Joined the CBA and the new reloading room

[Bret4207]

Well, I finally sent the CBA my $17.00. I was a member for years until they upped the dues from something like $11.00 to $30.00 per year. I recall a lot of grousing about that on the 'net. Seems like it was back in the Shooters days. I checked out the forum. Jeeze I hate Yahoo's system. There's some good info there, not a lot of posts, but similar to here. I see some of our members there. I'm looking forward to Joes book.

Since I was a bit sore yesterday, (see my "So close" post on off topic if you care why), I decided to leave Mr. Chainsaw alone and tidy the entire farm up. 342 acres of tidying. Right, dream on fool! First I did the garage, sort of anyway. Too much stuff, not enough shelves, nooks and crannys. I filled a giant size Garden Way cart with assorted reloading/casting/shooting gear and headed for my New and Improved! reloading room. When the foster kids got here I lost my own personal gun and reloading room that was promised to me for eternity by SWMBO. Since her stuff is rapidly filling the attic and the basement is damp and full of her stuff, (I see a trend here), in desperation I turned to the former milk room in the barn. It's insulated, has windows and a door and smells like horse pee and sheep poop, (go ahead Uncle Ray, I'm ready!), and no one else currently has any interest in spending any time there. I hogged the place out a few months back and took a bit of stuff out there. I installed some real fancy shelving made from odds and ends of 1x12 and 2x4's. I even have a 'fridge! It's a 1950's Kelvinator that still runs better than the $600.00 fancy-schmanzty job in the house. Got a mid-80's microwave too. No LEDs on this baby! I imagine it draws about 3 zillion watts, but I can cook a hot dog if I want. Theres a sink (fish cleaning headquarters) and a 3 burner LP stove. Heaven gents, heaven.

I started filling those shelves. Whoops. I need way more shelving. I filled the shelves on the walls, under the bench, in the cabinets. I stacked. I piled. I stuffed, crammed and lodged. I still have four 5 gallon buckets full of stuff and haven't brought the books and manuals out yet, much less the presses. OK, so maybe it ain't heavan yet, but I'm gaining. At least the pot and dippers are out there and both sizers are mounted temporarily. There's a real homey feel to the place which is enhanced by the 80 pounds of linotype a former Trooper gave me the other day.

So I see a few things need to be done before winter gets here. A couple windows need repair, I need some more light and I gotta figure on a heat source. I've used an electric heater before, but thats too much $$$. The place isn't going to be heated 24/7, just when I get out there. (VPI dessicants need to be obtained for the rustable items.) I'm thinking one of the "Mr. Heater" type radiant propane jobs might work, or my wifes Kerosun heater. Since it's the barn and we're 20 minutes from the nearest fire station I have to be real careful on my heat source.

No, the guns can't go out there. That I know. Too bad, so sad. But I can carry them the 200 foot walk from the house and work on them if I want. I'll need to replace the front door with something a little better than the one thats there. I suppose a lock would be a good idea too. Gotta come up with a large locking weatherproof box for powder and primers since 20mm ammo cans are not to be found anymore. But hey, thats little stuff. I made a start and that counts for something.

[No_1]

I see you have the "anti-SWMBO stuff" device in place already!
smells like horse pee and sheep poop

Anyway, sounds like you have the perfect place. Just needs a "tinkerers" touch. Please provide pics along the way.

Robert

[Swagerman]

Trp. Bret, whatever you do, make sure any gas source heater has a flue vent to the outside.

I live in northern Wisconsin, and it gets sub-zero here sometimes. Years ago, installed an an electric ceiling heater in the garage, so the power tools and other items wouldn't rust out on me.

I don't keep the heat setting at more than around 35 degrees, and that isn't too hard on the electric bill.

Its a big 3 car garage with two auto entry ways, plus, a back door that is seldom used.

How big a room is your new reloading shop, maybe you could get by with an electirc space heater with a thermostat setting. Perhaps a mounted one like mine is from the ceiling.

I paid a little over two hundred bucks for it.

Don't think I could handle the barn smells though. Lol :mrgreen:

Jim

[Bret4207]

Pics?! Hey, ya know I did buy SWMBO a digital camera. I think Sir Whines A Lot (my 17 yoa son) knows how to upload. I'll see what I can do.

