Scale advice

[Snipers apprentice]

Hi- new to reloading here, on a very tight budget. I'm 95% set up and ready to start at it, already tumbling my first batch of LC brass. My scale- a RCBS beam style, the fine adjustment vernier scale popped off and became lost. Any suggestions- keeping in mind my budget?
Also, I'm loading in a garage unheated in northern Indiana, just in case this makes a difference of type of scale to use..

 

[Western Living]

Call RCBS for a replacement. RCBS and Lee are well known to support their products for "lifetime." Whenever I've had a part fail, break or go missing, they send a replacement without cost. With Lee you can order replacement parts online and pay only shipping. With RCBS, I've had them ship me priming parts at no cost at all.

 

[Steel head]

Call RCBS for a replacement. RCBS and Lee are well known to support their products for "lifetime." Whenever I've had a part fail, break or go missing, they send a replacement without cost. With Lee you can order replacement parts online and pay only shipping. With RCBS, I've had them ship me priming parts at no cost at all.

This!
RCBS has always been good to deal with.

 

[Snipers apprentice]

Call RCBS for a replacement. RCBS and Lee are well known to support their products for "lifetime." Whenever I've had a part fail, break or go missing, they send a replacement without cost. With Lee you can order replacement parts online and pay only shipping. With RCBS, I've had them ship me priming parts at no cost at all.

Rcbs had phenomenal customer service. However I've talked to them about this scale and they can't replace the part.. they said they stopped carrying these parts many years ago..

 

[wpeach1912]

Rcbs had phenomenal customer service. However I've talked to them about this scale and they can't replace the part.. they said they stopped carrying these parts many years ago..

I use a $30 scale off Ebay that seems to work well. I usually get about 10 fps SD out of my 6.5 using hornady brass and LRP. Certainly faster than the beam scale, but probably not as precise.

 

[IPoutdoors]

Rcbs had phenomenal customer service. However I've talked to them about this scale and they can't replace the part.. they said they stopped carrying these parts many years ago..

Bummer. I would expect them to at least offer a coupon towards your next scale. As far as powder measure, I like their Chargemaster Lite.

 

[cat-mechanic]

Bummer. I would expect them to at least offer a coupon towards your next scale. As far as powder measure, I like their Chargemaster Lite.

I believe I have the same scale he has, same issue with mine. The tenths part fell off.

I messaged RCBS, and they told me to buy a new scale. So I said thanks but no. No discount or offer of help. Just buy a new scale.

 

[Western Living]

You could try to call Ohaus (the OEM for RCBS) and see if they have the part as NOS. If they do, they're more likely to charge for it but it might be worth it to restore a decent scale to operation.

 

[Snipers apprentice]

You could try to call Ohaus (the OEM for RCBS) and see if they have the part as NOS. If they do, they're more likely to charge for it but it might be worth it to restore a decent scale to operation.

I tried to find ohaus so I could go that route. Ended up with a company that sells their parts, tole me basically the same as RCBS..

 

[Snipers apprentice]

Don’t buy a scale. PM me. I have a RCBS digital you can have so long as you pass it on one day and pay for shipping.

Hi- i would be honored! I'm new to this whole thing- looking for where I can send a PM..

 

[Snipers apprentice]

As for the last part of my post- regarding the cold weather. I realize this likely isn't the right area to ask this- but .. .
I live in Northern Indiana, and my reloading bench is in an unheated garage.. I wouldn't have thought this to be an issue, but a friend of mine who has been reloading for decades about flipped when he found out where my reloading bench is. He told me that this could be a lethal mistake - especially if I load rounds in the cold winter and fire them in the summer.. Not doubting him, but I want more input on this, including why.. Thanks so much!!

 

[Pwoens]

Yep, call them and they’ll probably send a replacement for free. Great company when it comes to replacement parts

 

[Snipers apprentice]

Yikes - that sounds like some bs. It is true that if you develop a load during the winter you could see higher pressures in the summer when FIRING the cartridge due to powder sensitivity to ambient temperatures - which is powder dependent (Hodgkin Extreme powders vs IMR). When you load the cartridge and the atmosphere you load it in have no bearing on the pressures you see as far as I know. So no - you aren’t hurting anything loading in your garage right now but it is something to keep into consideration when doing load development. As long as you aren’t at the edge of safe pressures you should be fine.

Powder Temp Stability: Hodgdon Extreme vs. IMR Enduron

The goal of this field test was to quantify the temperature stability of the popular Hodgdon H4350 a...

precisionrifleblog.com

The powder im starting with is accurate 2230, seeing that im going to load for my AR, and my .308 savage tactical..
My buddy (the same guy who told me this about temps), told me he usually starts his loads about 10% under the max recommended load ( in citing his many manuals)..

 

[spife7980]

Your buddy is giving you decent advice, "start low and work up". Read this to see what to keep an eye out for when working up https://www.primalrights.com/library/articles/understanding-pressure


Its not that they were loaded in the cold, its that you developed a load in the cold. When the temps rise that same amount of powder will burn with even more energy. So if you develop a max load in the cold remember that you are already at the max and the additional hot weather potential energy in the powder can push you over max.