Recommendation on Calipers

[17+1]

Watch eBay for a Mitutoyo 505-637-50.
Used ones occasionally sell for under $30 and are FAR nicer than anything else you will get under $120 new.

[Romeo_alpha01]

Another vote for Mitutoyo here

[JagerDog]

No practical advantage for reloading, but better tools feel better.

Made my living (in part) with calipers. Abstained from digital for years, but eventually crossed over once Mitutoyo came out with their Absolute line. Auto on (wake up)and auto off (sleep) regardless of where the jaws were when it went to sleep. I'd guess most do that now. Battery lasts for years. Nice to be able set zero wherever your want as a comparator. Quite useful when checking a lot.

I do have a set of HF's I picked up in a reloading lot and have had no issues with the battery dying prematurely. They do the same job as my Mits, just feel like crap with sharp edges and such.

[67Cuda]

Evidently, re-loaders aren't craftsmen. I find doing things much more enjoyable using a quality product. But, to each his own.

Craftsman? You strike me as the Snap-On Tools type. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[bazineta]

Pretty much what JagerDog said. I normally use Mitutoyo and have no complaints. In a moment of weakness I bought a set of Hornady digital. They seem as accurate and have the same auto-shutoff, etc., but they're sharp enough to cut you easily, and that gets old fast.

[OpenSightsOnly]

Since Xmas is just around the corner, might as well spend $$$ for a new caliper

[ar15barrels]

Any issues buying used? I looked at Ebay and saw several advertised. The descriptions leave me wondering about the condition with vague language

Look for them being clean and the needle pointing straight up towards 12:00 when they are closed.
That means they have probably never been dropped.
The gear can jump a tooth on the rack when they are dropped or mis-handled.
Assuming no other obvious damage like a missing lens, bent measuring tip or bezel damage and the needle pointing at 3:00, 6:00 or 9:00 when they are closed, they are usually great calipers once you slip the reset tool down inside and reset the gear to it's proper position where the needle points to 12:00 when closed.
After you look at a bunch of different listings, you will get an idea of what nasty ones look like compared to really nice ones.
Just watch the listings for a couple months and a buy-it-now will pop up for a great deal compared to how clean it is.

The 637's are all Japanese made which are the good ones.

[ar15barrels]

I don't care about dead batteries. I use dial caliper because I like the way you can see the dial change/sweep as your adjusting it. Numbers flashing on a digital display just aren't the same.

There is also MUCH info in the movement between the scale markings that's not obviously available with flashing numbers.

[ar15barrels]

I have yet to see a knock-off of old used Mitutoyo calipers.
The model that I mentioned is an OLD model that has been made for 30-40 years.
The knock-offs are of the new models or are priced oddly.
The knock-offs will be Chinese and maybe even are the exact same ones as Mititoyo sells in their Chinese line since the Chinese factories have no qualms selling their OEM products to any buyer who wants to buy them.

[TAS]

My preference for reloading is a set of dial calipers. They’re Chinese made but all metal and work well.

That said, I have a nice digital set from Starrett that I like and have never had battery issues with them. My HF digital set on the other hand has been terrible.

[RNE228]

I think we're thinking the same thing; I just didn't explain very well

There is also MUCH info in the movement between the scale markings that's not obviously available with flashing numbers.

[woolybugger]

I am a machinist and anything from mitutoyo brown and sharpe , starrett or tesa is good quality.

[Odd_Ball]

Spent $40 on a used Mitutoyo 505 637-50 from eBay

Watch eBay for a Mitutoyo 505-637-50.
Used ones occasionally sell for under $30 and are FAR nicer than anything else you will get under $120 new.

Look for them being clean and the needle pointing straight up towards 12:00 when they are closed.
That means they have probably never been dropped.
The gear can jump a tooth on the rack when they are dropped or mis-handled.
Assuming no other obvious damage like a missing lens, bent measuring tip or bezel damage and the needle pointing at 3:00, 6:00 or 9:00 when they are closed, they are usually great calipers once you slip the reset tool down inside and reset the gear to it's proper position where the needle points to 12:00 when closed.
After you look at a bunch of different listings, you will get an idea of what nasty ones look like compared to really nice ones.
Just watch the listings for a couple months and a buy-it-now will pop up for a great deal compared to how clean it is.

The 637's are all Japanese made which are the good ones.

So based on this thread, I took a chance on a used eBay Mitutoyo 505-637-50 shipped for $40 and change and thought I'd post the results for others who might consider going this route.

I recieved them today and my initial impression is they feel much, much nicer than the cheap $20 Lyman dial calipers I've been using since I started reloading. When I close the Mitu's down to measure, once things are square and lined up the initial reading is pretty much spot on and repeatable very soon after closing the caliper. With the Lymans, once I close the calipers I still need to apply a little more force (like I am tensioning the caliper) to get to a point where the readings are consistent and repeatable. The Lyman's seem to need a little more finesse and a little more "push" to get a good reading.

The only problem with the Mitu's is that they read consistently 0.001" shorter than the Lymans, which at first I though was a problem with the Lyman calipers untill I checked using on a set of 1" and 2" standards that came with my Harbor Freight mircometers. After many readings at full close and at 1", 2" and 3" using the standards, I determined that if I zero out the dial & needle at full close then it will consitently and reliablly read about 0.001" SHORT at 1", 2" and 3". Conversely, if I zero out the dial & needle at 1", 2" or 3" using the standards, then at full close it reads about +0.001". However, it will keep either "zero" that I set it to, return to it consistently and repeatably, and any measurements taken are consistent and repeatable.

