Electronic Digital Calipers - recommendation please.

[BigDuncs]

I hope to start reloading again soon, now that I'm going to be back in the UK and would like to get a better digital calipers. The ones that I have seem to work OK but they are cheapo unbranded ones and TBH, I can't even remember where I got them 3 years ago. It has been around two years since I last reloaded and used them.

Can anyone recommend a decent digital caliper(s?) that I can have confidence in please? (Will be mainly reloading .303, .223 and .38 sp.)

Thanks in advance.

[BigDuncs]

I hope to start reloading again soon, now that I'm going to be back in the UK and would like to get a better digital calipers. The ones that I have seem to work OK but they are cheapo unbranded ones and TBH, I can't even remember where I got them 3 years ago. It has been around two years since I last reloaded and used them.

Can anyone recommend a decent digital caliper(s?) that I can have confidence in please? (Will be mainly reloading .303, .223 and .38 sp.)

Thanks in advance.

I didn't want to hijack the other thread but seen some reviews and this has come up on the other thread - igaging calipers. See them for about £27 so may go for those. Or should I get the mitutoyos......

[harvey_s]

The best idea irrespective of price is to get yourself a reference sample (a slip gauge or reasonably sized bearing roller) sized with a decent micrometer and then just periodically check your calipers calibration.
An expensive set of uncalibrated calipers is just as unreliable as a cheap set...
I been using the same cheapo ones from Aldi and Lidl at work and home and they are fine...

[BigDuncs]

The best idea irrespective of price is to get yourself a reference sample (a slip gauge or reasonably sized bearing roller) sized with a decent micrometer and then just periodically check your calipers calibration.
An expensive set of uncalibrated calipers is just as unreliable as a cheap set...
I been using the same cheapo ones from Aldi and Lidl at work and home and they are fine...

Thanks for the suggestion. Great idea

[MikB]

The best idea irrespective of price is to get yourself a reference sample (a slip gauge or reasonably sized bearing roller) sized with a decent micrometer and then just periodically check your calipers calibration.
An expensive set of uncalibrated calipers is just as unreliable as a cheap set...
I been using the same cheapo ones from Aldi and Lidl at work and home and they are fine...

My Aldi caliper worked OK for a while, but after a few months started reading low and required frequent rezeroing. The Moore & Wright badged one I have now is considerably better, and I've grown pretty confident in it to its half-thou resolution, which is good enough for nearly everything I do.


I use bits of ground silver steel for calibration - these are normally accurate and round to less than a tenth of a thou.

Regards,
MikB

[xbow]

I've got a tungsten carbide gauge set for checking Micrometers which contains 8 gauges of specific sizes from 3.1 to 25mm. Calipers aren't as accurate anyway but as they measure over a much wider range I doubt a single gauge will really prove much. I've found with Lathe work that calipers only get you close, not bang on. If you want to be that accurate buy a 0-25 and a 25-50 micrometer, they aren't that expensive.

[markH]

I've had a couple of cheap digital calipers and they didn't last more than about 6 months. Get a mitutoyo dial caliper, it'll last a lifetime and more.