Do You Trust YOUR Electronic or Battery Powered Digital Powder Scale~?

Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Ala Dan

Member in memoriam
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
12,877
Location
Home Of The First Capitol Of The Confederate State
Hello All-

Another thread got me too thinking, "Do You Trust YOUR Electronic/Battery
Operated Digital Powder Scale~? Case in point, I know its hard-too-beat
the old balance beam scales as made by several different manufactuer's;
but time as progressed to new technology, aka: the arrival of digital type
scales and/or combos (dispenser and scale). I for one, jumped into the
new technology market a'bout 15 months ago, and bought myself a RCBS
1500 ChargeMaster Combo. Why? Because I got it NIB for just a fraction
over 1/2 the MSRP.

Currently, I'm preparing to use it [probably the 2nd week of May 2010]
(cuz I have a full schedule) the 1st thru the 9th~! So, I was just a bit
concerned as to how good this new technology really is~? I would like
very much too hear some opinions; and may I thank you all in advance.
 
Bounced my digital scale off the tile in the kitchen and straight into the trash can............ but I am impatient and ornery. :eek:

Warm them up well in advance, keep them away from any heat/cold source, keep them away from even very slight air currents, hold your mouth just right, hope the stars are in proper alignment, and you should be OK.

I'll stick with my beam scale. :)
 
I think they can be trusted. The scale's accuracy can be checked easily by weighing something of a known weight, such as bullets in various weights.
 
I use my Lyman 1200 for rifle loads with no problems. I trust it but I also verify with my beam scale about every 10th round or so, especially if it's close to a max load. Also, calibrate it often to keep it on weight.
 
I've pretty much retired my beam scale, as I am completely comfortable with my RCBS RangeMaster 750. That said, I don't like using the 9 volt battery, but use the plug in unit instead, and I check it often with known weights to verify accuracy. IMO much better than a beam scale. LM
 
Yes, I trust it. Know why? I have a set of check weights. It's dead on. (It's a Dillon DTerminator).

I have a beam scale, but there's no way I'd use a beam scale when my Dillon is sitting there. It's darned near perfect.

Now I have a question: Do people trust their beam scales? And if so, why? :)
 
Beam scales? Gravity does not need a battery :)

I have checked my Chargemaster countless times against two sets of beams and checkweights and it has never been off. It sat powered on for weeks and I checked it. Still dead on. Calibrate to feel more comfortable but use checkweights to be certain.
 
NO, Bought a PACT digital powder scale back in the mid 90s. Tried using it about a year. Spent way to much time and energy keeping it zeroed. Its in a box around here somewhere, never again. Went back to my old school RCBS balance beam scale.
 
I've used the Dillon D-terminator for over 15 years with no problems whatsoever. I gave my old beam balance to a young guy just starting to reload. It has a good home, and I have one less thing to clutter up my reloading room.

As another poster mentioned, I am also running the digital scale exclusively on a plug-in power supply; batteries run down, and when I'm "on a roll", I don't want to take a time-out to look for batteries.

The humidity's quite low here in El Paso; if anyone should have problems with static charges affecting the scale readings, I should; but I don't.
 
If you use the battery option, use fresh one's, this is where a good set of rechargibale's come in handy. Put a fresh charge in to them after you use them, and you will be fine.
 
Don't listen to Walkalong...He's an ornery old cuss...

I trust my RCBS Powder Pro (no batteries). I've had it for the last 20 years and it has never failed to match my RCBS 5-0-5 beam scale when I compare the two...
 
I do trust it. I have the Chargemaster as well. I let it warm up a good half hour before I use it, then calibrate it, and then zero it.

I check the first charge (and then every so often) on my 505, and it has never been off. I still feel the need to check it every now and then though - just in case, even though there probably isn't a definite need to.
 
FOr noncritical stuff (e.g bullet weights) yes I trust it.

But my electronic scale doesn't allow me to trickle powder onto the pan. Well, it actually doesn't prevent me from doing so, but the added powder grains aren't counted once the reading "stabilizes". No balance beam scale I know has that problem.

Mechanical balances don't need batteries either. And can be dropped, bent, straightened back out, and work just fine. No electronic scale I know can match that.
 
I was a chemical technician/lab tech for 30 years. They'd done away with mechanical pan balances before Dow Chemical hired me in 1976. I used high end single pan electronic balances my whole career. They cost WAY too much money to trash. :D They were accurate to 1/10,000 gram. The open top ones were accurate to 1/100 gram.

We had calibration weights and had a guy come around every six months to test, clean, and certify them. But, unless they were abused, they were rarely off. I trust my electronic balance as much as any mechanical one, frankly, and it's a lot less pain and much quicker.
 
My old Lyman 1200 DPS tended to drift. If anything causes the readings to drift over 0.3 grains, the scale will beep...upon which the scale should be re-zeroed by pressing the "CAL/ZERO button.

Better: It's a good idea to simply press the CAL/ZERO button after every 5 powder charges to make sure no drift occurs.:cool:
 
Yes

but I only use it or my beam scale to confirm what my powder measure is doing because for me indivually weighed charges = a waste of time. Once you break the enslavement to the scale we all start out with you'll be a much happier and more productive handloader
 
First thing - just about every balance beam scale is/was made by Ohaus, and I suspect the electronic ones are as well.

Remember to watch for fluorescent lights besides a draft with electronic scales. I had one a while ago that also dispensed a selected weight measure of powder. After two months, it stopped working. My RCBS 5-10 balance beam has been dead-on for over 25 years, doesn't need batteries or AC, and is easy to use
 
My Pact BBKII has been reliable and accurate.

The only real problem I've read about with the balance beam scales is when someone puts a weight in the wrong place by mistake and then trickles up to the balance point. Then they get a charge that can be quite a bit off and not realize it until something bad happens. In this case having a digital to quickly verify the "old school" scale isn't of by an order of magnitude would be a good thing.

In the reloading world human error is probably the biggest single factor in our mistakes. Could be anything from double charging, missing a charge, picking the wrong charge because you misread or transposed a couple of digits from the manual, etc... It's best to double check everything. (And I'll still have one get by now and again.)
 
In the reloading world human error is probably the biggest single factor in our mistakes
Click to expand...
Absolutely, but I have faith in Dan.

Digital or beam. They both work just fine. We all have our preferences of course.
 
I agree 100% with McGunner's statements and I have spent 38 years in and out of laboratories. One and two pan balances(scales) are as obsolete as "Grannys Girdle" and you won't find them in any hospital or industrial, or university lab. The quality electronic balances like Dillon, Lyman, or RCBS are quality instruments and are accurate and dependable. Those 25.00 balances sold on eBay and some of the mail order houses are pieces of Chinese junk and don't even make good targets. You can trust the ones made by the big loading companies.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

NorthBorder
A good electronic powder dispenser/scale.
2
Replies
33
Views
649
tdbmd
T
D
  • Locked
Please recoment a good electric powder dispencer/scale
2
Replies
27
Views
2K
Hondo 60
Hondo 60
C
  • Locked
Recommendations for Digital Scale
Replies
9
Views
905
Toprudder
Toprudder
Steve H
  • Locked
RCBS ChargeMaster Powder 1500 Scale/Dispenser
Replies
4
Views
709
jr81452
J
Hypnogator
  • Locked
Digital Powder Scale Problem
Replies
19
Views
3K
higgite
higgite
Back
Top