Caliper Quality

[Fishslayer]

For reloading, any cheap caliper will work just fine.
High end ones like Starett, Brown & Sharpe, and Mitutoyo are complete overkill for reloading.

^^^ This. The Harbor Freight is GTG. I've been using one for years.

[frdman]

Thank you for all the feedback.

I'm leaning towards a dial caliper now from Starrett, particularly this one: http://www.starrett.com/metrology/pr...etail?k=1202-6

I'm an overkill kind of guy, OCD about my toys down to the smallest detail. At $88.39 on Amazon, I think I'll go with American made.

[cgates]

i dont like batteries and I dont like buying tools more than once. So I have a brown and sharpe dial caliper and its done its job very well. It was definitely not cheap but I dont ever plan on buying another one.

[billt]

I've used the Harbor Freight digitals for over a year, not had any issues. As noted in Fyathyrio's post with photos above, The Dillon (and others!) are the same as those sold by HF. On a whim, I purchased this dial caliper on fleabay a couple weeks ago for $18.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/0-6-STAINLESS-4-WAY-DIAL-CALIPER-001-SHOCK-PROOF-/300339619796?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45eda2e7d4

It has become my default reloading measurement device, replacing a good working Harbor Freight unit that was validated against a very expensive Mitutoyo unit at work (Aerospace) on the first of every month.

+1

I work in the aerospace machining trades as well and I have several of the inexpensive (Harbor Freight) models. They all calibrate just as accurately as my $135.00 Mitutoyo's do. You have to remember the electronic readers in these things are mostly all generic. So in that regard they will all give the same accuracy. Yes, the Starrett, Brown & Sharpe, and Mitutoyo models will no doubt have better heat treated steel in their construction. But considering the cost difference, the Chi-Com models are a far better buy, and every bit as accurate.

[xrMike]

The blue digital frankford arsenal caliper at midway was $20 on sale a few years ago and its been good enough to help make sub-MOA rifle ammo ever since. If I was getting into benchrest shooting I might upgrade then.

[AragornElessar86]

Mit or Starret only for me. Buy once, Cry once.

[lpspinner]

I've been using this one for several years now and I also have a Stainless Dial caliber that I bought from Midway 25 years ago that is still going strong.

[the86d]

I got a cheapie on eBay from China for less than $12.

It has "yet" to fail me... YET.

[morrow]

Calipers are prone to wear in several areas with abuse, like reloading, checking brass lengths quickly, sliding shells through, setting it down on the bench, etc. I would never use my high end calipers for that kind of abuse, that's what the cheap ones are for.

[wash]

i dont like batteries and I dont like buying tools more than once. So I have a brown and sharpe dial caliper and its done its job very well. It was definitely not cheap but I dont ever plan on buying another one.

I feel it is far easier to screw up a dial caliper than any digital caliper.

Just a little grit or brass shavings from your case trimmer in the rack and pinion of a dial caliper will make the travel feel rough. Digital just doesn't do that but every dial caliper will wind up crunchy unless it lives in a clean room or only measures parts that have been washed.

If you really hate batteries, maybe vernier calipers are the right choice for you.

[skyscraper]

I use the harbor freight digital calipers. So far so good.

[billt]

Midway calipers are Chi-Com, just as the $139.95 Lyman Ultrasonic Case Cleaners are the same Chi-Com model Harbor Freight sells for $74.99. I've been running one for 4 years now.

http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-95563.html

http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/case-prep/turbosonic-casecleaner.php

[Fyathyrio]

FWIW, on the pix I posted above, top (larger) is HF, bottom is Dillon, both are exactly the same. I've seen many other brands use the exact same measuring head even if the rest is different colors. I use the HF one for both reloading and measurements for vehicle repairs and such and find it accurate enough for my needs. I do have a 1" calibration standard I check it against every now and then, and it's always been spot on.

The nice thing about digital calipers for reloading is the ability to zero them out when using Hornady comparators and chamber gauges. Removes the possibility of a mental math error from causing issues with case sizing or OAL.

[Peter W Bush]

I had a dial caliper from HF that I kind of screwed up. I bought 2 used Mitutoyos, one from here and one from eBay, for around $40 each. I do hate batteries but the Mitutoyos are just so smooth, accurate, and repeatable. I think they are indeed overkill for realoading but for $40, who cares.

[G-Solutions]

You get what you pay for... I use a dial caliper from Midway for relaoding - worked well so far, but I have not been loading for accuracy up to this point. Once I get into that I'll likely invest into a Mitutoyo or Starrett.