My Acculab VIC-303 died, need advice

[Tired_Eyes]

Hey guys,  if you had to replace your scale what would you replace it with?  I need a new scale and I'm torn between a scale and a powder measure / scale. Advice?

 

Thanks, Dave...

[Farmer]

If you do a lot of rifle or larger grain powders, or small test groups I would get the measure/scale. I have an old RCBS (separate scale & measure) and it works great for rifle rounds and my steel shot shotgun shells. It throws the charge, I dump it in the case and while I’m seating the bullet it’s throwing the next one. The Alliant STEEL powder for shotgun, is so large and flaky it just doesn’t throw consistently so I do the same with that. If you just need to check your powder thrower on your press, weigh bullets ect, then I’d just go with the scale. 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Farmer

[Tired_Eyes]

Thanks Farmer, mostly I use the scale to setup my powder thrower and on the larger near the top loads I like to measure each throw.  This is where my indecision comes to bare.  Would an auto charge dispenser also weigh a powder thrower charge [just used as a scale] as accurate as a dedicated scale?    

[Farmer]

It should as it’s just basically a scale with a thrower attached. It takes up more room on your bench so that’s something to consider, plus the added cost. Also there’s more to go wrong. Mines still the separate one so I don’t have to set it up if I don’t need it. I think all the new ones are a single unit which is fine if a person is going to use it. If your just checking weights a regular scale should be just fine. Just my two cents, maybe some others will chime in. 

[slavex]

Yes an auto throw powder charge scale would be as accurate as a stand alone, but a bit more of a pain to use due to being attached to the larger unit. I used to use my Chargemaster scale until I got a GemPro, when it died I upgraded to a EJ-54D2 from Cambridge Environmental after watching Gavin on Ultimate Reloader showcase it. Well worth the bucks. 

[Tired_Eyes]

Slavex, how well does that EJ 54D2 perform?  Does it drift when sitting idle with no load on the scale?  Will it repeatedly give the same weigh reading time after time using the same weight?   Thanks for the feedback, Dave....

[slavex]

@Tired_Eyes no drifting while idle, although sensitive to air movements, so I keep the shield on most of the time. When it's off I always let it settle and hold my breath when checking a charge. I'm using it setup my Revolution loading 9mm (I let others use the machine and need to setup their powders). Even when the machine is running, on the same bench, it's reliable, although if things are really moving and jerking around on the bench, like say sizing rifle brass on a single stage, you'd want to isolate the scale as it would be affected. It is also pretty fast, dump the powder in, boom there's your weight and yes, repeatable too. I've tested it with both it's check weight and the pan with a load in it. 

Before getting it I didn't understand the dual weight thing. Basically under a certain weight (can't remember right now) it goes to 0.002gr resolution and above is 0.02. Took me awhile to sort that out. I had thought about getting it's big brother as I intend to get a Super Trickler or AutoTrickler down the road when I get back into long distance rifle, but figured, nah, get the EJ for now and get a dedicated one for rifle later. 

 

One thing I did do was put a little blue loctite on it's leveling feet. Once I had it leveled in a specific spot on my bench, I'd use it, then slide it away so I had room to case gauge or whatnot. Then I'd slide it back to do random checks and would have to relevel as the feet had turned. That was annoying, so I just did the loctite thing and it's no longer an issue. 

[Tired_Eyes]

Thanks a lot slavex, I'll look into one.