Zeroing an RCBS 5-10 Scale

I'm starting this series of articles to help new reloader's get a handle on things. It is a fun hobby that will not only save you money but you get the satisfaction that you did it yourself and yes, they go bang!

I will start small and give you an article a month that will take you through the reloading process. I have had many pieces of stationary equipment for doing this but what I wanted to accomplish here was to show you how to do this with minimal equipment. So, this can be done in a home or apartment and on a trip. Think about it, you can do this type of minimalist reloading while traveling and no electricity is required. The ammo is high quality and you can experiment with different loads until you find the right load for your firearm. It will definitely make you a better shooter! I will also interview some of my reloading buddies and show you how they do it.

Disclaimer: Reloading should be done when not in a rush and you must be awake and sober. It is way too easy to do things wrong and possibly damage your gun and worse!

It’s a long story but I bought a used RCBS 5-10 scale the other day and was confounded again by the issue with it not zeroing. It may have gotten banged around during shipping, who knows? It is not new but made by a reputable dealer, RCBS and has got to zero. I found out that there are lead BBs in the bottom of the pan support assembly. I was able to re-zero the scale by adding a BB or 2. I also double checked it’s accuracy with another scale that I have, a Hornady M series scale, made by Pacific. I also use a dipper that is provided by Lee when you buy their dies that has a chart to use with it and an approximate weight for the dipper depending on the powder you use and the consistency on how you dip and how full your dipper is. I have to say after double checking the weights it throws the dippers are faster and pretty consistent. You do not have the variety that you have when you weigh powders and you really should not work up a max load with them but they are much faster to use. I have a light load that I use in my 44mag that is ideal to use the dippers for and it is about 10 times faster than when I weigh each charge.

Here is how I zeroed the RCBS 510 scale.

Unscrew the Philips screw in the bottom of the pan holder assembly

     In my case I added a couple BBs

    Refit the assembly and screw the Philips screw back in

     Look and see if the scale will zero now with the pan in place and the scale on a level surface

     A minor adjustment can be made by adjusting the leveling foot or if an adjustment is needed in the opposite direction a sheet of paper or cardboard can be added to the opposite side of the scale's feet.

    Once the scale is zeroed you are ready to start weighing powder or bullets or whatever you have to weigh. 
 

If you have another scale available or some weight that you can   verify to be correct you can test your scale to see how accurate it is.

    Take some powder you weigh from one scale and make sure that it is the same with in reason. There will probably be some little difference and that is why you work up slowly to max loads but that is story for another day!