Loading bench pics

[FWest]

Yes and yes. Works great. I had been using a single stage. Now I can do about 3-4 times the reloading in the same time. Worked perfect right out of the box.

[Matt_G]

Finally got my room squared away. Built a new bench, put in the shelves and pegboard.
This is a huge improvement over what I had just two weeks ago.






In this next pic the lead in the tote is clip on wheel weight with 2% tin already in it.
The tin laying on top of the tote is my entire stash of tin. Only about 7 pounds.
The lead in the box to the left of the bench is some I made up for a rifle many years ago using enrichment metal from GAR's Reloading out of West Patterson, NJ.
I figure it to be roughly 92% Pb, 6% Sb, 2% Sn. That is all the lead in the house.
The rest of my stash is in the crawlspace.

[Patrick L]

Matt,

Nice job. Its nicw to see someone else who is a fan of the RCBS AmmoMaster progressive. We are a minority in a largely Blue world! (Nothing against Dillon.)

[Matt_G]

Thanks Patrick.
I love that AmmoMaster progressive. The only thing I dislike is changing primer size.
I would really like to find another one just so I could leave one setup for large primers and the other for small primers.
Seems like those that have these presses must really like them though! I never see them on FleaBay.
I've actually considered buying a Hornady LNL Progressive.
Sacrilegious I know.

Have you used the newer Pro2000 progressive by chance?

[Patrick L]

Matt,

No, I have not. But I often thought if for any reason I needed to get a new press, the 2000 Auto would be the way I would go.

Its funny how this worked out, but I do have two presses, one for large primer, one for small. I don't have another Ammomaster, but rather a Piggyback II, which was the design the Ammomaster developed from. Years ago I was given a PB conversion from a dear friend who took pity on a poor young schoolteacher who was loading all of his ammo on a single stage press. I did have to switch between large and small primer feeds at that time. I loaded all my pistol ammo on that. When the need came to load .30-06 progressively, I went with the Ammomaster since it was basically a stretch of the same system, took the same shellplates, etc. (At the time the longest rounds you could load on a PB was a .223 length case. I think the current PB will handle longer rounds.) Anyhow I now load .38 special, .357 Magnum, 9mm when I had one, .223, and .30 carbine (all small primer and short enough) on the Piggyback and .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .45 ACP, .30-30, .30-06, and 7.7 Jap (all large primer) on the ammomaster.

BTW, my setup with my Ammomaster is WAAYY back on p.7 of this thread, post #125.

[Matt_G]

Matt heads back to page 7...

Nice setup Patrick. Got enough Mec's?

[eastwa]

I never get tired of looking at bench photos.
Lots of good ideas documented here.

[be603]

Oh noooo, Vitamin R.

[Tom-n8ies]

Three years later and mine still looks the same. A thing of beauty.

There are some fantastic bench pictures at http://accuratereloading.com/

They also have a funny video of a really big gun on youtube this is a must see if you haven't yet.

http://youtube.com/results?search_qu...&search=Search

Here's mine

tom

[LAH]

Three years later and mine still looks the same. A thing of beauty.

A work of art fer sure.

[Matt_G]

I decided to add another bench to my room yesterday. I needed something to cast on.
I was using a fold-up card table with a piece of particle board on it to protect it from the heat.
I despised that damn thing.

This is just a scaled down version of my bench pictured above on this same page.
(I used the NRMA plans)
Instead of 42"H X 34"D X 72"W, this one is 30"H X 24"D X 42"W.

So without further ado, here is the new addition to the family.

[bcr]

Matt,

That's a great looking bench you have there. Did you design it? Do you have drawings/plans of it?

[Matt_G]

Thanks bcr.
No, I didn't design this. I don't have a creative molecule in my body.
The plans for this bench were published by the National Reloaders Manufacturers Association years ago. I followed them to a tee, except for scaling down the casting bench of course. There are also plans for a top cabinet section in there that I chose to fore-go.
You can get those plans here:
NRMA Reloading Bench

Here is another web page that has links to two more sets of plans in addition to the NRMA plans.
Link to more bench plans
Note that bench #1 does NOT have the necessary overhang for a reloading press.
I thought that second bench was quite ingenious. It would be a fantastic solution for someone in an apartment.

If you build one, have fun and post a picture when you're done.

[bcr]

Thanks Matt, that's great, I didn't recognize it as the bottom of the NRMA bench.

I hadn't thought of building the bottom first either, but that's an excellent idea. It looks a lot easier to build the bottom and then the top could be added later as needed.

[PatMarlin]

Three years later and mine still looks the same. A thing of beauty.

You don't smoke do you Tom? ...

You guys are making my drool with those RCBS casting pots. Been wanting one for a long time.

[bcr]

Here's my little setup. It works pretty well with the space we have currently.

Note the festive red and green Christmas motif.

Also note that like many others I am incapable of drilling holes in my bench top.

[CiDirkona]

I bet you're GREAT at Jenga!

[RANGER RICK]

Matt

Very nice set up indeed..
I can see you are also a fan of many primers !!! That is eye candy for sure .
Thanks for the photo's

RR

I decided to add another bench to my room yesterday. I needed something to cast on.
I was using a fold-up card table with a piece of particle board on it to protect it from the heat.
I despised that damn thing.

This is just a scaled down version of my bench pictured above on this same page.
(I used the NRMA plans)
Instead of 42"H X 34"D X 72"W, this one is 30"H X 24"D X 42"W.

So without further ado, here is the new addition to the family.



Having that extra shelf space allowed me to get all my casting stuff off the main bench and onto this one. That in turn allowed me to get the rest of my powder and all my primers out of the spare room and onto the shelf with the rest of the powder. Now that all that is out of the spare room, the junky el cheapo Rubbermaid shelves are going to go bye-bye. That will make Annie very happy.

[rogsir]

In control of everything....

[Matt_G]

On Thursday morning, I decided I needed one more modification to the main bench pictured above on this same page.
I only had one outlet on the wall where the bench is and the bench itself made it a pain to reach, so I was using a power strip to get more outlets.
After thinking on it a while, I decided to wire in some outlets on the bench.
Some hot, others half hot, half switched.
In other words, a semi fancy extension cord.
Here's some shots after getting the boxes mounted and the rough wiring done.

Notice the broken powder measure adapter tube for my AmmoMaster.
Did that while working on this. Don't ask how...



Notice that my source is a 3 prong plug on the end of the Romex behind the bench.





I wanted 3 switched outlets so I could leave the light, the Kat's heater for the lube/sizer, and my electronic scale plugged in all the time and use the switches to control them.
Anyways, here is the finished bench. All the magic smoke is still inside the boxes.





The 2 receptacle/4 outlet box is hot. The 3 single receptacle boxes are half switched.
I think I am finally done messing around with these benches, or I will be after dealing with the cord for the fluorescent light.
It sure has been fun doing all this and I am very happy with the results.