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My beam scale saga continues

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Wiley

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Joined
Dec 11, 2014
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12,466
Location
North Alabama-hunt Hardin County
Ever since my electronic scale went a little wonky with me I have reverted back to a beam scale, at least as a backup if not primary scale. That scale was my RCBS 505 that I've had for a long time. Recently I bought an Ohaus 1010 on eBay and began using it and the other day it's repeatability came into question while loading some .223. It began an unpredictable return to zero or wherever other than zero that it decided on. After close inspection I see that the knife edges of the beam pivot have been "worked" and not evenly. That's a problem and THE problem.
So, I went-a-lookin again. I've known for a good while that a Lyman M5 is arguably the best scale out there for a feller loading ammo. After many searches and researching a ton of articles/outlets I have been in contact with Scott Parker who is widely known as THE beam scale guru when it comes to fine tuning and calibrating the best powder scales on a level that only a couple of other individuals claim to be capable of doing. Lo-and-behold he has Lyman M5 scales ready for purchase and I'm a willing customer. Can't wait for it to get here!
 
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Best of luck Wiley. I've opted for the electronic scale and dispenser and they have served me well but there's nothing like good old fashioned gravity to give you an accurate and consistent reading.
 
I have an RCBS digital and a few different beams. I can't seem to get 100% comfortable trusting either type completely. I check them against each other with anal frequency.
 
DaveB said:
My RCBS 10-10 is all I have ever used. Purchased it in mid-1980's.

Hard to beat.
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You probably bought it new and have taken good care of it. If it's repeatable in function, meaning it returns to zero or a pre-set weight every time it's supposed to, then it's a great scale. The used one that I bought has had the knife edges of the beam pivot honed or otherwise 'touched up' in what I think was an effort to regain normal function. That is part of what a bonafide scale tuner would do but in a very precise manner. However, the knife edges on my scale aren't honed in a manner that leaves them even to one another, thus there is an ever so slight misalignment from one side to the other and I believe that to be the root cause on the scale not repeating itself in some instances. Not every instance but sometimes and that's not acceptable in what it's used for. I should have inspected that very part when I got the scale but I was a little overanxious and just started using it immediately. The knife edges on any used scale should be inspected to see if they appear to have been honed. Typically this is noticeable as shiny metal vs the factory black finish just like a freshly sharpened edge on a knife blade. This is why I'm now buying a scale from a professional scale tuner.
 
Gav-n-Tn said:
I have an RCBS digital and a few different beams. I can't seem to get 100% comfortable trusting either type completely. I check them against each other with anal frequency.
Click to expand...
From mid 1980 to 2019 i 10-10 beam scaled every charge I loaded. I did not mind the drudgery because I am a fan of accuracy. This changed when my Kids got 9mm pistols. You can go through a lot of rounds in one range session.

I started "throwing" charges when I got a Lee Auto loader. I checked every tenth load for charge weight accuracy. Pistols do not like a few grain overcharge believe me. To my huge surprise the loader was throwing exact grain weight charges. I eventually stretched the charge weight cross-check to 92 rounds. This is when I must reload the brass feeder tubes.

For all my centerfire rifle calibers I continue to weigh each charge.
 
DaveB said:
From mid 1980 to 2019 i 10-10 beam scaled every charge I loaded. I did not mind the drudgery because I am a fan of accuracy. This changed when my Kids got 9mm pistols. You can go through a lot of rounds in one range session.

I started "throwing" charges when I got a Lee Auto loader. I checked every tenth load for charge weight accuracy. Pistols do not like a few grain overcharge believe me. To my huge surprise the loader was throwing exact grain weight charges. I eventually stretched the charge weight cross-check to 92 rounds. This is when I must reload the brass feeder tubes.

For all my centerfire rifle calibers I continue to weigh each charge.
Click to expand...
Yeah…. the only pistol dies I have is a 50 year old Lee loader for 357 Mag. I lean towards loading harder to find rifle calibers. I do have other dies available for some common rifle calibers too but have no immediate plans to load for them. I would think my charge methods would be way too tedious for high volume pistol. I'd have to really rethink things if I ever went that route. I might be anal but inefficiency doesn't cut it for me either.
 
For bulk loading with ball or flake powder (.223 for my ARs and .45ACP) I go full progressive with my Dillon 550B that has UniqueTek micrometer adjusters added to one small and one large powder bars. I'll measure the first few drops and once I'm satisfied I just keep setting bullets in place and pulling the handle. Extruded powder (Varget) doesn't measure as well due to getting some sticks cut/crunched by the powder bars when they close so I weigh those loads individually.

For the two 700 LTR .223 and two 700 Tactical .308 I weigh each charge. This is where I've been using the beam scales and the electronic unit. Speaking of which, my calibration weights came in today (couldn't find my originals from years ago) and the GemPro 250 electronic scale is holding 100% steady. I put weights from 40gr down to a 0.5gr weight on it and checked it numerous times this afternoon and it held perfectly steady at whatever weight I had on it. Two of the weights show to be 0.02 gr heavy and that's equal to the accuracy level of that scale so I'm good with that.

Now I wait for the Lyman M5 to make it out here from CA.
 

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