What small digital scale do you suggest?

[Dimner]

I have the Creedmoor TRX-925 and I love it.

However, sometimes when I go up north to the cabin, I have the itch to do some reloading. Or sometimes a friend and I get together at his house to do some reloading. I'd rather not carry around the bigger scale. In fact, I'll say I will not carry it around, just don't want to mess with that for casual reloading. So I'm looking for a reliable, $100 or less scale. The problem is, the market is flooded with cheap digital scales that are absolute crap. I have no way of knowing which is good (if there are any) and what is trash.

I'm good with a scale that has a resolution of +/- 0.05 grains or something that only shows the tenth of a grain. What I'm more picky about is drift. I just want all of my loads at XY.Zgrs to all be the same weight and not drift up an down. Some have liked the gempro 250 (some abhor it), but that's no longer available. I have the frankford arsenal scale, but that drifts bad.

I will be traveling with the check weights for the TRX-925. They are "three F-1 class calibration weights (2g, 10g 50g). These precision grade weights are machined from stainless steel, and each come in its own protective storage case." So these three weights I will have in my kit to use as calibration tools.

Do you guys have any suggestions on a small portable scale that has very little drift?

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I'm interested also, as I don't think there will be a digital scale under 100$ that allows custom calibration. Also I wouldn't consider your 50 gram weight to have any calibration value for powder charge weight, the 10 gram weight is too heavy. I'm usually loading in the 25-65 gr powder charge weight range, my check weights reflect that. +,- 0.05 grain error would be nice, but probably not obtainable under a 100$.

 

[Rocketvapor]

Get a scale with a little more resolution than you need, watch for drift, tare as needed.
It's zero that drifts, Full scale calibration is normally good over a much longer period.
Note that local gravity and tilt will cause full scale errors.

Full scale calibration is normally needed to set up full scale.
Tare sets up ZERO, and corrects for drift.
Just about any small check weight is better than none.
Get one that is "good enough".


Linearity error, detected with check weights are usually worst at midpoints between zero and full scale.

A cheap milligram scale might drift a couple milligrams at zero, causing the OCD to pull out hair. But how much of an issue is that, really?
A cheap scale that reads to 0.1 grain, is asking for trouble.
A cheap scale with a LARGE weighing pan and inadequate wind shields ain't gonna work well.
Watch out for Chinese specs, scales that count by 2 or 5 digits.

 

[wer0206]

I have the Creedmoor TRX-925 and I love it.

However, sometimes when I go up north to the cabin, I have the itch to do some reloading. Or sometimes a friend and I get together at his house to do some reloading. I'd rather not carry around the bigger scale. In fact, I'll say I will not carry it around, just don't want to mess with that for casual reloading. So I'm looking for a reliable, $100 or less scale. The problem is, the market is flooded with cheap digital scales that are absolute crap. I have no way of knowing which is good (if there are any) and what is trash.

I'm good with a scale that has a resolution of +/- 0.05 grains or something that only shows the tenth of a grain. What I'm more picky about is drift. I just want all of my loads at XY.Zgrs to all be the same weight and not drift up an down. Some have liked the gempro 250 (some abhor it), but that's no longer available. I have the frankford arsenal scale, but that drifts bad.

I will be traveling with the check weights for the TRX-925. They are "three F-1 class calibration weights (2g, 10g 50g). These precision grade weights are machined from stainless steel, and each come in its own protective storage case." So these three weights I will have in my kit to use as calibration tools.

Do you guys have any suggestions on a small portable scale that has very little drift?

I've been using Hornady's gen 3 digital scale (on sale for $55) for a few months now (in conjunction with a used RCBS 5-0-2 beam scale). It's very small and light which will work for your use case but I do get some drift with it, usually only +/- 0.1gr though. Not sure if there are any sub $100 digital scales that won't drift on you. You definitely want to use some check weights before using it.

This TruWeigh Marksman digital scale ($38) also seems to be popular with reloaders but it doesn't have great reviews on amazon and I have no personal experience with it.

You may just be better off using a small beam scale (like the used 5-0-2 I picked up) for < $100.

 

[Dimner]

Those are all good points.

Yeah, that 50gr weight wont help much with a cheap scale, the TRX925 uses it in conjunction with the others for it's calibration.

I'm glad we talked about tare. I can live with drift if the tare function brings me back to a repeatable zero. @Rocketvapor, if I am reading that chart correctly, my 2 gram F-1 check weight should do a pretty good job at verifying what ever scale I end up with.

If I can't find a scale in this price range that let's me calibrate, I at least want one that has repeatability on my check weights. If it shows 30grs and it's repeatably 29.8 grains, I'm okay with that. I just have to add that info to my process when using the cheap scale.

