RCBS 5 0 5 scale

[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