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Lyman electronic scales

by Technical Advisor Brendan Atkinson
Australian Shooter December 2002

In the interest of safety, it is essential that handloaders have some means of weighing powder charges accurately. While many of us use the reliable old beam balance, these can be difficult to operate in an open environment, such as the reloading benches at a benchrest match. Electronic scales are a much better proposition, but most require access to 240 volts and this is not always available.

Lyman LE 300 electronic scalesAt the recent world benchrest championships, a request was made for a scale to check some very hot loads. One of the French competitors produced a neat little electronic scale made by Lyman. Being battery powered, it was portable and was not much bigger than a packet of cigarettes. I was impressed and sought one for review.

Two models were supplied: the LE 300 and the LE 500 - both 13.5cm x 8cm x 2cm. The numbers represent the maximum capacity in grains. The weight of an object can be displayed in either grams or grains.

For the technically minded, these scales are top-loading digital electronic, powered by AAA batteries and the sensing mechanism is a load cell with a capacity determined by the model you have. Reading the weight of objects is made possible via a four-digit liquid crystal display. The instructions say that the strain gauges and load cell are capable of detecting changes of 0.1 grains. It is also clearly pointed out that the mechanism is sensitive to changes in atmospheric conditions such as temperature and humidity and that the scale must always be used on a flat surface. A checking weight and a powder pan are supplied.

How did the scales perform? Brilliantly. No more waiting for a balance beam to settle or move with the slightest puff of wind. I placed both models side-by-side and threw numerous charges with various powders. For some strange reason, there was a consistent 0.1 difference between the two scales, but this is probably of no consequence. It was an interesting exercise throwing ten consecutive charges from a powder measure and weighing each one. With the small powder pan supplied, this was an easy and quick task to accomplish. With powders of a more coarse grain size, such as AR 2217, some variation was noticed and weighing each charge is an advantage.

Experienced benchrest shooters also know that powders can vary in ‘weight’ between production lots. With a Lyman scale it was possible to check this with a minimum of fuss. This can be important when using loads close to maximum. Another use was the weighing of a new batch of match bullets that were marked as 67 grains. It was possible to batch these out in a very short space of time - far quicker than conventional methods. The same could be done with new cases before neck turning.

In all, the Lyman SE 300 (RRP $440) and Lyman SE 500 (RRP $535) are most useful little items.

Lyman Electronic scales are distributed by Nioa Trading.