Digital Scales - Any good?

[Contenderizer]

Reloading these 22 Hornets and K-Hornets is wearing me out!

Not that I shoot that many, but given the small powder charge that's required I find myself weighing every 5th charge or so. My powder measure gets me close, but I keep finding small variances. With a 22 Hornet, a 10th of a grain one way or another can make a difference.

I'm thinking of throwing in the towel and going to a digital scale. With one of those puppies - I figure - I can pour-on some 4227 then trickle up to the required amount faster than I can with my poise beam. Doing it in that manner I hope to weigh every charge in less time then it's currently taking.

But wait ... didn't I hear that digital scales are anything but accurate? What's a guy to do (actually I'm thinking of buying Cabela's digital scale for $80.00)! Will it really be any faster? Do those electric thingies actually work?

[Rocky Raab]

The electronic dispenser systems work like a champ, bud. I got one of the original RCBS models, which isn't NEARLY as good as the current ones, and you'd have to break my arms to get it away from me.

I think that the new RCBS is on sale for $199, but I don't recall where I saw that.

The chief advantage is that you SEE the wright of every charge. If it doesn't come up to within whatever you think it should, just dump it and hit the button again - or adjust it by a few kernels of powder either way. Digital scales may not be quite as accurate as a beam scale (and I'm not arguing that either way) but they're certainly accurate enough for reloading.

[skeet]

I do have one of the RCBS dig scales with the powder drop thingie. Works just fine and it is pretty fast. Use the darn thing where it isn't much air movement. I also have a Dillon digital scale that I got in a reloader deal. The most accurate one I have right now is one of those things that I bought for 8 bucks from Harbor Freight. The darn thing works really well. I know...I know.. I shouldn't buy that chink stuff!

[Ol` Joe]

"I'm thinking of throwing in the towel and going to a digital scale. With one of those puppies - I figure - I can pour-on some 4227 then trickle up to the required amount faster than I can with my poise beam"

What`s wrong with doing this with the scale you have? It sounds more like a problem with the dispenser then your scale.
I`ve a Pact digital and a couple RCBS beam scales and don`t find the digital any faster for weighing powder charges. The problem is with the strain gage the digitals use, they don`t move until enough change in pressure is applied to them. They will hold a steady wgt while trickling then jump after so many extra granuals are added to the pan. Sometimes they don`t move to far, sometimes they do.....
I`ve no experiance with the combo scale/drop measures and they may work fine.

[Rocky Raab]

There is a lag of sorts. Wen my dispenser is set for (as an example) 30 grains, the dispenser will churn out powder at a good clip, then will shift into a trickle mode until it stops. At that moment, the digital scale might read 29.8. But within a couple seconds, it'll show 29.9, and then 30.0. It won't change after that. So I know that, if the dispenser stops and the scale says 29.8, I can go ahead and pick up the pan, KNOWING that it would have eventually settled on 30.0. It's no different, really, than picking the pan off a beam balance while the needle is still oscillating a bit.

Several things will mess up a digital scale: air movement, static electricity and electrical spikes nearby. Keep it shielded from breezes, add a grounding wire if necessary and pay attention to nearby electrical appliances. Mine goes nuts when the clothes dryer kicks on, and used to when the (former) neighbor keyed his HAM radio. Other than that, no problems at all.

[Jack]

I don't have a digital scale, but I've thought about it.
Maybe some of you veterans of digitals can answer this: what about temperature changes? I don't mean a 5 degree difference, but what about leaving your scale in an unheated room? And turning on a heater when you want to reload.
I've read in some digital scales literature that they are sensitive to large temp changes.
Any experience?

[Dom]

The first digital scale I had was just the scale, an RCBS model. That thing was touchy and I had to recalibrate often. I learned to let it warm up for at least 5 minutes, even when it sat in room temperature.

The current model I have I absolutely love, the RCBS 1500 Combo. I still let it warm up though, and yes, keep air movement down. Haven't had any issues with power or static, but would agree that's not good. So Jack, I'd recommend you let it warm up for a while before turning it on, and after on let it warm up also.

Do they save time? You betcha. Like Rocky said there is a delay in 'settlement', but I think that happens to most of them. Once I punch dispense and it settles, I dump that powder in a ready case, replace pan, it zeroes, and I hit dispense. During this time I'm seating the bullet, measuring it, etc. Most times by this time the next charge has already had time to settle sufficiently to give me a good readout.

The combo is much faster than a powder drop, to the scale, and then trickle and settle. Hope this helps, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

[BILLY D.]

