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A&D FX120i? Yes or no

I'm as cheap as they come and took me a year to part with the money,
but it's one of the most essential items for reloading that I own.
It always works and will last a long time.
Just buy it and you will not regret it.
Plus you won't be able to blame your powder weight as a problem.
 
My obversations on this started a few years ago when Rayners started up their longrange centerfire matches. We all went thru the learning curve of finding equipment that improved our scores. Lots of discussion about reloading practices, dies, how powder was measured and weighed.

There was one shooter we always kidded about being King of the nickers. He'd get more edge hits or nickers than anyone else on the smaller distant targets. Where most of us might be just barely off an edge or even 1/2" to 1" barely missing it. Not sure what others may think but we found out he was using the same pharmaceutical scale mentioned here weighing to .02 grains and he claimed he was getting consistent single digit spread.

It wasn't just a fluke, this went on for better than a year, he was consistently at the top of the score sheet at most of the longrange matches he competed in and also was the shooter that set the ELR World Record in 2019 with a coldbore shot and two backup hits at 2158 yards with a factory barreled Savage 338 Lapua.

My Son and I had been using an Ohaus 10/10 which is a really decent beam scale. I finally realized he wasn't just being lucky, his groups were just a tiny bit smaller than most of us and that meant a bit tinier groups at distance which meant more hits.

I located a Tree pharmaceutical digital scale (I think on this forum) and we both started picking up more hits on the small targets. We don't get carried away with crazy case prep but neither does Randy other than being exact with his charges to the .02 of a grain which equates to a single kernel of H4350.

Draw your own conclusion but using a good pharmaceutical digital scale is a good investment, those of us that I know use them all find they are getting more hits on smaller high value targets. My Tree scale is discontinued now but is one of my better purchases for cost versus return.

Topstrap
 
I got mine from CE products. Arrived fairly quickly.

I bought mine because I don't have time to sit around and reload as much anymore. Weighing powder on a beam scale was soo time consuming and slow! I feel like with the FX-120i and the V3 auto trickler I have bought myself a bunch of time back. I reload just about everything 5x faster! Fast and precise. Best money I ever spent on a piece of reloading equipment. Now just waiting for the V4.
 
My answer is yes. If you can afford the scale it is worth the trouble.

Another point to consider is that both the Auto Trickler and the Super Trickler are both designed around this model, so should you ever decide to automate you would be all set up.
 
If you decide on the electronic scale, pop for a good line conditioner. TripLite makes some good ones. I went back to using Parker tuned beam scales. I DO look at the pointer on a laptop screen to spare my aging eyeballs.

Regards
Rick
 
The FX-120i is as good as it gets unless you spend $3-5k for a laboratory-grade analytical balance, and the difference is small; significant to scientists with requirements far beyond ours. I'm a PhD analytical chemist and a systems engineer with 5 decades of experience in the area, and I am amazed at the performance of the FX-120i. The only extra required is a power line filter; I prefer the TrippLite Isobar series. A line conditioner isn't needed unless you have unusual conditions such as being downline from heavy industrial users or have poor wiring (yours or the utility's). The FX-120i is sensitive to noise on the line, such as from electric motors or fluorescent lights - one of the corners cut to get the price down to something reasonable.
 
nmkid said:
I'm 77 years young and bought a 120i several months back. Did I need the scale?...NO. But, the known advantages of the scale just make me grin every time I use it. Smooth, accurate, quick...Ah, nuts you know the drill! I have never regretted buying it.
Click to expand...
Your description says it all. 77 also and my son got me one last year. I've got a LOT of reloading stuff and that scale and the V3 would be the last thing to go. I hunt up shells to load just to watch it... John
 
I bought the FX-120i a while back. Others covered the accuracy aspect very well. I had a cheap digital scale that I didn't trust, so I kept using my old beam scale. One of the best side effects in getting the FX-120i is how comfortable it is to load several rounds of ammo. Before I tried to maintain the same point of view on the beam scale and found my neck sore after after 15 to twenty rounds. The beam scale always seemed to be in the way. Now I have my equipment arranged in a more comfortable way that allows me to load for longer periods of time without a break. I won't know what to do with myself when I get an Auto Trickler.
 
I have a misfit museum of gadgets purchased over the years sitting idle on a shelf that I was sure going change my life. The FX120i is not one of them. It survived Hurricane Harvey with 3 feet of water throughout my home. Had to replace the power block as it was plugged in when it went under. This product is solid and worth every penny.
 
Got my FX120 yesterday. Got it up and running last night. I was initially very concerned because after both scales were allowed to warm up for about an hour, my old scales were behaving very well and the FX120 was agreeing with most of my powder charges within .04grns, which I would consider acceptable for the cheaper scales. However, after I had both scales running for a few hours I, caught my old scales lying to me to the tune of about .15gr I didn't have a whole lot of time to play with it yet, but that makes me feel very good to find that. Thanks everyone for the extra nudge to make this investment to my loading program.

FYI, They shipped my package with a customs invoice attached to the top of the box with the price of the scale clearly posted on the outside of the box. Not only is that concerning for any sticky-fingered shipping employees, my wife immediately saw the price. lol. Thank god she loves me.
 
The A&D with auto trickle is amazing, but it's downsides are:

1. Not programable to remember loads/pre-set loads.
2. Powder change is a pain compared to the Chargemaster, and
3. The unit is a pain to drag out if you don't have a dedicated and clean/safe place to keep it set up all the time.

I have to save up at least 200 rounds of a caliber before I take the beating of setting the thing up. It smokes the chargemaster on speed and accuracy, but the chargemaster has some wonderful features the A&D doesn't.
 
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