What did you do at your reloading bench today?

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  • Sticky

    Beware of Dog
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 16, 2013
    4,501
    AA Co
    I have used Xtreme for years, good stuff. Hit the range today on the way back from York, burned a couple hundred rounds of 9 through the Macro version and the two mags, no issues at all. Deprimed, wet tumbled and they are actually drying in the oven on warm as I type. Picked up a few more than I shot, so I have a good batch of 9mm ready to load soon.
     

    guzma393

    Active Member
    Jan 15, 2020
    736
    Severn, MD
    Been 3d printing bullet dropping dies as of late. The 9mm die seems to be working great, but I run into the occasional misfeed from time to time. Also printed out a 30 cal bullet dropping die and a 223 bullet dropping die. Would be nice to get those working with their respective bullet collators.

    I finally hooked up a 10rpm DC motor on my bullet collator. Motor driver supposedly contains a rheostat and toggle switch, but the toggle switch does not work. No biggie as will eventually install a light sensor switch on it, but I been working around it by simply toggling the power strip it is hooked up onto.

     

    85MikeTPI

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 19, 2014
    2,699
    Ceciltucky
    Loaded 100 12ga trap loads. First time using the MEC as it was designed, with a shot bottle and 1-1/8 Oz charge bar.

    Found that some SuperX 6pt hulls got mixed up in with the Win universal which made for some interesting crimps

    Only forgot to put one wad in, nice mess.

    Overall a pleasant experience watching a loaded shell coming out on every pull of the handle. Different then my slug and buck loading.
     
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    FN509Fan

    Ultimate Member
    Speaking of shelves. I got a $100 Home Depot gift card for xmas and turned it into shelving for my reloading bench and 3 can lights above it. Needs a little more vertical support with all the lead and brass weight. Also turns out I need more light directly over the presses when working at night.
    bench.jpg
     

    inkd

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 4, 2009
    7,512
    Ridge
    I got the final pieces needed to put together a new inline fabrication mount for a Dillon.
     

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    gungate

    NRA Patron Member
    Apr 5, 2012
    16,731
    Damascus. MD
    Speaking of shelves. I got a $100 Home Depot gift card for xmas and turned it into shelving for my reloading bench and 3 can lights above it. Needs a little more vertical support with all the lead and brass weight. Also turns out I need more light directly over the presses when working at night.
    View attachment 402530

    I suggest the below for the can lights. I put them in my shop and it was truly life-changing.

    Bulbs Amazon
     

    FN509Fan

    Ultimate Member
    Worked on .44 Magnum and .44 Special today.

    Ordered some bullets from XTREME as they have FREE SHIPPING through Tuesday February 14th.
    Of all the useless gun sales emails I get, I'd love to get text alerts for reloading components. Always tempting to buy more when it's on sale, but as everyone can see from my last post, I need to shoot some before buying more. I started the shelves on Friday and interspersed working on that with loading 45 Auto Rim and Colt on my single stage for some therapy.

    I suggest the below for the can lights. I put them in my shop and it was truly life-changing.

    Bulbs Amazon
    My cans are fake (like my first fiance). They are the puck type LED lights and are the only thing I could use because the soffit above my reloading bench has the heating duct running through it.
     

    Uncle Duke

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 2, 2013
    11,667
    Not Far Enough from the City
    Speaking of shelves. I got a $100 Home Depot gift card for xmas and turned it into shelving for my reloading bench and 3 can lights above it. Needs a little more vertical support with all the lead and brass weight. Also turns out I need more light directly over the presses when working at night.
    View attachment 402530

    Nice job on your shelving! And yes, as you (like many before you) have discovered, it can be a real challenge storing reloading components.

    Most packages of reloading components will tend to have 3 things in common. One, they tend to be small in size. Two, they tend to be numerous. And three, they tend to be heavy, and oftentimes very heavy.

    As an example, I received 4 boxes of bullets this week. Each box measured somewhere around 8x8x8 inches. Each box of bullets was different, and would ideally be stored seperately. And each box weighed in the neighborhood of 16 pounds. You don't put many such boxes on typical household shelving.

    The more cartridges one loads for, the more storage challenges one has. Ideally, you want to be able to see your inventory at a glance. And you'll likely have and want multiple bullet types available to you for each of the cartridges you load. Maybe 5 or 6 choices or more in many instances, times the number of cartridges you load for. Before you know it, storage has absolutely taken on a life of its own. You almost need numerous small and heavy duty cubby holes, to be able to see and know what you have at a glance. No small concern in knowing either, because of course it's always better to be organized.

    To your point mentioned elsewhere, when you see deals? You want to be able to know very quickly, what you do (as well as what you don't) actually need. Half of what I'd actually like to have on this, and twice what I actually need on that, is what one finds otherwise.

