scales make and model

[flashman]

Hi all , over balance beam scales , Ok need a good set of electronic , any recommendations , ...........thanks

[Wapiti]

Do you want one that also meters the powder, or just electronic scales for use with a trickler etc?
If you are after an auto one that meters, I have both Hornady and RCBS because I reload at two locations, well the Hornady one is just not up to the speed and accuracy as the RCBS. Overthrows all the time. RCBS is miles in front.
As for just electronic weighing, can't help. For that, I'd rather the superfine accuracy of the best beam scales made by Ohaus.

[Bugman]

I only reload for pistol, now, but my RCBS 10-10 scales are still accurate and reliable for checking every 10th load. They were a bit tedious for rifle loads. Accurate, but tedious.

[deye243]

I don't know what your problem is but I've been using RCBS 505 for 20 odd years never let me down just gotta keep the dust off them

[bladeracer]

Hi all , over balance beam scales , Ok need a good set of electronic , any recommendations , ...........thanks

I've been using a $30 Temu scale for a couple years now and I can't find fault with it. It's better than my GemPro 250 scale.

[JDM9691]

I had some cheap ebay scales that I used for a couple years but zero starts to wander around after a while - was always re-zeroing. I made up a spreadsheet so that I read the weight before I put the thrown load on the scales, then I read off the number to trickle up to. Still accurate that way, but a pain.
Got sick of that and the balance scales, and bought a hornady G3-1500 last year, which has been rock solid, and accurate when compared to balance scales.

[Damo300]

I have the didital hornady one.
Work great.

[flashman]

Thanks for the input , been trolling the web lots of low end and high end stuff ,my reloading bench is red and green , Lyman seem to be OK nows to find a shop that carrys what im looking for,

[flashman]

Hi im going blue the Dillon D- Terminator for $300 read reviews not bad at all yes cleavers have got it

[tuknal]

ive got a set of frankford digitals and a pair of rcbs digitals i think both were around $80/100 from memory and they both read different i dont know which to trust
so my powder measure (dillon 550 one) stays set where it is, id fork out for a more expensive set but i dont want to be back in this boat

[flashman]

Yes see where your going with this , a mate had the same though , i reload for him as well , get good set of scientific scales , Buy once cry once...,,

[tuknal]

yeah i get that ,but not sure i can justify 1200/1500 for a set of scales ,,im not trying to get too precise just need something reliable
been looking at the A&D HT120i scale if theyre reliable id buy one but just dont know

[bladeracer]

yeah i get that ,but not sure i can justify 1200/1500 for a set of scales ,,im not trying to get too precise just need something reliable
been looking at the A&D HT120i scale if theyre reliable id buy one but just dont know

Buy a set of scale calibration weights if you don't have confidence in your scale. I have two sets, the larger set has weights from .01gm (.154gn) up to 100gm (1543gn) in thirteen increments. Or use a few good bullets to check your scale calibration. And buy two or three scales so you can get second or third opinions on your weights.

I bought half a dozen cheap scales. Rose uses them to weigh poo samples from the animals for doing worm egg counts under the microscope, and I use them for loading ammo, so we're weighing in very low numbers, under 2gn at times - zero issues with them.

[deye243]

Trying not to be too negative but I'm not a young bloke and I've had a little quiet laughter to myself every time I see threads on electric powder measures and electric scales throwing the wrong weights being inconsistent if you know how a look after a decent balance scale and no how to use a trickler they leave them for dead even in speed once you know how to use the two

[bladeracer]

Trying not to be too negative but I'm not a young bloke and I've had a little quiet laughter to myself every time I see threads on electric powder measures and electric scales throwing the wrong weights being inconsistent if you know how a look after a decent balance scale and no how to use a trickler they leave them for dead even in speed once you know how to use the two

I find beam scales very, very fiddly, and more so as I get older. A $30 digital is a joy to use compared to a beam.

[deye243]

Next time I'm loading I will make a video

[Fester]

I was over the cheap Hrdy electronic scales pretty quickly, like most blokes.
I decided that a Chargemaster lite was only a few hundred more and never looked back.

I later scored an old style RCBS beam scale to check accuracy and needn't have bothered.
Talking to others, it seems that the load cell in the RCBS is very good.

If I just wanted good value electronic scales, RCBS would be hard to beat.
Not heard much about Lyman, but heard their machines were not up with RCBS.

