Beam Scale Recommendation?

[emptybrass]

New at reloading and have the Hornady digital scale but want a beam scale for back-up and gut check. Which one?
Lee Precision Safety Scale
Lyman Pro 500
RCBS 505

Thanks,

[Inspector3711]

I use a beam scale for back up myself.

I had the RCBS 505 and it worked well but seemed light and a little rickety. I used a big Ohaus triple beam at work for years so I have personal standards.

Sold it and got a Redding cast iron scale. The Redding is nice and solid but I do have one complaint. It tends to walk around on the bench. Since one of the legs is adjusted to zero the scale, any time it walks around the zero is likely to change.

I find myself bumping into the scale and having to check zero.

Toyed with the idea of drilling shallow holes for the legs to sit in so it can't move. I will do it eventually. Other than that, I prefer the Redding by far.

[TATER]

RCBS or Lyman Are about the same IMHO.. Great either way.
I'm just opposite, I use a Digital as my gut check.

[woody wood]

i have a rcbs 505 and thought the same thing too-seem light.
under the scale i put tape on wheel weights(two strips) and is now good to go.
has been a great scale-would buy again!!

[Shootest]

I would try the Dillon, it is made by Ohaus and is as good as any other scale, and at a lower price.

[Gbro]

I have the RCBS 10-10 and do like it. I tried the Lee PSS and within the 1st month I sent it back with a letter.
As for light, many things today are short changed in the manufacture materials and are to light. I weight down my powder trickler and I am going to look real hard at a good way to weight my scale also.

[hooligan1]

I have used the 505 for almost thirty years and I have come to trust it. It's faster than my digital scale by far.

[BigD_in_FL]

Personally, i use the 5-10 more robust than the 505, and the 10-10 is even better and will last you and your kids and their kids and then some

[emptybrass]

Great input...thanks to all for your response.

[GTOne]

The new Lyman Pros are plastic based, but have the same poise adjustments and agate bearings. They are $50 compared to a RCBS 505 at $80.
I hot glued some weights up under the base of mine and that scale is nicely 'planted' now.
The Lee is as accurate as any, but smaller, lighter, and fiddly as can be to operate. Pass.

[cryogenic419]

I've got a 505 that I got in 1998 and hasn't given me any issues. I throw the check weights on all the time and its always dead on.

[Nathan]

Lyman check weights. Scales are checked with a certified weight set, not another scale. Another scale will only be different.

As an aside, I have an RCBS 5-10 scale which I really liked until I went digital. PM me if you have any interest.

[BigJimP]

They're all about the same....but in general, I'd lean toward an Ohaus...or something made by Ohaus.../ and a lot of the scales are made by someone else ...and then labeled for the retailer...( like Dillon )...where right on the scale it says made by Ohaus....

[smokiniron]

Try a piece of 3/4" pine for a base. Drill the holes (shallow pits, really) as you were thinking, then grab a few silicone sticky pads from Home Depot to put on the pine board. Use 3 if the loading bench is irregular, otherwise 4 if it's reasonable flat. This way, you can put the scale where you want it. Make the board long enough to have the Beam and Digital on the same board if you want them close together for dumping loads.

0.02

-Smokiniron

[reynolds357]

RCBS. I bought a Lee "safety" scale as a back up scale. Nothing "safe" about it. Mine hung all the time. Still would be hanging if I hadn't bounced it off the concrete wall into the trash bucket. I hate digital scales for weighing powder. I only use mine for weighing brass, bullets, and loaded .22 match ammo.

[mehavey]

If you can find one at a gunshow and/or Craig'sList/eBay, get it and keep for a lifetime.



Heavy, solid, absolutely dependable... and really tough to misread.

[serf 'rett]

My 505 has experienced a few nasty tumbles to the floor, but still works fine. I like the idea of mounting the scale to something with more mass.

[mikld]

Nuttin wrong with Lee scales 'cept the users. I've got 2 beam scales, a good digital scale and a Lee Safety Scale. All run within .01 gr. of each other. The "problem" with the Lee scale is the vernier poise. Some folks can't or won't learn to use it. I really like the locking function. Once the scalr is set and locked, it won't move if you put the pan back too hard or bump the scale/table.

Any major manufacturer of reloading equipment scales will prolly last a lifetime of accurate weighing. Pick the one you're partial to and can afford, and you'l be fine.

I have an old Ohaus/Lyman, an RCBS (? mod. similar to the 10-10) and a Jennings Mack 20 digital along with the Lee. All work great, all are accurate (Mack 20 is too accurate! .01 grain accuracy). and the beam scales will last as long as I'm gonna reload...

[Tooltech]

Mehavey, is that scale oil damped? I have an old Redding #1 that looks very similar. Great scale, and settles much faster than magnetically damped.

[Olorin]

I use a Lee Beam Scale as a backup (it came with the kit) and while it works it feels very cheep and you can bump it out of balance.

[mehavey]

Texan oil damped?

Yup -- has the req'd reservoir/paddle set-up (though I run it dry and just tap my finger on the table to repeatably settle it out in 1-2 sec).

The difference that I always found useful on the TEXAN (vice others) was the separate grains and tenths weights.
(Redding's#1 had them combined)

[Ca Lunker]

I've been using a 505 and been very happy with its performance.

[Lost Sheep]

Originally Posted by Inspector3711

It tends to walk around on the bench. Since one of the legs is adjusted to zero the scale, any time it walks around the zero is likely to change.

I find myself bumping into the scale and having to check zero.

Do you have your scale placed on a separate work surface than your press or other tools? The best place I have found is an eye-level shelf solidly mounted to a wall immune to jostling.

I generally make do with a table near to, but separate from, my workbench.

Lost Sheep

[Gbro]

Mikld,

Nuttin wrong with Lee scales 'cept the users.

Or it can also go another way.
I would like to tell you just exactly why I returned the Lee Safety Scale.
Under the base of most scales their is a lift spring called an approch to weight spring.
In the Lee this spring is a glued in strip of curved plastic. Well after about a month of operation the scale changed, it became hard not to overcharge the pan. i checked that spring and it had decided to curl the other way and might as well have not been there at all! Yes it was correct at first and changed.
Now, maybe some of them 'cept users understand scales better'n some.

[FlyFish]

I've had the same RCBS 5-10 since I started reloading back in the '70s. It worked perfectly out of the box and has continued to do so ever since.