A&D FX-120i or GD503

[Heavies]

Has anyone been using this scale, has it the same magnetic force restoration technology as the GD 503? How is the accuracy of .02 grains compared to the GD's .001? Does the scale require all those irritating quirky voodu tecniques that the other types of electronic scales require to negate drift?

With a price tag a few hundred less, is this scale a good idea?

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[40X Guy]

I bought the A&D FX120i about a year ago after going thru 3 different scales that I plainly did not trust. Its expensive and I bought mine from Old Will Knott. My load bench is in corner of my shop and in the winter it is not that warm (60's) when i load but scale is everything i hoped it would be and then some. I have it plugged into a power line conditioner and I still warm it up for an hour before use. I do not leave it plugged in all the time. Other than that there is no voodoo to mine. I use a kero heater for heat that radiates pretty good and 3 flourescent 8 ft. lights so I can see plus not the cleanest environment and it works very well for me. Its very accurate to the single grain of powder and I am not sure that one would need a scale of .001 resolution.

Frank

 

[Heavies]

I bought the A&D FX120i about a year ago after going thru 3 different scales that I plainly did not trust. Its expensive and I bought mine from Old Will Knott. My load bench is in corner of my shop and in the winter it is not that warm (60's) when i load but scale is everything i hoped it would be and then some. I have it plugged into a power line conditioner and I still warm it up for an hour before use. I do not leave it plugged in all the time. Other than that there is no voodoo to mine. I use a kero heater for heat that radiates pretty good and 3 flourescent 8 ft. lights so I can see plus not the cleanest environment and it works very well for me. Its very accurate to the single grain of powder and I am not sure that one would need a scale of .001 resolution.

Frank

Thank you for the insight. I was thinking that .001 grain resolution might be a little too fine of a resolution for most stick powders. My key concern is speed and reliability. Presently, I use the RCBS Chargemaster and a tuned balance to trickle up to my desired charge. This method seems to be accurate enough for my needs in FTR, yielding low ES/SD numbers thus far. However, this takes a fair bit of time to load all my match rounds to the accuracy of +/- .05 grains of powder (estimated). If the magnetic force restoration scale is all it is said to be, I am sure this would speed the process up a bunch and yield a bit more accuracy to boot.

I nearly pulled the trigger on the GD503, but then I had noticed that Balances.com Will Not Send products to Alaska or Hawaii!! ??
I was Very disappointed and put off in that. Further searching showed a few folks using this A&D scale. thus prompting this question.

Frank,
Does your A&D register very quickly when trickling kernels, similar to all those videos of the GD503? What kind of accurate speed can be accomplished with your electronic balance? Is there any type of drift, constant re-tare, or other doubt when using your balance?

Thank you for the response.

 

[40X Guy]

I use a Neil Jones powder measure and one of the yellow battery powered tricklers that are advertised here on 6BR. I get my charge as close as possible on the lo side and then trickle up, but I have to be careful not to go over the desired charge. I get on a roll when dumping powder and try to keep everything the same. The scale has 3 response speeds, slow, medium and fast relating to your environment. If working in a lab use fast response, but i use the slow response as my environment is not the best. The slower the response speed the less drift. The scale will drift but only when i run a fan in the summer and forget to turn it off, or if somebody comes in the load room and the air movement will make it drift but only for a second. Secret is to keep your movements the same and have a nice draft free environment. The scale registers fast enough for me on slow response, never have had to retare, and have never had any doubts about my charges. 1 kernal of H4350 weighs .03 of a grain so you have to be careful when trickling up. Also H4831SC or any of the IMR powders can slow you down a tad. But for Viht powders or ball powders you can move right along. IMHO one of the best scales for any one that is anal about trying to wring the best out of our loads. Also scale does not come with a cal weight and i bought a batch of 20 100 gram weights from a jeweler that are certified so if you buy one let me know and I can help you out on a weight.

Frank

 

[Trevor60]

I have recently received the A&D fx 120i and the limited amount of time I have had it she works great. I agree with 40x you can adjust the scale setting from slow to fast. They are refresh rates and fast refreshes, obviously the quickest and can show drift. When I was on SLOW and dropped a kernel of varget it would register and then return to 0.00 as it assumed it was a condition change. I had to drop 2 in quick succession to get it to read the powder. When I switched it to fast and changed one of the other setting “zero tracking” to 0 (meaning off) it would recognize a single kernel of powder no problem but would drift a bit more. I now have a line conditioner and have grounded the unit. Drifting is far less frequent. I leave mine plugged in all the time. There is another setting called “stability band width” that according to the manual adjust for exact weight when set to “0” I can’t recall if I set the setting I imagine I did, but you can play around with settings to suit your needs
I got mine at discount scales http://www.discountscales.com/andfxi-seriesbalances.htm
The website is cheesy, so cheesy I didn’t trust it and called A&D to confirm they are actually an authorized store. A&D said they are a high volume dealer and I should have no problem with them. I didn’t have any issues and they were real nice folks. I got the scales as described so I am happy and they seem to be the best price around.

I initially wanted the GD503 as well scale sensitivity becomes more critical with smaller cases but the guy was a bit of a PITA so I passed.. others have had good experience and $599 is way easier to justify then $899

Trevor

 

[Heavies]

Frank,
That sound terrific. This is Exactly what I was looking for.

Trevor,
I really appreciate the web site. That is the best price I have seen thus far.

I wonder why more folks do not talk about this scale? Is .001 grain accuacy in powder dispensing that critical? All the vids and despriptions I have seen most long grain stick powders are around .025-.03 grains per kernel. .02 sensitivity should be sufficient. At $3-400 less in cost than the GD, what more could one ask for? ;D

 

[40X Guy]

When i am dumping powder, the trickler slows me more than the scale, say i am at 39.8 on my weight and want to go to 40.0, I figure about 7 kernals of H4350 should get me there exactly, so the trickler is the slow link, but once set up I actually enjoy this part of the load process. Have fun!

Frank

 

[Heavies]

Looks like I'll be giving tr FX-120i a try.
Thanks for all the info.

 

[40X Guy]

You will be pleased!

Frank