Reloading Blocks

[carpetman]

Through the years,I have came up with several reloading blocks,but my favorites are the ones I made when I first started. I used oak and although it is higher in cost and harder to work than some woods,it is worth the extra. I say higher in cost,not necessarily. I have seen oak used for pallets and packing material that was thrown away. When I worked for the state,new furniture made of glued sawdust(particle board)plastic covered would come in. The stuff was so flimsy they used oak to pack it,so it wouldn't get broken. The oak was thrown away. Talk about keeping afterbirth and throwing the baby away. Determine what thickness you want the blocks to be. You can set a case next to the block of wood and decide how high up on the case you want the block to be. The block is going to be the exact depth--make no allowances for any extra depth. For 30-06 class,I used 1 1/4". You can use a table saw to get the thickness you want. If you only have 3/4" stock,you can glue two pieces together and cut down to thickness you want(it's a reloading block,not living room furniture). I use about 8" long and 3 3/4" wide. Determine the size holes you want. Mark off for 10 rows of 5 and using drill press is best--drill all the way through the block of wood. Can be carefully done with hand drill if no drill press available. Even if you get some tearing as you drill through it,it wont matter. To minimize this drill through into another block of wood. I think they look better if you leave a little wider border at the ends and sides before you start your rows of holes. Now make a 1/4" thick bottom the size of the block with the holes. Glue the bottom in place and sand the whole thing,apply finish if desired and you have it. Bottoms are flat I know they make a Forstner bit for making flat bottoms,but I can neither spell nor pronounce it so that's how I get the flat bottom.

[beagle]

Carpet...I was looking as some sitting on the shelf the other day. Oak, I beleive. Anyway, they still had the price on the end.....$1.00.

I've had these a long while with that price on them./beagle

[Safeshot]

For "factory made" loading blocks, I like the "old" Midway wood ones. Foe home made I like to make them 2 1/2" wide, 1 1/2" thick and about 14 inches long. Use a router if you have one to cut a rounded groove along the length of each side (makes it much easier to hold on to). I like 13 holes down one side and 12 holes down the other side. This gives a loading block that can be used for 20 rounds or 25 rounds. Make the blocks in sets of two, or in multiples of two. This allows loading 50 rounds at a time. The long narrow blocks with only one row of holes down each side allow the cases to be easily charged with powder "in the block" and allows for easy handling and inspection as well. Forester bits do make nice clean flat bottom holes. I also like to drill a 1/8 ' to 1/4 inch hole all the way through the center of the bottom of each hole. This keeps them from getting "stuff" in the bottom of the holes. When I use the standard 50 round loading blocks I only put 25 cases in the blocks and use the holes around the outside edge of the blocks. Again this makes for easier powder charging and eaiser handling. Just my approach.

[Char-Gar]

Over the years, I have used many loading blocks made from wood and plastic and some of the wood, I made myself. However, by the the best loading blocks I have used are the ones made and sold by Sinclair Intl. They are machined from a solid black of Delrin. You can buy them extra deep and for straight walled rimless cases, they do hold the cases very stueady.

When the blocks, just cruddy, you just run them through the dish washer and they come out like new.

Like everything Sinclair sell, they are high end stuff, but they are worth the extra.

[wills]

Easy way to line up the holes

http://www.incompetech.com/beta/plainGraphPaper/

[Shepherd2]

I agree with Chargar about the Sinclair Int'l loading blocks. They are better than any other block I've ever bought or built. Well worth a couple extra dollars. They are solid machined polyethelene and don't tend to tip over like some of the lightweight molded plastic blocks.

[trooperdan]

Willis, thanks for the link you posted to the site that has print-your-own graph paper; really a very useful link!

[MARCORVET]

Easy way to line up the holes

http://www.incompetech.com/beta/plainGraphPaper/

MANY THANKS FOR THE LINK. BEEN TRYING TO GET ONE OF THESE PROGRAMS TO DO THIS.

[stephen perry]

I started loading back in the early sixities with some plastic/nylon trays my dad got from a shooter supply place mailorder. I still use these trays smack em on the ground once in awhile to clean em up.

I have wood 50, 60, 100's use them occasionally. I have the polycarbonite trays I bought from Russ Haydon similar to Sinclair's 25 pieces but I pack these in my BR loading cases.