[tuknal]

just the other day i totally was second guessing/lossing confidence in powder weight and for my reloads ,whats causing variation (according to the rcbs/frankford scales) in charge weights (both read different to each other) and whats to blame,,ie powder thrower (dillon or the 2 electronic scales i have)
so i remembered i had an old redding beam scale tucked away its been well looked after and always boxed ,,, i got it out set it up and found that the rcbs electric scale (if im trusting the beam scale) can be from 0 to .4 out ie reading 25.2/24.8 when its 24.8 on the beam
powder measure seemed fairly consistent with the beam scale 0/.2 variation ie aiming for 24.8 and getting 24.7/24.9 over 10/15 charges ,the beam if to be trusted just told me that the powder thrower was far more constant than the electric was telling me (which was the part doing my head in)
so looks like ill be putting my faith back in the old school beam scale from now on
unless theres anything im missing or should try 1st before i think ive had a win

[Fester]

Any breeze can affect my RCBS, Chargemaster Lite.
I reload on a very solid, stable workbench, sitting on a slab, so nothing else ever affects consistent readings, just the odd .1gr over thing.

I noticed straight away and shut the roller door. All good again.
I guess that's why they include the plastic cover/shield thing that no one would bother using.

[9.3x64]

I used to used a RCBS Chargemaster. It was a very convenient system. I only moved it on because after dropping about 50 charges it started to drift about.4 of a grain. It was really good for the first 50 or so, but I didn’t trust it after that. It was one of the early models, so maybe they are much better now.
Nowadays I just use a powder thrower and trickle up .3 of a grain from there on a high quality electronic scale.

[niteowl]

Just a quick comment. Be aware that some, not all, just some electronic scales and charge measuring devices are affected by a mobile phone close by.
I found this some time ago when the charge varied by a LARGE amount when a phone was in the room close to the device. This may be known now and maufacturers have taken steps to prevent this situation.

[Fester]

Yeah, they still recommend keeping the phone away.

When the Chargemaster Lite came out, it appeared to be less susceptible to electronic interference, or better insulated.

I am sure my very solid bench helps, and even the overthrows are generally only .1gr.
I always wait and check the readout after the beep; can't go wrong.

I fitted 2 big old double fluoro tube units from a construction site to light up my garage and one is nearly over the top of the bench within about 2m. It has no effect on the Chargemaster Lite.

[Wapiti]

I wonder why more people don't build solid benches for reloading themselves from steel.
Looking at some YouTube videos where the bloke shows some technique or whatever, and they have these benches with chipboard tops, even marine ply, studs for legs and you see them FLS a case and the whole front of the bench twists.
Even the workbenches that you can buy that are made from that smallish pallet-racking knockoffs from Bunnings (shudder) are flexy.

If anyone is ever thinking about a solid bench for reloading, think about buying some 50x3 SHS and a sheet of 6mm plate from your steel supplier. I reckon for the price of that "Rack-it" chinese stuff you would have a solid bench that will never flex or move, with ample room to spread your reloading functions out and have room to work.
And set up a few presses. I have three set up at once, two are a 6 and 7 station Redding and Lyman press.

I the smallest standard sheet is 1800x1200, that's an awesome workbench size. maybe some steel suppliers still stock the 1800x900 size but I'm not sure.
50x3 is perfectly strong enough, 5 and 6mm is overkill because your design will not allow any flex, ever. And the bench, being deep, will never ever twist or tip.

When you sketch up your frame size, take a look at your presses where they have the bolt holes drilled, so you can drill holes in the 6mm to that won't fall over the box-section frame underneath. In other words, the right overhang of the plate top.
If you forget that and your press holes fall over box section underneath, no problems, drill the holes smaller to allow you to tap the holes. Most presses M10 is just right.

And you can make your bench at just the right height so you sit comfortably without getting a sore back. Those padded mechanic bar stools with the gas strut posts are awesome seats, you can swing from one station to another.
You can even make a frame to sit your old-style beam scales and trickler on, so the beam is at eye height when sitting on your fancy stool so there's no parallax error watching the beam, and again save bending.
If you make the top out of angle with the toes up, and drop in a piece of marine ply and on top of that a cut out piece of that flat rubber ute-mat for the scales to sit on, they won't slide around and the toes of the angle will stop the scales being bumped off.
You could even suspend a 1200mm LED batten switched to 6000K above the bench, for white superbright light to take any shadows away and help you see inside a loading block full of charged cases to make sure you haven't under/over charged any.

And if you're really into a great job, you could buy a litre of hammertone-charcoal metal enamel from Autobarn and spray the whole thing hammertone with a cheap $40 Ozito airless spray gun. Hammertone hides a multitude of sins in welding. Not that you'll need that of course.

[Fester]

So many blokes reload on wonky little Chinese flat-pack crap that it's not funny.
I couldn't handle flex when using the press.

