Digital scale? or standard Lee reloading scale?

[xrMike]

Just save your money until you can buy the RCBS + a voltage regulator:

[bohoki]

the lee scale and lee trimmers are the things that do not please me from lee

[Chief-7700]

I use both of Dillon's Terminator electronic scale and their Eliminator balance beam scale, they are within 00.01 of each other.

[CSACANNONEER]

Anyone who uses an electronic balance should ALWAYS run it through a UPS or with a battery. Remember that household current fluctuates a lot more than DC and the fluctations can and do affect the way they read.

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

I completely agree. I own several beam balances and two Denver Instruments electronic balances. The ONLY reason I see to buy an electronic scale marketed for reloading is if one wants a Chargemaster combo or another thrower/scale set up.

I use both of Dillon's Terminator electronic scale and their Eliminator balance beam scale, they are within 00.01 of each other.

How are you able to read either one to the nearest .01 grain? I bout DI e,ectronic balances which measure to the .01 and even the .001 of a grain but, I don't think the Dillon does. I know that I can't read my Dillon beam that accurate or precise.

[Chief-7700]

That just my number transposition kicking in. 00.0 is what I can measure, thank you for pointing that out.
Chief

[n5esr]

I use an Acculab 123 and love it. It is easy to calibrate, accurate to 0.02 grains (that is one kernel of Varget), and a breeze to use. They are lab grade instruments, but you can find them on the internet for under $280.

[rsrocket1]

You do not always get what you pay for. I would trust a $30 Lee scale way before I would trust a $30 digital scale. If it came to ease of use and simple operation, I would much rather have a $55 Dillon beam scale than a $100 electronic scale if I had to choose only one.

Dear OP,
Since you have access to a beam scale, you should always check your electronic scale against it. I have heard lots of complaints about the difficulty of using the Lee Scale, whether justified or not, but I have heard many more horror stories of digital scales drifting, giving out erroneous readings and being unsteady. Unless you can prove to yourself that the digital scale you buy does not drift, give false readings or does not vary in your particular loading environment, most bargain priced digital scales are simply not worth the uncertainty.

You certainly don't want a kaboom, but you also don't want to pull 200 bullets because you are not sure of the loads after you found out your scale was on dying batteries or cannot weigh a penny 10/10 times correctly.

[jak77]

I had a Lee scale that I could not get to work. My brother broke it and I bought a digital scale of Brian Enos' website. Come with a check weight and has never given me problems.

[CSACANNONEER]

I use an Acculab 123 and love it. It is easy to calibrate, accurate to 0.02 grains (that is one kernel of Varget), and a breeze to use. They are lab grade instruments, but you can find them on the internet for under $280.

Looks like a Denver Instrument with a different colored housing and name plate on it. If it is, it's the same one I use and pretty much the bottom of the line DI balance but, a hell of a lot better than any balance marketed to reloaders.

[killshot44]

I use an Acculab 123 and love it. It is easy to calibrate, accurate to 0.02 grains (that is one kernel of Varget), and a breeze to use. They are lab grade instruments, but you can find them on the internet for under $280.

Looks like a Denver Instrument with a different colored housing and name plate on it. If it is, it's the same one I use and pretty much the bottom of the line DI balance but, a hell of a lot better than any balance marketed to reloaders.

I've used a RCBS Rangemaster 750 digital for over a year. Great little scale, holds Zero well.
But since you just can't stop looking for improvements, I bought an Acculab VIC-123 (looked online forever, found ONE place with seven left - Acculab is gone, bought by another company, the replacement model is over $500) for $285. The Acculab is far more precise but even in the Very Unstable setting it still will wind drift .02 or .04 grains. No big deal, just hit the re-zero Button.

Anyway, I loaded up ten with the RCBS and ten with the Acculab, same charges....fired over the chrono I saw very little differences in ES or SD, but velocities were slightly higher with the Acculab. (went 24.40gr on the Acculab, 24.4gr on the RCBS)

My take away; the RCBS Rangemaster 750 is a great value. Was going to return the Acculab and spend the $ on something else but decided to keep it.

[ubet]

As mentioned you NEED to have a high quality beam, I like rcbs and or redding. Get a set of scale weights, and check them with those. I have used only a couple of digitals, I dont trust them, have heard horror stories of them throwing way off after getting cold, being turned off for along time etc.

[gorblimey]

For me, rifle reloading is "moving zen". Slow is fine, and good tools add to the enjoyment. I use a 10-10 where it counts, with a random Chicom digital crack rock scale for quick unimportant measurments.

[SKSer]

I've used the hornady scale a little and it was trash. You can put the exact same charge on 3 different times and get readings that varied .5-6 either way. That is way to much play for me. I use the lee safety scale and it works good for me. Most people have a hard time using the hash marks to get the tenths dialed in and also locking it, so they dont like it.
I just make sure it's zeroed before I start charging and I get consistent charges and I find it pretty sensitive. I could be dropping a few sticks of powder at a time while I am trickling up and watch the beam move to where it should be.

[five.five-six]

pony up and get the dillon d-terminator <sp> one thing you can do is zero it with a casing then charge the case with the charge in it, can't do that with a beam scale

[Merovign]

I don't think I could reload if all we had was balance beam scales. Certainly not anything where I measure each charge.

I got the cheap FA scale, it's not good enough. You have to spend money, and do some research online on lab scales, IIRC there are some "midrange" scales in the $100-200 range that compare to the Acculab 123. I need to do that research again myself, actually.

You're not likely to find something good enough for less than $100, but I'll post back if I find one.