Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Best Digital Scale

Currently using a Lyman digital scale with the back up being a RCBS balance scale. No issues with the Lyman, but I am interested in a digital scale as a backup over the balance scale.

Is there a consensus on the best digital scale for reloading?

Also, are the digital automatic measuring scales super accurate from powder charge to powder charge or is there a variation factor to contend with?

I currently weigh each charge and dribble to exact weight on each cartridge, wondering if there is a faster way that maintains accuracy.

I’ve got 2 digital scales that never get used and 2 powder dribblers one(Redding) has never been used. The fastest way is good technique on the drop and powder that meters. Drop and go. So I don’t think there is a best I’ll take a beam scale any day over a digital.

RCBS Charge Master. I've had zero issue with mine.

I have a RCBS Chargemaster and a Dillion digital scale. I have a Redding beam scale as well.
I want a FX 120I just because

I have an RCBS 10-10 beam scale and a Lyman 55 dropper and I'm a dribbler because I shoot long grain powder in my rifles.

I watched some YouTube videos showing the RCBS Charge Master....looked like it did a good job but it sounded like a meat grinder in the video.

Why the long warm up time ?

Best, you said:



https://ceproducts.shop/products/fx-120i-reloading-scale-122g-x-0-001g

I recently needed an upgrade, asked around, and came up with this as a consensus. So far, it is by far the best reloading scale I have ever used, beam or digital. I am on the waiting list for the trickler too.

Only live once ...

Rick, you can get the whole set up for around 1K all ready to go. I was hoping to pick up the V3 when people upgraded to the V4 but they wanted dang near what the V4 was for their V3.
I may just get on the waiting list and see how long it takes. Some guys were on it for about 8 months but I think they go on the list when the V4 was still being worked on. Hopefully as the backorders die down so will the lead time.

Yep when I ordered the V4 was a waiting list proposition, so I got on the waiting list. Still haven’t heard from them, but I know what to expect so I am good with it.

BTW, when I called CE I was told there was no difference in price buying separate or together, so I decided I’d take the scale now and wait on the trickler.

Looking forward to using them together.

Zero drift got old.

I have an AND FX120i and the V3. The V3 works well except on large stick powders like N570. I've got a SuperTrickler on order. I ordered it over a month ago, but have no idea when it will show up.

https://supertrickler.com.au/about/

That SuperTrickler looks interesting. What swayed you to the ST over the V4?

I have seen both on the web but only the V4 in person. I would like to hear the pros and cons as well between the two

The SuperTrickler looks to be a much more finished device. That it learns is innovative. Freeing up my iPhone was also a plus. I like that it alerts you when it goes over with the bold red light over the cup.

I had to try it and figured if it was as good as it looks, they're going to be hard to get before long.

The V4 is what the AutoTrickler should have been all along. The powder throw mechanism on V1 through V3 represents little by way of novel thinking and innovation when developing an automated solution to powder dispensing. Don't get me wrong they're great devices and vastly better than their contemporaries, but they're little more than an automated powder thrower and trickler integrated with a lab scale.

The degree to which the SuperTrickler is it's own device and a truly novel solution compelled me to order one as soon as I saw one.

After further due diligence, I sent in a deposit for the Super Duper and will defer on the V4.

I don’t want to rely on an app, nor do I want to have yet another device on my bench, and, I think I may just like the overall package of the Super Duper better, from what I can tell. Looks like it might arrive faster, too.

Now that I recall, I reached out to the V4 outfit to ask a question or two in October, and I didn’t get the time of day from them. I wasn’t aware there was a serious alternative for operating in conjunction with the A&D scale at that time. But now I am.

Looking forward to reloading this off season ...

Which one did you order? The one with/without the FX120? That looks like a heckuva great unit.

I placed my order on 10/31. We'll see when it arrives.

You guys doing some thousand yard target shooting?

What does that have to do with the price of tea in China MM?

I have a Autotrickler v4 with the FX120i on order. Placed mine back September 17th, probably won't see it until January/February.

from 100 yards out to 1250 yards where I shoot

A friend of mine has a Supertrickler on order. He wants to sell me his Autotrickler when his comes in. Another friend may be selling his Prometheus. Decisions, decisions...

Something to keep in mind is that you will want to use a line conditioner with the power source to the FX120i. They also do not like florescent lighting. You will want to power them up about an hour before actual use.

I got on the wait list for the V4 on 10/4, canceled it today, and got on the Super Trickler wait list today.

Appreciate the heads up on the Super.

I like the looks of the Super Trickler and my go that was as well.
I found the scale on sale for less than $600 so I would most likely just buy the scale myself and order just the trickler.

I got my Auto-trickler V.4 last year with the same scale rick has in his picture.

