For a replacement/upgrade dial caliper, whats a good price, Is $119 too much for one? Where do I order it from? HELP! Jay

There are a ton of calipers available on eBay. You can get very good prices too. My experience has been good, I have bought both a pair of Starret and Mitutoyo this way. But naturally, most of the stuff you buy on eBay is used...

- mike

P.S. Just checked what I paid for the two calipers above: $60 for a 6" Starret (in what I consider good condition), $20 for a pair of metric Mitutoyo (maybe price was a bit lower than normal because of the metric calibration??). Plus shipping, naturally.

I have all the old (the good stuff) calipers.
I was reading this same question about a year ago and a forum member recommended Harbor Freight's Digital Calipers. I went to a Harbor Freight store and bought a 6" caliper for 16.99. They were on sale.
A year later they are as accurate as my old dials and for my old eyes they are so much easier to read. They are stainless steel and seem very durable and come with an extra battery (which I have not used yet.). For the reloader I highly recommend them.

I spent about $20 for an unknown name brand on e-bay a couple years ago. They've done real good except lately if I squeeze a little hard on jaws for a tight reading the numbers get fuzzy. BUT that was after dropping them off my table to the floor 3x's over the course of a week (no drinking involved!). For the money they were good and I think they'll go a while yet. I'd take another chance on a "like" caliper (if and when) they do quit.

The best iv'e ever used are Brown & Sharpe 6". They will outlast any thing on the market. They can usually be had for sale at MSC for $89.00. I own a machine shop and have every thing from $10.00 plastic nonames to 24" Starret Master Series. You can spend more but you won't get better service than you will from the Brown & Sharpe's. Seeing all that stuff on ebay just pisses me off because it's all been stolen from shop owners.

midway right now has frankford stainless steel electronic calipers reg.$34.99 sale$19.99 exp. on 12/31
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=604242

$17 dollars at Harbor Freight. Works fine for what I need it to do.

I have a set of spendy Mititoyo dial calipers that see much more action than the cheapy Harbor Freight digital calipers.

I am old school. I like the dial calipers better.

ZM

Jay:
I know you asked about dial calipers but...
Several years ago I decided to upgrade to digital from my older vernier one. Boy! What a difference. My eyes aren't what they used to be and they're much faster. In bullet seating for example, I just attach the Stoney point OAL gauge then zero the jaws. I seat my bullet to the desired length to ther ogive then hit "zero" on the caliper jaws. That's it. I can tell immediately how each succeeding bullet is seated and I adjust competition seating die accordingly. Yup! I'm more anal about seating depth than most guys but this is just an example of how easy it is with a digital.
Wanna measure a box cases for trimming after sizing? Grab a case & stick it between the jaws of the caliper. Hit "zero" and then set the case aside. Continue measuring each case. Should you come across a case that gives a negative reading, hit "zero" again & set that case aside. After going thru an entire box, you'll have selected the shortest case in the box allowing you to set your case trimmer to that length. Simple is as simple does.
I'd really advise a quality digital caliper to anyone but that's me, FWIW. Bear in Fairbanks

I a 6" dial Mitutoyo I bought from Enco for ~ $65 on sale.
From what I`ve seen, the ones sold by Midway or Harbor Freight for around $20 would do anything mine do. I had with a set of Midways 6" dials (kids, need I say more) that appeared as repetable as my Mitutoyos when measuring bullets or cartridge OAL. We aren`t dealing with exacts here for the most part, and a measurment that repetes is likely of more use to us then an exact trueness to the last hundreth of inch accuracy. One of my friends though has a set of Midways that read the same as my Mitutoyo when we once compared them.

BTW I`d recommend a stainless set and not the cheap plactic ones. I don`t know how durable the cheaper SS ones are but I`m sure they will out last the plastic and there is only a dollar or two difference in price.

I can't believe the quality and repeatability (and incredibly cheap price) of my Harbor Freight digital caliper. Could be that it wouldn't hold up to hard daily use in a machine shop and it might (or might not) be more fragile than the high-priced models, but it works great for the once-in-a-while needs of a reloader or amatuer machinist. I also bought an equally cheap and serviceable set of H.F. dial micrometers (zero to 3"), but I can't find a use for them that the caliper doesn't do as well.

I know that this sounds like the owner of a Mossberg bolt action shotgun telling a Purdy shooter how many pheasants his gun has killed, but if all you want is accurate measurments, then the H.F. is a great value.

