My son bought me a very expensive digital scaleor Christmas a couple of years ago. The thing is useless. Load to load accuracy is totally non-existent. Others on this forum have had their share of problems with electronic scales. Been doing this stuff for about 40 years.Replaced my original Redding scale with a brand new Redding #2 balance beam scale aboutsix months ago. The old one weighed many tens of thousands of charges and is still accurate.

Amen, I have tried every digital there is and always come back to my RCBS balance. Its the same thing at ohaus. Go on ebay and look for one. Very inexpensive.

I agree, a digital scale is not necessary. A RCBS 5-0-5 Scale will work for years on end. For someone who is a low-medium volume reloader, there is nothing better, IMO.

Later,

Marcial

Yup. Bought a digital scale years ago and recently went back to a balance scale. For trickling charges, a balance scale is the way to go. Digital scales have their place, but not for this.

Save your money and buy a decent balance scale instead of a digital. Several good models have been listed.....Redding, RCBS 505, or Dillon.

I always recomend an RCBS 505 because they are fairly cheap and will last a lifetime!! I bet over the years i've soldover 50of them and never had one come back...

I'm still useing the one i bought new in the 70's...

DM

Before giving up on the Lee I have a few suggestions. I've found with mine that the old rule of consistency applies to the scale also. What I do to get consistent readings is as follows.

1. Make sure the beam and pivot point are clean and dust free. This is important here in NM where the dust seeps in with the wind.

2. Verify the beam is properly seated on the pivot point. Seems simple enough but I've had mine jump off of it with a slight bump when removing the pan.

3. I push the beam back toward the rear of the base at the pivot point as a repeatable point of consistency. This also helps keep the metal dampener from rubbing anything and keeps it free to move up and down.

4. When you adjust for zero always ensure the beam is positioned as in steps 2 and 3 for consistency.

If you have any suspitions, lightly touch the end of the beam and verify it has full range of motion and is not binding.

A check weight is definately a nice thing to have to verify the scale and give your mind a little confidence in the process.

Good luck and be consistent.

I forgot to mention that when I follow the listed steps it consistently reads within .1 grains of the older Redding scale I have. Good luck.

I went back over it totally re-setting it up Saturday. I throughly cleaned the magnets, got a few black specks off of it. Then I cleaned the razor using a q-tip, got a bit of brown surface rust from it. I sat the base back on the table top and noticed a bit of play so I examined the base and found some paint runs that was causing a very slight shifting of the base. THAT just wouldn't do so I razored them off then sanded the area below the lil' cast feet. After all that and a few other things, I re-calibrated it and THINK I am holding to less then .3 gr variance. This I can live with for a bit as I am loading well under max till I get the hang of things. I still have to re-calibrate whenever I change load amount, i.e. 44gr to 45 gr or the difference exceeds 1 gr more. Not a biggie, even though annoying, I'm more fond of my fingers and eyes then concerned about my spare time. Monday I will still be calling Lee and next payday I have intentions of buying something else, Redding or Lyman off of Ebay since the prices are about right.
Thanks all for the advice, hopefuly Lee will step up on this one and get it back to 100%.

I've never heard of this problem with Lee before, maybe there stuff just works here in Alabama. Have you checked to see if you were dealing with a compressed charge, if so it was supposed to fill the case to the mouth. You calabrate an electronic scale but you zero a ballance beam. I suspect you may have excess air movement in your room, which will screw up any scale, no matter what type or brand. When weighing powder you want absolutely no air movement. You could have a bad scale but since you state that you are new to this hobby I suspect operator error, and if I'm right it will be there with any scale you decide to buy. I've had the RCBS 510 scale the Hornady scale and the LEE and all worked as advirtised, with the LEE taking a back seat to no one!

Don't get me wrong, almost everything else I have is Lee but the reloading trays, they only had 2 RCBS left in stock.. only green on the whole bench. Oh and things like the calipers, Cabela's. It all works well, but the scale is not cooperating. I literally turned off the central unit in the house, can be verified by the annoyed wife when her lil' toes got cold. If you read above, you will notice that Lee boo-boo'ed and left paint runs on the base, exceeding the corner feet. This affected the balance of the base causing slight shifts during calibration. As far as the rest, explain the broken from factory grain poise "lock" which makes lining up the 3 white .1 marks and keeping them there a nice PITA. Or using calibration weights, it is STILL .3 grains off. Can't quite see how all that is "operator error" but like you said, I'm new so anything is possible, I suppose. No one ships a 100% perfect item on every one of their product lines. Sometimes, aflawed one just makes it by someone at the factory, to assume otherwise is a mistake. Am I mad? Sure I am, no one likes being the guy to get that flawed equipment. Am I gonna trash everything Lee has? Nope, like I said, rest has been great, love the dies, bullet seating been a breeze, able to make fine .01 adjustments etc. Press is doing pretty good, also, suiting my needs nicely, thank you.
I do apoligize for the lengthy reply and if it seems harsh in context. It just stuck me as a tad condescending your opening remark as well as you disregarding a real equipment fault as "operator error".

I'm sorry if I pissed you off, not intended! You only mentioned the broken poise lock and the calibration weight check in your last post so how could I know. I did understand you trimmed the paint run off early on in your flustration, and still got unsatisfactory results. Given the information that you had relayed at the time I would come to you with the same response I did before. If you feel the scale is defective by all means contact Lee, or the Store where you bought it. I agree with some others who caution you against the digital scales,they are not as user friendly as a ballance beam. I have a Dillon and it drifts callibration often, a real pain in the a$$, but I've learned how to watch the scale and identify when it has drifted. I have my ballance scales loaned to other family members so I must live with the Dillon, though I'm thinking of a Lee balance beam for backup. Good luck, once you get the buggs outof your settup, you are going to have a ball, reloading is almost as much fun as shooting. Glenn