Good Tumbler and electronic scale?

[Cheezin]

So I am looking to get the Lee Challenger Breech Lock Single Stage kit. I comes with the Lee Safety scale and from what I read it is decent. However I might want to get an electronic scale. I have read a lot of mixed reviews. Anybody have experience with Frankford Arms 750, RCBS 750 rangemaster or Hornady Lock and Load scale. Also looking at tumblers, looking into Cabela's tumbler, the Lyman 1200 and the Frankford Arms one. Anyone have any expierences with these products?

[rklessdriver]

I do have the FA elect scale... bought it on sale from Mid-Way when I needed to fill out an order. Before it I used a Lee scale for the better part of 15yrs.

Now you have to understand that have a Lee Turret Press with Auto Disk powder measures... So with pistol ammo I only use a scale to double check every 10th round or to find the right disk when I'm working up a new load.

The FA elect scale is fast and handy for this. I have checked it's accuracy against my Lee scale and both scales against the Auto Disk (which is consistantly low by a few tenths depending on the powder used).... I have no qualms using it and really like how easy it is to use. Be aware that when the battery gets low it will act flakey in reguard to zeroing and repeating on weights. The orginal Battery lasted me about 6 months and I'm still on the second (over a year) which I bought from Batteries+.

The Lee scale is accurate. Very accurate but it's a PITA to read the scale and slide the little plastic peice.... then wait for the scale to settle down. Basically it's slow as hell to use and hard to read the measurements - but thats my only complaints.

When I check my Auto Disk with it I just pre-set the scale to what the Auto Disk "should" be throwing and judge how much high or low the charge is by the little marks by the beam indicator.... When using it for rifle loads I also do this and use a powder trickler (Hornady) to get it perfect.

On the brass cleaner/Tumbler. I currently have a Harbor Freight vibratory model and use crushed walnut shells with a little Mineral Spirits or car wax. I had a Lyman for a very long time. Heck it was used when I bought it from a flea market a few months after I started reloading over 15yrs ago but it finally burned up... I bought the HF one to use as a temporary deal, since the store is right around the corner from the house... But The HF ones been working fine for a tad over 3yrs so I have no need to replace it yet.

I hope my experience with these products helps you out.
Will

[CowboyT]

The Harbor Freight or the Frankford Arsenal tumblers do a good job. I've found that walnut's good for cleaning and corn cob for polishing. A few capfuls of NuFinish makes the brass nice 'n' shiny.

I've tried digital scales, too, and the batteries do need to be fresh. I got tired of the scale drifting, which I consider kinda dangerous. The replacement was an Ohaus-built RCBS unit, any of which are fine choices. Any beam scale is going to be slower than a digital job. But I trust the beam scales a lot more.

Like you, I use and very much like Lee's Auto-Disk Powder Measures. In my case, it's the Pro version with the thumbscrews and round hopper. They do drop a bit low according to Lee's chart, so generally you've got to go to the next largest cavity. However, once set, mine stays within 0.1gr every time.

Here's my method to save some time with weighing.

1.) Do five powder drops just to "prime the pump", as it were, for the powder measure. Don't bother weighing these; just immediately pour 'em back into the hopper.

2.) Weigh the next five powder drops and make sure you're getting consistent drops, i. e. the "pump" is "primed". Pour these, too, back into the hopper.

3.) Weigh the first five "for real" powder drops before you seat and crimp your bullet.

4.) Weigh the next 5th.

5.) Weigh the next 10th.

6.) Weigh the next 20th.

From this point forward, if there's no problem, I'm feeling pretty confident in the powder measure's consistency. Now, I just weigh every 100th. It's about establishing trust, and fortunately, that trust has never been violated with this powder measure.

Maybe this will save you some time when doing some of your runs.

[Cheezin]

Thanks for all of the great information, I appreciate it. Keep it coming, I am open for any type of experience or information.

[Nathan2]

I am using prime PSB 500 which is a bench scale and provide accuracy up to 0.005 g. Its a little expensive but it have accurate results with many other features that i need.

[rlbellco72]

I use the FA tumbler and works well. My scale is a MTM Case-Gard DS-750. It works well also and I am happy with both. But then I am new at this as well and still have a lot to learn. As for the press, I have a Lee Pro 1000 setup for 40 S&W, well, actually, I just converted it to load 38 Special now, but it was purchased set-up for 40. Overall, I like all me equipment at this point.

I am also considering casting my own bullets as well. Still researching it.

[ronster19]

I've been using a Midsouth Shooters tumbler (rebranded Berry's Mfg) for about a year and works very well. Well made, relatively quiet and good capacity.
http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/i ... 0038502022

The media I use is Lizard Litter ground walnut. Inexpensive at Petco and doesn't clog primer holes. I keep one can with old litter for cleaning and another can for polishing. I add Flitz polish and works well.

[NovaHunter]

I've got the RCBS ChargeMaster 1500 Powder Scale and Dispenser Combo for Christmas and couldn't be happier. It dispenses and weighs IMR 4064 very well which was a pain in the arse to do through a powder drop because it is a long extruded powder.

Just got the Hornady tumbler and it is working pretty well for the size batches I am doing.

-Ryan

[Palladin]

Yeah right, Nathan2. Spam on brother! LOL

[Nathan2]

Thanks for appreciation

[jdonovan]

Anybody have experience with Frankford Arms 750, RCBS 750 rangemaster or Hornady Lock and Load scale.

They are all decent scales, to really get a substantially better scale, you'll need to be in the $600+ range.

Also looking at tumblers, looking into Cabela's tumbler, the Lyman 1200 and the Frankford Arms one. Anyone have any expierences with these products?

I started doing some small batch ultrasonic cleaning, and that worked well, so I've recently switched over to wet tumbling, and frankly I'm impressed. Enough so that I'm willing to sell my lizard litter tumbler, media and sifter to you for good deal.

If you want to go the dry route... I have a Dillon 750, and mating CM-50 media sifter, and probably 10-20lbs of media. Normally $200 + ship, I'll sell for $100 to help out a new re-loader get started. Kit is located in Warrenton.

[shovel1966]

I can't count how many operating hours and thousands of cases my Lyman Turbo Pro 1200 tumbler has gone through. I've had it for almost a decade and still going strong. When it does finally give up, I will probably get another. I have never used an electronic scale for reloading because I find the beam scales to be accurate and easy to use. (No worrys about moisture, electronics to fail, batteries to die, inaccuracies, calibrations, etc) I may be a bit old school.