I currently have a CM and have been very pleased with it, recently I picked up a 2nd CM to help speed up the reloading process. Well, it seems that there might be a slight difference in the scales of these two machines. I have been able to re-calibrated the newer one properly and it seems to be a lot better but after pulling a bunch of 243 rounds and checking against my friends Frankfort Arsenal scale, I found varying charges in the cases. I pretty much pulled, weighed and recharged all of them.

I am wanting a plug-in digital scale to check the throws on before charging the case, not looking for the A&D $700 one, just one that can plug into the wall and is reliable to +/- 0.1 grains.

Thanks for the help.

To get what you're wanting, for what you're wanting to spend I suggest a nice beam scale. Keep rolling with your Charge Master, set it to .1 gr below desired weight, move the pan from the Charge Master to the beam scale, and final trickle powder by hand. It is a poor man's Auto Trickler. You'll get ammo that is just as good, it will just take longer to build it. I've done thousands of rounds this way. 50 rounds will take about 40 minutes, give or take. But they will be very consistent case to case.

You Might want to look at Lyman's, they have 2 models. Only difference is the volume of powder each holds. Mine holds right with my beam scale. I do allow the electronic scale to warm up considerably, sometimes as much as 2 hrs before using it.

What variation were you getting on the weighed charges of your loads from the pulled ammo? The CM is a great scale, but it will vary. The specs say +/- .1, but I'm certain it's more than that. They will wonder around on weight and need to be re-zero'd often.

I have an AccuLab VIC 123 scale I thought about selling. It will weight accurate to .02 grains, with a slight variation of about .02 grains either way. So it's within .04 for sure, when used correctly. But it is a strain gauge scale. It's how the scale weighs. The magnetic force scales are much better, but also more money.

Info and specs on the scale

"If your budget requires you to spend under $325 then your only choice is a scale designed with strain gauge weighing technology like the VIC123 and the equivalent would be the Sartorius AY123 or Adam HCB123. Strain gauge sensors drift and although the display might increment in one milligram graduations they are not accurate to a milligram. To get away from a strain gauge load cell we recommend the more costly electro-magnetic force weigh cell found in alternative milligram balances"

Link to some info on the scale: https://balance.balances.com/scales/906

Also, depending on which FA scale you were using and the power source (battery vs. power cord), they will vary the weight also.

"The Frankford Arsenal® Platinum Series Precision Scale delivers extreme accuracy for precise measurement of powder, bullets, cases or loaded rounds."

Extreme Accuracy! I'd like that to be defined, using a $100 battery powered scale. (a scale will vary it's weight depending on the power level of the batteries installed). I find it interesting claiming a $100 battery powered scale and extreme accuracy being in the same sentence.


https://www.frankfordarsenal.com/platinum-series-precision-scale-with-case/909672.html#start=1

I have gotten great performance out the CM, low ES, tight groups. I understand Jason's idea completely but the CM has produced a very consistent round for me, this is more of a checking the charge from each one before loading.

As Chad mentioned, I do re-zero and re-calibrate often, it takes just a sec to do, plus I leave mine plugged in so they stayed warmed up.

The main issue was a weight difference between the two CMs. I would set each one to throw 38.8 grains, they cycle, stabilize, and register proper charge. So for the issue at hand or at least the one I had here is what happened.

CM-A, my original one, CM-B, the newer one.

Both show 38.8gr, When I would put the CM-A charge into a case and the pan back on it, it zeroed out, I would then dump CM-B charge into CM-A pan and the weight was 38.6gr. Then I would put CM-B pan back on and it would zero out, then dump CM-A charge from the case into CM-B pan and it would read 40.0gr.

When checking on my friends scale, the CM-A would always read the same, the CM-B had high of +.2 and low of -.3.

Now, I spent some time working on the CM-B, blew out the scale housing, let it warm up overnight, re-calibrated a couple times using both CMs 50gram weights and now they both throw properly, maybe one or two +.1 and -.1 on CM-B but I do have a precision insert on CM-A, waiting on the one for CM-B, so I am just wanting a good scale to check before loading the round to make sure each is throwing accurately.

I load quite a few different cartridges, some for more precision than others. The precision ones I do a Jason described while the leveractiona and ones I am not shooting past a couple hundred yards get thrown with the chargemaster or RCBS powder drop depending on powder and application.

Still hard for me to go higher end electronic scale when I have a couple good balance beam scales.

I’ve been using a Lyman 1200 DPS 3 (3rd gen) for maybe 8 years. It died recently and I replaced it with an RCBS CM, which I haven’t used yet. When using the Lyman, I did check weights on a PACT scale just to be sure of the weight. Till the Lyman died, the comparative weights ran about the same. That said, it does seem like I’m getting a few more flyers and larger groups with the rifles than I used to. Well, I am older, and maybe I’m not the shot I used to be, so it could be user error rather than scale error. Next week I may set up to load and shoot, and I might even dust off the 1010 scale for some reloads to see how they group compared to the CM.

It may be next week or two weeks, or even a month, but if I see anything interesting from my comparative testing, I’ll sure pass it on to you guys.

I hope to heck the CM holds its own, because I really don’t want to go back to using a beam scale. Slow slow slow.

Speaking of scales, I figured this would be an excellent place to post an experience I just went through with mine. I have 3 scales: RCBS 750 Rangemaster, a Hornady Autocharge and a Hornady balance beam that is old enough that it says Pacific on it. In the last few years, I have been using the RCBS. Because it tends to drift, I zero it about every other load. Lately, I have been noticing some strange results on my ladder tests (i.e. Heavier loads withe slower fps). I decided to check all three with check weights and noticed the two digital scales were never more than .1 grn off, but the balance beam always showed lower by as much as .5 grns. So I called Hornady and provided them with all my measurements. I was in Grand Island so I dropped off my balance beam for recalibration. It was returned back to me in less than a week. Happy toreport that all 3 scales now either read exactly the same or vary by .1. I can resume my ladder testing but it taught me to use the check weights to verify periodically. I always balanced the balance beam to zero but that test didn't hold up when I checked them more extensively.

I check my balance beam with check weights, just to be sure.

I will now. Lesson learned. I did calibrate the RCBS every time I used it so it appears the two digital were fine it was just the balance beam that was off and I haven’t been using it