Every once in awhile, I want to verify my scales and I don't own a set of check weights. I notice others in the forum question their scales now and then.

My solution was to find the weight of US coins and use them for small check weights. I also weighed them on a friend's scales to confirm their weight. I keep them in a small plastic box with their weight written in the lid.

Here's a web page that gives mint coin weights. For info, 1 gram = 15.4324 grains (or, 1 grain = 0.06479891 grams).

I found by looking through a selection of pocket coins, I could find one very close to the mint value, although it's not necessary. All you need is a known weight. Figuring I only need to worry about +/- 0.1 grain or so, it's no big deal when verifying the scales.

I also weighed a few brass and bullet sizes for heavier weight "standards," marked them and keep them in my weight box.

Hope this is helpful for other "frugal" reloaders that don't want to spend a fortune on check weights.

My solution to this was to use some Sierra bullets of several weights. I have never found them to be off more than 1/10th of a grain or so......

quote:

Originally posted by El Deguello:
My solution to this was to use some Sierra bullets of several weights. I have nevr found them to be off more that 1/10th of a grain or so......

Absolutely.....Bullets are extremely close to the weights they sell them at. I use bullets to check my scales and have found it safe and reliable.

Or buy a set of these from Midway. I believe they are very affordable.
http://www.midwayusa.com/esearch.exe/search?TabID=0&cat...Search=Search_Button
Frank

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:

quote:

Originally posted by El Deguello:
My solution to this was to use some Sierra bullets of several weights. I have nevr found them to be off more that 1/10th of a grain or so......

Absolutely.....Bullets are extremely close to the weights they sell them at. I use bullets to check my scales and have found it safe and reliable.

FYI VD, I sorted a large batch of 150gr. psp 30 cal. bullets by weight. They were either Winchester or Reminton. They ranged from about 147.5gr. to 151.5gr. Generaly you are right about the weights being close but this one time at least it weren't so. roger

Roger.....may I ask what check weight (traceable to the national bureau of standards) you used to make this determination?

Further the only adjustment my (Ohaus) scale has is to set the scale to 0.0 when clean and empty. Once that's done there is no other adjustment to make a 147.5 grain check weight weigh 150 as the scales notches are milled/molded/or other permenently engraved method on the balanced beam itself.

As long as we are working up our loads as we should be is it really important if we started out load at 147.5 grains verses 150 grains?......and when was the last time we used 150 grains of powder in a case?......or to interpolate that to roughly .8 grain error in 50 grains of load.

The rest of the folks can spend money on check weights or use coins as weights (a good idea I must say) but this old reloader will continue to use bullets as it's still fully acceptable for the task. The entire check weight idea is entirely academic as far as I can see.

I`ve also seen a few tenths gr differance in weight when weighing bullets. I seem to recall Sierra as only claiming +/- 0.3gr tolerance on their MatchKings which are about as good as they come in a consistant bullet.

There can also be some variance in shown wgt with the same scale at differing wgt ranges. That is, a scale checked to insure a 25gr reading as being true may show a 48gr reading to acually be 48.1 or 47.9gr then at 70gr be dead nuts again. I`ve seen this at times when useing Lyman check wgts on the three scales I have. A Pact and two RCBS beams.

The accuracy of the scales as long as it is within a tenth or two doesn`t mean squat IMO as long as the scale repetes it. Jack O`Connors scale, I once read, was a bit light in its reading. This is part of why Jack could load his famous 60gr H4831-130 gr bullet and never see any pressures. This error didn`t matter to him as he likely worked up the load, and the scale indicated the same charge every time HE used it. He also likely never knew the scale was a hair off. This might though, matter to a person trying to copy the load with a scale that weighed a tenth or two heavier then it should. - Sorry, I don`t remember where I read this or how much it was acually off.

I would, if I didn`t have a check set, get a couple bullets of various wgt, say a 45, 55, and 60gr 22cal bullets extending from the min-max powder charge weight one plans on loading and check the scales reading for each and record. Then when one sets up he can simply varify the scale still reads the same wgt for the bullet in the wgt range you plan on useing. As long as the scale repetes, you worked up the load, and the scale is within a couple tenths of true you should be good to go. Three tenths gr off a max load wont blow your rifle up, but 3grs may. Checking is good insurance.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
The rest of the folks can spend money on check weights or use coins as weights (a good idea I must say) but this old reloader will continue to use bullets as it's still fully acceptable for the task. The entire check weight idea is entirely academic as far as I can see.

Good point, Vapodog. Which reminds me of what Richard Lee wrote in "Modern Reloading" about scales:

"While I cannot prove it, I think powder scales have caused more mishaps than they have prevented. A misread or incorrectly set scale or a scale with hidden damage can and have resulted in dangerous and harmful reloads... Powder scales are excessively sensitive and accurate beyond need...

The Lee Safety Scale, will register the weight of your name written on a piece of paper with a soft lead pencil. There is no evidence that powder charges checked with this degree of accuracy will perform better. The exact opposite is true. Most precision shooting is not done with weighed charges, but with volume measured charges. Most shooting records are held with ammunition loaded by volume charging. With minuscule exceptions, all commercially loaded ammunition is loaded with powder charges measured by volume."

I'm not ready to throw my scales away or quit confirming the weight of powder throws, but his statement does help to put things in perspective for me about scale accuracy.

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Martinez:
Or buy a set of these from Midway. I believe they are very affordable.
http://www.midwayusa.com/esearch.exe/search?TabID=0&cat...Search=Search_Button
Frank

I must admit that I don't check my scale very often with any sort of check weights. It is a Lyman Ohaus M5 that I bought new in 1968, and as far as I can tell, it has never changed anyway. For example, the other day I pulled the bullets from a couple of 7X57mm loads that I had loaded in 1970 with 54 grains of Norma N205 powder and 175 grain Nosler partition (old style) bullets. The old scale said the powder charges still weighed exactly 54 grains, so my conclusion was that the scale was still weighing the same as it did in 1970.

So I reassembled the rounds, and the next time I go to the range, I'm going to chronograph five of these cartridges to see how much the velocity has dropped since 1970, when they chronoed 2720 FPS on my long-gone ITCC chronograph.......

Diito on the Sierra's as check weights!

I have the RCBS deluxe set. It has pieces of wire from .5 to 5 grains, and cylinders for 10-250 grains...basically you can dial in any mass to .5 grains from .5 to 500.5 without worries. I don't know how 'tracable to NIST' they are (I deal with that all the time at work) but they checked out to better than 2 decimal places (grams) on a calibrated, NIST tracable scale.

Maybe all the time in a chemistry lab has rubbed off. My ollllld RCBS scale, when zeroed at 0.0 grains, is off about a half grain at 100 grains. I have plenty of adjustment to re-zero at any mass below that to dial in my charge weight. I only tend to do that with pistol loads though, where a half grain can be a lot! A half grian in a 70 grain load isn't much...

The only problem with using bullets, for us overly anal folks, is that they will tarnish and therefore change mass over time. The same issue affects some coins, though probably to a lesser degree. Find something very corrosion resistant, like a stainless nut in several sizes or blocks of plastic, mark it with a scribe when you get a good mass from a good scale, and keep it clean and basically degreased.

Be safe!

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
Roger.....may I ask what check weight (traceable to the national bureau of standards) you used to make this determination?.

VD! R U pulling my leg. The intent wasn't to give you precise weights as much as it was to give you an indication of differential distribution over a small range for one batch of bulk bullets only . Traceable to the NBS? You're putting me on; right?

A little Leinenkugels might just help UR perception. roger

How will a scale"change". Mine looks pretty well fixed to me.
Good Luck!