To be honest and forget pricing I use tray discards from Range yuppies after they destroy the target stand they were issued. I have collected hundreds of .223, .38. and .45 trays. The 45 trays work good with .473 heads like 06 and its base relatives. I also collect the plastic boxes that held 22 mag and .17 cal stuff. I use the boxes as 100 pks for Cast bullets.

Even though I have the money to buy new I scrounge any chance I get, don't step in my way.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR :Fire:

[Shiloh]

Found an old wooden Midway #5 at the gun show yesterday for $2. Like them better than the plastic ones.

SHiloh

[atr]

I made a couple out of wood when I first started....and I'm still using them....and I've scrounged tray discards from the range which work fine especially if you glue them to a more substantial base..
art

[Doc Highwall]

I like the polyethylene blocks best because you can wash them and they do not crack or split. The thick polyethylene from Sinclair are the best but when I load for my 45-70 or 45-90 I use the wooden blocks for the nostalgic look with the lead bullets.

[Hardcast416taylor]

A neighbor used to work at a plastic molding plant. One of the things they made was a 64 hole tray w/bottom and was 1 1/8" high for the auto industry for small parts. His boss let him have a handful of them that failed inspection. He gave some to me as I was interested. I drilled thru the 3/4" hole and epoxyed 2 together. I have been using this 64 hole loading block for going on 40 years.Robert

[winelover]

In fourty plus years of reloading, NEVER used them! Throw charge, seat bullet and run into die!! Finished product. RCBS Chargemaster is the Cat's Meow when you adhere to this procedure. By the time you run the bullet into die your next weighed charge is ready.

Winelover

[geargnasher]

I have made several nice, caliber-specific loading blocks, but at the end of the day I much prefer the Frankford Arsenal "Perfect fit" reloading blocks, they're cheap, heavy, nicely contoured, and have the correct number of holes. The worst ever is the "universal" tray with which RCBS has been infecting the reloading public for years. It's only good for two head sizes, and has the wrong number of holes for most things.

BTW, Stephen, way to bring back yet ANOTHER thread from the dead!

Gear

[stephen perry]

How much wine along with powder do you spill loading like that. Forty is spelled Forty.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

[hiram]

I had an green MTM ammo box. The lid broke off. I cut about 3/4" up from the bottom with a table or band saw (can't remember) and it works well. I hade to clean fuzzy palstic burr from the cavities. Gives you a 50 or 60 loading block, holes already aligned.

[Doc Highwall]

Where the blocks work great is in case prep like when you do primer pocket uniforming, case trimming and then deburring and you can keep track of how many you did. I use mine all the time for making cast bullet loads where I load for accuracy not volume. Check out the thread that I started under reloading equipment titled Modifying dies for cast bullet shooting and let me know what you think.

[2wheelDuke]

I've always used scrounged commercial ammo trays until just a few days ago. I bought a plastic reloading block that's in a checkerboard pattern, one side fits larger/rimmed cases, the other fits smaller, rimless cases.

I liked it so much that I bought a 2nd one.

[winelover]

How much wine along with powder do you spill loading like that. Forty is spelled Forty.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

It's a sacrilege to spill either. I'd rather knock over one cartridge case of powder than a whole loading block full![smilie=p:

Winelover

[Big Dave]

Most of my loading blocks, homemade or otherwise have five rows of twelve holes. the extra holes let me use one block and not get cases confused. Take a case from head up, charge powder and put in open row mouth up. Reverse down block when seating boolits. Easy to run whole block under a light to sight check powder charges too.

Winelover, if you have had enough to knock over the loading block you oughta go do something elce anyway. :bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2:

[Jon]

I have some of the plastic trays, but the ammo box trays work pretty well for my turret press.

[NavyVet1959]

Well, it gives you a good excuse to buy that small bench top drill press and Fostner bits that you've wanted...

http://images.spambob.net/navy-vet-1959/drill-press-loading-blocks-320w.jpg

By my calculations, those would have cost me $0.21 each if I had been using new 2x6 lumber instead of just some scrap blocks I had around.

[Bullwolf]

My favorite load blocks, are the blue Frankford Arsenal Perfect fit re-loading trays.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510LgGPsebL._SX355_.jpg

These dedicated caliber trays fit much better than the universal ones. Sadly I only have a few of them in the calibers that I load often. They are a tight perfect fit though, and nothing jiggles or gets spilled when using them.

