Thread: Powder Scale Options

I use a kids wooden chair by the reloading bench so my eyes are the same level as the scales.

Put plaster of paris in the bottom. Adds weight and stability to the beam scales.
And use a check weight every 5 or so loads.
My 2c.

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Lyman Gen 6 is okay , but a beam scale and "Target Master" trickler will give far better consistency once set up . There's videos on YouTube , the guy who produces them exports .

recently purchased a Trickler and wish I had done that years ago as it really sped up the beam scale weighing.

Originally Posted by JohnQT

Cool. All good info here. I found the G2’s were changing between loads. Within 30 seconds. That just took all my confidence out of them entirely.
I’ll give the balance beams another go. It’ll be interesting to cross reference with the digital scales too.
I’m not running huge numbers of reloads so I think I’ll just need a bit more patience. And I’ll take your advice there @mickyduck and set them up at eye height ��

Can confirm that the G3-1500 is very stable and consistent and have tested against my Dillon beam scales regularly and are always on the money. It was just under a hundy from DeltaMikes so very good value for the money. My Redding beam scales are all over the place but just need a decent bit of magnetic dampening to sort I think.

Love the idea of a bit of magnification for the beams. Very useful tip from this thread.

Originally Posted by Gerardo

Put plaster of paris in the bottom. Adds weight and stability to the beam scales.
And use a check weight every 5 or so loads.
My 2c.

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

I have a Redding beam. I glued some lead sheet on the underside for same reason.

For better/faster dampening just replace the magnets with stronger ones. It won't effect accuracy.

If the beam is not consistant sharpen the knife with a very, very fine stone and brush graphite in the V.

I always use a check weight when I set up. Almost anything will do. As long as it's retained, kept clean and weight noted. e.g a 55gr bullet.

Very happy with my rcbs chargemaster, needs to be turned on, balanced and let run to warmed up, have the staw inserted which more even pour, quite a few adjustments to program as to speed of pour, slowing 1 grain to go. If it over pours have set of tweezers to remove .1 or .2 if necessary so as not to need to repour, speeds things up. Had a rcbs balance beam set up at eye height, worked well; but once I bugger my shoulder needed to keep everything at bench height other wise I would never have changed.

My old Chargemaster has electronic scales built into it.
I use a machine nut weighing 44.3gr as a check about every 20 or 30 charges and it will occasionally come in at 44.4gr. So this unit is very stable. I hold the thing down with 8 spots of blutack, one under each foot. I have a low energy bulb above it but don't run anything else on the circuit when using it. I fill all cases before I start bullet seating.
Testing on target has never found a difference in point of impact in less than 1.0 gr so 0.1 accuracy is more than good enough. In my opinion, powder weight can be measured far more precisely than is necessary for good grouping & holding zero so people get anxious about it. I'm told that neck tension and runout are more critical and they are hard to measure reliably.

However, I'm wanting to downsize to a more compact, low tech powder handling so am interested in electronic scales.
Has anyone used these Frankford Arsenal digital scales ?
https://www.reloaders.co.nz/shop/Rel...tal+Scale.html

Got those as well, use to double check ocasionally, seem to do allright with sorting air rifle pellets

I found the FA worked fine, and doesn't require any mods such as straws and stuff. It stays in the 0.1 + or_ as advertised, if you notice drifting just rezero.. it's also easy ro recalibrate. The blue tooth app let's you store loads to your phone.
Only issue can be emptying and forgetting to close the hole.
@Bagheera

Nah. Ive NEVER forgotten to close the drain hole on the chargemaster and had half a pound of nice expensive powder pour out over my filthy bench. ( hardly ever… )

I reload at the kitchen bench now. Nice and easy to scoop up every last grain. Haven't been allowed to bolt my press to it yet though

is that pepper or powder on those sandwiches

I think the salt is corroding my barrel Will have to make sandwhiches out in the reloading room now!
@Bagheera I just looked up the link to the scale you are talking about.... I thought you meant an intellidropper ( thats what I was refering to.)
Going back to my first post, if you take the "name" off that label its the same thing as one you can buy for $50 or less.
So the question is ...do you trust a $50 scale to be your main method of determining how much powder is in that load?

Id trust it if id started from a lee dipper load or a powderr thrower so it wasnt too far out and id used the scale with a control weight like my nut and it was always within 0.1 gr.

Possibly the scales in the chargemaster or intellidropper are similar inside too. Are some brands really better than others after the label is taken off ?