i think my old lyman scales is not accurate anymore so i might buy a new set any recommendations ??

RCBS 10-10. Tough, dependable, accurate, and affordable. What more could one ask for?

I've had an old Redding for about 30 years. Recently I purchased a used RCBS 10-10 at a local gun show. I use the two as back ups for each other and get the same readings from both so I can't say that one is better than the other. I'm quite happy with both. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I have an old RCBS 5-10 that has allways been great. Also Lyman electronic that is super.

I also have a old Redding #1 Hydraulic scale that was purchased in 1964. It has a paddle damper that is in gear oil to dampen the movement. I change the oil every 3,000 loads or 6 months, whichever comes first

But seriously, I would be lost without this scale. It just keeps on going. I stand behind Redding products IMO.

[ 09-22-2003, 09:12: Message edited by: CK ]

If you can afford it, get an electronic set. They are worth their weight in gold.

A scale is a scale is a scale...

If you wanna go light weight, get the RCBS 5-0-5, or any scale that is similar.

If you wanna go heavy weight, get the RCBS 10-10, or any scale that is similar.

And for the life of me, I can't understand how you can say "is not accurate anymore". A balanced-beam mechanical scale can't lose accuracy! There are no springs, there are no electronics, there is only a balanced beam and the knife edges.

ricciardelli,

Amen!

i would reccommend buying a set of check weights, lyman and rcbs have them, and look at the low end, middle and high range and also weigh several weights 20 or thirty times and see if the weight varies. i bought my lyman D5 in '68 and have a redding #1 from the mid 50's, no damper on beam, still accurate and still in use. if the scale is inaccurate the knife edges or the "V" notch they sit in could be damage, or the beam is not centered in the notch.

Interesting thread.

I've just been comparing a used 10-10 scale I got in against an old Redding scale. Also had another RCBS scale for a while that had the same screw type poise setting as the 10-10. I seem to find the 10-10 I have to be VERY unsensitive - seems to be true of this particular poise set-up combined with magnetic damping. Can't find anything visually/mechanically wrong with it otherwise. Simple, basic design of Redding seems more reliable and sensitive.

Any others found this scale type undesirable? I removed the magnetic damping from the one RCBS scale I had and found it's sensitivity greatly increased. Seems to me the simplest designs are the best. Extra "gee-has" and "stylish" construction are drawbacks. Anyone care to comment?

Also see accompanying thread re: Lee powder scale accuracy.

Seems to me that cheap, mass production and/or poor QC are not a good idea when it comes to powder scales!

[ 09-22-2003, 02:41: Message edited by: sonofagun ]

Sonofagun, What do you mean by "unsensitive"?
This is the scale (RCBS 10-10) that I use, but I don't have another scale to compare against. I have always liked using this scale. I think??????

Lack of sensitivity (which I assume to mean failure to weigh more precisely than a particular given fraction of a unit, ie. .05 grain, etc.) with a balance beam is usually a result either the knife edges of the beam or the cradle surfaces of the scale being worn or dirty. Cleaning these surfaces with something like plain old rubbing alcohol might help. If the knife edges or cradle surfaces have become rounded, the the scale's plus-or-minus range is going to be wider than when it was new (it will still tell you that you've got about 30 grains of powder in the pan, but the actual weight may be between 30.1 and 29.9, instead of 30.05 and 29.95 when the scale was new.)

If you leave your scale's beam resting in the cradle all of the time, especially if it is exposed to wind currents and other elements, the wear can occur over a period fo years. That's one advantage to the take-down type scales. The beam is stored off of its bearing surface in a box that protects everything from dust, oil, bat droppings, or whatever.

I've tried electronic scales, but this dog's too old for new tricks. They just don't seem to work as well as a balance beam for me.

go digital and never look back. Pact($90) on the cheaper end and CED pocket scale or a tanita (0.05gn accuracy) on the upper end($120+)check em out.

i have a pact, and will probably eventually get the CED pocket for further portability (and a wind-shield)

JB

I have an RCBS 5-10 which is the 500 grain counterpart to the 10-10. It's the fastest, most accurate scale I've ever used. I've had some that came close, but not quite as fast. I think yours must have some sort of problem, although I'm no expert. I work in a laboratory, and have checked mine against "tracable" check weights and it is dead, smack on.
Some other scales I've had and liked are:
Lyman M5, looks like an RCBS 10-10 without the screw poise, very good, fast scale.
Redding #2, the magnetic dampened one, also very fast and accurate.
Of the cheap scales, the RCBS 5-0-2 is my pick, fairly fast and very accurate.
The ones I don't like and checked the farthest out of range, were Hornady/Pacific magnetic scale. I also had trouble getting the RCBS 5-0-5 to check out, but it was much better than the Hornady. I think it has something to do with having 3 poises. They are harder to get the beam grooved just right. Also, the old Texan that has the same beam as the Hornady, was very poor.
Guess that covers most of the ones I've used over the years or had a chance to test.

