Help pick a scale

[ka9fax]

Hi i just sold a Dillon elec. scale to a friend and need another. Im looking for something a bit better.
What i have in mind so far. is the New, Dillon D-Terminator Electronic Scale, was told by Dillon it has been improved.
2ed is the Gem Pro 250
3ed is a Pact
4th, had good reviews but it looks like it not made anymore is the Denver Instrument MXX-123. but might be overkill. i don't mind spending a little more money than the 1st 3 if needed.
thanks for the help.
KA9FAX

[RC20]

I would consider the new RCBS Auto dispenser.

Its around $210, I gather its just put in the numbers and away it goes.

[ka9fax]

Thank you, I have the charge master 1500. I use that when I am reloading for rifle. This is going next to my Dylan 650 and will mostly be used for a pistol.

[cw308]

When reloading for rifle , ChargeMaster 1500 then I double check with the GemPro 250 very accurate little scale, you can see how off the CM 1500 is.

[ka9fax]

Have you been finding that the 1500 is frequently off quite a bit? Yes, I keep looking at the gem pro and that's the one I wanted to order it but see a lot of mixed reviews. I guess that's with all of them. Then I was just thinking about ordering The Dillon. But I did have problems with my old one when trying to trickle into it I would find it would lose zero. So I guess I'm on the fence between the 250 and Dillon. I also see they now have a A Gen pro 300 or 350, can't remember.

[ed308]

The Gempro 250 is one of the best scales you can buy. But it's so little! I find I use my RCBS Chargemaster more.

[ka9fax]

Thank you ed308 I might just order the 250 tomorrow.

[supercub99]

I've had my RCBS charge master for several years and find it quite accurate. Most powders will dispense spot on but some of the stick powders throw up to 20% of them off a little. That's more of an annoyance than anything. I used to double check every 10th one on a balance scale but now use a small electronic unit to do the checks on. If I'm going with 36 gr on the charge master and the secondary say 35.9, I'm good with that as long as it's that same difference all the time, I don't try to match them per say. I do throw a bullet in each to check them against each other at the start of a session. I did do the software mod and will say, it makes it almost 100% all the time no matter what powder. It's also twice as fast dispensing and if you do the McDonalds straw mod it's even better.

[RC20]

I have a Lyman that I like a lot, it has a trickler that mounts on it.

I set it to undercharge as close as I can and then trickle on up, fairly quick.

Charagmeast 1500 with the mods is a lot faster than the Lite though they may come out with access to change parameters in time.

That said, what is not stated is rather than the calibration aspect, you need to know what your pan weighs.

All scales drift, the more costly the less drift but they all do.

The easiest way to deal with it is to zero the empty pan and note that weight when you take the pan off (mine is 149.9)

If it moves to 150 when the pan is off, I adjust the charge down 1/10.

If my power charge was 55 grains, I then charge it to 54.9.

Once it moves to 150.1 with the pan off I zero the pan again. I can do it 2/10 lower, but I think that's enough offset.

I can do a pan zero and weigh the adjusted charges and they come out right at 55.

While it sounds annoying, if you try it, its quick, easy and takes almost not time and you can keep rolling quite fast.

I am about as fast as the Chargmaster Lite. I am going to watch it and see how it does and maybe buy one for convenience (pan zeros will still apply)

Its smaller and fits my bench space better, it does have a tube mod so the straw is not needed. Otherwise the 1500 is currently faster (with program mods) and by a good 50% it looks like.

Part of my job is calibration instruments and the technique was devolved as a variation of that work.

[Berserker]

I don't have an electric dispenser. But have the Lee balance, hate it, RCBS, fine, and cheap LYmann electric. I rarely use a balance beam anymore.

Before some old timer gets upset about electric ones, I have check weight.

Even if you are afraid of electric, they are nice for setting up your pourer and going from one grain to another or powder. You could still use balance to get close or per charge. I did that for awhile.

[RC20]

Each time you put your pan on the scale you are doing a "Check"

When you zero the pan, you can see any drift when you remove it.

Keep it zeroed when it drifts and its not an issue, on the contrary, its a constant cross check.

[rebs]

I have a Lyman balance beam that works great and also a Frankfort Arsenal electronic from Midway USA that works great as well.

[ShootistPRS]

I have several balance beam scales. I don't have to worry about power fluctuations or which lights I use or if I have good replacement batteries.
Maybe I'm old fashioned or a bit nostalgic but I don't use powered tool to reload. I really prefer to do it all by hand. It was real convenient when the power went out for 8 days a few years ago.

