Scale drift, new scale time

J

John0011

New member
I think that it is time to pickup a new scale.
I had a charge of 6 grains of 3N37 sitting on a RCBS RangeMaster 750 scale, and after loading 20 rounds the scale crept up to 6.4 grains.

I zeroed the scale and weighed a charge and it said 6 grains.
It always crept up a bit but never that much.

I am looking for a digital, and I took a look at midway and came up with

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012716355?pid=395863

Anny thoughts on the Frankford Arsenal?

Anny recommendations?
 
After a lifetime of use, my RCBS 505 started doing that. I called RCBS and they said it needed new agget's. Sent them to me for free and working on the second lifetime now! The agget's are those blocks the beam rides on, simple fix it was.
 
Don Fischer said:
After a lifetime of use, my RCBS 505 started doing that. I called RCBS and they said it needed new agget's. Sent them to me for free and working on the second lifetime now! The agget's are those blocks the beam rides on, simple fix it was.
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I have a RCBS scale with Agate balance points.

It is real hard for me to rationalize that the Agates could "wear out" inasmuch as all they do is support the balance beam when it teeters back and fourth. I don't understand how they would be subject to enough friction to cause a problem.

On that note, I have had about three of so electronic scales over the years, starting with an RCBS Partner. They all eventually failed. My RCBS balance beam scale has lasted many (had it before 1986), years and given my experiences with the electronic scales, will never again use anything else.
 
It is this simple. Get a scale. Get check weights. When check weights don’t check out....send it for repair or replace. Without check weights, we are guessing.
 
I could not decide between a beam or digital, so I bought an RCBS beam and the Smart Weigh GEM20.

I am thinking that I need to check and see what the powder drop is dropping with a new scale before I use any of the rounds that I just loaded.
 
9MMand223only said:
This was probably the best scale VALUE on planet earth, they used to be $40. Now they sell for $139.

https://www.martjet.com/aws-zeo-50-d...-x-0-001g.html

Their are copies, but you want the official branded AWS ZEO-50. Johnny's reloading bench loves it too, and he and I probably have 10 different scales each!
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I hope you didn't buy any for $139. Amazon has them for $28.90 I'm not recommending one way or the other, just saying.
https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-ZEO-50-Milligram-0-001g/dp/B00L3LUCJ4
 
I had a RCBS Rangemaster 750 also that did exactly as the OP.I purchased a RCBS 10-10 beam scale and called it done.
The RCBS was the first electronic I ever bought and it left a bad taste in my mouth-think I will stick with beam scales .
 
Weigh and record the weights of say nickle, quarter and dime or so. Use those in addition to check weights or n place of check weights. I have a sticker on the side of my PCBS noting the weights of same.
 
To use them as check weights, individual coins have to be calibrated by having your local compounding pharmacy weigh them on their highest resolution balance that will handle the weight. Without that calibration number, they just aren't consistent enough to serve as check weights.

To get them as identical as possible, when the quarters named after states were just finished being issued (last ones in 2008), I weighed 41 new-condition Utah quarters borrowed from a collector in the process of assembling gift sets of the fifty states. The extreme spread was 1.96 grains out of an average of 87.68 grains. It's just over about ±1.1%. A grain of error is nowhere near good enough for most powder measuring.

I did the same with 30 dimes randomly selected, and the error grew to ±1.26%, for an extreme spread of 0.88 grains out of an average of 35.03 grains. A plot of that measuring activity is below.

The bottom line is that once you realize you have to get the coin weighed for it to be accurate anyhow, then you are as well off to use a stainless washer. That way you can feel free to file it down to hit a target weight and to stamp the weight into to its surface, and there is no chance you will accidentally spend it.

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You can get a low cost scale and have a worse one than you have.

Better scales tend to last longer, but they are electronic devices and can go anytime. Ergo, RCBS does not have a life time warranty (grin)

Not sure why anyone needs to create check weights when all scales come with calibrated weights. Shoot, after your first scale goes you get to have extras, then more as the next one goes. Such is the life of low cost electronics.

Also keep in mind your pan once its weighted after calibration serves as a check weight. Take it off and you should have negative of the weight.

You get a check each time you drop a charge.
 
RC 20 - Also keep in mind your pan once its weighted after calibration serves as a check weight. Take it off and you should have negative of the weight.
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Great idea, the simplest solution that gets the job done is always the best.
 
Not sure why anyone needs to create check weights when all scales come with calibrated weights.
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Those are calibration weights. For my scale, they are 10g and 50g....what does this tell me about 20gr accuracy & repeatability. I can throw a check weight on, count to 3, and know it is right. I can do this 10 times and verify repeatability.

This gets kind of mental.....I’ll be loading 1000’s of AR plinking rounds all day long. Then I’ll see some drift in my charge data measured every 100ish.

Throw some check weights on the scale....yep, the scale is good and powder is dropping different.

Put a charge in the pan on the scale and it weighs 10gr. Wait 5 min and it weighs 10.8 gr. This is not a problem with the scale, but one of technique. Put your item on the scale, allow 3 sec to settle, take your measurement. If you wait, lift and reset your pan on the scale. Most scales have auto drift correction at zero. At weight, they drift. It is just a fact of life.
 
Unclenick's bar chart looks like one showing 30 muzzle velocities from 3466 fps to 3552 fps shot with exact 45.000 grain charge weights verified on a laboratory grade beam scale with .0001 grain tolerance.
 
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The grains/tenths scale fell off my 1010 scale. RCBS sent a new glue on for it, I bought a new electronic scale. The electronic was very erratic. Bought a Redding balance beam scale, very light weight and tiny for my big clutzy hands. Recalibrated my 1010, keep the electronic away from fluo light, cell phone, everything else, bought set of check weights so I can calibrate right on or at least within a half grain of my powder charge weight. Paranoid now, I DON'T TRUST ANYTHING EXCEPT THE CHECK WEIGHTS. And I wonder about them.
 
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