I have lots of the old green RCBS universal loading blocks, that often came in the RCBS reloading starter kits. I've picked up a few more at shows, and gun shops over the years, and probably have at least 6 of em on or under my bench.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=150619&d=1422338037

I use the RCBS universal blocks for just about everything else I do.

As others have said, I love that you just can toss the plastic ones in the dishwasher to clean em.

What I've always disliked about the RCBS trays however was the odd ball number of holes.

http://media.midwayusa.com/productimages/880x660/Primary/437/437070.jpg

80 quantity? 10 rows of 8, when all of my components and cartridge boxes tends to be in lots of 50-100.

So I recently decided to make a wooden loading block for myself, out of an old cabinet front using a Forstner style bit.
http://www.startwoodworking.com/sites/default/files/uploads/taunton/images/4-Forstner-bit(1).jpg
No complaints with how they turned out, other than the alignment hole/dimple that the Forstner bit leaves in the center.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=128985&d=1422587084

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=144251&d=1423623289

I also went with 50 holes, so the number of cartridge holes would match up with my components, and plastic ammo boxes a little better.

A little wood stain for color, some Tru-oil for the finish, and presto a nice looking wooden loading block.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=150618&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1422338156 http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=150617&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1422338136






- Bullwolf

[DonMountain]

After buying a couple of the Stalwart wooden blocks with 5x10 holes about 35 years ago, I figured I could make these myself! Using my Shopsmith and a bunch of left over oak blocks from my cabinet making hobby and a set of closely spaced sized end mills from my milling machine and my router to put the finger hold grooves along the sides, walla! I had the perfect reloading blocks of any size I needed, and the perfect depth of hole I needed. Deeper holes for rifle cartridges and shallower holes for pistol cartridges. Now I have 12 of those blocks and all of my reloading friends have several too. In various kinds of wood. Black walnut, beach, pine, oak, etc. But I like the oak ones best. And thanks for the idea of making them one row longer so I can start with 50 cases and move them to the empty row during the reloading process. So all my new ones will be 5x60 size on 4" x 8-3/4" blocks of oak.

[alamogunr]

I made about a dozen blocks from leftover T&G engineered wood flooring. The flooring was only about 5/8" thick so I laminated 3 thicknesses together at right angles. Calculated the hole spacing I wanted and made spacers to stack as I went from row to row. As another poster mentioned, I used Forstner bits in various sizes for different cartridges.

I found out early on that depth needed to take into consideration where the bottom of the hole would be. Barely touch the junction between layers and it would tear out.

I'm going to look at the Sinclair blocks. I suspect that I will stick with what I have or possibly make some out of some walnut I have in the shop.

Just looked at the Sinclair blocks. My homemade blocks, with all their imperfections, look pretty good.

[SSGOldfart]

Easy way to line up the holes

http://www.incompetech.com/beta/plainGraphPaper/

Wills Thank-you Sir for this link I've been needing this for some time now.

[SSGOldfart]

Anybody tried the new Lyman Aluminum blocks. I think I'll try a couple,I've got a number of home made ones laying around,you can never have to many

[country gent]

I made a jig with the hole pattern in it for 1/2" holes. With it it saves alot of measuring. Put it over the block tighten the 4 srews on 2 sides and transfer punch thru with 1/2" transfer punch. Then with appropriate forester bit drill to depth. The jig is spaced to do 1/2" holes 3/8 arnt bad a little more room between cases, but 5/8 get a little close. I may make a new one with 7/8 hole spacing for 5/8" ( 45-70, 40-65, magnums ect). I made some out of 1/2" thick lexan and they are very good and durable. You can drill thru the jig itself but the steel jig is hard on fostner bits.

[Iowa Fox]

I've got a bunch of different loading blocks but my favorites are the old red and white Herters I got from them over 50 years ago. White for empty primed cases on my right, Red for charged cases on my left. Then the red is moved to my right checked with a pen light for powder level. Bullets seated and placed back in the white try on my left. Same routine for all those years.

[fast ronnie]

I used delrin to make my blocks which are caliber specific. They are one inch thick, 8" wide and 12" long. Each one holds 150 pieces. That gives me room to make a hundred with space between for keeping track of where I'm at.

