I n need of a Manual Scale

[sentry1]

I'm looking for a manual scale to verify powder weights. There's a lot of pros & cons out there for all the various scales. Just looking for some more info here.

I'll be loading for .223 and .308 first, but will be doing .40 S&W and .300 WM in the near future. Is there a single scale that has good accuracy over this entire range of powder weights?

 

[Captain Kirk]

Re: I n need of a Manual Scale

I have used a trusty RCBS 10/10 scale for years, its very accurate and fairly cheap. I have used it outside, it fell off the hood of my trunk and wasnt effected at all, even works when the power goes out and the Chargemaster is useless.....

Kirk R

 

[FamilyMan]

Re: I n need of a Manual Scale

I have on old RCBS 10-10 (ohaus) that i got for the same reason and just need to send it off to get calibrated and I should be good to go. I had read about these on here and found one for a great deal locally. From what I read when you get em calibrated they are very very accurate and work really well. We shall see!

 

[427Cobra]

Re: I n need of a Manual Scale

Go to eBay search for a Lyman M5

 

[Temp9]

Re: I n need of a Manual Scale

I'm using an RCBS 505 with good results as long as I'm gentle with the pan.

 

[slowyellow]

Re: I n need of a Manual Scale

X's 2 on the RCBS 505. I just put the powder in, and hold the pan all the way to the bottom and make sure it's centered so that it doesn't swing much. Then I let go and let it steady out. Works well for me, but however you do it make sure your method is consistent. As so many things with reloading is about consistency.

 

[Fuzzball]

Re: I n need of a Manual Scale

There's no average difference in beam scales, they are simple devices and there are no secrets to making them and they are all quite good across the full range of their capacity.

The RCBS 1010 and Lyman's older version of it, the M5, are different from others only in that they work up to 1,000+ grains. I got mine in '65 because of the extra capacity that I thought would be useful; it hasn't been - in 47 years I've never used it about 500 grains for reloading. But it and another old beam scale I have are as dead on accurate today as they were new, both are ready to do another 45 years of good work too!

 

[sentry1]

Re: I n need of a Manual Scale

I don't expect to be loading for anything bigger than a .300 WM, so having a huge powder capacity isn't a big deal. I'll keep an eye on eBay and see if I can snag a Lyman M5 on the cheap. At the moment, I can't drop another $150 on a scale.

 

[JB02]

Re: I n need of a Manual Scale

I have an older style Redding beam scale tuned by Scott Parker that is a real pleasure to use. I highly recommend the Redding scale, or any scale tuned by Scott Parker.

 

[Wolfish365]

Re: I n need of a Manual Scale

Yeah, Scott Parker is the one to see about beam scales. He can tune most scales with two poises on the beam.

I believe his email is still:

[email protected]