Need digital scale recommendations

D

DaggerBlade

Inactive
I am looking for recommendations for a digital scale. I reload a few thousand rounds a year. 38 special, 357 magnum and 44 magnum. I currently use an RCBS balance beam scale. I am beginning to question its accuracy. I am looking for something reasonably accurate and reasonably priced.
 
I just bought the little Hornady one for around $35.00. Seems nice and came with a calibration weight, but I can't pass judgement on it just yet because I'm still setting up my bench. I happen to have the RCBS balance beam scale, and when I last reloaded it was perfectly accurate. I have read here that some reloaders use both and check back and forth to ensure accuracy. Your three cartridges are what I reload as well, so our requirements should be the same
 
I use the Lee balance beam and check with the same Hornady you use. It's slow reading when you trickle so wait a few seconds before adding more to it. My favorite scale is the little Frankford Arsenal the best although they all 3 read within a 1/10 of a grain of each other. Make sure you don't have a ceiling fan or any other kind blowing around you. I kept watching all my scales keep jumping up and down and ceiling fan on low was doing it.

I weigh each load individual and check every 2 or 3 loads on all 3 scales. I'm still new enough not to trust anything yet.
 
MTM, perfect and cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/MTM-DS-750-Mini-Digital-Scale/dp/B003TNZ37U
I have used mine for three years almost daily and still haven't even changed the batteries. The backlight is great and its as repeatable as my beam. Really pleased with it. I also tried the cheapo of eBay for like ten bucks, it was just terrible, only measured in .2gr increments

It is not slow to trickle with the MTM either.
 
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I've got a Frankford Arsenal that I use quite regularly. It has a little deviation in but I'm mainly using it for range rounds. I'll use my beam scale when I need precision.
 
DaggerBlade: Specifically which RCBS balance scale do you have, and how old is it?

Describe briefly why you are questioning its accuracy.
 
I don't trust the setting marks on the Lee scale that comes with the press kit, so I bought one of those inexpensive Frankford Arsenal digitals. Found by far the best price at Cheaper than Dirt. I don't know which is more accurate, but at least I can tell exactly what the digital is saying the weight is. With the silly tenth marks on the Lee scale, if you change your point of view even slightly the reading changes.
 
Nick, it is an early 80s RCBS scale made by Ohaus. I could not find a model number. Here is why I am questioning its accuracy:
I did somewhat of a backwards powder check. I started with a fresh 1 pound can of Bullseye (7000 grains). I loaded 550 rounds of 357 mag with 4.8 grains of Bullseye. I loaded 475 rounds of 44 mag with 5.7 grains of bullseye. I had approximately 655 grains of powder left in container (weighed on a digital kitchen scale). Doing the math that would be 2640 for the 357 + 2708 for the 44 mag + approximately 655 left in the container = 6003 grains of powder. A pound is 7000 grains so somewhere there is approximately 1000 grains missing. I weigh every 8-10 rounds and it was always spot on according to the scale, so if the scale is off it is consistently off. I should add it was done with an RCBS UPM with the large cylinder. I have since ordered a small cylinder.
 
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cecILL, unfortunately I did not weigh the Bullseye first. I bought two 1 pound containers at the same time. I have since weighed the second one and it weighs 1 pound. I guess there is always the possibility that the container was short 2 ounces.
 
Like cecILL, that was my first question: did you weigh the B'eye before you started?

I have an RCBS "510" scale from 1984. It looks like the current production "505," except it has the rotating "drum" (like the 1010), instead of the slide weight for the 10 grain part. It was an excellent scale for me. But I believe the magnets got tired in it and it started behaving funny. So I bought a new 1010 about a year back.

Before you spring for a new scale, I'd recommend getting some check weights:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/49...check-weights-605-grains?cm_vc=ProductFinding You're gonna need them anyway - whether you buy a new scale or not.

