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Post by jeffb1961 on Jul 24, 2023 20:26:48 GMT -5
digital ? beam ? i have a $15 digital amazon special that i got for 777 powder , but since i'm gonna go smokless i feel like i should have something better but i don't want to spend more than $100 . i have a lyman brass smith trickler . should i go with a lyman/hornady/? digital for $40ish ? or a budget beam from RCBS or ohaus ?
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Post by jeepeater on Jul 24, 2023 21:30:04 GMT -5
Of the half dozen different scales I have, when I weigh charges for the smokeless ML, I usually use a little Frankford Arsenal DS-750. I bought it so I had a small portable I could take to weigh charges easily at the bench. It literally fits in a shirt pocket and cost about $35 bucks on Amazon. It’s accurate and repeatable enough, and it doesn’t drift like some of my more expensive digital scales either.
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Post by cat2024 on Jul 24, 2023 22:07:33 GMT -5
I use the Hornady lock-n-load auto charge the first gen. It’s a little fiddly but works fine after I manually slow down the trickle speed. Bought it on sale for $169 when I was loading a bunch of 38 wad cutters. Not necessary but speeds the process up.
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Post by yoderjac on Jul 24, 2023 22:11:29 GMT -5
I got a Harrell's Custom 90 for dispensing powder into vials. I also weigh each vial. I'd say about 90% of the time, it is within .5 grains which is my threshold. When I get a charge off by more than that, I just dump it back in and try again. This thread has details of how I ended up where I did: Powder Measure ThreadIt has pictures of my equipment on page 2 of the thread. Thanks to those on this forum that pointed me in that direction. I bought the scale on Amazon: Scale
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Post by SURESHOT on Jul 25, 2023 6:18:25 GMT -5
RCBS CHARGEMASTER
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Post by ballistic on Jul 25, 2023 13:41:04 GMT -5
A plain old rcbs 505 will do the job really well. I work in a lab environment and we have some very expensive scales. I have found that with a little extra effort - the 505 can be used to measure down to 1/30th of a grain. With the majority of auto chargers - you cannot get that accuracy. Do you need that type of accuracy - probably not. But if you aren’t routinely checking your auto charger it will dwell off it’s parameters and I’ve seen most wander .5-2.5 grains out. And that isn’t good enough. I use auto chargers and set them 1-2 grains low and then trickle powder on my 505 beam. There’s a few tricks to get the 505 down to 1/30th of a grain if you want to PM -I’ll share
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Post by jeffb1961 on Jul 25, 2023 18:58:07 GMT -5
it seems the rcbs 505 has been replaced with the m500 . it the new version of equal ? or lesser quality ? the Frankford Arsenal DS-750 is priced nice @ $35 verses the m50 for 3 times the price . but it seems the budget electronic models vary more and gotta keep fresh batteries on hand . is the ohaus 505 as good or better than the m500 for $75 ? the ohaus looks to be the older rcbs 505 but a different color .... www.amazon.com/OHAUS-30393272-Reloading-Height-Length/dp/B075VY8ZYB?th=1
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Post by yoderjac on Jul 25, 2023 19:03:57 GMT -5
My cheap electronic has a USB port, so I keep it plugged in on the bench, but it does work on batteries if I want to take it to the range.
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Post by jeffb1961 on Jul 25, 2023 19:10:09 GMT -5
hmmmm .... ohaus also makes an electronic cx221 for $72.52 . edit never mind , it seems it's doesn't measure grains .
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Post by hillbill on Jul 26, 2023 14:05:42 GMT -5
I use a RCBS Chargemaster set up for use with a dewalt 20-v battery, works great and can measure powder about anywhere, even in windy conditions.
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shoop
Junior Member
Posts: 59
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Post by shoop on Aug 2, 2023 12:57:15 GMT -5
I have a Hornady and rcbs pocket , nothing high $$ but I weigh everything 2-3 times on both scales and use the same powder viles to store powder
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Post by Kyle on Aug 2, 2023 15:41:39 GMT -5
A&D fx120i
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Post by jeepeater on Aug 2, 2023 19:02:46 GMT -5
I really want one of those with the AutoTrickler V4!
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Post by Kyle on Aug 2, 2023 21:18:22 GMT -5
I have the V4 as well. It is a time saver for certain.
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Post by 445supermag on Aug 2, 2023 23:50:59 GMT -5
I have gone through enough of the cheaper scales n such I can't take the constant changes of the scales n powder measures. So.. I just ordered the SUPERTRICKLER GEN2. I didn't get the scale with it because I don't want to wait that long. Not due till September unfortunately. So I am getting the a&d FZ 120i with internal system to check itself. But I am also getting an extra 100g weight for my scale to absolutely make sure it's dead nutz accurate. Buy once cry once. Just couldn't take all the fluctuations. So hope this fixes and gives me peace with my loading. Point is depends on how good is good enough for you. Best of luck
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Post by jeffb1961 on Aug 3, 2023 5:02:40 GMT -5
Thanks for all the replies . I got a rcbs m500 and lee spoon set to go with the trickler I already had .
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Post by Richard on Aug 4, 2023 7:42:14 GMT -5
I have a $300 digital scale sitting on my loading bench that measures to 100th of a grain. It is covered and I use my RCBS505 exclusively! I can easily get extreme spreads in velocity with both my muzzleloader and centerfire rifles in the single digit and low teens velocity spread. And I don't have to worry about it drifting. I was forever verifying the readings of my digital scale with the beam scale. Besides that you will never see the difference on your chronograph with a 1/10 of a grain difference in load with the large charges we throw with these muzzleloaders.
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Post by jeffb1961 on Aug 4, 2023 17:51:38 GMT -5
thanks Richard . i kept seeing post by folks on different forums with 200 , 300 and 400 dollar digital scales commenting about about checking their loads against beam scales . since i'll only be weighing for my SML and don't need to crank out 100+ loads at a time i decided to go with the beam . FWIU the 505 was a better scale that the 500 but i don't do eek bay so it's what i went with .
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Post by Richard on Aug 4, 2023 20:42:10 GMT -5
You won't go wrong with any of the beam scales loading for a muzzleloader. Don't let anybody tell you different. I've loaded over 15,000 muzzleloader shots since 2007 when I got involved in this game and the beam scale has served me very well. In fact most of the lows that I've shot over the years I have dropped with my Harold's powder measure. I have also shot in won yardages up at the Kentucky challenge with loads that were thrown from my Harrell's measure. .
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Post by yoderjac on Aug 5, 2023 7:51:43 GMT -5
You won't go wrong with any of the beam scales loading for a muzzleloader. Don't let anybody tell you different. I've loaded over 15,000 muzzleloader shots since 2007 when I got involved in this game and the beam scale has served me very well. In fact most of the lows that I've shot over the years I have dropped with my Harold's powder measure. I have also shot in won yardages up at the Kentucky challenge with loads that were thrown from my Harrell's measure. . Yes, I'm just a hunter, not a competition guy, but I use the Harrell's and weigh. I have an inexpensive digital scale but it came with weights so I can easily calibrate it. I'm less worried about absolute accuracy of the scale than I am relative (charge to charge) accuracy. It is plenty accurate for me. I would say the Harrell's is within a couple tenths of a grain 90% of the time. The other 10% are most likely inconsistency in my use of it. My ES has been pretty low, and plenty good enough for hunting. The Harrell's really speeds things up. I tare each vial individually before dispensing the charge and then weigh it. It is more of the measure twice and cut once philosophy my dad taught me in shop.
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