i have several ammo cans full of various makes, and I need to sort out some weights. I have an old reloading beam scale, but I'd like to use something digital to streamline the process.
What's the new hotness in reloading scales? What's the old-busted? What's the old-reliable? What do you use, why, and how do you like it? If you'd use something else if buying today, what and why?
Rob, you might be disappointed with your ability to sort loaded rounds by weight, if you're sorting mixed stuff. My experience is that there's sufficient variability in the brass alone that it's difficult to tell one round from the next, if the bullet weights are within ~15 grains of one another.Originally Posted by rob_s
That being said, I usually just use the scale on my chargemaster for what I load these days, which is almost 100% 9mm. I drop 10 charges from the progressive and take an average. Works well, regardless if the scale drifts a little or not and much less infuriating than messing around with .1 grains.
If I were buying a stand alone scale today and wanted to stay <$150, I'd look at something like the Gem Pro 250 vs. a branded reloading scale (but I'm typically looking for more precision than what's needed for weighing loaded rounds).
that's kind of what I'm afraid of.
What I'm trying to do is sort out the Wolf 75 grain HP from the rest of the steel-cased ammo I have, but I may just be saving myself some headaches and money in the long run if I just pull everything with an HP on it and set it aside. I know, or think, there are some 62 grain HPs in there, but it sounds like I could have a deviation in the steel case such that the difference wouldn't be readily apparent.
Since my intent is to sell off the 75 grain once I get it sorted, I suppose every round that goes in that bin is a round sold, so not a total loss, and certainly better than spending $150 on a scale I'm unlikely to ever use again.
Same here.
Do the 62s and 75s look different (profile or OAL)? You can sort them by looks, then pull a bullet and weigh it.
They are visually indistinguishable, I think.
I whacked and whacked on the RCBS bullet puller and nothing came out. Plus, I need to check every HP, which means pulling is counter-productive.
FWIW, I've been using the cheap Frankford digital scale for the last year and a half: http://www.amazon.com/Frankford-2052...dp/B002BDOHNA/
I started out sanity-checking every other measurement against my RCBS 505, but it was so consistently close that I now just do a check at the beginning of every reloading session. I've yet to find it out of calibration.
You might also consider selling the whole mixed lot to some hopeful moron and let him deal with it.
Good luck!
I've been doing some research for a new scale as well. From what I gather, the new hotness in digital scales right now seems to be the My Weigh GemPro 250.
Looking back at this and seeing you're weighing all the same mfg., while I've not measured the variability in steel casings like I have in brass, but if they're all from the same mfg., you'd llikely have a reasonable success rate (~90%, I'm guessing) using a cheap ~$20 digital scale to weigh them. You've got a ~10 grain difference there after subtracting the likely difference in powder charge, while you'll get some that are high (or low) on the bell curve, you'll probably get most of them.
What makes it next to impossible is when the brass head stamp is mixed, given that delta in bullet weights.
Reply With Quote