Digital Scale

[Lumber_Jack]

What's the general opinion on digital scales. Best quality vs price. I get aggravated with the balance scale cause its slow to settle. I'm already slow with a single stage press, so just looking to pick up some efficiency. I'm not loading match grade ammo, just want to be as precise as possible without going broke. Edited December 21, 2012 by Lumber_Jack

[RED333]

I spent 20 dollars on one, well worth the cost, you can check calib. with a nickle = 5 grams.

[1gewehr]

'Aggregated'?  Hmm, I've never seen that before.  Can you take a video of that?

 

I've had two digital scales.  The first was a Dillon in the late 1990's.  It was pretty good, but two years ago,  a battery leaked and that was the end of it.  that's what I got for being a cheapskate and using discount, no-name batteries.  I then bought a RCBS Rangemaster 750.  It's been a good, reliable, and accurate scale.

 

Electronic scales are AMAZINGLY accurate.  In fact, most problems people have come from that.  They are affected by everything around them.  Temperature changes, tiny breezes, vibrations, etc.  All of this can be easily handled as long as you keep it in mind when you use the scale.  Here is my scale checklist:

1)  Turn off all fans.

2)  Make sure all vibrating/motorized equipment is turned off (brass polishers, electric motors, etc).

3)  Use the check weights to 'zero' the scale.

4)  When using the scale, stand or sit still until the weight settles.

5)  Don't use crappy chinese batteries!

[dlm37015]

i use one from hornady cost about 40.00 works great

[Lumber_Jack]

Thanks for the replies.

I meant aggravated not aggregated. That's a separate issue.

[Jonnin]

I have a cheapo $20 one as well.  It came with a calibration weight, even at that low cost.   Its roughly within 1/4 grain accuracy, which is not awesome, but it runs consistent if I tap the item (effectively pushing down on it so it settles off the high weight side of the item every time) and put the item in the corner of the scale (same location on the surface every time, usually I am weighing cases, zero out, add powder).

 

These are the "best for the money" unless you want to make match grade ammo with it.   If you want to do that, you need a high dollar scale.

[RED333]

I  (same location on the surface every time, usually I am weighing cases, zero out, add powder).

 

These are the "best for the money" unless you want to make match grade ammo with it.   If you want to do that, you need a high dollar scale.

The very way I use mine to load, keeps me safe.

[tnhawk]

I've been happy with an inexpensive RCBS digital scale for several years. It runs or AC or battery and had a calibration weight with it.

[LawVol]

I bought the digital scale that EABCO sells for $30.  It's the same scale that some other companies re-brand and sell for $70+, and it has a 20 year warranty.  

 

It has worked great so far.  

[mikegideon]

I have a Frankford Arsenal, an RCBS Rangemaster, and an RCBS ChargeMaster with dispenser. They all work real well. Can't beat the Chargemaster for precise loads, because it trickles up to the desired weight. It's expensive, but worth it to me for my snooty ammo.

[Guest Frightful1]

I have two digital scales.  A Franklford Arsenal DS-750, and a Jennings VS-20(?).  The DS-750 is my everyday scale, used for checking the powder drop setup and recheck every tenth round.  I also us it for a final check of the finished round.  The Jennings is my precision scale which I use for the tiny (.25) rounds and powder drop checks for match ammo.  Resolution is .01 grains with an accuracy of .05 grains.  (at least I think that is right.)  I check the digital scales against the balance scale and the check weights before each load session.  Yes, I am anal about my load weights.  That is just me.  I am also anal about having bright shiney brass.  Don't trust the check weights that come with the scale, buy a good set of check weights and use them as a periodic check.

[Guest Frightful1]

I have a Frankford Arsenal, an RCBS Rangemaster, and an RCBS ChargeMaster with dispenser. They all work real well. Can't beat the Chargemaster for precise loads, because it trickles up to the desired weight. It's expensive, but worth it to me for my snooty ammo.

Unh? What is snooty ammo?

[mikegideon]

Unh? What is snooty ammo?

BR primers, Lapua Brass, Berger Bullets... loaded with Redding competition dies, on a Forster coax press.

 

I do a lot of my stuff on a Lee turret press. I use the Frakford to check the powder drop on that. The Rangemaster kinda gets left out, but I have it in case I need it.

Edited December 21, 2012 by mikegideon

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I don't pretend expertise but have been slightly interested in scales for awhile. Casual hobby interest. Gradually accumulated a few scales for different purposes in addition to a fairly complete set of inexpensive checkweights to know how much the scales can be trusted, and under what conditions. High-accuracy calibrated checkweights cost thousands of dollars but it is surprising how good inexpensive checkweights costing a few bucks can be, at least the ones I happened to purchase from americanweigh.com. I don't understand how a guy could trust a scale without a variety of checkweghts. Just because it can measure 20 gram and give the right number says nothing about how accurate it might be at some other weight.

 

Bought a Lyman reloading scale about 12 years ago that IIRC was about $70 at the time but generic scales that look identical sell cheap nowadays, but just because the outward appearance is the same says nothing about the quality of the innards. Modern no-name scales that look identical might perform either better or worse than the old lyman. The lyman when it is behaving itself is pretty accurate and linear, but I was going nuts distrusting it. I would check cal before using it every time and have to recalibrate with the checkweight fairly often, and it would temperature drift (or whatever else makes a scale drift) so that I was hitting the zero button before every weighing and weighing multiple times to make sure the dang thing wasn't lying to me. I wasn't weighing every charge, but would verify the powder drop on the progressive press before every run of 100 reloads, so not trusting the scale took "too long" to verify the powder drop weight every time.

