Best calipers

[TAD]

What calipers are you all using? I havnt bought one yet and will be buying one soon so thank you for your thoughts.

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[Nwcid]

For reloading I bought a digital set from the local auto parts store for about $20. Work great.

 

[Mark W.]

I have a Plastic one sold by RCBS and I have a Digital one sold by Harbor Frieght. I also have a couple very expensive Sarrett Micrometers and when I test either the Plastic one or the Digital one they are repeatably within .0005" of what the Sarrett Micrometer measures. For the .001 world of reloading they are both way more accurate then required.

 

[Mikej]

Harbor Freight non digital. I figure it's accurate, it says .451 on my .45 bullets, .355 on my 9mm, .357 on the bullets for my .357.....I couldn't bring myself to trust a digital for some reason, too old school I guess.

 

[ripcity]

I use minutoyo's. I got them from my previous work at no cost to me. They aren't the best but for reloading they work great.

 

[RVTECH]

Yep, for reloading a dial type in the $20 range is perfect. You really need to justify an expensive caliper and most cannot, especially for just reloading and basic measuring needs.

 

[ma96782]

I have a dial style RCBS made of a plastic type material (yes, ir's green) and a Harbor Freight digital that cost less than $13.00. Hey, we're not building an ICBM here. LOL, they work fine for what we're doing.

Aloha, Mark

 

[10 Spot Terminator]

Another vote for Mitutoyo stainless 6 inch digitals .

 

[jonn5335]

Lyman stainless dial

 

[Ironbar]

Another vote for the Harbor Freight digital. Tested against my buddy's RCBS dial caliper, and they were both right on the money.

 

[Bon Sauvage]

If I had the dinero I would be using a Starrett 6" dial caliper. As it is I am using a Lyman dial caliper (plastic.) It works.....

 

[deadshot2]

For reloading you'd be amazed at how well an inexpensive Digital Caliper can perform. If you're building parts for the Aerospace market, maybe it's necessary to have a Caliper capable of measuring down to the width of a molecule. For Reloading? Most all of the economical ones are capable of +/- .0005" resolution.

One thing nice about a dial caliper is that there's no battery to go dead. Those darn things always happen when all the stores are closed and you're in the middle of a late night reloading session

I have three calipers I've accumulated over the years. A plastic one, a nice Starrett Dial, and a "No-Name" digital that was given to me at a trade show in Las Vegas years ago. The "No-Name" has been the one I use almost daily.

 

[BZawlocki]

You might want to consider the Hornady Dial Caliper sold at Midway:

Hornady Dial Caliper 6 SS

It is more money than a plastic caliper but has a lifetime warranty from Hornady.

Bought mine a few months ago, works well, zero doesn't drift - nice caliper for the $$.

Bill

 

[quneur]

I found a Brown & Sharpe dial caliper at Goodwill. I won't say how much I paid for it but it was less than a Big Mac.

 

[ripcity]

Brown and sharp are really nice. Good find at a goodwill. A co worker of mine found his brow and sharp at a yard sale for real cheap.

 

[deadshot2]

You might want to consider the Hornady Dial Caliper sold at Midway:

Hornady Dial Caliper 6 SS

It is more money than a plastic caliper but has a lifetime warranty from Hornady.

Bought mine a few months ago, works well, zero doesn't drift - nice caliper for the $$.

Bill

Problem with some "Lifetime Warranties" is that you may end up with as much invested in shipping as the tool is worth if you have to "claim" that warranty.

I'm having that discussion right now with a certain maker of a Chronograph.

 

[RVTECH]

Problem with some "Lifetime Warranties" is that you may end up with as much invested in shipping as the tool is worth

Which is EXACTLY what the mfg. is counting on. Sometimes something being only 'As good as it's warranty' - isn't.

 

[Janes]

I bought some from Lowes, they are Kobalt. I first bought a plastic set and didn't think that they were very accurate, so I went back and bought the metal ones.

 

[BAMCIS]

Another vote for Mitutoyo stainless 6 inch digitals .

Yet another vote here. It is WAY more "accurate" than what is needed for reloading.

I found a Brown & Sharpe dial caliper at Goodwill. I won't say how much I paid for it but it was less than a Big Mac.

Good score!! I just love a story with a happy ending.

 

[Dallas Ken]

I have an old set of Helios dial calipers I use from back in my machine shop days. Just use them because I already have them....way more accurate than needed. Around $20 should get you a set that is more than adaquate for reloading....I do believe in the metal though.