I used to reload pistol ammunition many years ago using a RCBS 1010 scale. I decided to try rifle ammo this year and bought a new scale from Cabelas. It is a XT1500.

Here is the problem, when I tare the cup, it tares out fine and will repeat the zero. When I went to measure the powder, I noticed that the weight readout seemed to move slower as I slowed the rate of adding powder. This was as I came close to my desired weight. I would take the cup off and load the shell casing. When I put the cup back on the scale the tare would be off by as much as a grain. No repeatability. (I tried this with two different cups) I pulled out the old 1010 and sure enough the powder charge weights were off.

Am I doing something wrong or is there a problem with the scale? Any and all help is appreciated.

Welcome to the wonderful world of digitals....I`m sure I be flamed for that

It is as Joe said. Typical digital behavior as you add or trickle in powder they do not resolve the small changes.

Use a can of keyboard duster to blow dust off of you old beam balance 1010. Then test it with scale check weights and use it to keep and eye on your digital. I would recommend that if you keep getting that kind of performance take it back and get a better model or brand. I had one that was so unusable that the original buyer got disgusted and gave it to me. I kept it 8 years until the state of the art caught up. I finally returned it basically as new after 8 years and it was replaced with a new modle that actually holds it zero. The original would drift off about 2 grains in an hour.

quote:

Originally posted by Ol` Joe:
Welcome to the wonderful world of digitals....I`m sure I be flamed for that

not by me....I'm on your side!

We have been using RCBS digital scale for many years, and have no problems with them at all.

Other digital scales, like from Lyman, Dillon etc, have not been as reliable.

A few years back I tried a couple of different digital scales, but sent them back for the vary reasons mentioned here.

In general, trickling powder onto a digital seems to be problematic to many different brands. From what I understand, most scales have software to stop the zero drifting, and as powder is trickled in, this software tries to retain the zero until a certain threshold is reached and then the scale reading "jumps" to the new weight..

The RCBS 1500 Chargemaster shouldn't do this as it is one of the new breed of scales designed to work with an auto trickler/powder dispenser.
I've noticed new programing is now available for these RCBS combo's which supposedly speeds up the dispensing process considerably..

If I were going to invest in digial scales again, I would probably go for one of these:

High-Precision Powder Scale

Its a bit more expensive that a standard digital reloading scale, but it has 0.02grain accuracy rather than 0.1grains of most current scales used by reloaders.

It is also specifically designed to allow powder to be trickled onto it..

Its only a pity its not compatable with an auto powder trickler/dispenser like the RCBS Chargemaster...

Regards,

Peter

Did you read review #30 on Cabelas' website before you used it:

quote:

"This is not a dedicated powder GRAIN measurement scale. You need to read the book to be sure you find the grain measurement function of the unit. I don't want to weight diamands (karats ??) and/or ANYTHING but gunpowder. It is accurate down to .10ths but you need to read the book to initialize the unit for gunpowder"

No doubt that magnetic beam scales like your 1010 work. As long as you keep them clean and lubricated thay will do all of the reloading chores, just at a slow pace.

In digital scales, to a great extent you get what you pay for. My current RCBS 1500 is fine, but certainly not as fast or reliable as the $10K balances I use at work. You have to let all of them warm up a bit and calibrate them often, don't just tare and hope the rest of the scale is calibrated.

quote:

Originally posted by Ol` Joe:
Welcome to the wonderful world of digitals....I`m sure I be flamed for that

Digital scales sold by the usual reloading suspects suck!!
I had three different ones that all sucked. They are slow, inaccurate, and not repeatable. And one required calibration every half hour...
I ended up buying a Denver Instruments APX-153, directly from them. It's accurate to .02 grains, is faster than a speeding bullet in its readout, and is repeatable.
The Apx-153 scale I have now I do not use for reloading, only weighing 22 Ammo for sorting, case sorting and weighing bullets.
For powder weighing, I use an old Ohaus beam balance scale and trickle up. I can't conceive of me using a digital scale for powder weighing, in my reloading anyway.
YMMV

Don

Nice to see that I'm not alone.
My Redding beam balances have never seen lube in 52 years***NEVER roger

The slow response to the powder trickler I expect. I was nudging the scale to make it readjust. The not holding zero is the real pain in the rear. I checked calibration before and during with both the 50g. weight that came with the scale and the 250gr. weight from my 1010. It would weigh properly and return to zero every time. It would even tare the pan perfectly every time. It was only after I measured the powder that the tare would be off.

