Calipers??

[kcstott]

Jeez, for what you guys are talking about you could buy a dozen Harbor Freights.

If coolant and cutting oil will ruin them, don't put coolant or cutting oil on them.

you've never worked in a machine shop have you?? coolant and cutting oil get on everything in a shop and hence it gets on your tools too.

[JagerDog]

you've never worked in a machine shop have you?? coolant and cutting oil get on everything in a shop and hence it gets on your tools too.

I have for 30 years (not much anymore, but the first 20 were full time). About 10 years with dials and digital since. I have the dials "just in case", but the digitals have been problem free. I did replace the digital once as I lost the battery cover and the new model's cover was slightly different.

Over time I have skipped a tooth on the dials a few times. Some you have to disassemble and trial/error it back to obtain zero in the right position. Mitutoyo dials have a nice feature to disengage the pinion to return zero.

I have a pair of HF's I picked up in a lot purchase. Not very comfortable (could stand to be de-horned), but they seemed to have solved the short battery life issue.

Nice to be able to switch to metric or readily move "zero" for comparative measurements.

There are "coolant proof" digitals, but they cost considerably more.

[jimmythebrain]

There are two camps...

A- a cheap unit will get the job done.
B- buy the best

if you are loading pistol ammo and rifle plinking ammo and under 200 yard hunting rifle ammo then a cheap set will do.

If you plan to do long range rifle shooting buy the better calipers.

I have about four sets of calipers and mainly still use a Lyman Dial indicator caliper I bought from Midway on sale about 15 years ago. It did skip a gear once after being dropped, and I fixed that in about 15 minutes.

I also have a very expensive set of digital calipers that I use around the house for other projects.

Since I mainly reload pistol calibers on a progressive machine, I do not need that much accuracy. Once the dies are set, I just load up some ammo and periodically check OAL as I crank out ammo in 500 round batches.

So what are you reloading? and what kind of machine?

[mikeinla]

There are two camps...

A- a cheap unit will get the job done.
B- buy the best

if you are loading pistol ammo and rifle plinking ammo and under 200 yard hunting rifle ammo then a cheap set will do.

If you plan to do long range rifle shooting buy the better calipers.

I have about four sets of calipers and mainly still use a Lyman Dial indicator caliper I bought from Midway on sale about 15 years ago. It did skip a gear once after being dropped, and I fixed that in about 15 minutes.

I also have a very expensive set of digital calipers that I use around the house for other projects.

Since I mainly reload pistol calibers on a progressive machine, I do not need that much accuracy. Once the dies are set, I just load up some ammo and periodically check OAL as I crank out ammo in 500 round batches.

So what are you reloading? and what kind of machine?

9mm on a Dillon 650. I ordered both of the ones that I linked in original post.
About 5 years ago I purchased a Mitutoyo for almost $150 and it stopped working. They wanted $100 to fix it.
When the Mitutoyo was working I used it along with a CHEAP Frankford Arsenal caliper. They always had the same reading.
I purchased spare ones in case my battery dies.

[jimmythebrain]

While calipers are a must...
once you get them delivered
Buy/open a box of factory ammo and measure the OAL of 20 rounds.
The variability you will find is surprising.
Keep that in mind when chasing consistency on a progressive press. There are many tasks going on simultaneously and you will get a lot of variability in OAL on your reloads.
Between the bullet profile variances in a single lot of bullets, brass tension, primer pocket size, speed and force of press arm movement, press and shell carrier flex the loaded cartridge length will be all over the place.
Reloading on progressive presses are about speed.
Try not to get too distracted by relatively small swings in the 9 mm OAL. Unless you have very hot or compressed loads, it does not really matter.
I have a Hornady LNL progressive. Setting up the seating die seems easy. But the first rounds produced are a different length then what I first set. The trick I learned is making sure to have brass in all the shell plate spots when setting the seating depth.
But you probably already know this.
The calipers you bought should serve you well.

[M1NM]

Cheap harbor freight stuff is fine for what you need to check. Save your $$$ and buy more powder.

[RugerNo1]

[Distinct_Editz]

Recommendations for calipers???
I have some stuff to order from Midway. Would the Hornady calipers be ok for checking ammo??

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012741342?pid=417494

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012763320?pid=822768

National Metallic calipers have served me very well from MidwayUSA. If you want the best, Mitutoyo is the stereotype.