techmike

Yep. Think that is bad, just wait till it's the same way with doctors or medications.....

I am not fond of beam type scales or balances, because of their inherent problems - friction, dull knife blade, parallax, sensitivity to air currents and their general low thruput. I have been on a quest for a decent digital scale to use in reloading, that I don't need a second mortgage for. Here are the results. Requirements: Digital display, easy to use and calibrate, repeatable, will correctly display while trickling powder, prefer A/C power with battery back-up. Conditions: All testing was performed in a heated shop, scales leveled on a flat granite block. A/C power is filtered with a professional grade Belkin power station. Methodology: Approximately 23 grains of Varget placed on the scale in a tared pan, RCBS powder trickler used to reach target weight of 24.0 grains. Accuracy: Measured weights of powder and test weights verified on a Lee Safety Powder Scale. My first digital scale was a gift, and has provided many years of good service despite a resolution of only 0.2 grains. I got used to all of my load weights ending in even numbers. It is also battery powered, and auto shuts off just as I get ready to use it. But it is accurate, repeatable, and responds very well to trickled powder. It is a DigiWeigh DW-100AS. Decided I needed a scale with higher resolution for rifle loads, so I picked up a Cabelas branded scale, the XT-1500. It is marketed as a reloading scale. Nice little scale, easy to use, A/C power adapter, real nice hard shell padded storage case. It works great for checking pistol loads thrown by a powder dispenser, but is useless, I would say dangerous for measuring trickled powder. The first time I tried trickling with it I ended up with five cartridges with five very different charges, off from the target weight by up to 1.2 grains. I returned it to Cabelas, and they promptly exchanged it for a new one, but it has the same issue. I contacted the manufacturer, Salter-Brecknell, and after speaking to an engineer there learned the following: This is considered to be a cheap scale, and it has filters in the firmware that reduces the sensitivity to small weight changes, (read trickling), so as to provide a stable display. It was suggested that I trickle "faster". At this point, the quest has begun. My next prospect was the Hornady Lock-n-Load powder dispenser/scale combo. I had high hopes for this one, because how cool is this, type your target load into the panel, tare the pan and it dispenses your charge into the pan, and beeps when it is complete. If it goes 0.1grain over target, it beeps several times and reads OVER, and requires a reset. Anyway, after you pour your charge into a cartridge, return the empty pan to the scale, it tares the pan and dispenses the next charge. Also has manual controls if you want to manually trickle. Only problem was that what it thought was 24.0 grains, wasn't. It did not correlate to any of my other scales or balances. By this time, I had made a 24.0 grain test weight, and this scale only measured it correctly about 50% of the time. I contacted Hornady with my issues, and they responded "Sorry about your problem, return it". So it went back to Brownells - BTW - great company to do business with, they not only refunded the purchase price, but also the shipping BOTH ways. Great customer service. Took a break here to do some more research and reading. Found out that most, if not all, of the current "reloading" scales are made in China. And most of them have really cheap load cells, also made in China. You can take two identical scales, one will work great, one won't. The best load cells apparently are made in Germany, and are metal, not plastic. HERE is a good primer on scales & balances for your reading pleasure. At this point the quest shifted from reloading scales, to scales that can be used for reloading. I ran across Brian Enos' store, and purchased my next scale from him. This one. It says right there "reads accurately with trickled powder". Well, it didn't. I contacted Brian, and here is another company with GREAT customer service, he promptly sent another scale at no cost to me, and this one does work as advertised. It does have a large footprint, 6.75"x 9", so keep that in mind if you are space challenged on your reloading bench. It is also taller than most, and I had to whomp up a mount for my trickler to get it up above the pan on this scale. This scale is very nice, all of the features can be turned on/off from the front panel, the display has an auto backlight feature that I like. It is repeatable, and I have confidence that powder charges measured on this scale are accurate. Then, I found the GemPro 250. A/C power, hard shell case, small size, it's perfect. See it here. THIS. IS. THE. ONE. It has all of the features I was looking for, has the best response to trickled powder, and has a resolution of 0.02 grains!!! I literally can add or remove single kernals of Varget powder and this scale accurately reacts. Wow!!! Did I mention that this is the one?? You can find these scales at several places on the web, but I purchased mine from Old Will Knott Scales. Another very fine company with great customer service. Check them out. Well, quest complete. Now I just have to thin the herd..... Anyone need a scale? ;D TM

