is. That has to be recorded too or else it becomes a PITA. Flattening the end of each piece of wire with couple of taps of a hammer keeps the sections from rolling around in the scale tray. You can control how much each section weighs by snipping or filing the lengths. Then you have to get them weighed precisely, the same as was done with the coins. With a little care and patience you can do a good job and make yourself a good set of checkweights that will serve you for a lifetime. LLS

[myg30]

If you want to save $$, get someone to weigh a primer[about 3.1g] or 2-3 of them. If they are all the same weight than you can check weight up to that amount. Keep THOSE ONLY for checking weights cause they can vary some. My lyman that I sent out to be refurbished [$25] has come back ok but the very low end is off .2g or so. Not to big a deal but its nice to have a dead nuts reading on low weights of pistol loads of 3-5grs which is where I do most of my loading. Keep dust off your scale,cover it. Make sure its on a level surface too.
Good luck, be safe and double check your max loads to be sure.

Mike

[Edubya]

I don't accept any scale as; "absolute" and that is the same as for as weights go also. I do use the scale as a "comparative indicator". It's like the "groups" that we shoot. If I aim at the exact same spot and the boolits hit within an acceptable spread, the load/boolit is good. This is why we use the lower loads as a starting point for working up loads. I usually will load up many different charges with the same specifications (COL, brass and boolit) before I shoot the first one.
With a new or different scale, or even if I move the scale, I will verify the "zero" and if the scale comes with a "check weight" (as does the RCBS 10-10 scale does) I'll use it too. But, what we use is just a "comparative monitor".
A good shooting boolit has to be consistent, not necessarily just like someone else's.
EW

[jhrosier]

A new US (clad) penny weighs 38.58 grains.

Jack

[imashooter2]

I've posted this several times. I passed a shiny new dime around to all my friends to weigh on their sales... Results in grains:

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

"A man with a watch always knows what time it is. A man with two is never sure."

My opinion is weigh something like a dime. Record it and save it. Work up your loads as always. Use the "check weight" to determine if your scale is damaged at the start of each reloading session.

[deltaenterprizes]

A Sierra 30 cal 168gr match bullet is pretty close to a check weight, they are awsome in their consistancy.

[Ben]

Ditto what deltaenterprizes has said above !

[montana_charlie]

I will verify the "zero" and if the scale comes with a "check weight" (as does the RCBS 10-10 scale does) I'll use it too.
Did you know that isn't actually a 'check weight'?
CM

[Edubya]

It's marked as "250 gr" and when the scale is leveled and confirmed at "0", I put it on the scale and set the poise at 250 and it shows a balanced scale, I consider it as a "check weight". What do you call it?
EW

[montana_charlie]

It is to be hung on that little pin on the left end of the beam to increase the scale's capacity.

Actually, my weight has 500 GN marked on it.
With the weight stored in it's holder, the scale will measure weights up to 510 grains. With the weight hanging on the beam, the scale has a maximum capacity of 1,010 grains.

That's why it's named the "10-10" scale.

Do you have an instruction sheet for yours?
http://www.rcbs.com/downloads/instructions/Model_10-10_Scale_Instructions.pdf

CM

[technetium-99m]

Meh, I care about consistency greatly, so all I really need is something to make sure the scale reads the same each session. If it's off a few tenths overall I'm okay with that as long as it's consistent.

[Mk42gunner]

Since I am somewhat paranoid about scale calibration, I bought a set of RCBS check weights almost 20 years ago. The cost is minimal for the piece of mind you get from knowing that your scale is correct.

Robert

[deltaenterprizes]

It's marked as "250 gr" and when the scale is leveled and confirmed at "0", I put it on the scale and set the poise at 250 and it shows a balanced scale, I consider it as a "check weight". What do you call it?
EW

It would be called a counter weight.

[lwknight]

Egads!
The 250 grain weight is exactly a 250 grain check weight that also doubles as a 500 grain counter weight.
The 500 grain stamp does not change the fact that it weighs exactly 250 grains.

[1hole]

Ditto on the 1010 "check weight" . It is to extend the range above 505 grains and to do so it has to have a precise weight. Precise weights are, by definition, check weights. ??

But as post #7 states, we don't actually need precise weighing capability anyway. If we buy a set of Lyman check weights and find our scale is off .2 grains (unlikely, but possible I suppose) what could we do about it? There is NO way to change the reading except to file on the beam notches to move the poise slightly, but then removing metal from the beam anywhere along it's length would foul up the accuracy at all other points!

The only thing we could attempt is to made the correction in our heads when we work around that point but...that really wouldn't be practicle either, would it!

But all we really need is to be consistant, as #7 points out. If we read 65.4 grains when it's really 65.2, why would it matter so long as we can set the scale for 65.4 gr. many years later and precisely duplicate the previous charge?

I use my 1010's weight to confirm that nothing has affected the scale since I last used it. In some 46 years, the beam has always quickly settled on exactly what is marked on the side of the extender weight (260.9). Figger the scale will still be as dead on accurate after another life time of use. Don't figger ANY digital scale will last nearly as long, no matter how much it cost or the color of the case. :)

[JSnover]

A Sierra 30 cal 168gr match bullet is pretty close to a check weight, they are awsome in their consistancy.

:groner: Why didn't I think of that? I got a whole cabinet full of check weights downstairs!

I finally built a leveling plate for my scale since my bench is an old oak table with no flat surface area after so many years of warping and swelling. Just one of those things that really isn't necessary but it gave me something to, put my feeble mind at ease....

[TAWILDCATT]

lyman has check weights at $21.64 midsouthshooters.com