WestKentucky
Member
I recently bought a very cheap set of scales to use in place of my FA scales which have been misplaced in a recent move.
scales at this link. I have no affiliation with Amazon. If I did I would not be working a day job.
https://www.amazon.com/Milligarm-Re...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
I got the scales in 2 days as advertised. So far I’m neither impressed nor unimpressed. Having played with them checking repeatability I’m giving them a B. They do well at coming back to the same reading (or within .02 gr) BUT they don’t do so well when swapping around between using a pan or not. The items I weighed had a difference of anywhere from spot on up to .16gr when weighed once with pan and once without having been zeroed after removing the pan. It’s not a big deal because for powder I will always use the pan. For other stuff I doubt I do but either way it is repeatable as long as you stick to the same thing… pan or no pan.
Quirks of this thing are much less than I expected given its $17 price point. The scales are a bit position sensitive but once the pan is nested into the face of the scales it’s good to go. The scale turns off too quickly for my liking, and it zeroes automatically when it powers on. Going to be a bit of a pain to check weights periodically when using a drop. Won’t be an issue for 100% weighed charges for hunting rounds and precision rounds. For usability I give it another B.
The reviews said that the scale will climb in reading slowly. I don’t see that as being possible since it turns off fairly quickly. I watched it for a full cycle between initial weigh and then through power down and it did fluctuate but very little and it kept coming back to the original readings. Breathing on the scale did make it fluctuate but flipping the lights off and on didn’t. Powering on the computer about 2 feet away DID cause some fluctuation but it settled back down quickly. I blame that on me most likely wiggling the table when I hit the switch.
Would I rely on them for reloading… yeah I think so but I’m going to do a bit more fiddling with it first. I have some known weighed charges from Lee safety scales and from my FA scales so I can tear a few rounds down and compare known trusted weights against what this thing reads. I feel confident it will be ok but I will feel better about the scale after doing this… yeah a lot better.
4 pans, all plastic. Not very impressed but I have aluminum pans I can use. Tweezers are junk. Dipper has Chinese symbols on them. Not sure what they mean. Has the number 2 as well. Possibly 2cc but it seems too small for that. But that really makes me no difference at all. I have a bunch of Lee dippers and I don’t use them except for pyrodex shotgun loads. This dipper does look to be roughly appropriate for the 60ish grain charges of pyrodex I want to use in 16ga.
Overall… Solid B. It has its pros and cons. It’s cheap and it’s usable. Not weighing diamonds on a 17 dollar scale and not loading anything so tight as to where .16 grains would be catastrophic. It’s no beam scale for certain but it’s good enough for my purposes. I will probably swap back to the FA scales when I find them. The count feature is neat though so I may use that when dealing with items in bulk… shotgun wads or pieces of brass perhaps.
I ain’t loading .25acp with this thing… yet.
scales at this link. I have no affiliation with Amazon. If I did I would not be working a day job.
https://www.amazon.com/Milligarm-Re...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
I got the scales in 2 days as advertised. So far I’m neither impressed nor unimpressed. Having played with them checking repeatability I’m giving them a B. They do well at coming back to the same reading (or within .02 gr) BUT they don’t do so well when swapping around between using a pan or not. The items I weighed had a difference of anywhere from spot on up to .16gr when weighed once with pan and once without having been zeroed after removing the pan. It’s not a big deal because for powder I will always use the pan. For other stuff I doubt I do but either way it is repeatable as long as you stick to the same thing… pan or no pan.
Quirks of this thing are much less than I expected given its $17 price point. The scales are a bit position sensitive but once the pan is nested into the face of the scales it’s good to go. The scale turns off too quickly for my liking, and it zeroes automatically when it powers on. Going to be a bit of a pain to check weights periodically when using a drop. Won’t be an issue for 100% weighed charges for hunting rounds and precision rounds. For usability I give it another B.
The reviews said that the scale will climb in reading slowly. I don’t see that as being possible since it turns off fairly quickly. I watched it for a full cycle between initial weigh and then through power down and it did fluctuate but very little and it kept coming back to the original readings. Breathing on the scale did make it fluctuate but flipping the lights off and on didn’t. Powering on the computer about 2 feet away DID cause some fluctuation but it settled back down quickly. I blame that on me most likely wiggling the table when I hit the switch.
Would I rely on them for reloading… yeah I think so but I’m going to do a bit more fiddling with it first. I have some known weighed charges from Lee safety scales and from my FA scales so I can tear a few rounds down and compare known trusted weights against what this thing reads. I feel confident it will be ok but I will feel better about the scale after doing this… yeah a lot better.
4 pans, all plastic. Not very impressed but I have aluminum pans I can use. Tweezers are junk. Dipper has Chinese symbols on them. Not sure what they mean. Has the number 2 as well. Possibly 2cc but it seems too small for that. But that really makes me no difference at all. I have a bunch of Lee dippers and I don’t use them except for pyrodex shotgun loads. This dipper does look to be roughly appropriate for the 60ish grain charges of pyrodex I want to use in 16ga.
Overall… Solid B. It has its pros and cons. It’s cheap and it’s usable. Not weighing diamonds on a 17 dollar scale and not loading anything so tight as to where .16 grains would be catastrophic. It’s no beam scale for certain but it’s good enough for my purposes. I will probably swap back to the FA scales when I find them. The count feature is neat though so I may use that when dealing with items in bulk… shotgun wads or pieces of brass perhaps.
I ain’t loading .25acp with this thing… yet.
Attachments
-
693A6A53-9871-4DA9-9794-4C491F47EFD1.jpeg85.4 KB · Views: 26
-
1FF82961-21C4-4A6B-B0B4-5774D84E61FF.jpeg122.1 KB · Views: 25
-
BB4C5104-57C4-4BCC-A402-E2FB1ADC024A.jpeg83.3 KB · Views: 26
-
9F35F155-FFE5-493C-BC44-BBA9C84D3A8D.jpeg72.4 KB · Views: 25
-
C3F54C9E-1309-4E02-B0A7-DA93DA5F0667.jpeg74.9 KB · Views: 25
-
5BA885BF-E037-4291-BE8C-73BE20F0E8BA.jpeg83.4 KB · Views: 25
-
EE4008E2-F89C-4EDF-95F2-768BBF184F4C.jpeg93.7 KB · Views: 26
-
DBE2894F-D164-4ADF-999C-58F33B3CF5C0.jpeg84.8 KB · Views: 25
-
DD212FF0-55DA-40F9-9DBD-1E7EF7332B3E.jpeg107.3 KB · Views: 27
-
AE19184C-495D-4B1F-8593-A57D07C8A18B.jpeg86.9 KB · Views: 26