Hi Tracker, welcome to Tac 22, and congrats on your Colt! I have an early model, mine is removed by driving out the roll pin, (rear), the front pin is spring loaded, just depress it with a small punch and remove the trigger guard. Let us know if yours is different. TM

:thumb:

Yes, the numbers are from the parts list/diagram. Wise to get spares, especially 36 & 52. While not essential to the rifle's operation, (they push the slide lock up when the mag is empty), it is annoying when the bolt doesn't stay open after the last round in a mag.....Other than noted above, mine has been very reliable. I used to tear it all the way down after every range trip, now I only do that about every 500 rounds. In between, a bore snake, brush the action and a little oil and it is good to go.

Hello and welcome! :beer:

Outstanding! :thumb:

42 grain? Cool, bet it is accurate at 100. I have not seen it before. Did you score any?

I am thinking the only part that I replaced was the main spring, part #41 on the parts list. Only reason I replaced it was my confusion on the bolt speed setting. There was a video back then that advised 9 full turns in for HV ammo, and that wore the spring out. Correct setting is flush for standard velocity, 4 turns in for high velocity. If you take the rifle all the way apart to clean it, you will need part # 36 & 52. They tend to either: go flying, (never found mine when they did), or get damaged during assembly. I have over 5000 rounds through mine and all is well. I am not aware of any kits, Umarex sells them part by part. TM

+1 on the CM2! MG has a new one, mine was well used, and I got it from CDNN Sports. I refinished the lumber, put a rail & cheap scope on it, and at 50 yards - wow. The target was 5 shots using Federal bulk 36 gr ammo. It weighs 12 lbs, adjustable trigger, hand stop & butt plate. One of these days I will try the match ammo I got for it, and I want to try it on the 100yd range. If you can pick one of these up do it!

Have one someplace, never have used it. :confused:

Howdy!

That will be fun!

The airsoft rail I put on my Colt came complete with the new required nut. HERE is a thread about changing rails, with pictures - click on the PDF attachment. Welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will fit right in!

Hi mls351w, You can but it will take some parts. The standard clam shell hand-guards use a spring loaded delta ring at the rear to keep the front firmly inserted in the cap. The SPR utilizes a free float rail, and the mounting is a bit different. The front cap, barrel nut and delta ring are removed, (You will need an armorer's wrench to remove the nut, and I recommend a handguard tool for removal), a different type of barrel nut is installed, that also has threads on the outside. The free float hand-guard then threads onto the barrel nut, and when in place two set screws on the bottom are tightened. You will also have to remove the front sight to accomplish this evolution. If you decide to do this, there are options other than just parts from Colt/Umarex. I put one of THESE on my Colt. Yes, it is airsoft, but is is anodized aluminum, looks & works great. Good luck with your project

Welcome - the Mig22's look pretty sweet also! Looking forward to a range report on your 1600!

Howdy & welcome! I hailed from Cali for 30 years. :beer:

That is also my experience.

Cool. I ordered some magazines from Madhouse and they came right away too. Good customer service all over the place!

Now that is stocking up!

Not gloating or anything, but I am still shooting .22lr I bought 4 years ago. ;D Only thing I am short on is .224" 62gr FMJ.

On an Ohio CHL forum, someone wants to trade .223 ammo for a brick of .22lr. I guess the "story" about WalMart stopping ammunition sales was just a story. Closest one to me has 9 & 45, no .22 though.

Lead dog!

:beer:

Bummer - If you do not mind mail order, check out The Armory. They are sold out of some stuff, but still have bricks in stock.