So I think the thing to do here is test test test. I have a good repeatable scale at home. I use my 2 gram weight on the TRX925 as a base line value. Then with the cheap scale, make sure it lines up within my acceptable tolerances. I can start with my Frankford Arsenal scale and see how the well the tare function gets me back to zero and then check the 2gram weight, rinse and repeat and see how repeatable the scale is. The idea here being that I get an understanding of the limitations of the scale and how to work around them.

If the FA scale doesn't work, I like the looks of the hornady scale and it has good reviews.

Also.... this kind of process is what led me to lose all faith in my RCBS 10-10 scale. I would check drop my charge with the TRX-925, trickle up to weight. Then I would check out what the 10-10 said the weight was. It would always give me a little different of an answer. So I tested in the opposite manner. Dropped the charge and trickled up using the 10-10 until it was at the perfect balance point. Measure it on the TRX-925, and it would be different for every 10-10 charge.

Told me my RCBS needed some big time calibration.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I have marked the location of my beam scale(feet) and my digital scale on my bench. I use a known check weight (near my target charge weight) to zero at the check weight. Keep the beam scale clean, some pencil lead rubbed on the knife edge, and you should have reliable results. I leave my digital scale on(AC) and calibrate before use and zero between charge weights if needing most accurate/consistent weighing results. Still would like an AC powered 0.05 gr +,- digital scale for some testing(to see if it actually matters in hunting rifles).

 

[Rocketvapor]

Here's two milligram scales, the large one is a 300 gram with 1 milligram resolution.
It isn't good for trickling (has a 500 gram load cell inside).
The smaller one also has a milligram resolution.
Either one is less than $100.
I set the small one on the large one, Tared, and checked a 50 gram cal weight.

 

[jds holler]

Here's two milligram scales, the large one is a 300 gram with 1 milligram resolution.
It isn't good for trickling (has a 500 gram load cell inside).
The smaller one also has a milligram resolution.
Either one is less than $100.
I set the small one on the large one, Tared, and checked a 50 gram cal weight.
View attachment 1585088

I love that right there. jd

 

[Bill Norris]

Here's two milligram scales, the large one is a 300 gram with 1 milligram resolution.
It isn't good for trickling (has a 500 gram load cell inside).
The smaller one also has a milligram resolution.
Either one is less than $100.
I set the small one on the large one, Tared, and checked a 50 gram cal weight.
View attachment 1585088

What brand are these please?

 

[Rocketvapor]

Chinese "Weigh You Long Time" brand

The 300.000 gram scale is a rechargeable/AC that doesn't seem to be available now.
The smaller one is about $50 on ebay.
Also have a 3000.00 gram model.

 

[ChrisNZ]

Personally, I'd get a secondhand mechanical balance scale if you can't afford a real electronic one. What you see is what you get with these.

 

[jxb]

Frankford Arsenal® DS-750

I just use one of these for rough checks, it's quick and easy but it does eat batteries. Well it doesn't use them up but if the battery drops off a little it goes to "low battery" so I just use those for other stuff like my ears until dead. I think the main problem with these is there's lots of variance in product manufacturing so you may or may not get a good one. Mine has never missed when using check weights or comparing to my fx-120i, at least to .1gn

I always spot check any scale using one of these rcbs kits before each loading, makes a good companion, small and light too.

 

[BoydAllen]

You have a PM

 

[JFrank]

I’ll just delete the previous post and wish the OP best of luck. There’s plenty of cheap E scales to choose from.

 

[jds holler]

The OP was gonna use this for a traveling scale, so a beam scale wouldn't be near as handy if you ask me -- which ya didn't. It doesn't seem to be a critical precision situation, and after all, everybody isn't Rocketvapor.

Lyman has a few basic electronics that I've got that are consistent for my purposes, and I believe I weigh +/- 0.1 quicker than I can with my beam scales.

Question??-- It seems like I've heard that the small scales are more accurate operating on the battery than with the power cord. Any truth to that?.. jd

 

[brokeasajoke]

I swear my little Frankford arsenal is pretty good for what I paid for it. I've check it against my fx120i. I watch what it reads when I pull the pan as well as return it.

 

[Straightshooter1]

I swear my little Frankford arsenal is pretty good for what I paid for it. I've check it against my fx120i. I watch what it reads when I pull the pan as well as return it.

My little Frankford Arsenal DS-750 did pretty close to what my ChargeMaster 1500 showed in term of weight some Varget. I've never loaded any cases using it, so I don't know what that would look like in terms of velocity data. Now you've gone an done it!! Just out of my curiosity, I'll have to run a little test and see how it does. . . which I expect it'll be like what I used get with my CM-1500.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

This one has battery/USB cable power option. Would just need to switch out wall outlet, to one with USB charger. Or use a rechargeable 5 or 10k power supply.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Few dollars more gets a built in bubble level, if your work surface isn't level adjustable feet

 

[BoydAllen]

Can your cheap scale do this?