Balance beam vs. Digital scale

My "old school" rcbs electronic, made by Pact, says to let it warm up 30 minutes before using. So if I'm in a cycle of loading or load testing, I leave it on. If I know I won't be using it for a few weeks I pull the plug.
 
I load with my charge master 100 percent have another cheap electric hornady to double check to make sure I’m not way off. Has worked and made many 1/4”-1/2” loads. I always leave mine off sometimes it will get unplugged from the surge protector on the side of my bench. But other then that it’s always on.
 
Thanks for the info guys. Im probably leaning towards a balance beam for now at least. I dont do any reloading over 50 rounds at a time right now so i probably dont need the added speed of using a digital. One day down the road when i have more money ill probably get a digital, but it sounds like if you're only going to have one, you're probably better off with a balance beam.
 
Originally Posted By: Rock KnockerI would like a nice balance beam but for the last 8, maybe even 10 years I have been using the same Gempro 250. It has surpassed all my expectations, still accurate to within .02 gr. it registers every 2 kernels of small stick powder like varget or benchmark, and every 1 or 2 kernels of larger stick powder like H4831sc and maybe every 6 to 8 kernels of ball powder. I have 1,10 and 20 gram checks weights and the scale still reads them like it did almost a decade ago.

It feels small and light weight but it has been dropped on the ground at least 3 different times that I can think of with no issue. It can plug into a wall or run on batteries, I used to bring it to the range with me and reload on the shooting bench and with it's pan cover down the wind made no difference. I used to reload on the same desk my computer is at and I would have music on with a subwoofer underneath and it didn't
The only time it would read strange numbers is if it was heating up or cooling down, it needed to reach a stable temperature to be spot on, but even when it was reading strange numbers it would bounce around by .04-.08gr, still more accurate than any dedicated reloading scale I have seen.

I got to use a nice RCBS beam scale one time and I really liked it but that little gempro has blown me away.
That’s a great review on the GemPro scale Rock Knocker. I will keep this one in mind.
 
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I have an old Lee beam scale, I keep thinking I will upgrade it but haven't gotten around to it in the past 20+ years...maybe someday I'll snap & go electronic.
 
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I have both and use the beam scale to check random throws from the CM when loading. but during load development I check every load. And I turn it off after every session. But let it warm up for about an hour before starting. Plus if the the power goes off in a storm I can still load by flashlight with a beam scale.
 
Beam scale. I under throw the powder and trickle every charge. It's slow but, I'm rarely loading more than 50 at a time. I also get pretty low SDs. Last time I was testing some loads, I had two charge weights with 0 SD for 3 shots.
 
I just purchased an RCBS Chargemaster Lite and like it enough that I’m not using my RCBS 10-10S anymore. I tried digital a decade ago or so ago and simply couldn’t trust it to be reliable. The Chargemaster was on sale and not a lot more than the cost of just a good digital scale so it seemed like a good time to try again.
 
Another Chargemaster fan boy here.

Especially for load development. I have had mine for over 5 years without problems. You get a little, tiny bit of electrical wander from time to time.

No big deal though.

 
I have been using the same RCBS 5-10 and the same uniflow powder dispenser since 1976. I am rarely more than .01 grain off from beginning to end except for the long grain powders that will give me slightly different weights. I have considered a digital scale but someone has already said it, electricity is not a dependable commodity.

kwg
 
I have a Denver Instruments MXX-123, which is accurate to +/- .02 grains. I still have a Balance Beam in case power goes away, but then I won't care that I am only accurate to +/- .1 grains.
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I don't leave mine on 24/7, but like someone else posted, I do leave it on for extended periods of time, if I am working loads.

If my DI died tomorrow, I would be looking at a GemPro 250.

Squeeze
 
Hard to believe, but I had a balance beam scale go bad on me. I only noticed it when bolt lift became difficult, so I got a test weight and found out it was reading low. (Lesson #1, of course, is to always have test weights, but I was a noob at the time.)

I saw the manufacturer (major brand) at the SCI show, and he was good enough to give me another, but I haven't used it since I went to digital.
 
I started with a 10-10 scale but soon after switched to an RCBS charge master combo for the speed. With a wife, newborn, etc time at the bench is precious for me. RCBS says it’s accurate to 0.1 grain...the rifles I load for with it all shoot 1/2 MOA and some bolt guns do 1/4 MOA or less with the charges it throws. In my opinion if you aren’t shooting benchrest or fclass where group size matters then 0.1 accuracy is plenty. To me there is a lot more to the ammo equation than powder being being weighed to 0.001 or something (not bashing those that do). When I do a load development I load in .5 grain increments and pick a group of charge weights that give minimal POI shift over a 1.5 grain difference. When I am charging and seating I can load one round a minute on average depending on how much powder i’m Throwing. A 223 runs me about 45 seconds and my 22-250 AI is right at 60 seconds.
 
I’ve been looking at the GemPro line. I noticed today that Brownell’s has quit selling the 250 but shows the newer 300 model with back-lit screen for back order. With promo code NCS, it’s going to cost $145. I put one on back-order, so will see when they get a shipment.
I like my old Lyman BB, but I’m tired of the slow and things are harder to see than they use to be.
 
My man cave is heated on low to keep things from rusting and enough extra so I can work there. In the summer it is hot there but I do not have a lot of time for loading then as I am a farmer/rancher ..... got hay to put up.

So waiting for a digital scale to come around just ain’t in the cards for me.

I have digitals but I can balance a beam scale, whip my test loads and be gone while a digital is checking the weather.

My beam scale tale goes like this:

I started out at 19 years old with an Ohaus 505. That scale has been my mainstay for just about 40 years. I got the bug and bought an RCBS 510. Now trouble runs in bunches and a 10-10 RCBS followed me home.

Then I came home draggin’ an RCBS 304 (dial a grain). Don’t have to be a contortionist with that one!

With any beam scale I set my trickler up and throw a slightly light charge and trickle it up. My RCBS powder dispenser and electronic scale is still trying to decide if it is a boy or a girl while I have moved onto the next case using my Uniflow measure and trickler. That does not count the play time warming up the outfit and getting it to calibrate.

The thing that always bugged me about the 505 is that every now and then the jarring of the beam bottoming out upon removing the pan with a weighed powder charge will cause the “tenths” adjuster to change settings. Aggravating!

A small piece of pencil eraser or similar in the right place would likely fix that.

The other issue with all the traditional beam scales is twisted neck syndrome”. My 5-10 & 10-10 beamers will likely end up with my nephews.

My 304 dial a grain will get fought over by those same nephews after I am gone because it’s the cat’s rear end!

Three44s

 
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The cheap digital scales are not very consistent, a consistent digital scale starts at about $500. Unless you're willing to spend that I'd stick to the balance beams.

If you search forums and eBay you can find the old ohaus scales which are awesome, some of them are marked Lyman. You should be able to get one for less than $100 in nice shape.

For a new scale without spending $1000+ on a precision balance beam IMO the Redding is the best on the market. There's also a guy that tunes them for a small cost and they're even better.
 
The best used scales are RCBS, they are about the only ones that still support their warranty for life. Most RCBS's are made by Ohaus but Ohaus doesn't support their own old scales.

Swab out the balance agate and clean the beam balance points. Be sure you don't gave powder in the pan holder that dribbled out of the powder trickle from vibration while charging cases.
 
Well for now I took the digital and my brother is going to try my dad's lee balance beam. I tried to use the balance beam but I think the tenths adjustment was a little off and the beam and electronic were a couple tenths off of each other. We will see what setup we both end up with in the end but for now it's the best way to split up our one reloading setup into two.
 
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