Thinking about my first reloading upgrade

[loadedround]

Let me throw my two cents in if I may. I am both a retired chemist and have been reloading for over 50 years so I'm fairly familiar with the various types of balances out there and most of the more common reloading equipment available. I have used just about every type of balance available in a laboratory or a reloading bench and I will say with my experience a single pan electronic balance is worth every penny you've paid for it. Reasons are for accuracy, repeatability, speed, the ability to tare, and downright convenience. Yes, I did start out with a single beam scale and found out real soon how damned slow it was to use and switched soon after to an electronic balance. I am now on my third Dillon electronic balance. Wore the first two out! .

 

[9mmepiphany]

I will say with my experience a single pan electronic balance is worth every penny you've paid for it. Reasons are for accuracy, repeatability, speed, the ability to tare, and downright convenience.

This has also been my experience.

I would also recommend that you get one that runs on AC as opposed to batteries. You want to be able to let it warm up before you use it.

I only use mine for handgun reloading, so a tenth of a grain is a lot bigger when you're trying to load three grains than when you're trying to load twenty-five. Electronic scales may not react to small increases being trickled into the pan, but all you have to do is life the pan and set it back down to get an accurate reading.

What I do like to do, when I'm getting close to having the powder measure close to my desired weight, is throw ten charges into the pan to add an additional significant digit to my reading...3.12grs vs 3.16grs (just mentally moving the decimal point)

 

[MOP.GBB]

Really depends on what your loading and "why" your loading. Mechanical balance scales are great. Reliable, consistent. If your trying to produce in volume, those can be tedious and slow. I upgraded to a RCBS Charge Master. Those are also great. Pretty consistent especially with ball powder. But even those can be slow when your trying to produce large batches. I have settled in with Hand operated powder dispensers. Once I get it set where I need it, things start moving pretty fast. I will periodically weight a charge and confirm it's where it should be. BUT ... if you start running down the rabbit hole of the precision rifle game ... you will go batty trying to figure out if your charges are exactly where you want them. As many above mentioned, most of the scales measure accurately +/- .1 grains. Once you get caught up in the black hole of precision, you will want to look at the laboratory grade scales.