I know this may...in a way...sound odd...

I have come to realize that it is perfectly possible to become overwhelmed with too much equipment, or perhaps incorrect or surplus loading equipment- at least for me. I'm fine with the mix of brands that I have, a hodge-podge of miscellaneous items that when put together make a decent loading set up.
However, I've almost gotten to the point that I want to pull out my hair because of the stuff I have- I don't know what to load next, and it gives me a headache! Sometimes it just takes a good look from a different vantage point to almost realize I have more stuff to load all the various calibers that I rarely shoot. In ways it comforts me to know I can nearly load anything, but in other ways I'm disappointed I've spent this much on it.

For instance, I ask myself "Did I really need that set of .33 Winchester dies? So what if they were only $7.50"

Oh well, I'll get over it...but for some reason it really hit me tonight.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

Yes, I think we all purchase stuff we don't need. On top of that is at least with me, my interest changes as I get older. What I found was important years ago, isn't on the radar today.

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NRA Benefactor Member

Enough? Yes. Too much? Nah. I ran out of room in the basement, now it's taken over my living room. Oh well, it's more comfy up there!

no 3 presses 5 powder measures etc etc........

So, you're saying you need to shoot more?

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Science plus Art

papajohn, you're a pack rat. Do you use all that?

My main "problem" is the ammo boxes. I have so many different colors and makes for so many different calibers.

I always label them but do a lot of experimenting with different powders and weights. So I pull a box say for 45 ACP and try to find one already labeled. Of course I can't so I need a new label. Then I have a blue one, a green one, clear , RCBS, Berry, MTD FA, zip lock. Berrys Black boxes etc etc.

I want to get rid of them all and color code everything. Is that OCD enough

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Still Running Against the Wind

The worst thing is- the different brand don't stack well together.

Next, how to carry and store all those full ammo boxes?
.50 caliber cans are useless- they don't store enough, while the big cans (20mm?) hold an odd number of boxes and there is too much space left over when filled and once filled can be a hassle to move.

I wonder how many loose, loaded .38 Specials it would take to fill a big ammo can? I figure about 8K. Although, no one could pick it up after being filled.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

Every bit. I don't shoot 60,000 rounds a year anymore but I keep adding new calibers, and shooting the old ones too. But yeah, I am kind of a pack rat. And a well-known hoarder of reloading components, too. It's a sickness.

I'm in a 10'X16' building right now for my reloading needs. That houses the Hornady LNL AP I rarely use and quite a bit of other "stuff". So, my solution is to move into a 12'X32" building, so I have a little bit of elbow room.

This is when it was "clean" and organized and I didn't have as much powder as I have now.

That's what I mean. I have one of those huge Rubbermaid storage containers full of boxes in the garage. When I need one I have to dig around to find the right ones. I have tried organizing them but no use.

Kinda like the kitchen. I want my wife to pitch all the plastic storage containers and buy one of those sets with 30 or 40 so they are all the same. Takes me 15 minutes to find the correct lid.

I think I am going to take an inventory and set a color for each caliber and buy all the same brand in different colors and sell or give away all these other.

Papajohn, at least all your stuff seems well organized unless you tidied up as company was coming.

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Still Running Against the Wind

Yes, I have always wanted to mess with .25-20 WCF. I have dies and few hundred bullets, but no rifle, yet. I have dies and bullets for the 7 mil mag, but sold the rifle over 5 years ago. Just a couple of the many examples of unused stuff taking up space. I try to keep the current interests in one place, and the old ones in a box in the corner, then I can't figure out why I still need to get into the old box from time to time. I will pass along an idea. When I moved to the current residence, there was an old freezer in the garage. It worked, but I didn't need it, so my powder went into it (after cutting off the plug). Keeps all my powder in one area and it offers protection from fire and constant changes in humidity. I take two or three kinds of powder currently being used to the loading area, and the rest stays put in the freezer. A bit of inconvenience but it has been working well for me.

Actually, if my loading area was as orderly as Papajohn's or Paul's I probably wouldn't care how much stuff I had.

I returned to reloading this past winter and started from scratch. The advice I received from this forum saved me a lot of money. From powder to the press, scales, choice of bullets, dies, brass and primers, I still use and enjoy *(almost) all my initial purchases. *I replaced the RCBS powder funnel with a Lyman and the RCBS loading block with a Franklin. Anyone considering reloading should join this forum and ask lots of questions before spending a dime. That way you won't have "to much stuff", just what you need.

I am just starting out! Right now I am only loading 38sp,9mm,45acp. I have a c frame lee press. and I am using unique powder, or win231,
I only have the three set's of dies for those cal. I have a lee second edition book, and a hornady 8th edition. I have been asking Questions on a diffrent site. so far everything I have loaded has worked, I am a hands on kind of guy. any info would be great I have been reading through the old\other postes trying to learn all I can. if any one has extra stuff and just want it out of your reloading room please let me know.