It seems to me a lot like buying car engines...what you have to pay depends on what you want out of them.

For most at-home reloaders though, pretty much any inexpensive set of calipers will be good enough...just like a Chevy Geo would get almost any of us to work and back each day.

For more precise work, or the simple pleasure of owning a truly precision tool, more money may be necessary. I use Swiss calipers just because I like precision tools.

I paid around $20 for a Lyman stainless dial caliper. Have no complaints with it.

I have a Swiss-made hard plastic dial caliper that I bought in a hobby shop almost 20 years ago for about $17. It has given me excellent service to now.

I just about live with a set in my hand anymore. I have about eight pairs ( I think ).

My three favorites are Starett dial type, Mitotoyo digitals and a pair of
Swiss made one that I can't rememmer the name of but were offered by Starett a few years back.

For me being able to convert to metric at the flick of a button is a real plus, and I consider that feature alone worth $40-$50, it saves me a lot of time, and conversions in my head.

For the reloading bench I doubt I really need a set of Staretts, but I am of the opinion that buy as good of quality tools you can afford and take care of them, my current pair on my bench is around 10-15 years old and still going strong.

I know some of you might think I am nuts but I buy Swedish made wire cutters at almost $80 a pop. I went through a period about 15 years ago buying cheaper but got tired of replacing them every two months. Now its a once every 5-7 year deal and only because somebody has abused them.

As little as possble if they are accurate. I have a spacer calibration set I got cheap thare are chucks of steel from starrett accurate to the .0001". So I have some mitutoyo and some cabelas brand. Both are accurate within .0005". Paid over 100 for the mitutoyo and 20 dollars for the cabelas. I suggest you buy some cheapies and and find soemone with some topdollar jobs to compare against.

I'm with Zeke, I like my old Brown & Sharpe dial calipers. Best part is, I get to send them over to the Cal Lab every 6 mos. to re-certify them.......then they go home

I know a lot of guys that are really happy with the digitals, too. And dont forget the old hands with the Verniers.

Jay..

Another vote here for the Harbor Freight tool. It won't turn the head of a machinist but certainly fills my needs. I'm moderately-fussy, but not anal,about handloading accuracy and these work just fine.

I've been using a 6" dial caliper from cabela's for a couple years with no problems. I think I paid $12.99 for them. I'm not sure who makes them for cabela's though.

I'm with shromf. I bought a pair of Digital Mitutoyo digitals when they first came out. Easy to read, and it is nice to pop back and forth from metric to 'merican with a touch of the button. I even use them to measure wounds, warts and skin cancers in the clinic. I keep the jaws clean with alcohol. I bring them down close to the area in question, but don't actually touch the skin. Works fast, and no mess.

LD

I've got a set of Mitutoyo's, a set of $40 dials and one of the $20 digitals. At the shop I use Starrett and Brown and Sharp.
For reloading I use the digitals, when I remember too I'm going to get an extra pair for around the shop so as to save the Brown and Sharp's and Starretts for machine work where the extra precision is more important than the convenience of the digital...............DJ

I recently took advantage of the $19.99 deal at Midway for the Frankford Arsenal stainless steel electronic calipers. For the money, I think it's a fine instrument and will likely last me a long time.

You guys make me feel bad.
All this time I've been using a tape measure.

Don't spend much on dial calipers. Buy a $20 set and a good set of mikes for the jobs requiring precision.

I have a set of Mitutoyo's I paid close to $110.00 for, and a set of Stainless digitals I bought from Checker Auto for $15.95. After 2 years of use, I can't tell the difference between the 2 accuracy wise. billt.

Poletax

LOL I love your signature, it reminds me of me.

In the 1970s I bought a Mitutoyo caliper for around $150. That was super big money to pay in those days for someone that’s wasn’t a machinist. My wife hit the roof when she found out I had bought it. I still own it and it’s still as pretty as the day I bought it.

The $20 calipers of today are as accurate as those Mitutoyo calipers of yesteryear.

poletax, You need to step into the world of .001†and leave behind the world of 1/16thâ€. It’s only 20 bucks.

I got mine (a 6 1/2 inch) at the John Deere dealership in town!
Cost $23.00

I still have the plastic one that I got with my RCBS reloading kit, way back in 1974! I still use it once in a while!

I got mine from the Cummins tool truck for $8.00. Stainless and it goes head to head with the Starrets at work.