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[max range]

Mount a small shelf on the wall at eyeball level right above your loading press. Put your balance beam scale on it. You will get an accurate read on the hash marks, and near the wall, it is not affected by air currents. You can also insure the shelf is clean from drill press/sander/saw/grinder grit by wiping it down before you set the scale down. Just make sure nothing else gets stored there.

I keep my scale there, covered up with a plastic cover and store the balance beam in another location. My second scale is an electronic one that I use only as a co--witness. It is placed on the loading bench top in a handy spot. It can be read at just about any angle.

[bpratl]

Mount a small shelf on the wall at eyeball level right above your loading press. Put your balance beam scale on it. You will get an accurate read on the hash marks, and near the wall, it is not affected by air currents. You can also insure the shelf is clean from drill press/sander/saw/grinder grit by wiping it down before you set the scale down. Just make sure nothing else gets stored there.
I keep my scale there, covered up with a plastic cover and store the balance beam in another location. My second scale is an electronic one that I use only as a co--witness. It is placed on the loading bench top in a handy spot. It can be read at just about any angle.

+2
I did the same thing and to aid old tiring eyes I hot glued a large magnifying glass, stripped from a old slide viewer, to a piece of wood and placed it in front of the "zero" marks on the scale.

[Moonie]

Mount a small shelf on the wall at eyeball level right above your loading press. Put your balance beam scale on it. You will get an accurate read on the hash marks, and near the wall, it is not affected by air currents. You can also insure the shelf is clean from drill press/sander/saw/grinder grit by wiping it down before you set the scale down. Just make sure nothing else gets stored there.

I keep my scale there, covered up with a plastic cover and store the balance beam in another location. My second scale is an electronic one that I use only as a co--witness. It is placed on the loading bench top in a handy spot. It can be read at just about any angle.

Awesome idea, I don't know why I never thought about this.

[kbstenberg]

Today I found out that the plastic trays that hold 38/357 ammunition are good for multiple uses for .223 cases. The trays make good loading blocks. Which got me to thinking. I had some old Herters slip top ammo boxes for 38/357. Wala Loaded .223 ammo fits snugly in the boxes an the tops slip on the bottoms almost to the fully closed position so the friction fit keeps the covers in place.
Being cheap. I really disliked throughing the old used 9 volt batteries away every year when we changed the smoke detector batteries. So to reuse the batteries I purchased a Chrony Chronograph for my Christmas present. Now I can save 4$ a year on my chronograph
I hope this helps someone Kevin

[Nazgul]

Put my lead pot inside an old cookie pan, has a 1/2" lip. If it leaks it can't overflow onto you/bench/floor.

Don

[waksupi]

Got old stereo speakers laying around? Take them apart, and get the rare earth magnet out of them. They should have a hole in the center. Take a screw, and mount one near your drill press. They will keep firm hold on your keys, chucks, countersinks, and whatever else you need handy. Screw one to your work bench to hold needle files, rotary tools, and small items commonly used.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

Never fry bacon in the nude...

Rich

[Chicken Thief]

Got old stereo speakers laying around? Take them apart, and get the rare earth magnet out of them. They should have a hole in the center. Take a screw, and mount one near your drill press. They will keep firm hold on your keys, chucks, countersinks, and whatever else you need handy. Screw one to your work bench to hold needle files, rotary tools, and small items commonly used.

And when all your tools are magnetic they'll never shead swarf again!
A magnetic file is a PITA in my opinion, but that's just me.

[waksupi]

And when all your tools are magnetic they'll never shead swarf again!
A magnetic file is a PITA in my opinion, but that's just me.

I kinda thought that would be a problem, but really don't have much of a problem with it. But then again, I have the air hose to blow them clean!

[Ole]

Here's a tip for bulk/plinking ammo storage:

If you're using an ammo can to bulk store ammo, weigh it empty, then weigh the rounds that are in the can. That way when you label the can, you also label the tare weight and rounds/lb so if you have a postal scale, you know how much ammo is in your can.






So in this case: 26.35lbs - 3.6lbs for the container = 22.75 rounds of ammo.

22.75 rounds x 20 rounds/lb = I know there are about 455 rounds in that can without having to keep track.

[Jim_Fleming]

C. T. You're not wrong, but it's easy enough to gently rap the edge of the magnetized file on the edge of a wooden workbench and the filings instantly fall right off. No air gun needed.

And when all your tools are magnetic they'll never shead swarf again!
A magnetic file is a PITA in my opinion, but that's just me.

Sent from my Droid

[joken]

I'm new at this casting business so this may not be news to most of you. I was cleaning lube from freshly loaded rounds. I had a jug of mineral spirits on the bench so I moistened the rag and not only did the lube come off easily, it made the lead shine. Ken

[Net_Ranger101]

lightly spray silicone on bullets with soft lube to keep them from sticking together
helps the lube to stay in the bullets grove...

tape several layers of newspaper on your bench to keep the silicone from going everywhere stack the bullets in nice rows SPRAY LIGHTLY a little goes a long way

[mrbillbus]

Never fry bacon in the nude...

Rich

Don't pick up a cat with super glue on your hands.

Never pet a burning dog.

Tuck, then zip.

[mfraser264]

Good castings are produced with consistent metal temp and mold temp. Keep it consistent! Being in low pressure die casting with metal molds, we are always fighting mold temp and getting the process consistent. As both mold halves temp’s are monitored along with metal temp and cycle time, the key is keeping it the same. Leave a mold open for 3 minutes and the temp will drop 100 degrees and the next casting will have shrink.

Changing time and temp will generate more scrap immediately. This is proven as we x-ray 100% of the casting with real-time X-ray and can see the result of the changes quickly. Someday when I get a chance I want to X-ray some .30 caliber lead castings and see where the shrink is. Centerline shrink is an issue that most casting process contend with and casting lead in molds is no different.

I have moved to casting 1 mold at a time for limit the variables and lessen the wasted nonproductive motions of the process. Will be weighing a group form this process and will be interested in the results.

[Michael J. Spangler]

when trying to remove blood from you're favorite clown costume use a solution of 50% bleach and 50% cotton candy

that is all

[Christorbust]

Put my lead pot inside an old cookie pan, has a 1/2" lip. If it leaks it can't overflow onto you/bench/floor.

Don

+1
I cannot say how great of an idea that is.

I was casting yesterday, and when adding ingots one of them knocked my bottom pour spout open. Don't know how, but I do know that molten lead was coming out in a hurry! Fortunately I had 3 sets of four ingot molds and could catch it all till I could figure out what was going on.

I'll be talking bad about my wive's cookie pans till she decides she needs to "throw one out" and get a new one Thanks for the tip!

[Wolfer]

A few pages back there was some posts on seater depths for different bullets, guns, etc.
What works for me is I have one dummy made in each caliber. It's usually on the lands of some gun or another,doesn't really matter. My loaded ammo boxes will have say ( 1/4 RD SOD) meaning 1/4 round short of dummy. Then if I change my die to crimp or not to crimp its a simple matter to go to the correct seating depth.

[mr.jake]

A .38sw lee powder through expander die will eliminate swagging of your 9mm boolits and still charge your case with powder.

[gmsharps]

If at the end of a loading sesson you forget to empty the power reservoir and you return some days later and wonder what powder that is. Get rid of it. Do not take the chance of guessing the wrong powder.

gmsharps