    Many reloading benches look like a disaster area. Speaking strictly for myself, I've never really put the thought into this facet of reloading that it takes to get the storage bit even close to being right. As a result, and probably like many and most reloaders (if they're telling the truth), I've gotten the storage piece of reloading nowhere near as refined as I'd like. Getting it right REALLY requires a lot of thought, and a lot of foresight regarding what you might encounter and need as your hobby grows. Which is a kinder way of me saying that my own area and shelves often resemble something more akin to an Easter Egg hunt. Or put another way, 10 pounds of shitty in a 5 pound baggie. As in, God himself, on his best day, might not know what I might find.
     

    Sticky

    Beware of Dog
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 16, 2013
    4,501
    AA Co
    I just keep adding industrial shelving units in addition to the shelves I added when I built a bench for my Dillon. The stand alone shelf units can handle a lot of weight and the shelves I added to the bench were from 2x4s so they can handle whatever I want to put on them. I still don't have enough of them tho... :sad20:
     

    Harrys

    Short Round
    Jul 12, 2014
    3,362
    SOMD
    Speaking of shelves. I got a $100 Home Depot gift card for xmas and turned it into shelving for my reloading bench and 3 can lights above it. Needs a little more vertical support with all the lead and brass weight. Also turns out I need more light directly over the presses when working at night.
    View attachment 402530
    Nice Job, I had my previous loading bench on top of a Husky tool chest which worked OK. It's now my leather crafting bench which works out great. There were some draw backs since it had wheels it would wiggle even the wheels were locked. Also, I needed to stand to do all my work and the bench was only 4-foot wide. I decide to make a new bench 51/2 feet long by 4 1/2 feet deep. I made it heavy duty and at desk height. I bought a comfy chair and engineered it so I can just clamp the equipment in place. I went to Lowes and bought cheap 2x6s and 4x4s planed them down and sanded them. All for about 90 bucks and put it together with some timber screws that I had left over from building my deck. I store the equipment under the bench and bring it out when I need it. This gives me plenty of room to clean rifles and pistols. The top of the bench is poured epoxy making it imperviable to cleaners and oils. The top is 2 inches thick built on a 4x4 frame. I put a draw in the center underneath to store scales, molds and dies. The framing is held together with timber screws which can be removed to break down the bench in minutes. There is no flexing of the one arm bandit and sitting is just easier.


    bench.jpg
     
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    SavageShooter

    Active Member
    Jan 10, 2014
    644
    Arbutus, MD
    Loaded 50 .44 Magnums with Berry's 240 grain plated flat points. Trying a powder I never used before Ramshot Enforcer. I've always used Hodgdon 110 or Winchester 296 both are the same powder made by Hodgdon. These will be test loads shot through a Marlin Cowboy Lever Action with a 24" barell.
     
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    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    Loaded a bit of everything for my new to me 27-2 for a range day Friday.

    Some coated MBC LSWC on top of 4.6 and 4.8gr of BE.
    coated MBC LSWC on top of 4.6, 4.8 and 5.0gr of TG
    plated Xtreme SWC on top of 4.8, 5.0 and 5.2gr of TG
    RNFMJ on top of 5.6, 5.8 and 6.0gr of TG
    XTPs on top of 16.0, 16.4 and 16.7gr of H110

    All 158gr bullets.

    If I have the time, I'll load some Xtreme SWC on top of Bullseye also. Plus, I have some 158gr 38spc loads to try in it loaded with 3.4gr of BE (3.6?).

    Then back to the factory she goes to get a yoke screw threading fixed.
     

    85MikeTPI

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 19, 2014
    2,699
    Ceciltucky
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    Not a reloading bench, but still a bench

    Finally fired up my lead pot Brickman helped me acquire. Processed ~150lb of pure lead (sheet and stick on) and ~140lb of WW clip on Ive been gathering for the past 6mos.

    Nice cool day at camp, perfect for 700d pot work, just took a bit to get up to temp.
     

    MuddyBoots45

    Member
    Mar 5, 2022
    4
    97d7c257953d270ee9b47e1cd2967d14.jpg

    Best thing I did at the bench yesterday was clean off the top when I was done. Loaded some 200gr RNFP 45acp for the S&W 625.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

    erwos

    The Hebrew Hammer
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 25, 2009
    13,866
    Rockville, MD
    Cranked out ~400 9mm and ~175 45 and gauged/boxed them. Should keep me going through at least part of March, I hope. When the shooting season is fully spun up in April and I'm going through 500-1000 a month, I suspect I'm going to be practically living in my reloading room at night.

    Did manage to burn through the rest of my Bullseye powder when loading the 45, so now it's time to see if there's any other pistol powder I want to get rid of... otherwise, it'll finally be time to work up a long-term Titegroup load.
     

    Sticky

    Beware of Dog
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 16, 2013
    4,501
    AA Co
    Not at the reloading bench yet, more like the workbench, but tomorrow they will get loaded up. Cast a couple hundred 147gr RN from the NOE mold, HTC coated and since have been sized and ready to load up.

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