Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

Well I received the Dillon D-Terminator scale about a week ago and just got the time to test it yesterday.

First I checked it for electronic interference. I used a microwave, dryer, stereo and cell phone. No combination would cause it give a false reading and at no time was it off by more than 0.1 grain. Really though it never coughed on this test once. I used the check weight they sent with it and I also used a Nosler Partion 165gr bullet which didn't weigh exactly 165gr btw.

Next I did 37 reloads. One thing I noticed right away is that this scale is extremely sensitive. Extremely. Your breath will cause it fluctuate. Now I know my heavy breathing can weigh as much as 8 grains. Don't tell my girlfriend that. As long as I kept it a half arms length away from me it wasn't a problem. The Dillon scale comes with a wind shield and while it works 100% it renders the scale almost completely useless. Maybe if I were a competition shooter I'd use it but it's for all intents and purposes useless.

During an hour of measuring up powder, I had to reset the scale twice. Two things happened each time that were strange but didn't cause the any issues when weighing the powder. When I'd take the pan of powder off and place it in the brass the reading on the scale would sometimes be off by as much as 0.2 grains. However once the pan was back on the scale it would read 0.0. So again it didn't effect the measurement of the powder. My theory on this is that the scale was having trouble detecting no weight. As a precaution I re-zeroed the scale.

All in all I really like this scale. I have to do some more reloads before I'd say that it's the real deal but I know that it did a good job because I remeasured some poured brass later and it was exact.

I believe Dillon that this scale is accurate to 0.1 grain. While measuring the scale could detect granules dropping into the pan.

If I had one complaint it would be the pan that they include sucks. The tip is too pointy and the powder gets stuck there and doesn't want to come out. I'm going to order a Lyman brass pan and just be done with it.

I also learned one thing while using the Dillon scale. My Lyman powder caster is amazingly accuracte. I would say that most reloaders could simply use it to measure their powder. The Lyman was casting easily to with 0.3 grain, as long as I kept the hopper full over the baffles. Which is plenty close enough for short to medium range hunting.

Tom

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

I know what your saying about the sensitivity of the digital scales. I have the Lyman DPMS 3 and a Cabelas 1500. While both are accurate you have to rezero every 10 loads and recalibrate every 25 or so. I've gotten to the point to where I find I'd rather just keep going and use my Lyman beam scale as the final check. Using the DPMS it most definitely speeds weighing charges.

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

Does that mean that you were trickling poder into the pan? What kind of powder? Could it detect a .1 gr increase in powder?

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

By this I meant I was trickling powder into the pan and when I would drop a grain the scale would move a bit. Sometimes it would rest back at X.0 grains and then once that last granule would fall into the pan it would move to X.1 grain. So it was actually detecting each granule falling into the pan.

Tom

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

I'd offer one helpful hint. If you take a used dryer sheet and wipe down the inside surface of the powder pan it will allow powder to flow out of the pan without bridging.

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

SKB,

Thanks for the tip I will certainly try it.

Tom

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

Wow, sounds like a good scale. What price range are we talkin'?

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

It's $140. I also added the case which they don't currently have any in stock for $15. There was also $16 in shipping.

I'm very happy with my scale so far.

Here's a link:

http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/con...ectronic_Scale

Tom

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

I just called to see if they had the case in stock yet or to see if they knew when it would arrive. I got into a conversation with the supervisor over there about what I was doing and he indicated that you're not supposed to use the scale to trickle charges. I was really surprised by that. He says that they can't vouche for the accuracy once the scale locks onto an initial weight.

I'm going to experiment with the scale tonight to see how accurate it is while trickling. If it isn't within 0.2 grains accurate while trickling then I think I'm going to return the electronic scale and go with a mechanical scale.

Any thoughts from experienced reloaders on this issue?

Tom

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

Didn't have time to do the test last night but will tonight. I will report back on what I find.

Tom

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

Not supposed to trickle charges onto an electronic scale... that's a load of bs. It's a scale I can understand if it was a dispenser system like the DPMS and having issues with the weight after dispensing a charge. So in other words they are saying that it is only intended to weigh a specific charge.

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

That is essentially what they are saying. They are saying that once the scale locks into a weight, they can't vouch for the accuracy of the load until you remove the pan and replace it.

I'm going to test the variance between trickling the charge and replacing the pan to get an idea of the variance. I'm going to do it at something like 30gr, 50gr and 70gr with 10 measurements each. I don't think it will be a problem. I have a feeling it's one of lawyer deals.

I will report back tomorrow.

I also want to call RCBS and see if their scale will respond to a trickle.

Tom

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

Just got off the phone with RCBS and according to the person that answered the phone both the 750 and the 1500 measure trickled charges.

TT

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

It is normal for electronic scales not to be sensitive enough to trickle powder into. I don't know anything about locking on, but I do know that these scales tend to have too much friction in their load cells. The effect is it takes .5 grains or so to overcome staic friction and get it to move and read the new weight.


Most mechanical scales have a hard knife edge mated to a polished stone or hard surface. This causes basically zero friction at the balance point. Also, it is a pivoting relationship vs. a sliding joint. Much easier to eliminate friction.

RE: Dillon D-Terminator Scale Review
 

I did a fairly extensive experiment and found that the scale even with trickling is accurate to 0.1 grain. Still don't know exactly what the guy at Dillon was referring to.

Here is how the experiment played out.

I took 6 measurements at 30 grains and trickled up. After the scale read 30.0 I would re-weight the pan two more times. Generally the scale would re-read 30.0 grains. However on a couple it read 30.1 gr.

I also did the same experiment at 50 grains. It was more consistent at 50 grains than at 30. I believe I only had one miss read and it was high by 0.1 gr.

I had the intention of doing it at 70 grains but figured my findings were sufficient.

Tom

Good info, I am looking into a digital powder scale......

Lets face it guys most everything expensive or not with any U.S.A. Mfr. Name on it is made in CHINA. Sad I know, but they have us by the You know what.? It's hard to find an all American Digital electronic Scale under $200 bucks today.?