My experience with digital scales is that they need to warm up for 10+ minutes before I could expect them to hold tare weight reliably. My friend the gun shop owner had to quit selling the RCBS electronic system altogether because he had too many returns, with problems caused by poor QC. That was several years ago, RCBS may have solved the problem by now. I always 'bump' my reloading scales while measuring, whether digital or mechanical.
Regards, Joe

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
Nice to see that I'm not alone.
My Redding beam balances have never seen lube in 52 years***NEVER roger

Whassamatter, Bartsche? You don't spray your scale daily with WD-40? Or maybe glob a little axle grease on it? I had a grandmother who insisted that the brakes on her Cadillac needed greasing. I think there were times that my Grandfather felt like agreeing with her.

Well, in about 30 minutes of working with it, I managed 2 accurately weighed charges. Two rounds in 30 minutes is not good. I'll try letting it warm up longer but I doubt it will work.

quote:

Originally posted by sdtdfw:
Well, in about 30 minutes of working with it, I managed 2 accurately weighed charges. Two rounds in 30 minutes is not good. I'll try letting it warm up longer but I doubt it will work.

The scale I mentioned above could be allowed to warm up all day and it would still drift off between 2 successive charges. Totally worthless and potentially dangerous.

When I started reloading I bought a digital scale but was so dissapointed in the accuracy that I immediately bought a RCBS 505 scales and have been very happy with them

quote:

We have been using RCBS digital scale for many years, and have no problems with them at all.

me 2

quote:

Originally posted by sdtdfw:
Well, in about 30 minutes of working with it, I managed 2 accurately weighed charges. Two rounds in 30 minutes is not good. I'll try letting it warm up longer but I doubt it will work.

Even a broken clock tells the time correctly twice a day!

Sounds like the load cell under the platen has been stressed to the point of constant malfunction. Only thing to do now is take it back to Cabelas and exchange it for a new scale.

Of course, Cabelas will deduct $10 from the catalog price and put it back for sale in their Bargain Cave. Then some other poor schmuck will have to suffer through what you are going through. Sad.

Is there a possibility that some folks don't know when they're having a problem? Hard to believe. roger

Two areas digital scales seem to have problems with. One is a"dirty" power supply. Fluctuations in line voltage can confuse a digital scale. The other is related. Static electricity will drive a digital scale (and you) crazy! Either of the above will cause zero drifting.
I have the older RCBS scale and dispenser and had quite a time until I got the above problems solves. Now the units work well.

muck

Muck,

How did you solve the problems?

The dirty power was solved by using a power conditioner. Stole it from my son. He uses them for his music gear. I come to understand that electronics are somewhat finicky about the electricity they are fed.
The static by wiping down the unit with dryer sheets. I also now keep the scale sitting on top of a sheet.

muck

quote:

Even a broken clock tells the time correctly twice a day!

The trick is to know when they are correct!

quote:

Originally posted by sdtdfw:
Well, in about 30 minutes of working with it, I managed 2 accurately weighed charges. Two rounds in 30 minutes is not good. I'll try letting it warm up longer but I doubt it will work.

Hey sdtdfw, I'll agree, that is even a bit slow for me.

Back in the last century I'd made a couple of large Case purchases. Did all the Case Prep on them over the winter and got ready to do the Weight Sorting. Using my Ohaus 1010, it was a bit tedious and time consuming.

Two buddies had purchased the relatively new electric scales. One had a Pact and the other had an RCBS. Both of them loaned their scales to me at separate times to speed up the Sorting.

The bad news is both scales drifted, even after they warmed up. I'd use them for maybe 30-40min and would notice the scale had changed when I'd take a Case off the platen.

Looking at what Muck discovered, the fix could have been that simple. Where I lived at the time did not have the cleanest power(transient spikes) and I was working on the carpet(static generator) while sitting on the floor.
-----

I have one of the $30 MTM Scales. They are not guaranteed to read every single 0.1gr and mine doesn't. It might skip over a 0.1gr reading once or twice in a 1.0<->2.0gr series. Does great for Case Sorting. It would not be the best for Reloading Powder, but would work.

The old Pact and RCBS units were very susceptable to ANY slight air movement. Even from moving your arm too fast as you went by the scale. The MTM does not have that as an issue.