Hey guys

I leave mine, RCBS Chargemaster, plugged in an turned on all the time. My basement and the city morgue are about the same temperature. The only thing that it doesn't like is when I turn on the heater and it warms up. It works fine after it stabilizes though. Mine has never been more than .1 grain off.

Bill

[PaulS]

Originally posted by BILLY D.
Hey guys

I leave mine, RCBS Chargemaster, plugged in an turned on all the time. My basement and the city morgue are about the same temperature. The only thing that it doesn't like is when I turn on the heater and it warms up. It works fine after it stabilizes though. Mine has never been more than .1 grain off.

Bill

Bill,
I have tried a couple of digitals - not the most expensive but the two that I tried were not impressive. I tested them using a fixed charge of 55 grains of powder as measured on a well calibrated triple beam scale of known quality. (its mine and it is accurate)
when i weighed it with my beam scale it was within .05 grains every time. On the digitals it would vary from 51.8 to 56.3 grains when it finally settled down. I recalibrated the electronic scale, rezeroed it, after warming up for twenty minutes and got the same accuracy. I tried weighing two charges with the electronic scale and then weighing them on my triple beam. Doing this a total of five times (for a total of 10 charges) I got the same (well similar) results. Not only would the e-scales not weigh consistantly they were not accurate to start with. I am not going to say which of them I tried but I will tell you neither of them was the RCBS scales.
I was wondering if you had ever done this kind of test with your electronic scale. I wonder if anyone using them has done this kind of testing with them. Even using a standard reloading scale I wonder what the results with the different scales is.
________
Demerol Rehab Advice

[Rocky Raab]

Denton has done tests of various scales, both in a constant temp and changing temp. His results (surprisingly) showed that the Lee Perfect scale is the most accurate across the board!

That said, if you follow the directions and keep your digital in a constant temp area, warm it up and calibrate it, it's as accurate as you need.

I have a single, marked 55-gr match bullet that I've used as a scale check weight for 40 years. It doesn't matter to me if it actually weighs 55 grains or 54.8 or 55.2, as long as everything I calibrate with it says that it weighs 55 grains.

If you work up a load for a given rifle, it really doesn't matter if the actual charge weight is spot on, as long as it's "spot off" the same way every time.

[Contenderizer]

As usual, great info guys.

I think Ol Joe has a good point. Before investing in a new d-scale I'll try dumping some powder in the poise beam and dribble to requried amount (every load). It may not take as long as I think - once I get a system down.

Next, I'll visit Harbor Tools, based upon Skeet's luck with the scale he purchased there, and see what they have to offer.

As Rocky indicated, its consistency that I'm after.

By the way, one problem that I have is dropping a charge from the powder measure into scale. I always end up with some kernels on the table after they have bounced out of the pan. Try as I might, there are always some that get away. I could dump into the brass and then dump into the pan, but I'm sure several kernels are hung-up on the primer. OK, now maybe I'm being too anal.

[Rocky Raab]

Hold the pan tight against the drop tube, work the measure to the drop position and THEN slowly lower the pan. No spillee, no messee!
Now and only now return the measure drum to the fill position.

[Cossack]

I'm using a Redding powder measure with a small volume drum and dropping 13 grains of Lil Gun is no issue...time after time. Got so I only measure every 10th Hornet case that's filled. Visually inspect all...with a light.

[PaulS]

Originally posted by Rocky Raab
Denton has done tests of various scales, both in a constant temp and changing temp. His results (surprisingly) showed that the Lee Perfect scale is the most accurate across the board!

That said, if you follow the directions and keep your digital in a constant temp area, warm it up and calibrate it, it's as accurate as you need.

I have a single, marked 55-gr match bullet that I've used as a scale check weight for 40 years. It doesn't matter to me if it actually weighs 55 grains or 54.8 or 55.2, as long as everything I calibrate with it says that it weighs 55 grains.

If you work up a load for a given rifle, it really doesn't matter if the actual charge weight is spot on, as long as it's "spot off" the same way every time.

Rocky,
My problem was that I couldn't get either of the digitals that I tried to measure the same weight as the same weight within a grain. what it measured once at 55 might read as 54 or 56 on the next two or three tries. It makes me shy away from digitals altogether.
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FFM TUBE

[Rocky Raab]

Yup, something wrong there. You seem to be losing calibration somehow.

Was the scale properly warmed up? Some say a 20-minute warmup is required.

Did you get any warning messages? Mine flashes when it loses calibration or drifts.

Have you checked for electrical interference? Mine would go off when the clothes dryer started or my (former) neighbor would transmit on his HAM radio, Even a fluorescent light going on nearby can throw them for a loop. Hrad to track down sometimes, but is often the cause.