$5.99 caliper on sale at Aldi

View · by **Pat Cannon** on Fri May 06, 2016 3:25 pm

Hey if anybody's looking for a deal on an electronic caliper, this is at the Aldi food store at Lake & Hiawatha. They've got a pretty good stack of them so I imagine they're at other locations, too. I don't know this brand, but hell, $5.99!

View · by **Seismic Sam** on Fri May 06, 2016 3:47 pm

Beware!! Had a POS like that and it's only good to .005" despite having three places...

View · by **yukonjasper** on Fri May 06, 2016 4:37 pm

Got one in West St Paul a couple of weeks ago. Haven't used it.

View · by **linksep** on Fri May 06, 2016 8:43 pm

I've used multiple cheap china electronic calipers before and they've been accurate better than a thousandth at least up to an inch and a half.

Never seen them THAT cheap though.

View · by **my1stpistol** on Sun May 08, 2016 9:04 am

linksep wrote:I've used multiple cheap china electronic calipers before and they've been accurate better than a thousandth at least up to an inch and a half.

Never seen them THAT cheap though.

That's not saying much if
you mean .1 inches. Can do that with a ruler. If your saying better then .001. I'd have to call BS. I don't trust my 200$ caliper to those tolerances. I don't car how many decimal places they read. Doesn't mean that's how accurate they are.

View · by **OldmanFCSA** on Sun May 08, 2016 9:33 am

I use cheapies around the shop and save my most accurate ones for jobs that require accuracy.
Cheapies almost always are battery eaters.

Saves wear on my 12" digital Mitutoyo and my 6" Brown&Sharpe dial caliper.
I have several other dial calipers in tool box for future use. one is RCBS brand.

Properly used - a dial or digital caliper can be very accurate - be sure to re-zero with clean jaws and verify on a gage block before using on something that needs accuracy.

I also have cheap micrometers for general shop use when more accuracy is required than calipers.
But save my 0-12" set of carbide tipped 0.0001" graduation micrometers for work that requires accuracy

View · by **benny** on Sun May 08, 2016 10:56 pm

My self I don't use any cheap calipers or micrometers, but I have been a machinist for 35 years. I currently work at a large manufacturing company here in Minneapolis that is world class in quality, if your just measuring to compare an item to another the cheap ones might be okay if you can have + or - .005 thousands of an inch (about two human hairs) but if your measuring to a specification like as in the length of a casing your loading you had better use a better quality caliper. Don't have to buy the high end ones but Sarret,Mitytoyo, and Brown&sharp all make a decent caliper for $100 with better ones up to $250

Benny

View · by **PhilaBOR** on Mon May 09, 2016 6:24 am

So if you get a bad measurement on ammo what's the worst that could happen? Won't feed? Gun blows up? I don't reload so I don't know. But I do know I always regret buying cheap tools and never regret buying good tools.

View · by **MJY65** on Mon May 09, 2016 6:34 am

PhilaBOR wrote:So if you get a bad measurement on ammo what's the worst that could happen? Won't feed? Gun blows up?

Won't feed is most likely. It would take a pretty unique set of circumstances to blow a gun due to OAL. Max charge, jammed in the rifling, etc.

View · by **yukonjasper** on Mon May 09, 2016 10:22 am

If I were a reloader, I wold invest in the real deal. I bought this for kicks and for other "rougher " uses. Instead of guessing the ID or OD of pipes etc. Just a gadget in the toolbox.

View · by JJ on Mon May 09, 2016 10:45 am

As a guy who spent some time fixing, calibrating and maintaining gages, this would be a $5 paper weight. They burn through batteries like nothing you have ever seen, and the racks stretch easily causing erratic areas of measurement through the measuring range. If your eyes can't tell you the difference between 1/2" and 1/4", they are good tools.

If you want to get the same measurement three times on the same gage block, just move along.

View · by **SparkyJeff** on Mon May 09, 2016 2:52 pm

View · by **linksep** on Mon May 09, 2016 9:52 pm

my1stpistol wrote:
linksep wrote:I've used multiple cheap china electronic calipers before and they've been accurate better than a thousandth at least up to an inch and a half.

Never seen them THAT cheap though.

That's not saying much if
you mean .1 inches. Can do that with a ruler. If your saying better then .001. I'd have to call BS. I don't trust my 200$ caliper to those tolerances. I don't car how many decimal places they read. Doesn't mean that's how accurate they are.

I worked in a machine shop for a while that made very small parts. To me a "thou" or a "thousandth" are the same thing, 0.001" (one one-thousandth of an inch). I differ from most in that when someone says a "tenth" I think 0.0001 or (one ten-thousandth of an inch) where as 99.999% of people think 0.1" (one tenth of an inch). Numerous cheap china electronic calipers went in to the QC department for inspection quarterly and they were always given the stamp of approval (and they always measured my non-certified gauge-blocks accurately to the number etched on the block).

When I said "better than a thousandth" I didn't mean they accurately measured the 5 ten-thousandths shown in the digital display, I meant that they were never off the mark by a full thousandth (unless the jaws were dirty or technique was bad). Maybe that's not typical by they always worked great for me.

View · by **BigDog58** on Tue May 10, 2016 1:50 am

Having worked with precision measuring tools in the aviation business, where we often had a tolerance on +/- .0001" , it paid to use top quality instruments, such as Mitutoyo, Brown & Sharpe, etc.. I recently gave OldmanFCSA a 12" Vernier Caliper that was far more precise than I needed (.0001"), for loading ammo. We can go OVERBOARD with some of this, but for my own ammo, I'm happy as long as it is within .001". You can get that variation from person to person, depending on their feel, and their experience with the measuring device. Be that a set of calipers (I prefer a Dial Caliper), Micrometer, or Height Gauge.

However, I do wish I still had my optical comparator just for S***'s and Giggles. I now use both Dial Calipers and a Cheapo Digital Caliper in both 6" & 8".

Whatever you use, make sure it is accurately zero'd and that you wipe the "blade" surface CLEAN, before measuring and you should be good to go. When all else fails, you can check fit, using your firearm ( Remove firing pin if possible, before trying this.....this is a PSA)...

I picked up a set of these cheapo's Pat posted, and they will be just a backup set, or possibly a set I throw in my travel box, when going to matches.