Cheapo Powder Scales

[mdi]

I don't remember seeing any reports on those cheap, portable electronic scales as sold on ebay (about $19.00 or so). Some are advertised to hold .1 gr. Do they hold zero? How accurate are they?

thnx
Mike

[Texasflyboy]

How accurate are they?

The one you get at Harbor Freight for 12 Bucks or so is not safe for loading ammunition.

It will not register changes smaller than 1.0 grains reliably.

Most of the el cheapo scales under $20 need to be checked and rechecked for repeatability for less than 1 grain. I use a Lyman check weight set. When I start with a 1 grain weight and add 1 grain, the scale shows zero change. If I start with 5 grains and add one grain, again, zero change.

The cheap scales seem to be bad a small light charges, so I pass on them.

YMMV.

[hotwheelz]

I have been using the RCBS RangeMaster 750 Electronic Powder Scale for about 2 years works great not cheap but they go on sale alot.


http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpag...722&t=11082005

[Echo]

I have one of these little guys - checked the weight of a 311291 boolit - 174.9 grs. Great. Checked another - 174.9 grs. MAN! Am I a caster or what! Checked another - 174.9 grs. Hmmm... Checked another - 176.8 grs. Hmmm... checked another 174.9 grs. Hmmm squared. I don't think I will rely on this particular scale, - in fact I think I may donate it, or something...

[wiljen]

Wideners sells one by SmartReloader for <$30 and it has worked well for me. Stays cal'd well and works well. Only aggravation is the automatic shutoff that I wish you could disable.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I've been using a couple of Reddings....old ones-- for a few decades now. They didn't cost much, especially by today's price standards. The scales are the old crinkle brown finish and were designed to be used with oil in a little resevoir. I don't use that feature and let the beam swing. But they are super accurate and I check them before each use with a set of scale weights. I also had a pharmacist weigh a (copper) penny, nickel, dime and a quarter.....wrote down the weights that he recorded and use them as well as a cross check. I just believe that the last place in the game of rolling your own ammo where you don't need or shouldn't have a mistake occur is the one dealing with weighing powder. So fooling around with cheap scales from any source is an invitation to poor accuracy or worse still... a serious problem. Bargains that are not reliable or that can't be trusted to weigh consistently are a poor choice and they're risks. LLS

[cuzinbruce]

Electronic scales - I was thinking about buying one, then I checked out the feedback from customers at Midway. The RCBS and Lyman units that meter specific charges of powder. Seems like a great idea. But the reports from people using them are a mixed bag. Some say they are great, others say the charges can vary big time. To the point of being dangerous. Others have had defective units, multiple returns. I think both companies are selling ChiCom stuff so I guess that's what you get.
On another note, a couple years ago I had bought some used reloading stuff and wound up with 5 powder scales. An old brown crinkle painted Redding, a couple RCBS, a Lyman 505 (?) and an Ohaus. (They may all have been made by Ohaus?) So I set them up in a line on a table and started checking them. I used pennies, tiny camera batteries, a paperclip, a bullet, and some apothecary weights I had. The apothecary weights were in grams, but I converted the weights to grains with a calculator. Guess what, they were all in the same ballpark. Accuracy was comparable within a tenth or so. And the apothecary weights, converted to grains, were right on the mark on all the scales. And these were not real expensive units, the Lyman might have been a bit more because it had a plastic case that snapped on, but the others were basic scales.
It really didn't make much difference. So I picked one out to keep and put the rest on eBay. For now, I am sticking with a scale and measure, not going to the electronic metering unit.

[montana_charlie]

I bought a low priced 'jeweler's' scale on eBay for weighing bullets. You know that's a slow process on a beam scale.

This one was supposed to be good to .01 grams or (more importantly) .1 grain. The first thing I learned is it always reads in even nmbers...550.2, 553.6, 551.4, etcetera. Never shows .1 or .3 or .5 and so forth.
So, I contacted the seller to make note of that and ask if it was to be expected. The seller never answered...but she sent me another scale.
(Now I had two scales that won't read to one tenth of a grain.)
But, it works OK for bullets. Two tenths is close enough for me in slugs that weigh over 550 grains.

Interestingly, I was loading cartridges last evening. I was planning to use a powder charge that I have not yet tried, and I didn't know where to set the adjustment of my Redding measure. I always set the measure to throw a couple of tenths light, then trickle up to the correct weight on the beam scale.
I decided to use the little electronic to find the initial setting for the measure, and it got me close enough pretty quickly.

After I was setup and loading, I would dump a charge in the pan for the Ohaus 10-10, lay it on the digital scale, then move it to the beam. The digital reading turned out to be a reliable predictor of how much trickling would be needed to bring the charge up to full weight.
It was also an instant indicator on those occasions when I bumped the measure a little hard...and got more powder than I wanted.

I would not use it as my only powder scale, but it was interesting to use it alongside a trustworthy one.

CM

[monadnock#5]

JoeB set up a testing protocol for scale accuracy a while back. I ran through a test with an old Lyman beam scale, and found that weighing powder charges, it was very accurate. With boolits over say 350 grns, not so much. The extreme spread was in the .4 to.6 range.

A scale that's both fast and accurate, from 1.0 to 600 grns, beam or electronic, ain't easy to find at the prices we're willing to pay.

[Lee]

I've got 2 or 3 different cheapo powder scales. So, electronic scales 101;

1. Keep the scale on a level, hard, rock stable surface. Period.
2. Always place the boolit, powder scale, etc. in the same position on the powder scale. Put it on one corner, then the other, is a guaranteed way to obtain weight errors. Period.
3. Don't drop items on the scale surface. Period.
4. Keep the battery fresh. Period.
5. Keep the scale out of drafts and air currents. Period.
6. Use a check weight frequently. It's electronic, iy's quick, check it often. Period.
7. Check against a balance beam scale every so often. (What's your hurry?) Period.
8. If it doesn't work following the above, use it as a trap/skeet target. Period.

[Southern Son]

I have seenthe Frankford Arsenal and another cheapo one over here, and there is no way I will rely on them. I have spoken to a couple of blokes who said they are rubbish. The instructions for one of them said that you have to turn it on and let it warm up for 30 mins before use, but it turns itself off after 2 minutes of inactivity???????? I have a Dillon De-terminator. It is my second. I bought the first one and had it for 3 or 4 years, then one day it just stopped working. I took it to the gunshop and they sent it to the importer who gave me a brand new one. I have had this one for 6 years or so now. Running it off mains power you can turn it on 30 minutes before you go to use it and it will be ready to go, right on the money, and consistent as all get out. I keep a bullet nearby just to make sure it hasn't "drifted" while I am going, but if you let it warm up, it don't drift at all.

[cuzinbruce]

FWIW - I have seen warnings about using electronic scales near flourescent lights. Something else to think about.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

After 26 years as an Electronic's Technician, part of which time was involved extensively with electronic scales, I can attest sincerely I have one and only one time of scale on my bench: magnetic beam made by Ohaus via RCBS.

Regards,

Dave

[Dark Helmet]

Watch out for vibrations, like from an airconditioning compressor-drove me nuts till I figured out why the thing was drifting after it had plenty of time to warm up- now I have to find a place that the vibes won't get to it.