G-MAN

I plan on buying a digital scale in the near future. Cabela's has one in their 04 shooting catalog for $89.89. This is several dollars cheaper than the name brands such as rcbs. Do you think this would be a poor quality scale or maybe one with less features because of the price difference. My budget is limited but I will spend a few more dollars for one if I would be better off in the long run.

bigcountry

Got one, hated it, sent it back for a refund. It was accurate enough, if the table wasn't vibrating, windows shut, not vents to the room and dryer was off. But it didn't update while I trickled a load fast enough. I like real time updating when using a powder trickler. Some of the other ones had higher sampling time, but I could still trickle a load faster with a balance beam. Reason I wanted one was for my eye sight which sucks.

They are handy for measuring static things like broadheads, bullets and brass. I say spend the extra money and get the high end pact model. Also makes the RCBS.

icthruu

Yep, spend the extra and get a better one. I got one, and same thing, wouldn't update when I tried to trickle charges, and it wouldn't hold zero for more than a few charges. Have to keep putting the empty pan on it to check for zero before dropping the charge. I don't have any experience with any other digitals, but I would think that the Pact or RCBS would be good. After that little trial with digital I decided that the good ole balance beam scale wasn't so bad after all...

thndrchiken

I prefer a quality beam scale.

driftrider

I think I'd stick with a beam scale for weighing charges since you just zero it, set it for the weight you want, and everything else is realtime and analog, which is more accurate than most of the digital powder scales which are good only to +/- 0.1gr. For my 22-250 I'm shooting for less than +/- 0.05gr, and I'm fairly certain I get repeatable accuracy down to probably +/- 0.02gr.

That doesn't mean that I'm not going to get a digital scale ASAP. Not for weighing charges, but for weighing everything else like cases and bullets. A digital is ten times faster for weighing things that have variable and uncontrolled weights.

Mike

handloader1

I have a Pact scale it works great!! Good luck.

Mykey

I agree with that statement 100%. I prefer the balance beam scales for handloading and weigh each load. I have two RCBS 505 scales and thats pretty much all i use and they work great.