Reliable Electronic scale???

[thinhorn_AK]

I'm looking for recommendations on a small electronic scale, I recently got a Hornady and it is an epic piece of shit, it reminded me why I hate everything about Hornady and should never have trusted them again. TO be clear, this scale requires constant calibration and will not pass its own built in calibration test (I tried 38 times).

What electronic scale are you using? I'm not looking for an auto trickler right now, just a table top electronic scale, RCBS? Lyman?

Thank you!!!

PS, I will be calling Hornady but I'm pissed, I'm without a scale because Hornady products are crap.

 

[Don Qui Puncher]

I bought a cheapo amazon scale it’s a homegeek it reads .02 I have a bullet I keep with it as a check weight and it always reads 212-212.02 I’ve had it for 3 months or so and I’d definitely buy again for the 20 I spent on it. I’m not sure how it’ll be long term but it’ll get you by for a while. I calibrated mine once the first time I turned it on and I haven’t had to do it since, better track record than the chargemaster lite

 

[Tod osier]

I’ve sat behind a lot of very high end balances for long hours at work and have seen some funny stuff over the years with them. Getting good performance often comes down to having a solid base for them to sit on with no vibration (including humming vibration and shock like bumps).

I have a Chargemaster and it has been good for home reloading use. I have it in the basement on a heavy bench bolted/anchored to the foundation. I can absolutely see differences in performance when my wife is upstairs running around vs when I’m running it home alone. I almost never get overweight throws when I’m alone, but I’ll get 10 times as many when my wife is home running up and down the stairs.

I can see that many folks would have issues if their base wasn’t as solid as mine. So something to consider. I see people running them on tables, in upstairs rooms, that is a place to start for reliability.

I’ve seen balances drift, and it is annoying. They can’t be used if they do that, I agree. My chargemaster has been great in that regard.

I'm looking for recommendations on a small electronic scale, I recently got a Hornady and it is an epic piece of shit, it reminded me why I hate everything about Hornady and should never have trusted them again. TO be clear, this scale requires constant calibration and will not pass its own built in calibration test (I tried 38 times).

What electronic scale are you using? I'm not looking for an auto trickler right now, just a table top electronic scale, RCBS? Lyman?

Thank you!!!

PS, I will be calling Hornady but I'm pissed, I'm without a scale because Hornady products are crap.

 

[rayporter]

i will elaborate on Tod's post.
i use the chargemaster a lot at the range in wind and on a fold up table. also use it in my trailer loading as do many guys. movement will mess it up and it will mess with the fx 120 also [ or any high doller scale]

you learn to keep you hands off the table and pay attention to wind, even people walking by.

once at a shoot a bud was having trouble and had sent back 3 chargemasters. his new one was no good he said. he blamed it on lights and power supply etc. so i had a battery and offered it to him and went over to watch him hook it up. he got the scale running and promptly put his elbow on the table and laid his chin in his hand. it would not throw the same wt twice.

only after i convinced him to weigh a bullet multiple times with out touching the table was he was convinced.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I get that you need to be on a stable surface but this thing won’t even pass it’s own built in calibration process/test.

 

[Scorpion]

I have had decent luck with my Hornady scale. Also have a couple made by archery suppliers for building arrows, I consider them disposable. One bad hit or drop and they’re toast. I’d try another Hornady or whatever has good reviews on Amazon.

Couldnt agree more with the guys above on scale accuracy as well.

 

[tdot]

I'm looking for recommendations on a small electronic scale, I recently got a Hornady and it is an epic piece of shit, it reminded me why I hate everything about Hornady and should never have trusted them again. TO be clear, this scale requires constant calibration and will not pass its own built in calibration test (I tried 38 times).

What electronic scale are you using? I'm not looking for an auto trickler right now, just a table top electronic scale, RCBS? Lyman?

Thank you!!!

PS, I will be calling Hornady but I'm pissed, I'm without a scale because Hornady products are crap.

What's your budget and what are your expectations?

I've tried Lyman, RCBS ×3, 4 or 5 from Amazon and another (dont remember the name) that was a couple hundred dollars. I'm now using an Fx120i and wish I'd stopped wasting money awhile ago and just started with that.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I don’t want to spend 500 dollars and my expectation is something that will pass its calibration test and stay zeroed for a few hours.

 

[bluetick78]

I've been using a Frankford Arsenal, dont remember the model, but it costs around $100 on Amazon. It's been reliable as long as I can get my wife to sit still instead of running around like a squirrel. If I need to weigh powder, I give the kids their iPads. That'll keep em still as long as you could ever want! I had the Hornady digital you're talking about, so I feel your pain. Mine ended up on top of 2 lbs of Tannerite.

 

[handwerk]

I've been happy with my RCBS rangemaster

 

[parkj5]

The 750 RCBS is the best i have found. I had issues with a fan inside my reloading room making it hunt for zero. I did get a small piece of granite to sit mine on and that helped a lot ..

 

[Muley Buck]

Might want to take a look at a Gempro.

 

[Rich M]

I use an electronic scale I got from harbor freight. It works okay - keep an eye on it. Measures to x.xx

The pan weighs 119.5 +/- gr. It varies on the scale from -119.4 to -119.6. I reset the scale when it hits -119.6 and it goes back to -119.5. Won't stay at -119.4 long. The issue is that the scale still reads zero when i put the pan on no matter if it is -119.4, -119.5 or -119.6. LOL! Prefer it to be at 119.5 when measuring loads.

The bench moves and wiggles when I'm dumping powder - so that's why it changes. Can load anywhere from 5 to 50 between resetting scale...

I like it better than the balance beam scale I have.

 

[swampthing]

I bought a lyman about 15 years ago and it was a great unit until it piled up recently. My new chargemaster lite only made it 3 months before it piled up! They are replacing it.......after they get back to work when the kung flu mellos out!

 

[Archery Bank]

I have a Gem Pro but it sits in a drawer now. I could not use it with a powder trickler because it was not sensitive enough to measure one or two grains of stick powder. I went back to manual scale until I got my FX 120i. In addition it drifted and would not maintain a zero tare.

 

[tdot]

The GemPro was the expensive scale that I tried that was crap. Super inconsistent. It was replaced twice by the supplier before I gave up using it. (Fortunately it wasnt my scale)


I think the Lyman was the most consistent for the price.

Turn the unit on and calibrate 20 - 30 minutes before you use it. Leave a weight on the pan that whole time. Wait until the unit stops drifting. Then calibrate again. That always seemed to help make my scales as good as they could be.

Also, if you change the temp in your reloading room, let the unit come up to ambient temperature.