M14 Forum

Bart42

Looking to buy a quality american made caliper for reloading. What do you guys recommend? Also, what are your thoughs on dial or digital. I am a little bit hesitent on the digital, because electronics will fail at some point in time, but maybe that is just me be to concerned.

Thanks,

Bart

Dale Rader

Other than the ease of reading, I like the digital better for the fact you can "zero" them anywhere along their length. Also, you can measure in inches, push a button and have metric dimensions instantly.

The dial calipers run on a gear type system and there is a chance a chip or crud can get in there and make it skip and give you a false reading until you zero the calipers again.

It will all be personal preference, but I trust the digital more than the dial.

Dale

Freshman

Ive dealt with both a decent amount, and the digital calipers seem to have a much lower tolerance for abuse than the dials. They also run out of batteries. After using a friend's calipers (he has both), I decided upon the dial, as I thought it would last much longer.

jbrooks

"American made"??

Here's one, by Starrett, They claim to be the ONLY US made caliper.

http://www.browntool.com/Default.asp...,ProductNumber

I have both, a Mitutoyo (Japan) dial caliper and a reasonably cheap digital caliper. The dial caliper has worked well for about 25 years and is very close to my Brown & Sharpe (Swiss) precision micrometer.

You will get what you pay for. The dial caliper is about $110.00 and the vernier micrometer costs about $250.00. My (oops..Chinese) digital caliper cost about $40.00 and is off by about 0.001".

The quality difference is in the fit and rigidity of the mechanical parts. You can easily get 0.001" error just by measuring at various places along the jaws and applying various pressure, IF the mechanical parts are not precisely fitted. This is where the cost enters.

Digital calipers and micrometers CAN be made very precisely, the photo-etching and the optical sensor can be very prcise. But the bottom line is the mechanical assembly and calibration.


JWB

GreatPlainsRifleman

My thoughts exactly.

This product has been recommended on this forum before:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/604...sting-_-604242

Highly doubt it's American made. But without getting into a flame war over that one, small talking point...it has a 4.5 star ratting out of 101 reviews on Midway.

You didn't say what your price range was.

Bart42

I have the philosophy is that you in general get what you paid for, but I like a good deal like everyone else. I have no problem paying money for a starlett caliper, in fact that is what I am leaning towards just pondering about digital or dial. I would like to keep it in the 150 to 200 range, less if possible but looking for a caliper I buy once and don't worry about it again if that is even possible anymore.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far. Just getting into reloading, I have had the press in box for sometime, got it out yesterday and started assemblying it.

D308FAM

My point in your choice is this: IF you get a digital model be sure you keep in mind that no matter how many numbers are to the right of that decimal ONLY those that are listed as "accurate" according to the specs can be trusted.
Most calipers accurately measure to 0.001 inches plus or minus 0.0005. So you can measure to the nearest 0.001 inch.
You will probably end up with an assortment of measuring instruments over time and if you are like me you will tend to use the "economy" types for rough measurements and save the "good stuff" for measurements that must be really exact.
I have older eyes now so routinely use magnifying headgear and thus reading the mechanical types is not an issue for me.
If you buy some gage blocks you can check the accuracy of your measuring instruments and take into account any "offset" that may exist between different ones that measure repeatedly but do not agree with each other exactly. Most industrial supply houses can supply gage blocks.

Wayne M

Go mechanical, battery operated machines are way overated. Sometimes you have to rely on batteries but when you don't..........don't!

mercman

I've used both, but my son took my digital and left me with my B&S dial caliper. I wasn't too upset as I've used the dial for many years..................the numbers have just gotten smaller for some reason.

TheTinMan

I've got an RCBS digital caliper which works great for virtually everything. Being able to change ZERO easily makes a difference when using headspace & COAL/bullet comparator devices.

However, my father-in-law gave me a nice old Craftsman dial caliper and there are times when I like being able to see tiny differences in a measurement. Like when measuring cylinder throats on a revolver (yes, I know I should slug them or use a pin gauge for an accurate measurement)

SOCOM42

Over the years i have had all three, vernier, dial and digital. The most reliable is the vernier.

All mine are 20+ years old, starret and brown & sharp up to 24"

dial, pinion can jump the track with a small chip in it but can be reset.
I always check zero before using.

Digital, for you guys just working on a bench they are ok. The problem i have with them is they use a glass scale that is optically read.
Using them in a machining environment with plenty of coolant is where you get into trouble. A drop on the scale will give false readings.
Mine have sat unused for many years because of the coolant problem.

Vernier type is the most reliable, no glass scales or rack and pinion to screw up. Simple to use but you need to know how to read the vernier scale.
It does not have a depth gage though.

I use a dial type 99% of the time or a micrometer.

jmoore

The + or - 0.001" seems to be a good rule of thumb as far as accuracy. For any 0-6" caliper regardless of type. Our metrology lab and the OEMs whose parts we rework agree on these numbers. So if you need a trustworthy reading to smaller than a 0.002" window, use a micrometer.

jbrooks

For a very good read, and to see what it really means to measure something, see

http://longislandindicator.com/p7.html

There are many references about calibrating calipers and micrometers, but as jmoore said, a good caliper is probably good to +/- 0.001".

Having said that, my old Mitutoyo dial caliper is extremely consistent and I feel comfortable with it down to 0.0005", as my calibrated eyeball can see the needle between the graduations. It may not be technically calibrated, but it agrees well with my B&S Model 593-1-31-51089..

Again, you get what you pay for.

JWB

jmoore

Agreed. You can "fake it" to pretty close readings, but just don't report them as fact. Espcially if you are doing work for somebody else! In my case, it could result in a $500,000 teardown for reinspection.

XXIV Corps

I have used a pair of 12" dial calipers for the pass 39 years. I hope we both make it for the next 39 years! With no batteries to change as well.