[Berserker]

How many people, who actually go on about balance beam accuracy, use a magnifying glass? Cause that is the problem with balance beams, you got 1/32+ line. I might prefer 1/4, so you could really line it up.

[Stats Shooter]

I would get both a good balance beam scale and electronic scale.....I have both. Each has its advantages. I use the beam scale mainly to verify results from the electronic scale. If you are weight sorting bullets and brass, a beam scale would be slow, and a pain if you are weighing big cases.

I have an RCBS 5-0-5 and a Lyman electronic scale that runs on AC power OR batteries in case the power is out or if you want to weigh bullets in the living room watching football....(or cartoons with the kids)

The 505 is a great scale, so is the range master. My Extreme spread went down when I began using an electronic scale. Not because it is more accurate than the beam scale, but because it settles faster and it is difficult to see the difference between 1/10 of a grain on a beam scale consistently.

I shoot F-CLASS, I weigh each charge and I shoot two matches a month. I also shoot field precision rifle on occasion and weigh each charge for that too. It would take quite a bit longer to load all that ammo each month in a beam scale.

Both scales have their place...Both have advantages. That's why I have both.

[jonnefudge]

I am very very pleased with this one and it is cheap.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/17...grain-capacity

I have a balance beam to check its readings and it is very correct.


I personally shot to much and have to little time to not use a electronic scale.

/fudge

[RC20]

I have several balance beam scales. I don't have to worry about power fluctuations or which lights I use or if I have good replacement batteries.
Maybe I'm old fashioned or a bit nostalgic but I don't use powered tool to reload. I really prefer to do it all by hand. It was real convenient when the power went out for 8 days a few years ago.
ShootistPRS is offline Report Post

I was out of power for 4 days a few years ago.

The good news was my brother got his power back (other side of town) and loaned me his generator.

That saved about $1000 worth of meat and other frozen products in two freezes and the fridge.

I now have my own backup generator I can power the house up with.

Oddly reloading was not the top thing on my mind at that point. Though if I needed a diversion I could have.

I had enough spare rounds that if the neighbors came at me I could fight them off (most of them didn't have generators and they were getting pretty big eyed by day 2)

At the end of day 4 we got power back before the zombies showed up though you sure would have thought the living dead were out there from some of the post lack of gen smells.

[ShootistPRS]

I don't have to worry about the power going out any more because I moved. I still use mechanical tools to do everything but tumble. I have always had a generator and when the power was out I dragged it around so the neighbors could keep their freezers frozen. (that's just what neighbors do)
I trust my balance beam scales and I can calibrate them and check the calibration against my lab scale that gets professionally calibrated every year. The point I was making was that I find it hard to trust the electronic scales since the few that I have tried didn't work out well. That was a few years ago and the more expensive scales are probably adequate but, like I said, "maybe I'm old fashioned or a bit nostalgic..."
I am not going to tell you not to use your electronic scale - just that I prefer my beam scales.

[Jeryray]

I have the New Dillon, it's very nice scale.
OLED display.

Just wish it had one more digit resolution.

[FrankenMauser]

The OP has probably made a decision by now, but I thought I might add:

It may be useful to correct the sequential abbreviations.
To properly mis-use numeric sequences, your list should read something like:

Hi i just sold a Dillon elec. scale to a friend and need another. Im looking for something a bit better.
What i have in mind so far. is the New, Dillon D-Terminator Electronic Scale, was told by Dillon it has been improved.
2th is the Gem Pro 250
3st is a Pact
4nd, (...)

[RC20]

I don't have to worry about the power going out any more because I moved. I still use mechanical tools to do everything but tumble. I have always had a generator and when the power was out I dragged it around so the neighbors could keep their freezers frozen. (that's just what neighbors do)
I trust my balance beam scales and I can calibrate them and check the calibration against my lab scale that gets professionally calibrated every year. The point I was making was that I find it hard to trust the electronic scales since the few that I have tried didn't work out well. That was a few years ago and the more expensive scales are probably adequate but, like I said, "maybe I'm old fashioned or a bit nostalgic..."
I am not going to tell you not to use your electronic scale - just that I prefer my beam scales.

I am pretty much a stick in the mud for new things but when I got the first electronic scale it was like being liberated.

While I still keep the old balance beams I don't even bother to use them for cross check. Between the cal weight and the pan cross check I have seen no need.

I won't tell anyone that a beam is worthless, its not, it works.

I have gotten fond of fuel injection and not having to set the choke on the engine and pump fuel pedal a few times though. Pretty much the same thing.

Just a side note: Our whole neighborhood pulled together, it was the people who did not come ask for help that lost stuff.

