What I learned today about scales,powder measures and 6.5 accuracy

mjbskwim · May 7, 2017

OK so a month ago I asked what powder measures y'all like and some told me to try different techniques.
Well today I decided to try a different scale...my rcbs beam scale. The digital "MTM" ? scale wasn't fun to deal with really. Don't know why I used it.
So today while using my uniflow and my beam scale the powder drops were barely different! I tried to use the same throw every time but it was still way close enough for plinking rounds. And doing precision rounds today was trickling just a few granuals to top them off.
So all in all the rcbs uniflow was performing terrific. The digital scale will be setting on the shelf for the time being.
So the inconsistency of the digital scale brings me to the accuracy topic. The Ruger American in 6.5 creedmore was shooting sub minute of angle with just 'close' rounds not perfect rounds!
Like my friend says,this round is a pleasure to load for.
That's all
Mike

Crohnos01 · May 7, 2017

I haven't played with the 6.5 round....yet

It's always a good idea to cross check your digital scale against a balance beam, and RCBS makes some dammed good ones.
I had a similar experience with an electronic digital scale I got from Cabelas some years ago. It worked fine the first year or two, but then I started noticing inconsistencies in the weights. I eventually "retired" the scale and went with a Chargemaster from RCBS which has been more accurate than I can be on the balance beam. I have a healthy skepticism of all reloading tools that are digital/electronic at this point due to my own experiences coupled with stories like yours.

Glad you got it worked out, and sub moa no less! Nice!

Ura-Ki · May 7, 2017

Something I found out with Digital ( like mechanical) these need to be "Zeroed" from time to time, Mechanically. I have a digital scale that like yours, worked well for several thousand rounds, then the discrepancies started and I couldn't just hit the zero button, I had to physically re set the zero using a fixed known weight like the mechanicl scales use. once that was done, the consistency came right back. I don't know if yours can be done at home or not, but you might wanna check it out before tossing it. Mine is the Hornady and it has a little access hole on the side for a small screw driver that you turn to adjust zero!

jordanka16 · May 7, 2017

Digital scales need to be on for a while to warm up before they work like they're supposed to, 30 minutes to an hour should do it. That being said I strongly prefer mechanical over digital as well.

If you are shooting world record groups at 1000 yards a tenth of a grain probably matters, ringing steel or shooting at coyotes from 300-700 yards it doesn't matter so much. Internal volume and neck tension will probably make a bigger difference.

etrain16 · May 8, 2017

I've got a small digital scale that I've been using as I have slowly moved into reloading. Nice thing is it came with a fixed weight for zeroing/calibrating the scale. I calibrate every time I use it. For the small amounts of Titegroup I'm dealing with, I like the accuracy of the digital scale.

DizzyJ · May 9, 2017

I throw with the RCBS Uniflow, then trickle up (or down) using the Gempro 250.

As mentioned, the scale needs to be on for awhile for it to stabilize. I usually just turn mine on and leave it on.

mjbskwim · May 9, 2017

The mtm scale I use is on for the duration of my reloading and never gets stabilized or whatever.
So what it will do is when I load to heavy,maybe a couple granuals,I'll dump a few out. Then it will take more than I just dumped to get back to where I want it to be.
Anyway I'll just use the beam from now on. It doesn't take but one more step.
And now that I see how close the uniflow will work I can feel better about my plinking rounds being better.

orygun · May 12, 2017

Father's Day one year brought an RCBS ChargeMaster 1500 scale as a gift from my wife. At that time I was using an old, lower price Lyman balance beam purchased when starting to reload. Thinking the "cheap" beam had been used for the last time, it was sold.
Then a friend gave me two scales that had been his dad's. He's a shooter, not a reloader and knew I'd do something useful with them. The RCBS was passed along and the Ohaus 10-0-5 kept.
The next process trickling loads with the digital, I experimented with how many granules could be added without bumping the scale to the next 1/10 of a grain. Then it dawned on me. With 1/10gr increments, the scale had a built in .05 gr +/- tolerance and there was no way to tell if it was on the high or low side. Out came the beam scale. The difference of every granule of powder could be seen. I'm sure I'm wasting my time doing this...

I keep the digital ready for many things that aren't as critical as powder dispensing rifle loads. When I load pistol there is no trickling of powder. Once the powder measure is set, an occasional check of a thrown load is all that's needed and the digital is "good enough" for that.
Other commitments are keeping me from getting back to the bench, but when I do, bullet seating depth will be the focus.