 

But watched like a hawk, that old Lyman is pretty bang-on accurate and linear to 0.01 gram (or about 0.1 grain) , but the max weight it will take is 20 grams. Which is plenty good enough for pistol reloading.

 

Had been wanting a pretty good milligram scale (accurate to about 0.01 grain) for years, and finally pulled the trigger on one a couple years ago. The scale I really wanted was $1000 or more and I'm not THAT crazy. The "student-quality" Sartorius (same as old Acculab) are several hundred bucks, and didn't want one really THAT bad either. So finally got a GemPro 250 that so far seems real fine for the money. They make two near-identical models. The one I got will weigh a max of 50 grams at nominal 0.001 gram resolution, but there is another one that will weigh a max of 100 grams at nominal 0.002 gram resolution, so if looking for the 1 mg resolution read the product description twice before clicking the buy button.

 

You can web search on the thing to read about its numerous fabulous features for a cheap scale, and many glowing user reviews so I won't go into it here. It is sold from lots of places and I got mine here--

 

http://www.oldwillknottscales.com/my-weigh-gempro-250.html?gclid=COPZ76nRsbQCFYKK4AodzygAiQ

 

It really is close to 1 mg accurate but using a scale "best possible" is a skill like any other and you get better with practice. The drift over time is very small, repeatability is excellent, and it holds calibration a long time. I like it. The first day I got the thing, it needed a "break in" exercising of the platform. I sat fooling with it with various check weights for a couple of hours straight, and it kept drifting "up" in value and I was having to hit the tare button to keep zeroing it out. Was beginning to worry I had bought a crap scale. But after about an hour it quit doing that "gradual drift in one direction" and ever since has never shown that symptom, so am guessing the platform and sensor needed some initial exercise to settle down to consistent behavior. From the user complaints I've read of reloaders using entry-level, several-hundred-dollar Sartorious milligram scales, I'm not seeing as much drift that they complain about in this GemPro 250, so for my purposes the GemPro seems BETTER than buying a "student model" sartorius. Now, the Sartorius will measure heavier weights than a max of 50 grams, and you have to pay more for the same accuracy at a larger dynamic range. But 50 grams is ENTIRELY ADEQUATE for just about any reloading. Heck, 20 grams is ENTIRELY ADEQUATE for most reloading.

 

I just didn't want to buy a cheap milligram scale that would be just as "un trustable" as my old lyman. You can find cheap milligram scales cheaper than this GemPro 250.

 

Now if somebody happened to luck up and took care verifying the scale, several companies sell the same version (same looks on the outside) of a 20 gram milligram resolution "Gem Scale" cheap. I'd like to experiment with one sometime but a 20 gram scale can't weigh a 1 troy ounce precious metal coin, which was one of my objectives in a milligram scale. The "Gemini 20" version of the thing gets pretty good comments from some folks. I'd just want to test it for awhile with check weights before trusting it for reloading. And dunno if it has bad drift problems like some of the cheap scales. My theory of why a 300 gram capability milligram scale would cost more than a 50 gram milligram scale (needs precision and linearity to make a count range of 300,000 rather than a mere 50,000), then it might make sense that an equally-nice 20 gram max scale which only has to count up to 20,000, could be cheaper still, and perhaps no more subject to drift than a more expensive higher-capacity scale.

 

http://www.americanweigh.com/product_info.php?products_id=580

[Alleycat72]

I use a sartorius scale http://balance.balances.com/scales/1955/

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I use a sartorius scale http://balance.balances.com/scales/1955/

 

Yep that one looks great. Was trying to talk myself into getting that one when bought the GemPro 250. That balances.com looks like one of the best places to get sartorius because they have a better discount than most and claim they keep most of em in stock. I have the older Acculab version of the Sartorius AY-10000 1 gram resolution X 10 kg max. Have been real happy with it though not appropriate for reloading. Maybe it would be good for reloading small to medium size cannons. :) Its real good for weighing small machined items and 100 oz silver bars and such.

 

Balances.com talked themselves out of a sale with such good informative videos. They convinced me that what I really wanted was a $1300 GD-503, and since that one was clearly out of the question money-wise, punted and decided to try that GemPro and see how bad it could be, and it turned out pretty good but most likely not a sartorius quality. I was gonna buy the GemPro 250 from balances.com, but that is about the only "low end" milligram scale they sell and they must drop-ship em because it was the only thing they wouldn't sell on a credit card, internet order paypal only, and I hated paypal enough to find another dealer that doesn't require paypal.

Edited December 24, 2012 by Lester Weevils

[Guest Jacob2]

I think it depends on that how much you pay? or how much accuracy you need? Most of digital scale that have price under $100 have accuracy up to 0.1 or 0.01g. But if you need more accuracy than 0.01g than the price will surly higher. You can check it on amazon for getting a new one.

Edited April 12, 2014 by Jacob2

[SonnyCrockett]

i use a franklin now for many years,digital is all I want to use for pistol

[gregintenn]

                       http://ads.midwayusa.com/product/175512/frankford-arsenal-ds-750-electronic-powder-scale-750-grain-capacity?cm_vc=ProductFinding

I've had good service out of this little jewel. They often run it on sale for just under $20.