Even my first small reloading bench in the spare bedroom to load .357 revolver ammo was a solid-built heavy timber one.
When raily tradesman built things, they sure did it well. The bench must be about 100 years old.

HammerTone is the toughest paint that comes in a spray can, I reckon.
My mate used it when he did cut and shuts on heavy camper trailer tow hitches.
I did the lower fairing cowling my VTR 1000, that bolts on down behind the front wheel.
The paint never showed any stone chips like the factory-painted ones over time.

[Wapiti]

VTR1000? man, still got it? Thrown a cam chain yet?
I used to collect Suzuki Katanas, 1100's and 1000's. Had a Robbie Phillis genuine 1000 with the Akront spoked racing wheels, lock-wire everything, Yoshimura pipe, etc.
Had that downstairs on a racing stand. My fave was the 1983 black engined metallic maroon 1100. Got a great poster pic of me on one wheel going up Mt Tambourine.
My last was a TL1000S twin, man what a mono machine. She'd pull monos just by rolling the throttle on from 2000rpm.
Had a CBR1000 for about 6 months, POS peaky screaming thing.
Had to sell them all after I got skittled on my TT600 going to work, that was the end of that.

[Fester]

VTR1000? man, still got it? Thrown a cam chain yet?
I used to collect Suzuki Katanas, 1100's and 1000's. Had a Robbie Phillis genuine 1000 with the Akront spoked racing wheels, lock-wire everything, Yoshimura pipe, etc.
Had that downstairs on a racing stand. My fave was the 1983 black engined metallic maroon 1100. Got a great poster pic of me on one wheel going up Mt Tambourine.
My last was a TL1000S twin, man what a mono machine. She'd pull monos just by rolling the throttle on from 2000rpm.
Had a CBR1000 for about 6 months, POS peaky screaming thing.
Had to sell them all after I got skittled on my TT600 going to work, that was the end of that.

VTR1000? man, still got it? Thrown a cam chain yet?
I used to collect Suzuki Katanas, 1100's and 1000's. Had a Robbie Phillis genuine 1000 with the Akront spoked racing wheels, lock-wire everything, Yoshimura pipe, etc.
Had that downstairs on a racing stand. My fave was the 1983 black engined metallic maroon 1100. Got a great poster pic of me on one wheel going up Mt Tambourine.
My last was a TL1000S twin, man what a mono machine. She'd pull monos just by rolling the throttle on from 2000rpm.
Had a CBR1000 for about 6 months, POS peaky screaming thing.
Had to sell them all after I got skittled on my TT600 going to work, that was the end of that.

The VTR was my first modern road bike, big road bikes just keep coming back on you.
Bought it with 17,000km and sold it with over 70k, I loved it, and rode it, started my track day addiction with it.
I did fit new auto tensioners as thats why the chains fail.

I bought a wild track bike, one of Kev Curtains R1s that he won the 02 FX Superbike championship on.
It was a ram air where they had rectangular vents where the headlights would have been, and carbon fibre shutes to a modded air box, bit like a turbo.
All the race mods, suspension and top end work, cams ect.
At a track day I was having a stash with a bloke on a Duc 1098S and down the straight we were side by side, neck to neck for 3 laps in a row. The R1 went hard, but the thing was the only bike to ever hurt me.
When I high-sided it and got knocked out and broke my collarbone, and the rear bone that doesn't normally break, lots of ribs.
After being off work for about 5 months and around a year of gym work, the shoulder fully recovered; despite the doctor's and physio's opinions, I returned to the track.
Going great guns for about 4 days and did an unintentional long power wheelie onto the straight; well the landing may have been the straw that broke the camel's back, as on the next day on that same last turn, a rear-set footpeg broke off and my foot hit the track so hard that I smashed my tib and fib.
Didn't even crash, and the widowmaker broke my bones; I gave the track riding away.

It was OK, as I had sold the VTR and bought the real thing, my dream bike, a Duc 1198S.
I did 2 track sessions on it, but everyone wants to pass the new Duc, and one half-wit nearly took my front wheel out trying.
I put it on the trailer, and just rode the ratty R1 that day.

I got the Duc with about 7,000km and sold it with over 40 a few years ago.
I was riding it less in the last few years, and 7 years is a good ownership period for me.
They are no jap bike, and if not ridden and maintained, they get issues, if it blew up, it would have cost me a small fortune so when someone offered a fair price, I sold it.
Nowhere can a bike like that be ridden now days, and if you get into 3rd gear, it's your license gone in 1 hit.