Swagerman- Electric is tough up here. Safety is gona be the key issue along with cost. I'll have to research this a bit. I don't think venting is going to be a big problemn as the interior "door" and the windows are a bit less than air tight if you take my drift.

[R.M.]

I use the smaller of the 2 Mr. Heater's in my Lead Shed. If I was to do over again, I'd go for the larger one. They do work well, and the fact that they can be used indoors is great. No smell at all. Not that you'd notice over the previous occupants.
Sounds like you have a place of your own that probably won't be taken over in time. I got banished from the garage once we put up the Mini-barn shed. So far, it's worked out better than expected.

Good Luck
R.M.

[Cherokee]

I have a basement shop for all my wood working and reloading (separate rooms). My wife has some storage space but most of the basement is mine. Conditioned air all the time and plenty of light, coffee maker, walk out door, TV, stero, bathroom and other comforts. 45 years ago I started with a shelf in the utility room of our first house and have tried to improve my facilities every time we moved around the country.

[500bfrman]

Well, I finally sent the CBA my $17.00. I was a member for years until they upped the dues from something like $11.00 to $30.00 per year. I recall a lot of grousing about that on the 'net. Seems like it was back in the Shooters days. I checked out the forum. Jeeze I hate Yahoo's system. There's some good info there, not a lot of posts, but similar to here. I see some of our members there. I'm looking forward to Joes book.



Wow it was 30 bucks for one year? I joined about 6 months ago, I did the two years for 30. I love the FS it is awesome, and printed on some heavy paper too. The book for me was less than impressive, it had some good info there. But, it was definitely for the total beginner, I imagine you will know most of the stuff in there. It's still good for reference though. There are some very knowledgable people on the forum, it is a bit of a pain to sort through at times though.

[OldBob]

Trpr.Bret, FWIW the unvented heaters put a LOT of condensate in the air, its not the fumes from them that is a problem, its the moisture in the walls & ceilings. I have seen the attic in a new house "raining" from moisture bulildup caused by an unvented heater. Toyostove's Laser and Monitors vented oil heaters do a darn good job, they are a bit expensive, but ......... Another nice thing with them is if left on a low setting (45 or so) it will only take minutes to warm up your "home", they run cheaply, and you won't have rusty equipment.

[MT Gianni]

Bret, If you look for an old dead refridgerator that you can put a hasp on you have the perfect powder storage system, OK get two if it won't all fit in one. gianni.

[waksupi]

Watch those Mr. Heater things. We have hunters die up here every year using them in tents, it seems. If you use one, be well ventilated. The Kerosun is much safer.
I'm considering one of the ventless propane heaters, to augment my vented heater. I consider the moisture in the air a great plus, as humidity falls as low as 7% in the cabin in the winter, and I run a humdifier all the time, to get it up to around 20%. Things still crackle with static electricity at that level, but is a slight improvement.

[D.Mack]

Brett.. I know the feeling, years ago I needed more house, and the wife didn't want to move, so I added on. and no matter how I drew the plans, there was always a wasted space. What else could I do, I had to draw it with a small reloading room. I came home one day and my reloading room was a sewing room. So I built a wood shop, with a extra room for my reloading stuff, and did you know wood shops are great for storing stuff you dont need all of the time. so I built a storage building. Now I have a concrete slab at the end of the wood shop for the extention planned for this winter. Oh yeah and my original reloading room is now a pantry, and one of the kids bedrooms is now a sewing room. DM

[David R]

:) Just waiting for my children to be all grown up so I can have one of the bedrooms and move my reloading in from the unattached occasionally heated garage. I'll still pour boolits out there, but its nice to load where its warm all the time. Right now my dillon is in my bedroom. I bring in what I need and load one caliber at a time. Just as long as I remember to bring some thing out before I bring some thing else in. Only one kind of powder at a time..... :)

[RayinNH]

Trp. Bret, one other thing to keep in mind is that your reloading and other gun books are going to absorb the horse pee and sheep poop odors that linger if that matters to you . Other than that it sounds like a slice of heaven...Ray

[Shepherd2]

Trpr Bret, I do my casting down at the barn in what we call the milk house. My wife has the adjacent milking parlor lined with rabbit cages so the odor isn't too great either but I do have an airlock I can close. I use a kerosene heater to heat it. One nice thing about the heater is that I stack ingots on the wire grill on top the heater to preheat them.