My auto-trickler drops a charge in less than 10 seconds… it’s crazy fast and always .02 grains accurate..

I’m really happy with it.

Electronic components are subjected to heat during operation. They generally do not operate optimally until the temperature stabilizes. In theory digital electronic designs are immune to this, but there are no devices that are 100% digital...there are always analog circuits involved even if it's just the power supply, and it takes a little time for a power supply to fully stabilize its output voltages which can be critical. Many designs incorporate features to compensate for temperature change but none are absolutely perfect.

I often calibrate complex devices and voltages are sometimes read to five decimal places. That depends on the level of precision required.

Thanks for the explanation.....guess I'll just stick to dropping and dribbling.

Well - there are 2 obvious components to the electronic conundrum.. which results in 3 specific items…
The Sensor vs. the Digital tech… And the Analog to Digital converter in between.

The sensor tech improves a great deal and is much more consistent - so the 500 scales are now capable of repeating .02 grains of accuracy.
The electronics do have a bit of a “saturation” issue in terms of being turned on for a while, but the tech is so advanced you are typically fine here.

At the end of the day a 500+ scale will get you there to .0x grains

I have three digital scales and weights to test these scales. So far they all agree and they always weigh the test weight accurately. One of those scales was on sale pretty cheap. I also have a beam scale - just in case. I have not used that beam scale in many years. I know there’s people that cuss electronic scales but I’ve had no problems with any.

The technology has obviously improved. It may be that the premium stuff has been the same for years but only recently become affordable. I think a good deal of the improvements we've witnessed are software related as well as hardware advances.

I have a PACT digital scale made in about 1994 and it seems to always be as precise as I want it to be (as long as I regularly cancel out the "0" drift using the tare function). Check weight verification is almost always perfect but sometimes is off by 0.01 gram when weighing 100 grams. Linearity appears to be good when using small check weights. Nonetheless, when the scale says 9.8 grains, is it actually 9.80 grains? Most likely it isn't. It could be 9.84 or 9.76 grains. I always wonder, but truth be told my 10-10 has never screamed "your PACT is lying!" Not yet, at least.

Will weighing charges this closely help me get my Savage 99 in .303 to shoot half inch groups?

You know the answer to that: not if it won't already!

I know. I'm just goofing around about the guys doing their best to weigh charges to the nearest tenth of a gnat's ass without having a number of other ducks already lined up in a very precise row.

Which ducks don't I have lined up?

I don't know. You may have them all lined up.

I'm thinking of things like a rifle capable of better than 1/4 moa all the time, not just now and then. The very best brass as a baseline, then neck turned precisely. Cartridges assembled dead straight to one thou runout max. Brass annealed every loading by a precise method such as provided by an AMP machine.

It has been touched on in the discussion, but the main advantage I see is time. My Lyman M5 does not give up much other than speed. When I need to load up 200 plus rounds for a 3 day match, I'm thinking I would like one a lot.

Basiclly, there is no real difference between an analog and digital transistor, or diode, cap or resistor. The only difference is configuration and layout. So basically there are no true digital components only. Unless the guy designing it says so.

The thing is, if your brass isn't all matched up by volume you're still not going to eliminate extreme spreads. A very precise powder charge is never a bad thing but you'll never see a rifle's potential realized until the other variables are addressed. Using QuickLOAD, I've done a comparison using .308 Winchester in a 20-inch barrel length, a 168-grain A-Max, and a max (calculated) charge of H4895 which is 44.0 grains.

With case capacity set at the default value of 56 grains of water, velocity is 2690 fps @ 62158 psi.

Use a case capacity of 57 grains of water and velocity decreases to 2666 fps @ 59499 psi.

Now set case capacity back to 56 grains of water. It takes a powder charge variation of 0.4 grains to cause as much variation as a difference of 1 grain of water capacity.

If I had a choice between perfect brass and my junky old Chargemaster OR run-of-the-mill brass and perfect powder charges, I would take the perfect brass every time. Not that I think perfection in either area is possible...

I am not criticizing those who want as precise a powder charge as they can get and I'm not saying you're doing it wrong, but I AM saying that if your dotting the "I"s but not crossing the "T"s then you're missing out. Me---I don't worry about such minute details. I buy decent brass and charge them as carefully as my equipment allows and I am [mostly] satisfied---key word. I don't own a quarter-MOA rifle in the first place, but if I did I might very well pursue the last 1/10-MOA potential.

Sorry for the rambling...

So my question is does it fold the bindle for you?

I've been using an RCBS Chargemaster since when they first came out...come to think it has to be close to twenty years now. I've had a Super Trickler on order since October and was told 1st Qtr 2023.

I just got notification that mine is shipping on January 27th. It's coming from Denmark, so however long that takes.