"Breaking your Routine"…BENCH TIPS

[JohnH]

When I'm loading bottleneck cases with pistol powders I use the stem of a tire air pressure gauge to drop in the case. The stem is marked with numbers and it's quite easy to note any change in the volume of powder in the case. I will fill a loading tray of charged cases then drop the stem in every case.

[3006guns]

Regarding those pesky shellholders.......I came up with the same idea as OS OK, except mine was a simple board with nails and each position numbered. It worked great until it fell one day and I had to sort them all out. On the edge of the shelf is a MUCH better idea.

I was in Wally World's sporting section one day..........back when they used to carry ammunition.......and spotted something in the fishing gear. It was a fairly large, compartmentized plastic box for fishing lures. They were made of an opaque, slightly flexible, durable plastic with 24 compartments and a snap lid. I simply put all my shellholders in one, starting at the rear and going left to right......i.e., back row, 1,2,3,4,5,6.....second row, 7,8,9,10,11,12 and so on. The only minor drawback is that I have "other than RCBS" shellholders with similar numbers, but all in all it works quite well and stores on a shelf until needed....and if I drop it the results are less frustrating!

The boxes were only about $3 and I bought several for sizing dies, etc.

[dudel]

Also regarding the pesky shellholders..... I got real lazy and did pick up that compartmentalized box in Walmart. I had the same issue with shell holder numbers (different vendors use different numbers for the same caliber), so I labeled the box by caliber.

Stores in very little space, and keeps the Lee AutoPrimes together with the appropriate shell holder. The colored dots also serve to quickly identify calibers. Blue=9mm, Green = 38Spl/357Mag/357Max. Red = 45GAP/45ACP, Yellow=30 Carb, Orange=223/300BO. Projectiles and tool heads have the same color.

[r1kk1]

Lee sells empty shellholder boxes. Titan carries them.

take care

r1kk1

[ncbearman]

"Where's that danged shell holder…I just saw it last week?"


Attachment 163274

This is awesome. I have just the place for this in my place. Sorry to say though I've been reloading for 50 years now. But hey, learn something new every day.

btw- you have your .380 auto holders on the wrong dowels.......................

[ncbearman]

Attachment 161915Attachment 161914

Now…this is just me…I like to de prime before I clean the brass in order to clean primer pockets and flash holes and I use the SS Pins in a wet tumbler.
Yes…it is extra work and time involved…but…being OCD I just have to go that way and I love that brand-new look of the cases.

So…that being said, I use the cheap Lee press with the universal de priming die for this. I mounted the little press on top of 1/4X20 hex nuts to afford more space to contain spent primers and provide an easy way to dump them out. I use a C-Clamp to attach the press to the bench.
That rubber band holds the primers from escaping from under the press.

Oh yeah! Nothing like clean primer pockets. Gotta have em'. I too de-prime before tumbling.

[OS OK]

This is awesome. I have just the place for this in my place. Sorry to say though I've been reloading for 50 years now. But hey, learn something new every day.

btw- you have your .380 auto holders on the wrong dowels.......................

Thanks for the close observation…but…the 'two' dowel idea is to put those Lee shell holders for the 'Auto prime XR' on a separate dowell…the left dowels are for the presses and are a mix of mfgrs.
Doncha just love pictures? They take a post to another level entirely!

[edadmartin]

I'd say don't load if you are still on pain melds from surgery so. I started a reload session,then had an emergency surgery,after a few weeks of healing I picked up where I left off, finished 100 and went to the range an after about 10 rounds I got a squid,thankfully no kaboom I did hear the primer and stopped . I then had no confidence in any of the 100 rounds I had done during this time. My foggy head couldn't remember exactly which boxes I had done before or after. In the end I had to pull 175 rounds.i now document every session with down load able info cards. And post its if I get interrupted, ill never reload if on meds it's unsafe and a waste of time and materials.some corners can't be cut.

[1895gunner]

Really enjoyed all the posts here. Great stuff and funny how our minds work very much alike in many ways.

Rules for the bench:

1. Always only one powder, one bullet type & one caliber at a time on the bench (accessible)
2. Always finish what has been started - period (I use a single stage so I work in batches of 50 max)
3. Always place shell holders back with the dies in the die boxes
4. Always measure starting powder weight and mid-way through and at the end of every batch on the scale (I use powder measures for each caliber and each is marked for which caliber and which load).
5. Always identify load info with each batch on the canister they are stored in
6. All equipment, powders, primers, bullets get put away immediately after batch is completed

I did add a new bullet inventory/storage practice on my bench last week which is working well for me.














Only one bin open at a time during reloading!


1895gunner

[OS OK]

One of my sons who designs sets for Hollywood Studios in 'shooting commercials'…would remark…"OK, lighting is good, sets clean, nobody has left any burger wrappers around…looks great, lets shoot!"

charlie