Thread: Beams scales vs automatic powder dispencers

Lyman gen 6 here too, after years of trickling into a beam I wouldnt be without a dispenser now.
Mine is right next to two old running chest freezers and run from the same socket and under two big double floru tube lights.....I dont own a battery drill.
It goes great as long as it has had plenty of time to warm up.

It has also survived not one but two floods from above when the wife managed to flood the kitchen and the resulting water rained down on my reloading bench.
Both times I thought oh thats it shes stuffed but both times I just gave it a few days to dry out before trying to power it up and it was fine!
Big thumbs up from me

I thought youd be safe to 22 at least being from the SI

Originally Posted by Gibo

I thought youd be safe to 22 at least being from the SI

I would have to have no pants on to get there.

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The old.powder thrower works fine. Instead of a trickler a tea spoon is heaps quicker.

Lyman gen6 for me just make sure you warm it up,keep it clean antistatic can cause problems { don,t wear valcro undies and have a cellphone in your back pocket} I check loads on beam scale every 10 case loads or if things don,t look right. works well for me

Originally Posted by 57jl

Lyman gen6 for me just make sure you warm it up,keep it clean antistatic can cause problems { don,t wear valcro undies and have a cellphone in your back pocket} I check loads on beam scale every 10 case loads or if things don,t look right. works well for me

it seams like its not a bad thing to have beam scales even if you are only using them to double check. When you add up the cost of beam scales a thrower and a trickler they are much the same price. Cheers for the feedback.

About warm up time for electronic scale.
@veitnamcam said somewhere he gives it at least 30mins warm up. For those of us working in the shed, a short warm up of the scale is possibly less useful unless the temperature of the shed itself is constant by that time. In my garage it would not be as I go out there, switch the blower heater on and work on whatever I do. With electronic scales, it may be better to do the powder weighing / dispensing in the living room, like @Gibo's and @rewa's kind partners let them do (just also watch the draft from the heat pump).

Originally Posted by Cordite

About warm up time for electronic scale.
@veitnamcam said somewhere he gives it at least 30mins warm up. For those of us working in the shed, a short warm up of the scale is possibly less useful unless the temperature of the shed itself is constant by that time. In my garage it would not be as I go out there, switch the blower heater on and work on whatever I do. With electronic scales, it may be better to do the powder weighing / dispensing in the living room, like @Gibo's and @rewa's kind partners let them do (just also watch the draft from the heat pump).

Im in the shed too but dont heat or cool it at all.
I am postulating here but I think as long as the scale has come up to whatever its stable working temp is a bit of variance in air temp shouldn't matter too much.

I don't bother checking charges other than noting where the charge sits in the case visually once settled. I use a drop tube as well.

If there is an obvious difference then I will check weight.
Whenever I check zero or velocity I pick random rounds from the box and note the ES to confirm nothing is going on.

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I use lee spoons and a lee balance bean scale...Ive got a flashasmichaeljackson powder thrower thingy but seldon bother to use it unless doing morethan 30 rounds at once. for years I just used a plastic teaspoon ,it amazing how close you can get /guess powder to put in pan on scales,still use it for trickling,hold spoon over pan in right hand and tap thumb knuckle with left hand,easy peasy.

I choose fine powders and throw, from a good quality thrower checking about 1 in 50 for accuracy and an eye ball in every case, yeah I go through a lot of eyeballs, but its pretty quick. Even reasonably coarse powders like 2213 , 2209 throw within about .2 of a grain.
I think the other variables in the reloading equation ( case neck tension, bullet seating depth. wind and atmosphere account for more accuracy issues than the variance of +/- .1 grain
Remember that in doing accuracy tests and building up to an accurate load there is usually a sweet spot covered by +/- .3 grains

As mentioned above, I find case-neck-tension can be a huge variable in the pressure-variable part of the equation. You need to get your brass as consistently-equal as possible if you are going for long-range kills or target-shooting.

Originally Posted by rewa

As mentioned above, I find case-neck-tension can be a huge variable in the pressure-variable part of the equation. You need to get your brass as consistently-equal as possible if you are going for long-range kills or target-shooting.

Can you uniform case neck tension by crimping, or is it more complicated than that?

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

Can you uniform case neck tension by crimping, or is it more complicated than that?

Works for some calibers.

I am not keen on crimping my rifle calibers. Consistent neck thickness (however achieved) with good dies and sorting by cases by volume and not weight works for me.

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Originally Posted by Max Headroom

Can you uniform case neck tension by crimping, or is it more complicated than that?

Crimping introduces another variable, it is worth trying though,on already uniform-brass, where yr struggling with a powder or accuracy. There are lots of interesting discussions around crimping, on US forums