Electronic Scales
- Thread starter one3
- Start date
Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
Muddyboots
Well-Known Member
Lots of discussions on them. My experience has been good BUT they are different than balance beams on how you have to use them to be consistent. See below link as example.
Digital Scales
Digital Scales
Rick Richard
Well-Known Member
I have a Dillon electronic scale that is over 15 years old works as good as it did from the first day I used it. I also have a Gempro 250 that has been used a few times and works well too.
dfanonymous
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2016
- Messages
- 2,011
I've never had good luck with the cheap ones. I used a $35 hornady one I was using for some quick pistol stuff and it wasn't even close. Like the slide didn't even come back. I had to check for squibs. I packed it up and when I moved, the problem with what do with it worked itself out when it broke during said move. With the chargemasters, I defer to the link provided above, but overall, very good.
I have a cheaper electronic scale and an RCBS 505 beam scale. Even the cheap electronic scale is fairly accurate but it does drift bad at times if I leave it on too long. My beam scale is very consistent but it's slow. My powder measure throws some goofy loads at times due to longer extruded powders getting stuck (1/2 charge to double charges and sometimes somewhere in between). If I feel like my powder measure is throwing consistent charges I will go straight to the beam scale and top off with the trickler. If my charge appears quite a ways off I'll go to the electronic scale to get a much quicker reference to what the charge weight actually is. I'm sure with the pricier electronic scales they are quick, accurate and consistent with their readings, someday I hope I can get used to that. For now though I feel comfortable bouncing back and forth between the two.
I, do not know how pricerer we need to go. I had a 200.00 dollar RCBS electronic amd a 40.00 hornady scale crap out. RCBS gave me a no. to call to get mine repaired. For 150.00 dollars that inclued shipping he would repair it. He told me, they are electronic. They will fail. I, went back to beam scales.
Muddyboots
Well-Known Member
I guess I have been lucky with the RCBS Rangemaster since no drift, holds calibration during loading, get really low SD and ES with it. BUT I will say the digital scales require completely different approach to how you weigh your charge. If you use it like a balance beam, no digital scale will work since they require different process for final weight.
This is the link thread info:
I have a RCBS Rangemaster E-2000 that I have been using for over 5 years for several thousand rounds without any problems whatsoever. There is no doubt digital scales are different to use and you cannot use same techniques from beam scale to powder scale to get same result. They just operate differently. First lesson I learned is digital scales are not balance beams relative to instant weigh changes so you cannot expect to see the same response BUT you can get fast results if you develop your own methodology to see the trickle powder changes. Some may think tedious but once I started to get accustom to how I was using it, the process became easier and faster.
Calibration was easy and fast for the unit I have and would hold calibration through 50 rounds without any problem at all. I was initially checking every 10 rounds with balance beam and was dead on every single time just to be sure. I also would weigh calibration weights close to the powder weight I was using and they were also dead on every single time. One way to monitor the calibration was to observe the minus tare weight of the pan that shows when you remove the pan. If it returned same minus number, you are essentially still calibrated to the zero of the pan. I never really saw any calibration changes using this scale. Maybe just lucky or the room I load in.
Here's the rub to get accurate final powder weights that I came up with that works for me. Once I trickled in powder to be around couple tenths below the desired weight, I would tilt the pan to allow the scale to cycle back to the minus tare weight of the pan which is instantaneous and return pan to scale. This assures you have the correct final weight on the scale so you can trickle in the remaining tenths for final weight. After each trickle, remove pan as above and return to scale which will immediately record the slightest powder change. If you don't remove scale, it takes forever to see a change and in fact you will likely blow by your final desired weight. Once you get knack for the added slight trickle powder change, the process speeds up immensely. You actually develop a sense for how much you need to add to get to final weight so the time gets shorter each time you use the scale.
Yes they are sensitive to temperature, light (incandescent or fluorescent) and drafts. I am lucky since I have a room in basement that cuts everything off so it isn't bothered by any extraneous interference.
