Is a Caliper By Any Other Name Just the Same?

[Low Light]

Has anyone bought or used the Harbor Freight dial calipers? Are these sufficient for reloading purposes? I know most of HF's stuff is cheap Chinese knockoffs, but turns out brands like Dewalt and Milwaukee are cheap Chinese knockoffs as well (Who knew?).

Keeping it on track; I need to get a set of calipers and the Harbor Freight ones seem sturdy enough so I'm wondering if the extra money for Frankford Arsenal or Hornady is worth it. Are they all the same? It is if they're American-made but if they're also Chinese, I'm keeping the extra money where it belongs.

[Colt562]

thats what I use is the ones from Harbor Freight seem to work fine.

[SixPointEight]

Most dial calipers and such are made by X company and branded by Y. They have the same internals and casings and everything, with different colored stickers and names. Even if the calibration is off by a couple thousandths, it won't matter. If you were a machinist, spend big money on your measuring tools. You're a shooter, spend the money on the guns/components because COL isn't measured on the micron level!

[DirtyDave]

If you are going to go cheap, go with a cheap digital. Do not go cheap on a Dial Caliper. Cheap Dial calipers feel like crap and are prone to jumping or losing their place easily. Cheap digital calipers seem to work fine but seem to go through batteries faster than the good brands.

My Mitutoyos have seen almost daily use for 12 years and I changed the battery for the first time last year.

[damndave]

Never used a HF caliper, but have heard decent things about them. I know a lot of people who use the Frankford Arsenal and like it a lot. I prefer a digital over dial. Just easier/faster to read.

[MIAMIbaseballer]

I've also heard pretty good things about HF. A caliper is not that crucial when reloading like a scale. If a round is too long, it wont feed/chamber. If it's too short (to cause damage), you'll be able to see it. So get whatever caliper you feel comfortable with and that works well, you shouldn't have any problems....

[The War Wagon]

How much MORE could a RELIABLE caliper cost?

[MIAMIbaseballer]

How much MORE could a RELIABLE caliper cost?

Reliable or accurate? Most calipers will work just fine for reloading because there is small room for error. And most do not trim pistol brass.

The RCBS digital one has great reviews for accuracy and reliability and it's around $70. Other than that, you're getting into the upper end calipers for machining...

[the86d]

I went with a cheap device from China such as:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Electronic-Digital-LCD-Steel-Vernier-Caliper-Gauge-Micrometer-Tool-150mm-15cm-6-/271025279668?

It has been very accurate, and I tripple checked everything when I 1st got them because I was concerned. I do like to buy American-made when I have the cash, but when I bought them I was broke, and since they still give me accurate measurements, I never upgraded...

[rsrocket1]

How much MORE could a RELIABLE caliper cost?

http://weldwarehouse.securesites.net/cgi-bin/einstein.pl?::1:WLDWH:1:504=505-676

These are good reliable calipers. I have both digital and dial calipers from Mituyo and they are reliable, smooth and accurate (checked periodically against references). Do you need such instruments for reloading? No.

As others state, I would rather have a good scale that accurately measures to +/- 0.05 grain and a set of $9 harbor freight digital calipers than a $200 caliper and a $10 Harbor freight digital scale.

[john16443]

Has anyone bought or used the Harbor Freight dial calipers? Are these sufficient for reloading purposes?

As long as that dial caliper has graduations that indicate 0.001", you're good to go. Matter of fact, I put my HF digitals into long term storage and use a dial caliper exclusively now.

[Dutch3]

I use a "Peacock" brand dial caliper. Made in Japan in the 1970s. Never any issues with it.

I used some digital units at work years ago, but never cared for them due to battery issues and often failing to read accurately. Then again, it was a pretty grimy environment.

[AJAX22]

I run mitutoyo's ... But my buddy is a machinists and he has 1/2 dozen of the harbor freight ones that he uses around the shop....

They seem to be quite accurate and having a bunch of them for the same money allows him to not have to waste time looking for them when he is running complex machining operations with multiple setups

[klewan]

I've got a couple of the HF's, I checked them against the standards that came with my Mitutoyo Combi-mikes and they were within .0005", basically the width of the needle between the hash marks.

[Low Light]

How much MORE could a RELIABLE caliper cost?

LOL! I hear ya. I guess it's more of a principle thing. I just happened to see them and I need a pair and figured, "Why pay more, if I don't have to". I tend to apply the same principle(s) across the board. If it's junk, you're cheap; if it works the same, you're prudent.

Harbor Freight it is. Thanks, all.