While that's not ideal, I think it will be workable for reloading purposes as long as I keep track of the proper zero. For now I set the dial to read +0.001" at full close so that at 1", 2" and 3" the dial will be "zeroed" so to speak. I'll try the Mitu's out and compare them with the Lyman's for a bit, but from what I can tell so far from using the standards, they do read accurately and there seems to be no cumulative or compounding error (from 0" to 3" at least); its just that the dial loses or gains 0.001" at some early point.

Of course, I should also mention that I did clean them up a bit as they were a little dirty:

• Removed movement off of the beam, removed the gib and its two set screws, but did not disassemble the dial at all.
• Used a pipe cleaner slightly damp with mineral spirit to clean inside the movement housing where the beam goes through, but made sure to keep things dry. Dry out gently with compressed air.
• Unscrewed the gear rack off the beam and cleaned well with mineral spirit on a q-tip, and brass brush on the gear rack teeth. Compressed air then a very light coat of mineral oil on beam and gear rack only, wiping as much off as possible (no oil inside movement).
• Polished plastic dial cover with Flitz and cleaning patch to remove haze and scratches that were blurring the 2 to 5 o'clock region of the dial. The cover is now clear and sharp but I can see some very small, clear & crisp shadows of the bigger scratches that remained. Cover is now very useable.

Edit: Fwiw, I should clarify that I actually like the Lyman dial calipers for what they are, and especially for $20 to $30. I tried the Harbor Freight digital calipers for a while and quickly went back to the Lyman dial calipers. It just takes some time to develop the right feel for them and to gain confidence in using them since the technique used seems to affect the reading a little bit more than what I am seeing with these Mitu's.

[67Cuda]

Compressed air then a very light coat of mineral oil on beam and gear rack only, wiping as much off as possible (no oil inside movement).

Any lubricant attracts dirt. No lubricant should be used on measuring tools.
Except for thimble threads on micrometers, which is almost nothing to speak of.

[ar15barrels]

So based on this thread, I took a chance on a used eBay Mitutoyo 505-637-50 shipped for $40 and change and thought I'd post the results for others who might consider going this route.

I recieved them today and my initial impression is they feel much, much nicer than the cheap $20 Lyman dial calipers I've been using since I started reloading. When I close the Mitu's down to measure, once things are square and lined up the initial reading is pretty much spot on and repeatable very soon after closing the caliper. With the Lymans, once I close the calipers I still need to apply a little more force (like I am tensioning the caliper) to get to a point where the readings are consistent and repeatable. The Lyman's seem to need a little more finesse and a little more "push" to get a good reading.

The only problem with the Mitu's is that they read consistently 0.001" shorter than the Lymans, which at first I though was a problem with the Lyman calipers untill I checked using on a set of 1" and 2" standards that came with my Harbor Freight mircometers. After many readings at full close and at 1", 2" and 3" using the standards, I determined that if I zero out the dial & needle at full close then it will consitently and reliablly read about 0.001" SHORT at 1", 2" and 3". Conversely, if I zero out the dial & needle at 1", 2" or 3" using the standards, then at full close it reads about +0.001". However, it will keep either "zero" that I set it to, return to it consistently and repeatably, and any measurements taken are consistent and repeatable.

While that's not ideal, I think it will be workable for reloading purposes as long as I keep track of the proper zero. For now I set the dial to read +0.001" at full close so that at 1", 2" and 3" the dial will be "zeroed" so to speak. I'll try the Mitu's out and compare them with the Lyman's for a bit, but from what I can tell so far from using the standards, they do read accurately and there seems to be no cumulative or compounding error (from 0" to 3" at least); its just that the dial loses or gains 0.001" at some early point.

Of course, I should also mention that I did clean them up a bit as they were a little dirty:

• Removed movement off of the beam, removed the gib and its two set screws, but did not disassemble the dial at all.
• Used a pipe cleaner slightly damp with mineral spirit to clean inside the movement housing where the beam goes through, but made sure to keep things dry. Dry out gently with compressed air.
• Unscrewed the gear rack off the beam and cleaned well with mineral spirit on a q-tip, and brass brush on the gear rack teeth. Compressed air then a very light coat of mineral oil on beam and gear rack only, wiping as much off as possible (no oil inside movement).
• Polished plastic dial cover with Flitz and cleaning patch to remove haze and scratches that were blurring the 2 to 5 o'clock region of the dial. The cover is now clear and sharp but I can see some very small, clear & crisp shadows of the bigger scratches that remained. Cover is now very useable.

Edit: Fwiw, I should clarify that I actually like the Lyman dial calipers for what they are, and especially for $20 to $30. I tried the Harbor Freight digital calipers for a while and quickly went back to the Lyman dial calipers. It just takes some time to develop the right feel for them and to gain confidence in using them since the technique used seems to affect the reading a little bit more than what I am seeing with these Mitu's.

If your closed-jaw zero is not right with a standard in between the jaws, you might have the gib loose enough that you are getting an angular shift while you hold the jaws against the standard.
Or you are simply pushing too hard and bending the beam.
Another possibility is that you have a ding on the jaws that you need to stone out.

Try measuring a gauge pin and see if you can track that 0.001" shift to the location of the gauge pin within the jaws.
You should get more accurate measurements by being closer to the beam because that gives less leverage to make the measuring head lift off the beam from a loose gib.