Been looking at a new dial caliper, not digital. I had been comparing the Lyman stainless steel caliper versus the RCBS type...the RCBS costs twice as much. Is it that much better, considering the "get what you pay for" statement? Opinions? I had been using a plastic RCBS caliper for 10+ years and thought I'd try steel.

You can spend $20+ or $60+, and anything in between. Considering that you've been using the plastic style for years, who cares. The more inexpensive models will measure just fine. More expensive models may last longer. If you need more precise measuremenets that a dial caliper will give you, irrespective of cost, you really need a micrometer anyway. Just get the $20+ model and you'll be fine.

Mitutoyo is a great brand of dial caliper. Ebay is an excellent place to buy such things. They usually sell for 30 cents on the dollar.

I had the plastic a long time ago...I like SS better though.

I have Mitutoyo 505-637-50 and love 'em.

Digital calipers are much nicer than mechanical dial types. You can get completely satisfactory digital calipers at Harbor Freight for about $25, sometimes less if they are on sale.

Years ago, I bought a Craftsman dial caliper and it has served without fail AND it has maintained its accuracy. Today, I would probably buy a Starret, Brown & Sharp, or Mitytoyo electric vernier caliper. Technically, the vernier design is a little bit better than a dial, but the vernier scale is not as easily read. The electric models display the results either in inches, or metric as a digital display. Cost should be about $125 and up. With a little care (don't use as a wrench, no matter how much it looks like one), that should be your last purchase. Geo.

6 years ago I got the Midway dial calipers on sale for $20.
They have markers every .001", but I can interpolate to .0002" and it is better than my micorometers.

My cousin did the electrical and software design on a coolant proof digital caliper and I got one for $150 last year.

It has a resolution of .0005", and cannot make the accurate measurements of the Midway. If I make a metric measurement and an inches measurement, I can sometimes infer greater resolution. It does have the great feature: a zero button. With that I can avoid allot of subtraction in my head.

So at my house, the dial caliper stays with the reloading, and the digital stays in the machine shop [where the coolant is sprayed when steel is cut, except chambering, which gets cutting oil].

No matter how much you think that you can interpolate the results of a dial caliper, their inherent accuracy is only to +/-0.001", at the best. The machine tool trade accepts them as barely OK substitutes for the vernier equivalents. Saying that you can get 0.0002" is way beyond their limits, by a factor of 20 or so. Even those that have a resolution to 0.0005", will only really deliver three significant figures behind the decimal. Geood luck. Geo.

I just re checked my dial calipers with pin guages:
SPI .2510+" measures .2508"
SPI .5000+" measures .5000"
Boeing Surplus CLX .7031" measures .7028"

My average error is .000167"


I don't think I will find another $20 dial caliper that are as good as mine. Mine are certainly more accurate than my brother's Starret and Mitutoyo dial calipers.

My technique is to always wipe the jaws off before each measurement and practice using the same thumb pressure to zero as to measure. I rock that calipers back and forth to assure is settles at a place where it is square. I use a magnifying lamp to read the dial.

I use my dial calipers at the range to work up loads that do not increase the extractor groove diameter of rimless cases.

A good digital caliper is well worth the money. I've my Mitutoyo @ 12 years & it's done plenty 12 hour days in a machine shop...still going strong. Down to .001" it has never got it wrong. If I need better than that I blow the dust off my vernier mics.

A digital takes a lot of math out too like in figuring out hole center distances.