Scale recommendations

[General Tso]

I have a lee balance beam scale and a frankfort arsenal battery powered scale I got from Midway. I love the electronic scale but I am new to reloading so I go slow and the scale always powers off. I've decided that I want a 110v. scale. I'm looking at the RCBS Rangemaster 750. I hate to pay $100 for a scale, but I can't find any others. I will buy the RCBS 750 i guess. Any recommendations?

 

[Walkalong]

Good balance scales can be cheap, but I don't believe I would trust a cheap digital, no matter how many 19.95 digital scale owners say they are the greatest.

 

[jcwit]

Prices for good scales are coming down, just as prices of calculators came down years ago, or most new items. My first VCR was $1200, now if you can find one it $30/40 bucks.

 

[bobelk99]

Walkalong is on the right track.

In the long run, a $100 scale may be the cheaper than the bargain brand, whose circuit board will likely not tolerate ANY rough handling.

 

[rfwobbly]

General -
If I understand your question correctly, then I think you're barking up the wrong tree.

If your powder dispenser is worth using, then it should be dropping consistent powder amounts. So you're only going to weigh the first and every 25th or so powder drop. Therefore your scale usage time should be very, very small. It seems to me you already have 2 scales that can check each other and everything should be fine in the weighing department.

If you're weighing more often than that, then you need a better powder dispenser. So a better powder dispenser is where to spend your money.

Hope this helps!

 

[atblis]

Yeah

I was pretty much going to say what rfwobbly said. You do not need to weigh every charge provided you have a good powder measure, and a consistent metering powder. There are too many good powders to waste your time with one that won't meter.

Spend your money on a good powder measure if you don't already have one.

 

[mongoose33]

If you hate spending $100 for a scale, you're going to REALLY hate what I'm going to suggest:

The Dillon D'Terminator electronic scale. Yeah, pricey. It's also stunning. Settles on a value very quickly, it's accurate (I have check weights), and it's sensitive to trickling a tenth-grain at a time.

It runs on either household current or batteries. If someone stole it I would simply buy another, and wouldn't bother looking at anything else.

 

[R.W.Dale]

General -
If I understand your question correctly, then I think you're barking up the wrong tree.

If your powder dispenser is worth using, then it should be dropping consistent powder amounts. So you're only going to weigh the first and every 25th or so powder drop. Therefore your scale usage time should be very, very small. It seems to me you already have 2 scales that can check each other and everything should be fine in the weighing department.

If you're weighing more often than that, then you need a better powder dispenser. So a better powder dispenser is where to spend your money.

Hope this helps!

+2

I have a vintage Luman-Ohaus M5 and a generic digital cheapie. Both are very accurate for spot charge checks. I use the digital most often BUT I only use it to verify my uniflow settings which thanks to good record keeping on the micrometer stem is virtually 100% spot on for a know charge first time.

When you get right down to it the scale is my least used piece of equipment