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Hi all,

Can anyone recommend a set of electronic scales for reloading? I have been looking at the My Weigh ibalance scales and they sound accurate compared to similary priced reloading specific scales. I will be weighing handgun loads of around 8 grains for shooting at 25 yards.

Cheers, Mark

My 3 Zim cents worth

Would recommend CHARGEMASTER if you want Dispenser with Scale
RCBS equipment is best value for money

Avoid the Lyman dispenser

Not looking to spend that much and looking for something smaller, one model I'm considering at the moment is the ibalance 101

hakeswill wrote:Hi all,

Can anyone recommend a set of electronic scales for reloading? I will be weighing handgun loads of around 8 grains for shooting at 25 yards.

Cheers, Mark

Hi Hakeswill

Are you new to reloading handgun ammunition? I just wondered what the thinking was behind wanting a digital scale as opposed to a beam scale. I have several scales, both digital and mechanical but to me, nothing beats a good basic beam scale, it will be accurate, reliable and last a life time if it not abused.

If you are intending to throw your charges through a measure and only check weigh say one in ten then any of the cheaper digital scales will do the job.

Here is a short video of a Hornady digital scale in action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DtAW89qfDg

And here is a video of a basic beam scale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzwFXPYL ... detailpage

Downsides of digital are going to be wandering zero and susceptibility to air movement, voltage fluctuations and issues with warm up. I use digital for some measuring, mostly bullets and cases though. You need to have them on a platform that will not deflect, have a wind break around them and make sure you do not have any inductive loads near them so keep mobile phone chargers out of the circuit, and ideally leave them on for a few hours prior to use to let them settle down.

A beam scale may well be a bit slower but it is going to be more consistent.

I have both I can not remember the last time I switched the electronic scale on.
I use my beam scale for 99.9% of my re loading.
If I could only have one scale I would go for a good beam scale every time.

I use very expensive and very accurate electronic scales at work they are all in fully enclosed enclosures in draft proof areas you would be surprised how easily the accuracy shifts any vibration or draft is all that is needed.

For pistol loading you don't need a great a level of accuracy and a cheap beam scale will probably satisfy your needs.

In the 'good old days' many people I knew loaded pistol purely by volume, the Lee dippers were great for this and quick as well.

I knew one chap (briefly) who used to measure his pistol cartridge charges by pouring the powder onto a sheet of squared paper, different charges/powder were related to how many squares the base of the poured powder cone took up. :G

The digital scale I have is a Pact and I've found it very good, it came with the powder dispenser combo and has accurately measured thousands of charges over the years, however it regularly checked it against a set of balance beam scales calibrated to the charge with check weights as I don't trust digital generally.

They are only used for weighing boolits now, at which they excel, as I use the Target Master powder trickler and a beam balance scale, add to that a cheap lee powder dispenser and you have a powder dispensing and measuring set up that outperforms all the other electronic powder dispensers on the market for speed and accuracy.

So I would recommend a good set of beam balance scales and then you have the flexibility of up grading to the Target Master at a latter date.

Ok I guess maybe then I will just get a Lee safety scale and the powder dipper set and see how I go from there. I want to try and get the loads fairly accurate so dont think I will get away with just using the dipper but can try it agaisnt the scale and see how accurate I can get it.

I am completely new to reloading 1066 not just handgun ammo.