Digital scales or balance beam

rdwllce · Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:24 pm Post subject: Digital scales or balance beam

Which do you favor for accuracy? Digital scales or the balance beam.???

Gil Martin

It depends what you prefer. I have three RCBS 505 beam scales and weigh every rifle and handgun cartridge charge. It works for me. All the best...
Gil

gelandangan

I use both.
Usually on starting (new) charge I use both to verify each other.

Beam is less sensitive to wind if you load with windows open.
Digital ones less prone to wrong setups (like placing the counter wight on the wrong notch, or have the pivot set on wrong, or even have the whole scale on uneven surfaces etc.)

woods · Member Joined: Oct 15, 2005 Posts: 89

I used a balance beam for years before springing for the RCBS 1500 chargemaster. Kept the balance beam to check the digital for a short while and then gave it to a beginning reloader.

The digital came with check weights and I did not realize how inaccurate the balance beam was until I started using the 2 in tandem. In 2 1/2 years the digital has not skipped a beat and I trust it completely. When I turn it on I always calibrate it and after that the pan always weighs exactly 155 grains. When I lift the pan to dump the powder the display always shows exactly -155 grains.

The digital is a highly accurate powder thrower. Set it lower by .3 grains or so and tip a few grains off the end to hit the exact weight you want

I'll never be without one anymore.

rdwllce

Thank you for your input, I am new to this site And I just purchase a rcbs 750 scale. I still throw each charge the old fashion way but I weigh them each and every load.I just noticed how much faster it is to use a digital scale and realize how long it took to trickle powder onto the balance beam.it seams slower to stabilize but seams to be touchier to the individual grains of powder.

Pumpkinslinger

I haven't used my beam scale since shortly after I bought a digital scale. When I first got the digital I spent some time confirming that both scales were giving the same weight. My beam scale is still here ... somewhere ... I think ...

chambered221

I use a Redding model #2, (beam) havn't had any reason to think I need to spend more money needlessly !!!

Have friends who bought cheappy digitals and regreted it !!!

ElyBoy

I switched from my Ohaus beam scale to my Lyman digital scale several years ago.
The Lyman digital is expensive, but I like it much better. It's much faster, and very accurate.
The gang is correct in that if you go digital, spend the bucks on a good one or you could have big time problems on the range.

Eric

1895ss

ElyBoy wrote:

I switched from my Ohaus beam scale to my Lyman digital scale several years ago.
The Lyman digital is expensive, but I like it much better. It's much faster, and very accurate.
The gang is correct in that if you go digital, spend the bucks on a good one or you could have big time problems on the range.

Eric

Eric, I have been thinking about getting a digital scale and I'm not sure which one to get. The Lyman or the RCBS. Have you heard any news (good or bad) about the RCBS?

wncchester · Member Joined: Apr 08, 2006 Posts: 160

"Which do you favor for accuracy? Digital scales or the balance beam.???"

Assuming they are used correctly, there is no difference in the PURE ACCURACY between the types, both are accurate within .1 gr.

Bushmaster

I have a RCBS 5-0-5 sitting on the shelf above my bench just in case my 20 year old RCBS Powder Pro has a hic-up. I do check the digital against the balance beam scale every once in a while, but have never seen any difference in the two. The electronic is much faster though...

1895ss

Thanks Bushy, I also have the RCBS 5-0-5 scale and it works fine but I have been thinking about getting a digital scale. Likely it would be a RCBS cause most of my reloading equipment already is. Smile

Bushmaster

My Powder Pro was made by Pact for RCBS and it has proven to be a good one over the past years. A lot of people have complained that electronic scales are not stable and fluctuate a lot. Mine has been stable and repeatable. I have discovered by testing against my 5-0-5 that the flucuations you see between use is to be ignored. Better explain...When you are not weighing anything it is not uncommon to see the scale bounce around a bit. Either from slight wind currents or just because. But when you put the powder in the pan it settles right out and does its job. Must be level and not near anything that will cause it to fluctuate. My wife (I don't want to say she is a bit heavy, but) causes it to move when she walks by the reloading/gun room. When I was living in the USSR of C I could tell by the scale that a tiny earthquake had ocured even if I couldn't feel it. They are sensitive...

Two things to keep in mind. You must have check weights (mine came with a set of two [20 and 50 gram) and you have to give it at least 15 minutes to warm up.

1895ss

Good info Bushy ........... Thanks Smile

shrpshtrjoe

I have both. The RCBS 505 and a Cabela's Digital. The only thing I have a problem with the Digital scale is when tricking the final amount of the charge in the pan it takes like 3 or 4 tenths before the scale responds and and I end up over so now I just use it for sorting bullets and weighing arrows and such and the 505 for weighing charges.
Joe