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Merry Christmas everyone. Has anybody any experience of the above digital scales or can recommend any others? I have the Lee Safety Beam Scale but want something as a double-check. It would be for reloading 303 and 308 only, and the 308 not to bench rest/F-class standard, but normal 600-1000 yard target shooting with a Rem 700.

Dombo63 wrote:Merry Christmas everyone. Has anybody any experience of the above digital scales or can recommend any others? I have the Lee Safety Beam Scale but want something as a double-check. It would be for reloading 303 and 308 only, and the 308 not to bench rest/F-class standard, but normal 600-1000 yard target shooting with a Rem 700.

These cheap reloading scales are maybe OK for emergency range use but they are prone to error. I almost had a nasty with one which was reading 2 grains under! Powder scales are one item NOT to economise on!

Merry Christmas.

Junk, don't waste your money.

You would be better off buying a good beam scale. The Lee scale is pants chuck it in the bin.

Thanks all. So Lyman or RCBS beam scales the way to go? I didn't get they puppy I'd always wanted so shall buy myself a New Year present.

I have a set of new in the box Lyman Pro 500 scales if you are interested.
As above ditch the Lee scales.
Tony

pm sent

First off Merry Christmas everyone.

I am always a bit perplexed as to why there is so much negative talk about Lee scales.
I often hear about how they are crap, but nobody ever says why.

I use a Lee powder scale, have done for years and I decided to do a comparison with other makes of scales just to see how they stack up.

I made up 5 sets of powder charges with my Lee scale and gave them to 5 shooting buddies who all had many years of reloading experience. They each received a 20.0gn charge of Lovex DO 60 and a 5.8gn charge of GM3.

I asked them to zero their scales, weigh each charge and note down the results.

I will say at this juncture, that in the `Sue everyone at the drop of a hat` society we live in, any powder scale manufacturer would be completely mad to market a scale that was not accurate.

The findings of my mini survey are as follows.


Lee powder scale test loads from my scale
20.0gn DO60 5.8gn GM3

Comparison loads from other scales

Redding No.1 scale results
20.0gn DO60 5.8gn GM3

Redding No.2 scale results
20.0gn DO60 5.8gn GM3

RCBS 505 scale
20.2gn DO6O 5.9gn GM3

Redding No.2 scale
20.0gn DO60 5.8gn GM3

Lee scale
20.0gn DO60 5.8gn GM3

As you can see from my (unscientific) survey, Lee scales are as accurate and consistent as any other beam scale on the market at considerately lower cost.

I do have a couple of gripes with my Lee scale, the damping could be better and I find that unless the powder pan is in line with the beam, there is a variance of 1/10gn. No big deal in itself and as I am aware of this, I make sure the pan is lined up to get accurate measurements.

On the plus side, a new Lee scale is around £34-00 from Henry Krank, much cheaper than the competition.
The beam is made from phenolic material which does not bend, it will break if subjected to stress, so there is no chance of s bent beam giving inaccurate readings, something that could happen with scales with metal beams. The RCBS readings in my survey could of course be due to inaccurate zeroing.

To sum up, I am confident that Lee scales are every bit as accurate and reliable as the competition and a damn sight cheaper!
ukrifleman.

ukrifleman wrote:I am always a bit perplexed as to why there is so much negative talk about Lee scales.

ukrifleman wrote:I do have a couple of gripes with my Lee scale, the damping could be better

I think you've answered your own question there! Most comments I see about them, and my own observations (having used a set for three years) are exactly that. I switched to an RCBS set and can honestly say it settles in less than half the time.

The less than instant damping of my Lee scale is a minor irritation no more, certainly not enough to prompt me to purchase a much more expensive scale just to do the same job. Although I accept that others might feel differently.
ukrifleman