Never trust a guy named Rick with a last name comprised of numbers. I'm just sayin'.
Scale or Annealer
- Thread starter Tpetrat
- Start date
Never trust a guy named Rick with a last name comprised of numbers. I'm just sayin'.
Ccrider
Gold $$ Contributor
Don’t have an amp. I bought an fx120i and autotrickler to replace my Pact scale and dispenser unit. My goal was to speed the process up, more than an accuracy concern. No way I would go back.
I am debating about whether to get an autothrow unit to go on top of the fx120i. I am using a Harrell’s and have to transfer from the thrower to the scale. Not having to touch the setup would be nice. But, I am working on getting consistent throwing with the Harrell’s so I will likely hold off on the autothrow for a while.
I am totally comfortable with my salt base annealing setup. If I did not use it, I would skip annealing and chunk the cases. I can buy a lot of cases for 1400 bucks.
I am debating about whether to get an autothrow unit to go on top of the fx120i. I am using a Harrell’s and have to transfer from the thrower to the scale. Not having to touch the setup would be nice. But, I am working on getting consistent throwing with the Harrell’s so I will likely hold off on the autothrow for a while.
I am totally comfortable with my salt base annealing setup. If I did not use it, I would skip annealing and chunk the cases. I can buy a lot of cases for 1400 bucks.
I have both and that is a tough one! I have a Dillon electronic scale and a Harrels powder drop as back ups to the FXi. The AMP is sooooo good, I would be tempted to drop and trickle to the Dillon which I find more accurate then my rcbs (LES drift) and go with the AMP. The AMP is like a suppressor, once you use it, you can never go back....good luck! PS. If 90% of your shooting is 800 yds plus...I’d go with scale. It’s the only place I think you would notice the difference vs the annealer which you will see right away....
Six of one half a dozen of the other I would say. I don't think anyone has yet to provide empirical proof in a controlled statistical test that annealing does anything for velocity consistency or case life. As far as the scale goes isn't the purpose of load development to find flat nodes in the velocity that span at least .1 or .2 gns in either direction? I have seen .4 and .5 gn wide nodes where velocity was within 7 FPS when the right combo of primer, bullet, and powder choice was found and I have not been doing this stuff that long. I am sure that most everyone here has ran ladder tests that show the same
Yes I have checked it against two other higher quality scales which is what caused me to raise this question. I know the scale isn't as accurate as I would like but I have never annealed brass and it seems the benefits on accuracy are often argued.
Haven't used a manual scale in probably 15 years is the accuracy on par with the FX? If I went that route I could get both now
Yes the line conditioner (different brand) did have a noticeable impact to the rcbs accuracy. Would definitely use on the FxThe FX120i would be my choice with a Tripp-Lite line conditioner......
Regards
Rick
What things are those? money is always an issue. But no buying these items will not take away from ammo/practice. And they are the two last large purchases I can think of. Unless I took a class or some one on one training which I could see being in this price range
I was thinking the same, just dont have experience with annealing so wanted to get the forums opinion.
Thank you everyone for your help. Ill be going with the fx scale and add the autothrow and trickle addons. After further research building an induction annealer will be extremely cost effective and would probably be a fun little project
.308 but will be moving to 6mm dasher soon
My Redding #2 can tell/move if I add one granule of RL16 reloading 6.5 Creedmoor. It's always ready to go never needs warmed up hours to stabilize like all the other electronic ones i've owned and it repeats the same measurement EVERY TIME. I use a RCBS chargmaster lite sometimes to under dump charges fast and then I trickle them up on the Redding. I'm sure I can get it 1/2 of .1 grain if i need to but .1 grain is plenty close for my node of 41.8 RL16. Do we really need all that resolution?? Benchrest guys just dump away with their Harrell's Powder Measure dumpers and shoot....HB
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I have a Lyman M2 set up with a extended pointer and a webcam that will register when you add a kernel of Varget or 4350. They are slow to operate though. Also got a Tree KHR 123 that will resister either .02 or .0 followed by a .03 with the next kernel H4350. It has more warts than princess on a man hunt in a frog pond but I can get low single digit SD's with it. The Tree takes a second or two to register small amounts and it is very temp sensitive. Below 60F in my shop and it goes spastic. The FX is a better scale by all measures but the Tree works well enough for my loads and it is repeatable plus or minus .02 gns as long as it is above 60 or 62 F in the shop. I figure my loads are all within .04 of target weight which is fine for the nodes I use
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They don’t shoot to a 1,000 yds and if they do are most likely using the auto Trickler on the fxi....there is a lot of difference in vertical drop from 200 yds to 1000...
The Redding is way more than adequate to load good 1000 yard ammo at 1/2 of .1 grain resolution. I shoot that distance all the time and further. The digital scales have been total headaches for me, gotta let them warm up or stay plugged in 24/7 don't repeat, constant tare, tare, tare because they drift. They are not necessary, just my opinion. Put that money in more bullets, powder and practice or high quality scope.
I'd go with the A&D FX120i and AutoTrickler first for three very practical reasons.
That combo will eliminate any and all scale frustrations you may have. And if you aren't using an FX120i (or better), you have frustrations.
It will ensure your powder charges stay within your rifle's tested accuracy node. The "+/-0.1gr" performance of other scales represents a practical spread of ~0.3gr which may put some charges outside the node, especially at lower target weights.
There are other ways to anneal in the interim; there isn't an interim method of delivering better than a ~0.3gr powder charge range.
That combo will eliminate any and all scale frustrations you may have. And if you aren't using an FX120i (or better), you have frustrations.
It will ensure your powder charges stay within your rifle's tested accuracy node. The "+/-0.1gr" performance of other scales represents a practical spread of ~0.3gr which may put some charges outside the node, especially at lower target weights.
There are other ways to anneal in the interim; there isn't an interim method of delivering better than a ~0.3gr powder charge range.
I think you are on the right track. If you are loading to a finicky charge a difference in powder could make a difference. I have some .223 loads that are real particular. My .260's I can throw with a plastic dipper and get flat velocities. On the other hand I bought a Annealeeze last year then calibrated it with Templaq and modded it with a digital controller for consistency. That was right when my war of SD's began and with some good load development i began getting some real nice SD's in the single digits some below 5. I quit annealing just as a test to see if the annealer or all the other things I had been changing at the time were the cause of the lower SD's.
Three to four loading's later on new brass my groups have improved a bit becasue of practice and I still get single digit SD's. Some as low as 3 or 4. What good would a expensive annealer do me if I am already getting good case life and low SD's with no annealing ? BTW I also think the home grown annealer would be a good project if you like to tinker, not sure if it would help in shooting but it would be fun to build
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