I like my 304 RCBS, it's the best I've ever seen.
Sure beats the old ones with the oil leaking all over the bench!
Stepchild

I've been reading this thread with interest and have a story to tell. I started reloading around 1973, and bought an Ohaus 10-10 scale, an RCBS press and a Lyman powder measure as my basic equipment. All of these tools served me well for many years, but I have upgraded the press and have a couple of powder measures now, but the same old Ohaus scale. The Ohaus 10-10 scale became the RCBS scale a few years later. It has served me well all these years until about two years ago I noticed some erratic readings. I was thinking that the bearings were chipped, or the knive edge pivots were dinged, or all the obvious things that you would check on a mechanical scale. Everything looked brand new, but still I was getting occasional erratic weight readings. Well one night I was loading some top-end loads for the .243, and I was again getting strange readings on the scale. As I did not want to make any mistakes with high pressure loads, I got serious about inspecting the scale. I took the pans and the beam off, and turned it over to look underneath. Suprise suprise, it seemed that at least a couple of generations of small spiders had made their nests in the hollow cast base of the scale, and their webs were attached to and interfering with the long leaf spring that is in the Ohaus or RCBS 10-10 scale. I realized then that I had probably never turned the scale over in close to 30 years of use. That long leaf spring is part of the approach to weight feature of these scales, and any force upon it would result in inaccurate readings. This was a revelation to me, prior to this incident I would have thought a balance beam scale could only go wrong if gravity changed. Then we would have other things to worry about. Moral of the story is turn the scale over once in awhile and take a look, because I didn't.

Regards from duke.

That's funny you mention that about the spiders. I had a Lyman scale several years ago. I reloaded in the garage most of the time, which I think now is a bad idea if you have any other choice. I noticed my scale weighing erratically. Upon close inspection, I noticed a very, very tiny sliver of metal stuck to one of the magnets. It was ever so slightly touching the beam as it went past, just enough to throw the weights off, but not easily noticable. Evidently it had come from using the grinder, which is on the other side of the room. After removing the magnets and cleaning them off, everything was back to normal. I now keep the scale in a box when not in use and check it often. Sometimes I wonder when people are having trouble with scales if something like this is happening, or spiders, or a whole host of things. But it's good to point this out, so we can be alert to such problems.

Thanks for the responses.

By "unsensitive" I mean that at micropoise settings a few tenths either way, the pointer position doesn't change by much or worse varies erratically!

Just experimented with this 10-10 scale again. Set all poises to "0" and by repositioning the pointer manually, it would not stabilize in the same position always. Varied screw poise position a few tenths either way and didn't see much change (or consistency) in pointer position. Magnetic damping works VERY well (very little pointer oscillation - which I don't like).

I should take 3 or so different weight objects and weigh each repeatedly on both scales to check repeatability, but already find this 10-10 scale's
behavior strange. Knife edges and bearings look OK (the bearings "float" - right?) and even checked underneath (only found some bear droppings...

.....just kidding!).

I like the cheap, simple Redding - reminds me of my old basic Herter's model I used for years - that was very reliable and didn't have mag damping or any other fancy features.

I may send this 10-10 back to rickbus. One major fault I find with this screw type poise is it takes much longer to go from 0 to 9.9 than it does with the movable poises and also you can't help but "bang" the beam around when setting the poise. Can't do the bearings any good.

[ 09-24-2003, 01:37: Message edited by: sonofagun ]

Posted by Duke: "That long leaf spring is part of the approach to weight feature of these scales, and any force upon it would result in inaccurate readings."

I don't think this is true. Looks to me that the only purpose of that spring is to prevent the beam from "locking" in the extreme negative position like some scales do. Am I correct in this guys?

Duke - did removing the spider nests fix your problem with that scale?

1st) don't trash those RCBS scales, RCBS will fix them free, so no reason to get rid of one. Unless, of course, you just want a different one.

2nd) The approach to weight spring is the 5-10 and 10-10 scales places a very tiny amount of upward pressure on the scale beam, so when the beam starts to move as you approach the desired weight the beam moves earlier than it would without the spring pressure. As a result the beam moves sooner alerting you that you are near the set weight. As the beam moves enough to lose contact with the spring, the beam will move more slowly as it is no longer being assisted by the spring. It's harder to explain than the concept behind it is to understand. The whole process allows some warning that you are approaching the desired weight, giving you time to slow the addition of powder. It works very well and does not affect accuracy at all, as the beam is not in contact with the spring when it is near the zero.

3rd) I'd bet a lot, that something is touching the beam on that scale is weighing erratically. There are a couple of things to check for: static electricity, (use a dryer sheet to eliminate it), something on the magnet, or dust or debris on the bearings. Of course, there could be damage to the bearing or knife edges.

[ 09-25-2003, 02:29: Message edited by: Bobby ]