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Beam Scale or Electronic Scale?


Buckshot Bear

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I have a few beam scales that I now very rarely use..bought a Hornady 1500 electronic scale new for $50 AU & use it all the time..does the job & accurate enough.

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If one has a calibration weight set, either is fine.
For me (personal preference) after a lifetime in the computer business... I don't want anything to do with computerized scales.
My Redding will do just fine, and do so with complete reliability (if used with adult supervision).

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Sort of like manual transmissions vs. automatic transmissions.  Pretty much everything is automatic these days.  There are a few who still think the old "three on the tree" is the cat's spats.  The rest of the world has moved on.  I have both but the beam scale is in a box in the closet.   The digital is much more convenient and easy to use and read.  One thing about a digital scale is, for example, if you are setting the charge weight for a shotgun you can put the empty hull on the scale and zero it.  They when you dump the powder you just put the hull and powder on the scale and it will read the powder weight.  No need to dump the powder out of the hull.

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Six on the floor is my preference for transmissions.
My Chevy van had three on the tree... ugh.
The automatic in my bride's RAV can manually select the gears on demand.

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Try setting up a vibrator on your powder hopper; a fish tank aerator air pump taped onto the outside of the hopper, let it run the whole time you are using the press. If you hook up a long enough piece of airline; you can use it as a "blower" to blow out small bits around the bottom of the press.

But the main job it does is to constantly vibrate the powder in the hopper and create some consistancy in your powder charge.

 

:D

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1 minute ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

Try setting up a vibrator on your powder hopper; a fish tank aerator air pump taped onto the outside of the hopper, let it run the whole time you are using the press. If you hook up a long enough piece of airline; you can use it as a "blower" to blow out small bits around the bottom of the press.

But the main job it does is to constantly vibrate the powder in the hopper and create some consistancy in your powder charge.

 

:D

 

Just Googling 'Vibrator' now.

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Just now, Buckshot Bear said:

 

Just Googling 'Vibrator' now.

 You'll end up in an "Adult Shop"  ......... and they'll work .... but consider your Grandchildren ......

 

Aquarium Aerator Air Pump .......  <----- this is what you want need   just a small one.

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Nah.  None of the above (sort of).  I've only ever owned a beam scale.  Several Lustrum ago, I gave up that Fad Heathen Smokeless stuff and went to the Dark Side.  After verifying the charge weight for my Dillon Powder Measures for each cartridge I load, I've not used ANY scale since.  Don't actually need one.

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I get enough precision for all my shooting with a Hornady GS-1500 digital.  Looks like this model shown below, which lets you flip the "mode" to grains, and resumes when turned on to measuring grains, and has the same 100 gram capacity (more than 1,500 grains - heavier than any bullet I'll shoot).

 

I still have two WONDERFUL Lyman OHAUS 10-0-5 beam scales.  BUT - they are painfully slow to use when weighing something you don't know the approximate weight of already.  The digital - ready to read out the weight in 2 seconds.    Pretty stable, but I don't expect it to be forever.  But it is still accurate at 6 years of service.

 

Beam - Good for keeping a powder drop exactly on weight or sorting bullets into weight groups.  Accurate to 0.05 grains.

Digital - Good for quickly weighing whatever you need weighed, one time, without adjusting the sliders or dials.  Accurate to 0.1 or 0.2 grains.  And, only 20% of the price of the beam.  I can throw 4 away and still be ahead.

 

....

 

Now, I see that Hornady has discontinued carrying this scale.  VERY similar scales are shown available on Amazon, as low as $9.  

When I need another, I'll get one of those.  Or maybe something better, who knows?

 

Good luck, GJ

 

 

Horn GS-1500 scale.jpg

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Here is what I really like.  Use the tare function and zero the scale with an empty shell case or shotgun hull.  Put the charged case on the scale and it reads the powder weight directly. Much nicer than dumping the powder in the pan.  The second photo shows the calibration weights.

 

 

 

DSC_0002.jpeg

DSC_0004.jpeg

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I like everything about a digital scale... except when they quit.
Then it becomes an expensive paper weight.
That is the only thing I don't like about digital scales and computerized gadgets in general.

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Pretty much.
Look at the product, find the "Heche en China" or "fabriqué en Chine" label.
In most cases, this is the identifier for CCS... "Cheap, Chinese ..." and you can figure out the rest.

Look at the labels on the pricey Sig rangefinders, even Leupold rangefinders... the same.
At least Vortex offers (the only) lifetime warranty on rangefinders made in China.
It would burn my bird to have a $200+ rangefinder die on me, only to wind up being thrown out.

These products, same as Walmart CCS are produced to meet a low price point.
China can produce absolute top quality products... if they are specified that way.

I have telescopes and studio mics produced in China to premium specifications, and they are superb instruments in every aspect.
When your digital scale dies it becomes a paperweight.  Cannot ever be repaired.
Try replacing the battery in an iPhone or Kindle... they are designed to be thrown away... not serviced.
This can be done, but it is difficult at best...

 

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I have three balance beam , One digital ....

One of the Balance Beam scales was my Dads it's about 75 years old and Made in Germany.

It will be past on to one of my sons, before I die so he can enjoy using it and not have to buy his own ....

 

Jabez Cowboy

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On 10/3/2021 at 9:46 PM, Buckshot Bear said:

Also to throw in.....these (for me at least) newer round Lee powder hoppers that you can turn off are bloody brilliant to my old square ones!!!!!!

 

 

41-h1HRElZL._AC_SY1000_.jpg.d03e6689d0f41475b8f103ce3b307509.jpg

 

 

537685.jpg.e5a6c6372786150d93da9cd18f7d3b0f.jpg

The lower one actually works quite well on Dillons using the Lee Powder Through Die.

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the problem i have with the beam these days is my eyes and fine motor skills - back when i ran computations on a slide rule i could see and fine adjust , these days not really - used to say not so much - more accurate to say not at all , but i can see the digital readout and i can still run the trickle enough - or start over 

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