[EDG]

I would never charge cases like this.
You can double charge or not charge a case and your never have a chance to check the powder charge against all of the others - for 45 years.


In fourty plus years of reloading, NEVER used them! Throw charge, seat bullet and run into die!! Finished product. RCBS Chargemaster is the Cat's Meow when you adhere to this procedure. By the time you run the bullet into die your next weighed charge is ready.

Winelover

[robg]

i use lyman trays had them since 82 work fine .wash them once in a while.

[lightman]

Like most reloaders, I have several. My oldest ones are red plastic and sold by C-H. I have about 8 or 10 of the RCBS ones that I bought at a gun show for a dollar or two each. I agree, who came up with 80 holes? I also have a few of the Sinclair blocks. They are nice. I also have a cnc milled aluminum block made by a guy on accurateshooter.com that is very nice. You can't have too many, and I use them for sorting and counting cases.

[bedbugbilly]

As far as oak "being hard to work" .. . . that all depends on the species . . . what are you taling about? Red Oak or White Oak? Both are used for furniture. White Oak is a lot harder to work than Red Oak but with sharp tooling, White Oak is not that hard to work. The problem with pallet material is that it is not Kiln dried. If you let it set for several years and dry, it will be fine "air dried".

I had an arrangement with a local phone company one time when I had my woodworking/millwork shop to have them dump their empty cable spools off that they wanted to get rid of - at that time, they were not recycled. I would disassemble them - they were held together by 6 or 8 threaded rods - knock the round spool ends off and the boards used to form the "spool" that the cable was wound up on were clear 6/4 "white wood" - i.e. tulip, poplar, basswood. I would stack them in my shop with air spaces between layers for air circualtion and in a year, they were dried out to the right moisture content I used them for many different projects - they would have made great loading blocks. The circular end rims of the spools I usually gave away for folks to use as table tops, etc. We used several as loading bench tops for our range on the farm at the time.

If you want to have a nice flat bottom hole and not drill all the way through the piece of stock which would necessitate glueing a backer on - use a Frostier bit of the correct size for the cartridge. The can be purchased individually at places like Lowes.

[NavyVet1959]

If you want to have a nice flat bottom hole and not drill all the way through the piece of stock which would necessitate glueing a backer on - use a Frostier bit of the correct size for the cartridge. The can be purchased individually at places like Lowes.

The Forstner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drill_bit#Forstner_bits) bits that I am using have a small guide / cutter that leaves a small center indentation / cut in the finished hole, but for this sort of thing, that's perfectly acceptable for me. I bought a set of 7 from Harbor Freight. The set is currently selling for $9.

http://www.harborfreight.com/7-piece-3-8-eighth-inch-shank-1-4-quarter-inch-to-1-inch-titanium-nitride-coated-forstner-bit-set-1903.html

The sizes in the set are: 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 5/8", 3/4", 7/8", 1"

I have been using the 1/2" size for my reloading blocks. It works well enough for 9mm, 10mm, .45ACP, .38 special / .357 mag, .30-06, 7.7x58, .223, .300AAC. It *could* be used for .44 special / mag, but it's a snug fit, so I would probably go the next size up if I was going to make a reloading block for that or .45LC.

The Forstner bits at Harbor Freight and at Home Depot seem to only be in diameters of multiple of 1/8". If you need something between those sizes (i.e. a multiple of 1/16" or 1/32"), you will probably have to order them individually from one of the specialty woodworking stores online.

http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/forsbit.htm

Although the 9mm works in the 1/2" hole, it would be too small in the 3/8" hole, so if you wanted a better fit, the 7/16" bit might be a better fit. For the .45-70, a 5/8" would work.

Of course, once you get the set of bits and see how nice of holes it cuts, you start thinking about other things for them... Like would a thinner bullet tray with shallower holes drilled into it be useful? Hmmm...

[Doc Highwall]

When I reload I use two re-loading blocks at the same time, one has 50 cases in it, and the other one is empty when I start. When I prime or charge the case I pick one up from the full re-loading block and after the operation I place it into the empty re-loading block, this assures I do each case.

[Walter Laich]

Echoing what has been said here, the plastic ones are my present favorites

After filling a try with 50 pieces of brass I give it a spray of lube to make the resizing easier. Doing this a number of times will cause a buildup and a quick trip through the dishwasher removes it.