Be careful about leaving moulds lying around the barn. Monday I drilled and tapped a new Lee 6 banger for set screws and left it on the bench thinking I'd find time to use it in a day or so. Normally I'll put a mould in a dreawer or take it to the house if I'm done with it. Yesterday I was going to do something at the bench and when I moved the mould out of my way I saw that one of the holes in the sprue plate was plugged with mud. I opened the thing up and 3 of the cavities were full of lime green larva. The one that was plugged with mud also had a white paper like plug under the sprue plate. While I was standing there cleaning the mould a bug flew with another larva and lit on the bench where the mould had been. I'm always finding insect nests around the barns but this was a first.

[waksupi]

Trp. Bret, one other thing to keep in mind is that your reloading and other gun books are going to absorb the horse pee and sheep poop odors that linger if that matters to you . Other than that it sounds like a slice of heaven...Ray

I wouldn't mind the books and stuff picking up the horse scent. But, if they pick up sheep scent, Carpetman will constantly be asking to borrow books, and I doubt he would return them. Eau de ewe, doncha know?

[Bret4207]

Old Bob- Where are you located in NNY?

My moulds are stored, mostly, in a 20mm ammo can with a Brownells desicant box inside. No rust with that set up. The extra moulds go in a 50 cal ammo can, same set up. I've tried ZIp Lock bags, oiling, waxing, leaving the last booilt in there. The ammo cans work best, but coating the mould in wax works too. Takes about half as long as oil to apply and remove. Spray on preservatives like Bo-Shield (A Boeing product I found in the Grizzly catalog) work but leave a residue I'd rather not deal with.

You guys gotta understand something- Horse is a GOOD smell to us manly man types (aka-Neanderthals). Add in a little harness leather and oil, some Hoppes and maybe a wiff of gear oil and your testosterone level will triple. Or at least your brain will think so. The spirit is willing, but my body is a wreck. As for the other assorted odors like sheep/goat/chicken/rabbit poop, decaying "organic matter" in the gutter cleaner, cat crap, dog crap, dead frogs/snake/rats/mice/elephants the cats dragged in- well, push it into the gutter, spread it on the meadow, put down some fresh sawdust and the smell is gone. For a day or two anyway.

An "air lock" between the milkroom/reloading room and th barn proper sounds like a good idea with the amount of moisture outhere. I may look into that. I'm going ot have a little issue with moisture anyway since I have to leave the sink trickling all winter lest the lines freeze up. You haven't had fun till you've thawed 75 feet of frozen water pipe at 35 below! Usually you get to do it either at 4:30AM or 11:45PM. Either way it's dark, cold and lotsa fun. So I'll have to do some creative thinking there.

When I was cleaning the garge the other day I lifted the big ammo can full of moulds off the floor. It's mostly full of Lymans with a smattering of Cramer, RCBS and an H+G 10 banger. Sadly no Saecos, Potters, Yankees or Ohaus yet. An LBT or 3 reside there. The Lees add up too. I'm going to weigh it for curiosities sake. It's gotta be pushing 100 lbs. Small potatoes compared to some guys collections, but a substantial investment for this clod hopper.

I ran onto a few of the cabinets filled with little plastic drawers someplace. They must have been cheap. I hung a couple up and thought they'd be great. What a pain! Too small or short or narrow for everything I try to store there. Can't see in them when something does fit and the nearly pull out when you open them. You have to label each drawer too. Not working out so far.

I started filling the Garden Way cart with ingots from the garage. I can't move it and the wheels are sunk in the ground about an inch and a half. Maybe I better use the skid steer.

[Bret4207]

The one big can o'moulds weighed in at 83 lbs. Theres another box with almost 12 more so I don't quite have 100 lbs yet. A personal failing I'll have to work at.

[OldBob]

Trpr. Bret, I live about 8 miles North of Alexandria Bay off Rte. 12 . 1000 Islands Sportsmans is my "home range", only 100yds, but nicely maintained and a great bunch of people. I was wondering where you are stationed?

[Bret4207]

SP Ogdensburg. Kripes! We're neighbors. We used to have another guy out of the A Bay here- RRussell, who we called R2. He moved off to PA and dropped from sight. We have another guy down at Drum. Nice to hear from ya neighbor!

