Best dial calipers under $100.

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I have a 20 year old Dillon dial caliper and an recently purchased iGaging Absolute Origin unit that I paid $39 for on Amazon. Both work well and I still use both. I find that I like the dial better for some tasks, such as checking case trim lengths and the digital for others such as COAL.
 
I have a HP dial caliper but it doesn't read all that consistently. I just wanted something a little better.
 
i worked there part time during the days when i was working at ups at night. they don't mind you checking them out. the caliber boxes open with out destroying its package. bring a bullet with you to check the calibers. remember they are life time warranty, when the batteries die get a new par.
At HF the lifetime is only on the dial calipers, the digital are only 90 days. Went thru 2 digitals and no more for me. Got a Shars digital from Brownells as they will warranty it for life. 35 bucks and just waited for a 10% day plus 4% thru Active Junky.
 
If you are looking for precision a caliper isn’t the right device anyway a micrometer is what you are looking for. For most reloading tasks a caliper is just fine, expensive or cheap.
+1.

Like verifying scales with check weights, I prefer to verify calipers with pin gages with round cylinders as I can have better "feel" when measuring bullets over standard blocks (I usually close my eyes when checking with pin gages and also when measuring bullets to be more consistent) - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ks-for-digital-calibers.821135/#post-10545265

I have a HP dial caliper but it doesn't read all that consistently. I just wanted something a little better.
Not the "best" but my Frankford Arsenal dial calipers has consistently verified .355", .400", .451" plus/minus pin gages.

Many reloaders, even long-range bench rest/Palma match shooters consider .1 gr resolution of scales good enough for reloading. As jmorris posted, I also consider .001" resolution of calipers "good enough" for reloading. After verifying 4 calipers I had with pin gages, I retired the oldest dial calipers I bought when I started reloading some 27 years ago.

I collect vintage American made tools as hobby and have sold off Starrett calipers and micrometers. I am currently looking at buying new/good used Starrett/Mitutoyo micrometer and leaning towards Mitutoyo.

I agree with Harbor Freight. I'm also a hobby machinist so have a small assortment of measuring tools and standards to calibrate them.
Bought a Harbor Frieght Pittsburg brand stainless digital for $20, got it home and it was the grittiest, cheapest thing I’ve ever used.
I bought my HF digital calipers more than 5 years ago and still very happy with accuracy/consistency but I think in recent years quality/consistency has gone down and would highly recommend verifying them with pin gages in the same caliber range (They are only $3 to $5) before buying one - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ks-for-digital-calibers.821135/#post-10545265

Over the years, I have not been happy with HF dial calipers I have checked enough to not endorse them on THR. For me, I consider Frankford Arsenal dial calipers to be minimum quality standard for reloading (Around $25) - https://www.jgsales.com/frankford-arsenal-dial-caliper-p-35742.html

bring a bullet with you to check the calibers.
No, I would rather recommend pin gages or even feeler gages over bullets as they come in different sizing and what says on the box don't always reflect the actual sizing - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...re-sized-the-same.818806/page-2#post-10567453

Just for 9mm, they can come sized .354", .355", .3555", .356".
 
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Also, while I'm only a hobbyist machinist, I've managed and supervised actual professional machinists for many years in the past. It was very easy for everyone to be using calibrated tools, everyone be a veteran machinist who has used measuring tools to check his work every single day for a decade or three, pass the same part around and be ± a thou, sometimes 2, using a dial caliper. I had to PROVE this to an MSEE process engineer (book smart, no real world experience) by demonstrating that dial calipers aren't the right tool to measure a critical dimension with extremely tight tolerance.

And a separate demonstration that if the people doing the measuring KNEW what the dimension should be, they were more likely to measure and hit that # vs if they had no idea they would be closer to what the CMM said it was. Measuring precisely is a skill. Thankfully, we don't need that kind of perfection in measuring.

I'm not saying don't go drop $100+ on a Mitu, Starrett, or whatever brand you like. Just that it's overkill unless you're using for something else AND you're good enough to use it to its level of precision. Most amateurs/hobbyists are not.
 
My $11.00 Harbor Freight digital calipers are just as accurate as my Starrett or Mitutoyo dial calipers. (Guess I got a good one). I have standards so I check them fairly regularly and they have not needed adjusting in over four years. And if I accidentally drop or bang them I haven’t lost much. They work great for reloading needs. Why spend more for the name brand?
 
A few years ago I bought a Hornady digital that works fine but eats batteries fast When the battery stars to get low it keeps giving me mm readings. Works well for my purposes.

However I broke down and bought a set of analog Mitituyo's two months ago. Really good but have to zero them from time to time. Prefer using them for reloading...easier.
 
Having 50 years of machining experience I would recommend either Brown&Sharpe or Starrett dial calipers. Mititoyo are also OK.
Don't trust anything electronic and a good set of calipers are most useful in measuring crimp diameters. Cheap calipers usually were out on the inside measuring blades.
Have had my Brown&Sharpe's 6" and 12" in my toolbox for 25 years and they are still spot on.
 
I started with a set of digital calipers from Cabela's. After about 2-3 years of use they started to fail - but it took me a long time to figure out that they were. They'd lose zero. Then I'd start resetting the zero during sessions. Then they'd start being inconsistent (not by much....a few thousandths) and I just lost confidence in them.

I bought a set of Mitutoyo 505 series dial (non-digital) and I LOVE LOVE them.....for two reasons. First, I just love going old school a bit; for the same reason I like using a beam scale over digital. But beyond that, they're solid and consistent as a rock. My confidence in the measurements I was taking skyrocketed. They're really really great.
 
I bought a set of Mitutoyo 505 series dial (non-digital) and I LOVE LOVE them.....for two reasons. First, I just love going old school...

You know your getting old when someone says dial calipers are “old school”.


I present you with the most reliable design of calipers, if you have eyes young enough to read them or a set of readers handy.

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