Life expectation of beam scales?

A good ballance scale kept clean and not abused would literally last forever.

I have an Ohaus 10-10 and bought it used 30 years ago. The guy I purchased it from said it was 20 years old then. It shows no signs of going bad. If you drop it or mess with the knife edges or bearings it might go bad but unless gravity fails or it gets run over it should work forever. I also have RCBS 5-10 as a backup I bought used.

My Dad still uses the 505 he bought in 1974. When he moved to Texas in '94, he gave me his PACT electronic scale. I used it warily for a while, then bought myself a 505.

My step father gave me a Herters oil dampened beam scale back in the early 90's. He bought it new in the late 50's. It's still the most sensitive/accurate scale I own; it'll detect (pointer movement) one grain of Varget powder with consistency.

cornfused said:

My step father gave me a Herters oil dampened beam scale back in the early 90's. He bought it new in the late 50's. It's still the most sensitive/accurate scale I own; it'll detect (pointer movement) one grain of Varget powder with consistency.

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Do you mean one kernal of powder?

If it takes a grain of Varget to detect movement you need a new scale!

I have a Pacific from the 70's that's still very accurate and will long outlast me. Wouldn't surprise me if my grandchildren use it.

I use a herter's scale from the 60s. I don't think it was a particularly high end scale back then, but still going along and working good. I did have to do some tinkering and a lot of cleaning to get it up to snuff, but - I see no reason if it has lasted that long anything will cause it to stop functioning - other than me dropping something heavy on it and breaking it by mistake.

I've had my RCBS 505 for at least 45 years. It's the only scale I've ever had and still going strong.

Not a scale, but a powder balance...depends on calibrating with known weights on the pan, then replace weights with required qty of powder until balance zeros.

Pacific powder balance is 83+ yrs old, and is my golden std against which all else is checked/verified.

Swampman said:

Do you mean one kernal of powder?

If it takes a grain of Varget to detect movement you need a new scale!

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Yes one kernal of powder.

My preferred scales are early Redding cast iron, all older than I am.

I think they'll last right up until you drop one.

I worry a lot about all things when it comes to reloading . I have never once thought about my beam scales needing to be replaced . I keep them clean and they have worked the same since day one , many years ago .

Swampman said:

Do you mean one kernal of powder?

If it takes a grain of Varget to detect movement you need a new scale!

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6 kernels of Varget weigh about.01 ( typo .1 ) grain so having a scale that resolves 1 kernel is outstanding.

45 years so far.....

I have a Hornady scale that's has to be at least 33 years old, the only area that shows wear is the handle to the pan, from all the use. It seems to get thinner every few years.

burrhead said:

I've had my RCBS 505 for at least 45 years. It's the only scale I've ever had and still going strong.

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30+ on mine.

My Lyman is about 25 yrs. Works as good as new.

The lab I work for used beam scales for a LONG time. They would last for a single technicians entire career as long as they remembered to lock the beam before putting it back in the truck. If the beam isn’t locked while riding around, the knife edge will vibrate against the ceramic bearing and wear down. That leads to repeatability issues.

Been using my 5-10 since I bought it new in the early 80s

The most important function of a beam scale (or any scale) is repeatability. Zero the scale w/empty pan, take a bullet and weigh it. Remove bullet and pan. Replace pan and bullet. Get the exact same weight? Repeat several times. You can also use check weights for this test. Early on in my reloading I used new coins. I went to the US Mint website (or encyclopedia??) and got the weights for new coins; nickels, dimes and quarters covered my needs. My tests weights were very close to Mint specs when I used coins that were as new as I could find...

I too have a few old scales, one being a Redding #1 which I believe was made in the late '50s. It was purchased used in about '77, seller mentioned he had been using it for over 20 years. I rarely use it any more because it is oil dampened and I remove the oil and clean the scale after each use, and that can get messy...

A good beam scale will last literally until you accidentally drop it.

Stay safe.

I can't imagine wearing a scale out. I would expect that it would most likely be damaged from dropping it or dropping something on it.

My original scale is a Herters from the late 60's, probably made by Redding. I still use it to keep my digital scale honest. I also keep it up on a shall where its sort of protected and I keep a plastic cover over it.

Its good to see so many of you guys using older scales!

I'm using a 505 made in 1973 without any issues.

The RCBS 505 you have is highly preferable to the Lyman 500.