Digital scale? or standard Lee reloading scale?

[surfish95747]

A friend has a RCBS digital scale and it worked wonderfully. I am thinking of getting a digital scale but don't want to spend the $100 for it. I see scales going for $30 from Hornady, and Frankfurt Arsenal. Are these worth it or should I just wait to get the more expensive ones.

[Chief-7700]

You get what you pay for. When it comes to dealing with things that love to go BOOM, I use the best equipment available.

[thai562]

I just upgrade to a digital Scale, and had this question in mind. End up getting a Lyman $100ish digital scale.
The answer to your question is all piece of mind. Do you want to trust your powder amount on $30 scale? I also keep my Lee scale to double check every now and then.
Just want to be safe.

[XDRoX]

Here's the low down on scales.

-You need to have a good one.
-Quality beam scales work great and will last a lifetime (The Lee scale is not good quality).
-Digital scales are a nice luxury, but cheap ones are not good quality.

Here are the scales that I continually recommend.

The Dillon beam scale for $55:


The Dillon digital scale for $140:

[GeoffLinder]

If you don't already have a decent beam balance, I would suggest getting one of those first. IMHO, relying on only a digital scale is not a good move

[bubbapug1]

I have three scales, on frankford arsenal digital and two balance beams. Since I got the digital I only use the beams for postage. The frankford is accuarate, repeatable, and not too expensive. At times I check it against its calibration check weight it came with and after one years time it hasn't creeped at all.

Digital is so much faster, I wish I had it three years ago. It allows me to check weigh all of my loads where I could possibly have a double charge, like my 45 acp and 44 mag. I can sort brass by weight faster if I so choose.

[TimRB]

Remember that even the "expensive" digital scales made for use in reloading are cheap scales. Compare with scales built for scientific and engineering purposes.

Beam scale technology is *completely* wrung out. The things have been used, basically unchanged, for thousands of years. I've been using my 505 for over 30 years, and it's worked perfectly every time. YMMV

Tim

[Bill Steele]

I have two beam scales, a cheapie Lee and a $150 RCBS 1010. The RCBS had a manufacturing defect from the factory that I fixed and it works fine now. The cheapie Lee scale is just as accurate as the RCBS scale. The difference is the Lee takes a fair amount of patience to get good at using it.

Personally, if I had it to do over, I would buy the Dillon beam scale pictured above, I think it is the best value in this range.

[bumpo628]

+1 on the Dillon Eliminator beam scale pictured above for $55. You can buy it at Grafs.com.
The Lee beam scale is accurate, but hard to level, adjust, and read.

Always buy a beam scale first, then a digital. Double check with both from time to time.

[Revoman]

Buy a good quality beam and leave the digi's behind, too much margin for error. Some don't function properly when around wireless or cell phones, dirty power or florescent lighting.
Beam scales don't care about any of that stuff and work without power or batteries.
The RCBS 1010 is one of the best beams out there (IMO).

[AIMSMALL]

I use digi, beam is too slow and I'm not measuring my powder charges on the scale, just checking that the powder measure is throwing the same weight every time. I usually check every 40 rounds I load.

[LGB Loader]

don't ask how I ended up with this but I have 4 beam scales and 1 digital.

I love the digital as it comes with the powder throw but I can't help but check it against the beam.

In case your wondering:

1 RCBS chargemaster combo
1 RCBS 1010 beam
2 RCBS 510 beam
1 Lee cheapy

I have every intention of passing one of the 510's to my brother and I got the Lee out of curiousity from a fellow Calgunner. I admit the Lee works ok but a bit slow.

LGB

[Munk]

don't ask how I ended up with this but I have 4 beam scales and 1 digital.

I love the digital as it comes with the powder throw but I can't help but check it against the beam.

In case your wondering:

1 RCBS chargemaster combo
1 RCBS 1010 beam
2 RCBS 510 beam
1 Lee cheapy

I have every intention of passing one of the 510's to my brother and I got the Lee out of curiousity from a fellow Calgunner. I admit the Lee works ok but a bit slow.

LGB

eventually, i think I may get the chargemaster... it's such an awesome system.

I've got an RCBS 5-0-5 and it serves me well. Whena friend was working up a rather high pressure load we measured every. single. charge. of. powder. to the exact 10th of a grain he wanted for over 100 rounds. It did the job and it worked as fast as we needed.

[rob1105]

Buy what ever works for your budget. I have a RCBS beam scale and it does the job. If you want to be sure your scale is accurate buy a set of weight standards to check the accuracy of your scale. IMHO every scale should come with a weight standard.

[mark2203]

I have the $~20 Frankfurt Arsenal electronic scale and it works well. Would like to upgrade to a beam scale at some point but this works fine for my purposes at this point.