I wanted to really get the most accurate weight possible (remember the scale takes the closes weight to the tenth) and test thru my chronograph. I weighed the charge to 0.1 below the desired weight and used a tweezer to drop one extruded granule at a time into the pan, raising the pan and resetting after each added granule. I could actually see the change from the 0.1 weight below the desired weight change to the weight by one granule added. OK, how many are laughing? I went to range and the results were interesting to say the least. The average velocity was consistent and the ES was generally 10 or less and the SD was 5 or less. This test was done with RL-16 load for .270. Tedious is understatement but is how I weigh loads now with extruded powder. I actually started to laugh at this when I was loading my .243 and it was ball powder. Yep, passed on trying it there.
Best suggestion I can make is to develop a process to weigh on the digital scale that gives you the fastest and most accurate response to powder being added to the pan. I would bet it is far different from how you used your balance beam scale.
This is the link thread info:
I have a RCBS Rangemaster E-2000 that I have been using for over 5 years for several thousand rounds without any problems whatsoever. There is no doubt digital scales are different to use and you cannot use same techniques from beam scale to powder scale to get same result. They just operate differently. First lesson I learned is digital scales are not balance beams relative to instant weigh changes so you cannot expect to see the same response BUT you can get fast results if you develop your own methodology to see the trickle powder changes. Some may think tedious but once I started to get accustom to how I was using it, the process became easier and faster.
Calibration was easy and fast for the unit I have and would hold calibration through 50 rounds without any problem at all. I was initially checking every 10 rounds with balance beam and was dead on every single time just to be sure. I also would weigh calibration weights close to the powder weight I was using and they were also dead on every single time. One way to monitor the calibration was to observe the minus tare weight of the pan that shows when you remove the pan. If it returned same minus number, you are essentially still calibrated to the zero of the pan. I never really saw any calibration changes using this scale. Maybe just lucky or the room I load in.
Here's the rub to get accurate final powder weights that I came up with that works for me. Once I trickled in powder to be around couple tenths below the desired weight, I would tilt the pan to allow the scale to cycle back to the minus tare weight of the pan which is instantaneous and return pan to scale. This assures you have the correct final weight on the scale so you can trickle in the remaining tenths for final weight. After each trickle, remove pan as above and return to scale which will immediately record the slightest powder change. If you don't remove scale, it takes forever to see a change and in fact you will likely blow by your final desired weight. Once you get knack for the added slight trickle powder change, the process speeds up immensely. You actually develop a sense for how much you need to add to get to final weight so the time gets shorter each time you use the scale.
Yes they are sensitive to temperature, light (incandescent or fluorescent) and drafts. I am lucky since I have a room in basement that cuts everything off so it isn't bothered by any extraneous interference.
I wanted to really get the most accurate weight possible (remember the scale takes the closes weight to the tenth) and test thru my chronograph. I weighed the charge to 0.1 below the desired weight and used a tweezer to drop one extruded granule at a time into the pan, raising the pan and resetting after each added granule. I could actually see the change from the 0.1 weight below the desired weight change to the weight by one granule added. OK, how many are laughing? I went to range and the results were interesting to say the least. The average velocity was consistent and the ES was generally 10 or less and the SD was 5 or less. This test was done with RL-16 load for .270. Tedious is understatement but is how I weigh loads now with extruded powder. I actually started to laugh at this when I was loading my .243 and it was ball powder. Yep, passed on trying it there.
Best suggestion I can make is to develop a process to weigh on the digital scale that gives you the fastest and most accurate response to powder being added to the pan. I would bet it is far different from how you used your balance beam scale.
ShtrRdy
Well-Known Member
It seems you have to get into an A&D FX-120i scale to get something repeatable and doesn't drift.
It looks like these are about $750
It looks like these are about $750
Deputy819
Well-Known Member
Yep....If you can, save your money and buy an A&D FX120i. It is NOT load-cell based technology and is not sensitive to any kind of lighting. It will not drift. I have mine plugged into a Tripp Lite Power Conditioner and leave it on all the time. The tare weight never changes.
Grizzly60
Well-Known Member
I have the Dillen D Terminator. Works great, no drift.
Picked up the little Hornady 1500 (I think it was). No good, neither was the replacement.
Picked up the little Hornady 1500 (I think it was). No good, neither was the replacement.
Deputy819
Well-Known Member
Try ceproducts.shop
backyardsniper
Well-Known Member
I'm a balance beam guy all the way