BTW, I weigh my cannisters when I buy them. I get them home and put them on my kitchen scale (gross weight, in Grams). I then record the weight and the date purchased on a sticker that's affixed to the cannister. I do this so I can just put them back on the scale as I use them to see how much I've used or how much is remaining (I already know the weight of most containers empty.)

The last batch of Bullseye I bought (three pounds, all from the same lot), each pound was actually short by about 8 Grams each. No, I didn't complain, given the current state of powder availablity ;)

Getting back to your situation, I'm not convinced you have a scale problem. I think you should get the check weights first.

And I recommend balance scales anyway. They're more accurate for the buck. Nothing against digital scales. But IMO, I believe to get a truly accurate one, the cash outlay is considerable. Most digital scales have Grams as their native terminology; so when they internally convert to grains, they sometimes will skip a 1/10th grain due to the internal conversion and subsequent rounding up or down. For instance, it may display 4.5 and 4.7 grains, but will not display - ever - 4.6 grains, due to the internal rounding. It's a common quirk of digital grain scales. And it tells me that their actual sensitivity may not truly be up to snuff. Just my opinion. Balance scales have the drawback of being cumbersome to use (for many folks). Me personally, I rather like the ritual of setting up and zeroing the scale. I like all my time at the load bench, it's a hobby, not a chore. But I digress.
 
Dagger, I think not having weighed the "supposed" pound of powder first is what is screwing up the math. You are trying to confirm your scale's accuracy using a true unknown.
 
Just a thought but a set of calibration weights costs less than a digital scale & will be deadly accurate whatever you use them in.
The worst that could happen is you'd KNOW fershure if you were on or off.;)
 
I bought a set of the deluxe RCBS check weights the other day to check both my 30 year old Ohaus 10-0-5 and a new RCBS ChargeMaster Duo. The old beam scale is still dead on (even if the magnetic dampening isn't what it once was) and the new one is also! What I did notice though, and expected, the beam scale is very sensitive to how you set the pan on the holder (human error/repeatability) and the digital takes some of that variance out.

Other thing that I have noticed on digital versus analog is the fact that with the analog you can see (kind of) the 6.55 or 6.45 grain charges visibly, whereas on digital to the tenth grain measure you can't - 6.55 shows 6.6 and 6.45 shows 6.5 (just an assumption on the actual numbers as I look at the same charge on the beam scale). Meaning on the slight changes in charge I can see the needle a hair over the 6.5 mark (or under the mark), on digital it is always going to round up or down.

I do not know which is better, but the digital is much easier to use for sure! But, I still always double check against both scales every once in a while during a reloading session...
 
Regarding the MTM recommended above - I do not have it, but neither can I ever imagine any reloader using it. Just looked at the Amazon listing, and it says accuracy is +- 1 grain!!!! Not .1, just 1. Maybe that is a typo, but there are enough questionable reviews I do not think I will take a chance.
 
Gem Pro 250.

Reads hundredths of a grain with a resolution .02 grains (the typical budged digital reloading scale is around .2 grains).

This scale is accurate, warms up quickly, doesn't drift, and is a huge improvement from the 50 dollar digital I tried (and quickly rejected). My old scale only indicates weights of a tenth of a grain and that's not good enough.

If you're going to weigh powder, you want and need something you can rely on both for shooting small groups and to prevent shooting your eye out because of a dangerous over charge. The GemPro costs a few bucks more but it's WELL worth it.

I carefully cut a disc from a piece of heavy card stock paper which exactly matches the size of the indentation in the weighing platform. I glued it to the bottom of my RCBS combination scale pan and powder funnel. Now I can set the pan on the scale and it will settle into an exactly centered position and stay there. This helps repeatability and is a trick which will work on any scale.
 
My Hornady not reliable . . .

I also have the Hornady that runs about 30 bucks and has the calibration weight included. Mine shuts itself off which means frequent re-start and re-tare. Plus it simply is not consistent. I only use it to get me in the general area of the weight of powder I'm looking for and then switch over to my balance scale. Maybe mine is a lemon but I would not buy another.

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
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