[bt380]

I forgot to mention. Some days my finesse is off so I make a practice set up.
We are after 1/10ths so I use a small number to practice with. Lets say you wanted 4.6 grains. I cut a piece of paper slightly below the 4.6 then write with ink by drawing a stick ladder very slowly as I measure the weight until I get to a 4.5gr piece of paper. Then I use the cup to work up the 1/10. I use a small screw driver to tap the top of the cup so the vibration jiggles out the tinsy amount to get my scale to read 4.6. If that doesn't work quick enough, tap the pin or straw. Once I got the feel dialed in, it's usually good from then thru that session.
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My other project is a powder checker. I took a piece of pvc and lightly sanded it and slightly beveled the end so I could start some threads using my 4 hole turret as the thread maker. Then I worked it like the tap/die method until I got it to screw in where I wanted it. Don't make the threads so they are sloppy because that way you don't have to have a nut to hold it in. Then a wood dowel that is closes to the ID and sanded that. I used my drill press to hold it and then just held 100 grit to get it close then 220 grit to get it so it would snuggly insert. If you don't have a drill press, use a flat hole drill and cut a groove (like on a kid arrow) and use the flat part to hold the dowel so it will spin and sand it down. It doesn't take much for either the pvc or dowel. Then cut the dowel down to about 3/4 inch long. Make two of them. One for the top of the pvc and the other for the bottom of the pvc. You will need to drill a hole thru those two before you insert them into the pvc w/ glue. The reason for two short stubbies is less friction for the rod since it is wood. The rod is any thing in your garage that is light and round. I imagine you could use a straw with a piece of round aluminum in the bottom for weight in the straw. I have a plastic rod from a kids toy and I added a little weight at the top. You have to play with the weight so it doesn't crush the power so you can't read it right. At the top, use anything you like as a stopper so the rod doesn't fall thru (cut piece of cork, cut piece of foam, etc). The guage is a twisty on the rod that moves up/down that reads against the scale which is another short rod glued to the side of the pvc. It's important to have the rod vertical with minimum friction. It was fun to make and it works just as good as a purchased checker. I didn't need it since I have a Lee Classic Turret and I can just look. I just wanted to see it work.