Scales:
First I like a mechanical beam style scale. There's lot of brands of scales out there. I own a Redding, but wouldn't buy it again. I've used lots of other scales, including the Lee, Hornady, Dillon and all the RCBS branded scales my friends in this area have.
I am going to replace my Redding Scale and when I do, it's going to be an RCBS (Ohaus manufactured) 1010. A scale is an important device and the 1010 is about the Cadillac of beam scales. Of particular interest is it's fine adjustment. Nothing better on the market.
It, unfortunately is also expensive, but, unlike most of my other very frugal opinions, I think it's worth it. The differences between it and the others justify the difference in price. The main difference being capacity and an excellent, stable, fine adjustment.
Satisfactory alternatives to the RCBS 1010 are the RCBS 505, the Hornady Scale and the Dillon scale, all of whom appear to be the about same thing with different colors. Again, I would pay the extra and get the RCBS 1010.
As far as electronic scales go, I've seen just too many problems out of every single brand to want to mess with one unless I had a jillion bullets I wanted to weigh. In which case, I'd spend the money and get a Medical Grade scale that weighed in grams and do the math for the conversion.
I made my living for years in electronics (Engineer & Tech.) and I also worked with the Medical Grade electronic scales. I just don't think (and haven't seen any) you can cut all the cost out of a Medical Grade scale and still have a quality mechanical balance (The expensive part of electronic scales.) with stable electronics. What I think you'll find is if the wind blows, the table vibrates or there are fluorescent lights, the electronic scales currently on the market are going to be flakey and they don't have a box to block airflow due to cost cutting. Others may disagree, but that's my .02 on electronic scales.
Did I say I would buy the RCBS 1010? If I didn't, I want to repeat that is the scale I would buy. Some things are just worth what they cost. Not many, but the RCBS 1010 is one of them.
I will change my mind if RCBS decides to move the manufacture from Ohaus to some China based operation like they did the Rock Chucker. In which case I'll look for a used Ohaus made one.
Tumbler:
As far as a tumbler goes, you'll have a tough time finding a better bargain and a better warranty than the Frankford Arsenal (Midway) combination with rotary media separator. There are bigger ones (Dillon and Thumbler's Tumblers), there are pricier ones, but nothing that works a lot better. They're simple devices and I've had my Frankford for 6 years and ran the you know what out of it and it's still doing it's thing. A good buy for the money.
I hope this helps,
Dave