I still have some homemade loading block (50 holes) that my Dad made in early 1960's that work well when spray lube is not needed

[NavyVet1959]

Echoing what has been said here, the plastic ones are my present favorites

After filling a try with 50 pieces of brass I give it a spray of lube to make the resizing easier. Doing this a number of times will cause a buildup and a quick trip through the dishwasher removes it.

I still have some homemade loading block (50 holes) that my Dad made in early 1960's that work well when spray lube is not needed

There's nothing saying that you can't run a wooden reloading block through the dishwasher also. People have been running wooden spoons, cutting boards, and such through dishwashers for quite awhile. On a side note, the oil that you use for food service items like that is mineral oil -- the same that is sold as a *laxative* in the pharmacy. :)

[alamogunr]

The Forstner(subtle?) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drill_bit#Forstner_bits) bits that I am using have a small guide / cutter that leaves a small center indentation / cut in the finished hole, but for this sort of thing, that's perfectly acceptable for me. I bought a set of 7 from Harbor Freight. The set is currently selling for $9.

http://www.harborfreight.com/7-piece-3-8-eighth-inch-shank-1-4-quarter-inch-to-1-inch-titanium-nitride-coated-forstner-bit-set-1903.html

The sizes in the set are: 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 5/8", 3/4", 7/8", 1"

I have been using the 1/2" size for my reloading blocks. It works well enough for 9mm, 10mm, .45ACP, .38 special / .357 mag, .30-06, 7.7x58, .223, .300AAC. It *could* be used for .44 special / mag, but it's a snug fit, so I would probably go the next size up if I was going to make a reloading block for that or .45LC.

The Forstner bits at Harbor Freight and at Home Depot seem to only be in diameters of multiple of 1/8". If you need something between those sizes (i.e. a multiple of 1/16" or 1/32"), you will probably have to order them individually from one of the specialty woodworking stores online.

http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/forsbit.htm

Although the 9mm works in the 1/2" hole, it would be too small in the 3/8" hole, so if you wanted a better fit, the 7/16" bit might be a better fit. For the .45-70, a 5/8" would work.

Of course, once you get the set of bits and see how nice of holes it cuts, you start thinking about other things for them... Like would a thinner bullet tray with shallower holes drilled into it be useful? Hmmm...

Look at Grizzly Forstner bits. A few years ago Fine Woodworking ran a test on Forstner bits and found Grizzly to be a very good buy. I bought the full set and later added a fill in set that had 1/32" increments.

On a separate note, but still on topic, I appreciate the tips on using blocks. The next ones I make will be more than 50 holes. Or I will make duplicates of all the sizes I use so there will be no possibility of double charges. My usual procedure is to keep one empty hole between empty and charged cases. I've had to dump a whole line of cases more than once. You would think I would be smarter than that.

[Tom W.]

My son made me some out of extruded plastic when He was working between college terms. I threw my home made wooden ones out.....

[Tackleberry41]

Have never owned a commercially made loading block. A piece of scrap 2x4 and a forstner bit does the job.

[NavyVet1959]

Have never owned a commercially made loading block. A piece of scrap 2x4 and a forstner bit does the job.

Yep... 16 minutes worth of work and basically zero cost if you are using scrap that you already had on hand from another project... Can't beat the cost...

OK... Add in the cost for the 1 beer that you drink during / after the project... <burp>

[JSnover]

I made some out of aluminum, years ago. Also made a few decent wooden loading blocks from old metal stamp sets. Most of the stamps were missing, so the leftovers were consolidated and the empty boxes were going to be thrown out. A few quick passes on the belt sander made them look pretty nice.

[rugerdude]

I have several that I made out of oak and a few of the "universal" plastic ones. My wood ones are my favorites by far. Besides being a lot better looking than the cheapo plastic trays, there's just something satisfying about using stuff that you made yourself.

[country gent]

Plastic blocks could be made easily with the liquid fiberglass kits . Make a mould with wood dowels and boards ( it will need to be mirror image of blocks. Pins where you want holes) coat with oil or wax. Mix clear fiber glass and pour into moulds let cure. remove from mould / form. Wonder how many you could get from a 1 quart body repair kit?