One guy next door went out and bought a big generator and powered up himself and two other neighbors. That was generous of them, ours was barely enough to power up our stuff. We did check the adjacent ones and they were ok, if not we could have rotated them in and out.

By the time it was into it two days I had the utility disconnected and back powered the whole house.

Interesting the only thing that caused issues was the garbage disposal. That is a power hog. left it off and good.

We were the second longest without. They could not figure out where I feed came from. We had a friend that took 10 days to get back.

Our area they finally jumped across a main street with a wire and got it going.

Then they called in an outside electrical company, something like 12 rigs working the neighborhood to find it (they finally did).

One neighbor was on his generator for 3 weeks as his service entry wires and meter got ripped off and not an electrician to be had in town of course.

[silvermane_1]

i say "old school" mechanical scales for powder, electronic ones for bullets and brass.

[RC20]

To be clear, if someone uses a beam its not like they have a disease.

Logically I don't get it as the digitals are far more accurate and versatile but certainly I would be happy to have a neighbor who used a beam vs snorting cocaine.


About 35 years ago, I felt that way about volt meters, until I had to use a Fluke Digital as I could not get the accuracy I needed from the analog.

Hmm, this works pretty good. Yea it did have a drawback, it needed a battery. Solution was to carry a spare.

Same thing with slide rules, I really liked them, but the resolution was ball park.

Digital calculators, I grew to love them (and even more so HP with RPN)

I did use a beam as a cross check as I got used to the digitals, haven't had them off the shelf in two years now.

For someone getting started, that's a tough one.

The issue does get into knowing how to watch one, drift and what to do about it.

In that regard beams don't have those characteristics.

I am very interesting in the Gen 6 Lyaman as it seems to have its own built in auto zero. Put a pan on it, tell it to accept it as a given weight (making sure it is right) and then self correct to that if it drifts (if I have that right)

Keeping in mind its $160 for the entire dispenser, just the scale should be no more than $80 and not reason you can't build that into stand alone scales.

If I had an issue with a beam it would be the tiny loads of 9mm on down. There the small built in errors can be serious.

[Dufus]

Logically I don't get it as the digitals are far more accurate....

I tried to qualify this a few years ago and I could not.

I found that digital scales are no more accurate than beam scales.

They may have a higher resolution, but that does not make them far more accurate.

As an aside and in the same reference, the same holds true of digital measuring instruments (i.e. a digital caliper) versus analog instruments.

[FrankenMauser]

Logically I don't get it as the digitals are far more accurate and versatile (...)

I'd have to modify that statement to read: "...digital scales are sometimes as accurate, and occasionally more versatile..."

Expensive electronic scales are generally pretty good. (And I'm fairly certain that the OP is firmly in the realm of 'expensive'.)
But the cheaper stuff... not so much.

As we have discussed in the past, I found several popular FA and Cabela's brand digital scales to be dangerous if used with trickled charges.

The circuitry of some of these scales seems to be dependent upon the displayed value and hitting a certain threshold before it will increment to the next unit.

So, if one trickles less than the threshold into the pan, the scale may not increment ... possibly several times in a row, resulting a displayed value that is lower than the actual weight of the charge.

It's a bit like some of the old coin-operated pool tables and cigarette machines that required three to six quarters to drop the balls/cigarettes. If you only put two quarters in and pushed in the coin slide, it would take your money, but no balls/cigarettes would drop. The process could be repeated for $100 worth of quarters, with no change in the result. No threshold, no increment.

With one particular Cabela's scale that I have (which, in the past, could be found under many other 'store' brands), I was able to trickle 37 grains of powder into the pan with the display only reading 17 grains.
It was an extreme test and is an extreme example; but shows what goes on with some of these scales and how far off they can be.

The zero also tends to drift on the mid-range and budget electronic scales.

And, even some of the 'latest and greatest' have problems. For example: Hornady's latest scale, when initially released was described as "designed for trickling". That has since been changed to "trickle compatible" ... because many buyers, such as myself, found that it gets very unreliable when more than about 0.5 gr was trickled.
The zero also wanders.
And if it isn't re-zeroed every 15-20 minutes, it starts having seizures. (Zero jumping +/- 3-6 gr, or displayed weight sweeping up and down like a sine wave.)


For weighing hand-thrown charges or doing any kind of trickling, I use a beam scale (RCBS 5-0-5).
For verifying powder measure thrown charges, I may use the beam or an electronic scale. (And re-zero regularly.)
For sorting brass and bullets, or weight-matching jackets to cores for bullet swaging, nothing beats the speed of an electronic scale (or six).