I had a GS Zook as my first big bike and kept it for about 7 years also.

I vaguely remember that purple model you spoke of, very different, as the rest were silver.
A mate built an 11,000 and modded a single-sided swingarm to fit it.
He fixed a go-cart for a painter, and he got his blokes to paint the Katana a bright metallic purple.
One of the first of those colours that changed in different light.
Gold wheels really set that one-off bike off.

My sparkie work mate had the nicest modded-up TLR ever seen. It got my mind set on a big twin roadie after about 20 years break. I test-rode one, but Honda Firestorms were a lot cheaper, and also not as Fugly

[Wapiti]

I loved the Katanas because I am quite a tall bloke, so the stretch to the clip-ons suited me really well. The TL1000 was similar to that, long and no unnecessary sh*t bolted to it. I loved the half-fairing look.
I also liked them because they were so unusual for their time, and most riders were going for the screaming full-fairing look and redline the engine to get anywhere, so being the way I am not following fads I go the opposite.
I was all set to but a 996 (yeah way back then) but with me on it, it was cramped and felt like an RGV250 and I accidentally copped a look of me on it in the big showroom window and it looked like I was sitting on a kids pedal car. So that ended that, not the stupid look but the realisation that these were the bikes for the smaller blokes to race.
I tried a 900 Fireblade, hated it, and then a CBR1000 and hated that thing too. Actually within 15,000km from new the typical weak Honda cam-chain thing reared it's ugly head. And revving the ring out of something to get off the line is not an endearing trait.

Then finally in 1994, on my Italian Belgarde TT600 some stupid tin-top deadsh*t pulled an illegal Uturn in front of me and I dropped the bike and slid into him at whatever speed and shattered my back, both knees, ankles and then the panicked clown ran over my head and wrecked my favourite helmet.
Cops refused to charge him, and changed my view of police forever.
I was told to expect to live in a wheelchair forever and modify my house, blah blah but it might have been someone else but not me and I knew I wasn't that bad. Learning to walk again in a swimming pool on a harness and crane was the bit that told me they could all go get f**ked telling me I was a write off.
Two years later I tracked the prick who hit me down and visited him at home. He burst into tears when he saw me and soiled himself.

So now nobody tells me anythings impossible, anyone who tells me "I'm too old", "I would, if it was 10 years ago" or "someone else can do it" that's someone who I do not like to waste time with. If there's the slightest chance you can achieve something, despite the sit-to-p*ss naysayers, then do it and don't accept what someone else says to accept. Because others hold YOU back.

[Wapiti]

Thread creep.
I love my first-model RCBC Chargemaster. Never failed, check it now with my Redding Ohaus scale and then and sometimes even calibrate it.
Bought a Hornady one for the other place and it overcharges, is jumpy when trying to drop that last 0.1 - 0.2gns and just seems to have electronics not quite refined enough. New ones now are probably fine.
In one rifle alone, the Chargemaster has loaded 4,000 308 cases for the paddock, I cannot imagine how many total charges it's thrown. From 24gns to bigger cases over 100gns, no dramas.

[Fester]

Yeah, what's a bit of creep between friends, bike eh, my first love.
I ended up with the ultimate motorcycle, and the last real Duc, a twin, with the tubular welded frame.
Performance was in a different league to anything I had previously ridden, and if they are any faster now, where the fk could you ride them?
The Duc superbikes were actually pretty good for my long legs; I joked about not having chunky bits of motor hanging out everywhere, so they could put the pegs in the right spot. The clip-ons couldn't be much lower, though.
Modern sports bikes all got small, no stretching out to the low bars on the old bikes; I used to replace the old Suzuk ape hangers as the first job.
The track riders all use brand new ZX10 Kwakas now, and the bikes have shrunk twice that, I know of, through the model range.
The Duc was a smaller bike for me to fit into a nice race position than the older R1; it would be fine for shorter blokes, I guess.
Bike racers are all small once in the major league; I prefer the mad Irishmen racing the TT on the Isle of Man. Real blokes.

Back on topic, RCBS just got it right with their Chargemasters.
The load cell is said to be up with the best.
The other brands didn't seem so good at doing their job accurately.
They also just die at the drop of a hat.

Imagine being able to justify the price of the top Matchmaster unit, like an AMP induction annealer, that I would like, but I would never pay thousands for a reloading machine.

Same as the front rests and rigs they build to shoot Fudd-Class.
You don't have to spend the big bucks, and I did better than just hold my own with a Howa varmint, $1,000 Bushy, and a little Harris bipod. That 6-9'' is a stable thing for a long shot off the ute as well; my fav, really.