newbie reloader Cheap digital scales (stupid question no 1)

Don't bother. I'm pretty sure that scale is in .001 grams. One one-thousandth of a grain is a darned small measurement.

Get a real reloading scale. I have the Lee, they are plenty accurate enough. Find a second hand anything made for reloading.~Muir
 
I have that one and 3 others and they are a crapfest for reloading.

They are not consistent. Affected by heat, cold, breeze, fluorescent lights and mood.

Don't waste your money. Beam scale or something like the RCBS digital scales.

It's not just the money it's your sanity that will go out of the window.

I once spent ages weighing a box of 500 bullets. Had to do it over again in the end and up to that point reset zero frequently..

Aargh!
 
In my experience the readings given by cheap digital scales are like tarts knickers.
I use an RCBS 505 with a webcam to my laptop. Accurate beyond belief!
If you have the patience for them to stop oscillating the Lee scales are as good as any.
 
Are other brands of beam scales less boingy than the Lee ones? Like you say it takes real patience. Or is the Perfect Powder Measure the solution to turning out a batch?
GH
 
Yes the cheap Lee scales have very poor magnetic damping of the beam.

Again RCBS or OHAUS which come up on eBay from time to time are much better.

The Perfect Powder measure is a good solution and great value for 20% of cost of the RCBS Uniflow. The Lee model is more plasticy and static prone so takes just a little bit more thought but is a solid performer none the less.
 
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Lee scales work fine if you don't treat them over agressively (at least mine does!) - if you are gentle with them they settle perfectly ok in a couple of swings. Chuck a load on them too quickly & they take longer. -- At least they aren't over damped, which can lead to poor readings & sticking.

The cheap digital scales I have work ok to +/- 0.1 grain & are pretty repeatable - close enough for double checking powder loads. - I never trust just one scale - always double check.
It would be nice to have more accuracy but along with that comes more potential interference from temperature/draughts/vibration etc .

The biggest problem I have when weighing & dispensing powder is static. Some of my shoes are good electrical insulators & I have to take them off to earth myself, or powder granules stick to anything plastic (funnels etc) making accurate loading very difficult.

Ian
 
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Made my own funnel from the corner of a biz card box, took a couple of hours, total fail because of static LOL.
 
After using Lee Safety Scales I bought a set of RCBS 10-10 scales 2nd hand off a member. The difference was worth every penny! They may both weigh charges but in terms of ease of use the 10-10s are fantastic. Also when I get round to upgrading to a targetmaster the 10-10s will come into their own.
 
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I'm surprised by the lack of faith in the digi ones as I use a powder thrower and weigh every charge and the variance seems fine, I also weigh all my bullets and they seem to be fine, the calibration weight that comes with them is also good.

My groupings seem to suggest consistency so far...I usually try to have each charge within 0.1 grain, so for 223 last night I was doing for 26.1, if it was going to 26.2 I would let it through but only let it go up not down (no particular reason for this) I do sometimes want them dead on though and just keep re-throwing until I get it bang on.

Regards,
Gixer
 
Don't bother. One one-thousandth of a grain is a darned small measurement.

Get a real reloading scale. I have the Lee, they are plenty accurate enough. Find a second hand anything made for reloading.~Muir

X2
 
I have a lee safety powder scale it never seems to go back to zero twice in a row

Mine works well if I make sure that the damper plate is equally spaced in the gap by the magnet at the left hand side of the beam. - It does tend to underperform if it isn't centralized.

Ian
 
I can never trust batteries and circuits that may be affected by temperature and electrical variation, just can't see the potential error?

Certainly not the run of the mill cheapies anyway?

Scales and test weights?
 
I can never trust batteries and circuits that may be affected by temperature and electrical variation, just can't see the potential error?

Certainly not the run of the mill cheapies anyway?

Scales and test weights?


But if you test them with the calibration every now and again why would they be wrong?
 
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