PM me. I'm out 12 all the time. You must be up in Hammond. We probably have passed each other on the road.

[OldBob]

Dang ! That wasn't me , I promise .. :-D :-D I wasn't on that road, not never ! We oughta get a NNY cast boolit crew together for a little shoot

[Pepe Ray]

Trpr Bret.
Do you have a hot water line to the same sink as the troublesome line?
If so, I can help. Got LOTSA Xperiance w/frozen lines. Pepe Ray

[OldBob]

Tpr. Bret...... check yer PM's

[georgeld]

Tpr Bret:
Here's something to think about. Depending on the condition of your floor.
I've "framed' and decked concrete floors, poured in loose insulation and it made a world of difference in the cold feet ordeal.

Am using an unheated shop w/dirt floor now. But, have a good sized apt house boiler I got on trade that's nearly new. Bought a 1000feet of that under floor in concrete PVC piping made for heated anti freeze to warm the floors up. Ran out of money and haven't been able to install that system and pour the floor yet. But, that's all it lacks.

Had a buddy that put it in a 30x40 garage he practically lived in working on/under cars year around. That sure was nice. He made a 3" copper pipe wrapped with 3/4" tubing for the liquids. Ran a large pilot light inside the big tube about 8' long running at an angle and vented outside. Ran just that pilot on natural gas and it kept the floor warm enough to lay on. You might think about doing something like that. I realize down here in Pueblo CO it's not as deep cold, nor for as long as up north where you are. But, it does get pretty darned chilly for a few months most winters. Jim had a cozy garage. Thing that's great about a heated floor is when the door's opened and all the heat goes out. You only have to close the door and it's warm again. You don't have to run the heater an hour to take the chill off.

You can do this over as large, or small an area as you wish too. It take's a special antifreeze, not for cars', but, wouldn't surprize me any that would work too. BUt, might eat up the pvc. Seems like I paid about $540 for a 1000 feet of it delivered.

Contact: www.radiantec.com, they're back in your country someplace.

Another friend rigged his under/in floor system to run a second boiler tank and tubing thru and around a 2' steel pipe he'd rigged up to heat a 60'x 100' trk repair shop that burned used engine oil from a drum on a rack about 5' high that dripped into the fire hole. He COULD turn it up to run a steady stream from a 3/8" tubing, but, the smoke rolling out of the smoke stack looked a lot like a huge pile of tire's on fire. Out in the country that didn't matter much and shouldn't where you're at unless it blows into the house or neighbors complain.

Something a lot of place's back east use is oil heat anyway. I've thought about straining the used oil and or thinning it IF needed and set up a oil pump spray w/air system to get it atomized better than raw dripping. Should be a whole lot less smoke and a lot more heat from the same amount of oil.

Just some thoughts from what I've seen done is all. Wish you well with it.

[Bret4207]

Well. Since SWMBO elnt her Kerosun heater to a teachers aide friend whose family is on hard times (ie- it's their only source of heat and they cook on it too) I broke down and spent some bucks on a Kerosun type of my own. Bought 2 cold start (Garaunteed to start at -10 degrees! RIGHT!!!) 4 ft flourescent units too. The spare washing machine made it to the house and the busted furniture went to the mow. The aforementioned odor of horse was replaced with the heady aroma of beaver castor till I got the freezer hooked up. Dang it takes a lot of work to flesh a beaver hide. At anyrate I got heat, the glass for the windows is measured, and the place looks presentable.

Just wanted to brag that a tiny bit of progress has been made.

[Bret4207]

Well. Since SWMBO lent her Kerosun heater to a teachers aide friend whose family is on hard times (ie- it's their only source of heat and they cook on it too) I broke down and spent some bucks on a Kerosun type of my own. Bought 2 cold start (Garaunteed to start at -10 degrees! RIGHT!!!) 4 ft flourescent units too. The spare washing machine made it to the house and the busted furniture went to the mow. The aforementioned odor of horse was replaced with the heady aroma of beaver castor till I got the freezer hooked up. Dang it takes a lot of work to flesh a beaver hide. At any rate I got heat, the glass for the windows is measured, and the place looks presentable.

Just wanted to brag that a tiny bit of progress has been made.