I bought a used RCBS model 5-10 powder scale and I can't get it to zero out. I can't see anything wrong with it. I also have my Lyman scale setting next to it and it is zeroed out with no problem. The reason I wanted the RCBS scale was because the 1/10th grain poise is easier to adjust. My hands shake when I try to do things like using a screw driver or eating. Old age I guess. Any suggestions? Don

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Call RCBS and see if they will check the damping.

don i assume u adjusted the zero under the left leg and placed the pan on it?it also need to be pretty level..also be sure everything is set on zero

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

Found the answer to my question. The guy I bought the scale from said to take the screw out of the pan that is holding the pan you put the powder in. There is some little weights in there and I needed to add more weight. Here I go to the street and get a tiny piece of gravel and put in there. It's now zeroed out. Don

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Lead shot is the preferred material, but gravel works too. In the past, that information was in the instruction booklet.

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I sent RCBS an e-mail about my problem and they sent me a PDF with the information so I guess it's on their site. I never knew there was weights in that pan. I know what that screw is for now. Don

PS The other weights are lead shot but I had a lot of free gravel.

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BOY!!!!!! TALK ABOUT TECHNICALLY INCORRECT!!!!

I was having the same problem with my RCBS scale. I mostly use an electronic scale now but keep the old standby. I checked it the other day and no matter what I did, it would not zero. Always in the same place on the bench and moving to another bench didn't help. I will try the small shot in the bottom of the pan. Should solve the problem.

The shot in the pan is a one time setup. Once you get the correct amount of weight to make it level it would never need to be changed unless you changed the pan or hanger.

Quite agree Dick - Here's a video I made some time ago about setting up a 10/10 scale including re-zeroing for a different pan using the lead weights.
10 10 Scale - YouTube

A really long time ago I got a Lyman scale at a really, really good price because no one could figure out how to zero it

HAWKEYE, I'm not a young man any more and do to that rare condition, I've gone to an electronic scale.

Free gravel will work...........

I dropped mine on the floor one time and had to glue the white
label with the data that flew off, back onto the arm...........

a 3/4 section of a 7 1/2 lead pellet flattened a little, under the pan,
was needed to get the unit back to "Zero" with a level arm.
Guess I used too much glue......?

Go get um..... !!

Somewhat similar story, my RCBS scale came as a part of a package deal with the press. The beam was wrapped up in a chunk of t-shirt and the base, pan and tray were floating around loose in a shoe box. When I assembled it in order to get it to zero I darn near had to completely unscrew the adjuster. Obviously a mismatched set, google provided the answer. After rescrewing the adjuster in to get the base into a more level attitude the contents of the pan were dumped into the tray and pieces of the lead shot were pulled out with tweasers until I got to a rough zero. Dumped the shot back into the pan, reassembled everything and fine tuned it out. Didn't quite make it to Miler time... The fine adjustment label decided to fall off at that point.

I just got my RCBS 1010 up to speed after they sent me a "tenths" sticky and a new cover. I did the shot adjustment by going out to where I cast bullets and collecting some tiny shards of lead. Then I took a razor knife and trimmed a sliver and bingo, it is zeroed out.

That is a REALLY sneaky way to set a scale. I would have gone nuts had I not gotten a solid answer from either RCBS or the manual, or somebody here.

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