How do you weigh bullets with a Lee mech. powder scale?

[Ignition Override]

This scale has only weighed 38 grains of (4064) powder for .303.
I've done no other reloading, and began just over a year ago. It has been a very strict, mechanical routine, and always being alone at this, have learned nothing else about reloading.

Having just received 1,500 x54R bullets of three different weights (?), I discovered that the Lee scale's silver ball only goes to the 100 position, and the sliding plastic scale adds very little, to counterbalance a bullet of about 170 grains. The seller thought that they range from 150-174 or 180 grain.

Maybe Lee or Midway can furnish an identical, Second silver ball, or can only one specific ball be used?

With fmj bullets which have very straight, parallel sides (small hollow base), I doubt that you can use the precise caliper, hoping that the longer lengths correspond to some published, higher weights somewhere (?).

 

[rsrocket1]

Are you trying to get 0.1g accuracy with the 150-174g bullets or simply catagorize the 3 different bullets? If accuracy is important and you need to go up in weight, a new good balance is in order such as the RCBS 505 which goes up to 511 grains in 0.1g increments. If you are only interested in the nearest grain accuracy, a simple Harbor Freight digital scale works fine. I got one with a 20% off coupon for about $10 and it is just fine for accuracies to 1 grain.

You don't want to mess with the Lee scale's ball because it was manufactured in that enclosed plastic housing and it is your only hope of keeping it calibrated to the "national standards" Lee advertises it to.

I personally like the Lee scale and find it perfectly acceptable for my powder loading activities. I know a lot of reloders don't like it/can't figure it out, but I have no problems making it work.

 

[Lost Sheep]

A couple of ways

You could take a set of bolt cutters and cut one of the bullets in half, weight the pieces and add the weights together.

Don't scoff. I am serious. But don't use a saw. You will not want to lose any shavings.

Aside from that method, there is not much you can do to weigh something heavier than the capacity of your scale. If you could figure out a way to apply a very accurate 100 grain upward force on the pan hangar of your scale without interfering with its movement, you would then be able to weigh items 100 to 200 grains, but that's a lot of work for an iffy answer. It is doable, though.

The Lee Scale was just not intended for heavier weights.

I just thought of another way. Put something that weighs 100 grains in the pan. Set the scale's ball to the zero position and add weight to the right end of the scale until the scale balances again. Remove the 100 grain weight and put your bullet in the pan. Balance the beam with the ball and slider. Whatever the scale reads, add 100 grains to it. That's the weight of your bullet. This method does put an extra load, strain and wear on the balance beam and the jewel bearings, though.

Or, get a large number of those bullets, pile them onto a kitchen scale, convert the weight shown to grains and divide by the number of bullets. That will be their average weight, but you won't know how much variation there is between individual bullets.

Good Luck

Lost Sheep

 

[Ignition Override]

Thanks very much.
The goal is to separate the bullets (If needed for safety), but after reading copies from a friend's Sierra charts, it might not be an issue for plinking. My skills are nowhere near what a competitor needs, as you can easily imagine.

Having often read that for a given caliber, heavier bullets with the exact same powder load can produce higher case/chamber pressures etc., it got me thinking.

But from my Gun Guru's "Sierra's Reloading Manual 5th Edition", with the #2300 .311 150 gr. SPT:

A) 2300 (fps).
IMR 4064- 38.0...... Max load is "44.4".

B) With both 174 gr. HPBT MatchKing and 180 gr. SPT:
2200 (fps)
IMR 4064- 37.5...... Max. load is "40.7".

Therefore, for fun plinking and safety, separation is a non-issue with 38 grains of IMR 4064?
The seller just confirmed that the entire batch consists of pulled x54R.
A sample of about twenty measures either 1.494" or 1.486" bullet length, with a few very minor variations in length, but the exact shape for each.

 

[amandab]

for separating bullets a $10 ebay digital scale is accurate enough.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

My thoughts exactly, buy a cheap electronic scale for weighing bullets. That's exactly what I did although my scale cost me $19.95! lol

 

[teddy52food]

I would not try to do anything with the scale. It is balanced on a razor blade & could be ruined easily. Set up a ruler (yardstick ) type balance to separate the different weights. Then find someone with a scale to get the grains.

 

[Rory McCanuck]

The goal is to separate the bullets
A sample of about twenty measures either 1.494" or 1.486" bullet length, with a few very minor variations in length, but the exact shape for each.

I should think that you could separate them by length. If they are all of the same type, but different weights, the lengths have to be different.
If they are of different shapes, then sort them by shape, and the weights of each shape should be the same.

The advantage of separating them by weight is that each weight should then shoot roughly to the same point of aim.

If you were to set your calipers to 1.486" and lock it with the set screw, it
would be an easy process to bring up each bullet to the caliper. If it fits, it goes in one pile, if it doesn't fit, it goes in the other. After the first 100 or so,
you'll be pretty good at it

 

[Gadzooks Mike]

Step 1 - zero the balance.
Step 2 - place a known weight less than that of the bullet in question - say 100gr or something - into the pan.
Step 3 - Place a glob of playdo, silly putty, whatever on the left side of the beam until it balances.
Step 4 - remove the known weight, place the bullet in the pan, and move the ball and plastic slider until it balances again.
Step 5 - Add the known weight (used in step 2) to the weight shown on the scale in step 4.