Digital powder scale advantages?

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Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by Triang » 06 Nov 2013, 8:14 pm

Hi guys,

I've been given a hand me down reloading kit to make use of.

All is in good nick except the scales, they're a bit banged up and need replacing.

If it's just for measuring, and not part of a digital dispenser combo like the RCBS chargemaster or whatever, is there any advance in digital scales over balance beam ones?

Worth the extra $$$?

Thanks guys.
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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by Seconds » 07 Nov 2013, 7:45 am

They're very quick to give a result.

No wobbling back and forth like balance beam scales.

Accuracy can value a little though depending on quality...
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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by hrrl » 07 Nov 2013, 8:09 am

Balance beam takes ages if you just plonk your powder on and let it swing.

You can steady it yourself to knock a few seconds off and it doesn't take long though...
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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by Zilla » 07 Nov 2013, 8:31 am

There are $100 or $1,000 ones mate.

All depends how much accuracy you demand and how much you're willing to spend.
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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by reddog » 07 Nov 2013, 9:09 am

My balance beam is magnetically damped and does'nt bounce much at all
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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by Blackened » 07 Nov 2013, 9:41 am

You'd do well to check what their tolerances actually mean.

Some claim accuracy to 0.1 grain, what they actually mean though is +/- .1 grain so if you get two loads on either end of the scale they could be as far as 0.2 grain apart which would affect accuracy noticeably. Others claim accuracy to 0.05gr and so on.

Some can have a tendency to stick as well... e.g. if you were trying to add 0.1gr more, you can trickle a little on, little more, little more without anything happening, then the scale jumps up 0.2 - 0.3 grains.

IMO, the benefit of a digital scale is when matched with a dispenser so you can quickly swap between charge weights.

If you're doing a wide spread of charges for load testing or regularly load many different calibres/loads then not having to fiddle with a manual powder thrower is a huge time saver.

If you only do 1 or 2 loads, and only need to set your charge weight once, I'd say they're a waste.

If you're just setting an initial charge weight, and or checking the load every once to make sure your dispenser is holding true, a balance beam is perfect.
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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by sooey » 08 Nov 2013, 2:28 pm

The RCBS Chargemaster Combo you mentioned seems to be the pick of the litter though.

There is an article somewhere, might be 6mmBR? can't remember sorry, where they compare a couple of them including the RCBS one and the Hornady combo dispenser, and another one.

The do 20 tests I think it is and check them all with balance beam scales.

The hornady one is all over the place and something like 3 measures are accuracy and all the rest are .1 or .2 grain off.

The RCBS one does 20 perfect measures.
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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by Triang » 25 Nov 2013, 8:00 am

Spent a bit of money recently on a new safe which put out the budget.

Digital scales next now though I think :D
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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by lole » 25 Nov 2013, 12:19 pm

If you go for the RCBS one I'm sure you'll be happy.

Don't think I've ever seen a bad review of it?
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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by RealNick » 25 Nov 2013, 12:36 pm

I think it was 6mm BR that did a bunch of reviews on digital scales and auto dispensers.

RCBS, Hornady, Lyman I think...?

Anyway, RCBS was the only one that dispensed consistent weights.
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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by AndrewO5 » 08 Mar 2014, 8:34 pm

I think the main benefit of digital scale is that you can easily get accurate results up to more decimals. Because most of these scales are NTEP certified and you don't need to be worried about the results.
Last edited by AndrewO5 on 15 Mar 2014, 4:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by Chronos » 09 Mar 2014, 8:00 am

I did a fair bit of research on the medium to high end digital scales a while ago when I was looking for something to weigh powder loads as well as weight sorting bullets and cases.

IMHO forget any of the cheap digital scales for weighing powder, despite their claims they are not accurate enough, even scientific scales up to the $1300 mark only have an accuracy of around .01grams. Sounds good until you convert that to grains (that's .15grains).

Also digital scales are hard to trickle powder onto because the software will buffer small changes thinking they are the wind or whatever. So you have to trickle .1-.2 grains before it shows a change.

I use redding beam scales and can throw about .5 grains under my desired charge then trickle powder into the pan on the scale. You can easily tell the difference between the .1 grain marks on the scale making it possible to weigh individual powder kernels if desired

I also use Dillon digital scales to weigh cases and bullets simply because .2gr accuracy is all I need and they are fast.

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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by Bills Shed » 09 Mar 2014, 10:15 am

I was given a Lyman 1200 DPS by a bloke who was leaving the area. It is a early model from their range.
I also have a Sartorius analytical balance which I got from a previous job as it was over two years old and being upgraded. It is a true balance and not a load cell.
The Sartorius is good for good for 3 decimal places and the rounding only take place after the third decimal point. Both balances are checked by lab quality test weights.
What Chronos and Blackened have said is right on the money. Cheaper digital scales will round your results and can "stick" if trickling.
For a half decent explaination of this with shooters in mind, have a look at this,
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zxMzbAt4bj0
The Lyman is OK in relation to consistency. ( I have not tried any other type of trickle system) With a static test weight the load cell will read true weight but as for trickling it will do 0.1 grain but not conststantly. It is always within 0.2 consistently.. This could be close to 0.4 without the rounding effect.
All that said, if you have a high capacity case and am dumping say, 50 grains, 0.2 of a grain is only 0.4%. You will not see any great if any change in POI.
If you only want a charge of 10 grains, 0.2 of a grain is a 2.0% difference. Small case capacity does not leave a lot of room for error. Min and Max can be as little a 0.6 of a grain with some powders.
I have a RCBS balance beam but I have not pulled it out for years as it is very slow compared to the electronic one.
You tend to check everything when you have the ability to do it fast. The problem that I have with 3 decimal places is that you see the error between components and this plays with your mind if you have OCD. You have to keep telling your self that the last two digits are so small that it is almost impossible to control.

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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by Igoe » 11 Mar 2014, 6:45 am

I bought the Hornady digital scales (around $50-55) and stopped using them, as I couldn't trust the readout. Every so often, it would be out by 1.5 grains. That's a bit much when you are only putting in around 26 grains.
I took to double-checking every 5 cases so I only had to re-do the last 5 if it moved. You soon lose out on any time benefits you may have with digital when you have to do that.

Went back to the good old balance beam scales. It might be slower generally, but I have confidence in the accuracy. The digital scales are relegated to getting the powder thrower adjusted when I change calibre.

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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by Chronos » 11 Mar 2014, 7:58 am

I always hear people say that using beam scales is slower but I don't agree, for the level of precision you get I don't find it slow at all.

Here's a clip showing how quickly you can throw, weigh and trickle a charge. Don't mind the waffle at the start, it was part if a series if reloading videos

http://youtu.be/EyyvfOnHtLo

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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by straightshooter » 17 Mar 2017, 3:43 pm

Igoe wrote:I bought the Hornady digital scales (around $50-55) and stopped using them, as I couldn't trust the readout. Every so often, it would be out by 1.5 grains. That's a bit much when you are only putting in around 26 grains.
I took to double-checking every 5 cases so I only had to re-do the last 5 if it moved. You soon lose out on any time benefits you may have with digital when you have to do that.

Went back to the good old balance beam scales. It might be slower generally, but I have confidence in the accuracy. The digital scales are relegated to getting the powder thrower adjusted when I change calibre.

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Re: Digital powder scale advantages?

Post by TheDude » 17 Mar 2017, 4:04 pm

This thread is old, he hasnt been around since march 2014.
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