I got rid of my (5) press set-ups a few years back and went to one Lee Classic Turret with 6 caliber changes. All I need.

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Dave

I don't have that much stuff because I'm focused on just a few different calibers. (38/357, 45ACP, 5.56, 7.62) BUT I'd sure like to find a scale that will hold a zero for more than 3 minutes. MAJOR PTA!

It's hard to beat the RCBS 505 for durability and stability. It's even solar powered!

You can speed its operation up with a set of Lee Dippers. Use a larger one to "rough in" the weight and a smaller one to "trickle".

I'm beginning to get worried... the photos of the reloading rooms that have been posted are quite unequiped and unsupplied compared to my own! We are in the process of moving because I needed more room for my gun and reloading stuff (along with the fact that I've retired and we want to move from Alaska to Idaho). Of course I taught the reloading section of a firearms class at the University of Alaska, Southeast so I have several portable press setups that I use for teaching. I inherited my Dad's big bunch of old shotshell reloaders (he collected them) along with all of his huge selection of old card and fiber wads. This gives me a HUGE amount of gear and supplies, some of which I NEVER use! I think it is some kind of a disease. I wouldn't think of selling any of my stuff, however! I came by the disease honestly... I inherited it from my dad. My dad was the shotshell loading addict, and I was more interested in rifles and handguns and their reloading equipment. Some of the stuff my dad had is quite old. I might have to find some kind of museum that displays old reloading gear and see if they want any of it. I must admit, I love the looks of my dad's old Savage shotshell reloader with the big Savage Indian logo on the shot and powder bottles. I have found that having all of this stuff has come in handy on occasion. I've been able to help people put together ammunition for guns for which they haven't been able to find factory ammunition.

Whelenshooter

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SWCA 2379

Maybe you only saw one small section of those loading rooms, like the bullets, primers and powder? I didn't show the 6 sets of scales I have in there, like these.

Paul and Papa, I'm jealous. I can take up twice that much room with a quarter of the stuff. I wish I could be neat. Anybody got a good cheap press? By the way, I'd like to see the storage of the fruits of your labor with all that stuff. If you have that much equipment, I'd think you'd have a mountain of ammo.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

I'm only a year into the madness, but so far the Lee Classic Turret and the RCBS RC are all I need. Add to that I'm not much of a caliber collector so I can get away with not having too much more than a dozen different selections for the various loads I'm tinkering with still. I may even slim down some just to really focus on some in particular.

Never.

Other than space, it doesn't eat anything. I use only Redding dies (other than in my progressives) so I will pick them up whenever I see them at a show. I probably have 60 calibers - you never know when I might need the .333OKH.

If you want a scale that really works, get a Redding #2. It stays accurate and lasts forever. I've tried to replace it, but, I can't find anything that works as well.

1 Dillon 650 set up for 45 Colt

5 Hornady Lock and Load progressives - 9mm, 357 Mag, 45 ACP, 38-40, 223

1 RCBS progressive with bullet and case feeder in 38 Spl

1 RCBS turret press

2 RCBS single stage presses

MEC 9000G 12, 16, 20, 28 and 410

2 RCBS lead pots

1 Lee Lead Pot

2 Lubrisizers

40ish bullet moulds

Many powder measures of several types

case cleaners, table top and hand priming tools,

AND.... Tons of assorted loading gadgets that would fill a small moving van.

And yes, I need more as there is aways a new cartridge or mould

MDaly

I picked this up the other day.



To clean brass and silencer baffles. I use it with stainless media. It does a wonderful job.

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NRA Benefactor Member

You people scare me. Sooooo much stuff and so little room. I feel much better about my current conditions.

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S&WHF 366

I believe I have a Redding #1 oil dampened scale and wasn't impressed with it at all!

RCBS doesn't make the 505 either, it's made by Ohaus. That's why the 505 I posted about is gray instead of green.

So much stuff ... So little space. I have a 1600 square foot reloading building. Actually if you minus out the bathrooms & bedroom it's a little less.

The reloading bench is in the shop, as is a second press "temporarily" c-clamped to my workbench about 5 years ago. I installed additional counter space in my dining room & it's been taken over by my old RCBS. A kitchen counter top is now home to my new RCBS Chargemaster. The loading blocks migrate between the 2 work surfaces.

I've not seen the complete top of the coffee table for over a decade. It's home to the RCBS hand primer, and associated containers of brass, primers, reamers, trimmer & calipers. I can prime brass in the comfort of my own livingroom while watching the evening news or a movie.

My kitchen is for cooking stuff for me to eat and that hopefully isn't going to change in the near future.



You can make lots of eating stuff with 10 burners and a 20 quart pot! However, we are downsizing to 5 burners in our other house.

I've never seen any reloading equipment or reloads that could compare with these kitchen products.



But that was when we had a 5 deck oven and a 20 quart mixer in the kitchen.

\from that bottom photo, looks like you're fixin' for quite a pie fight!

Does anyone ever really have enough???

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

My sentiments EXACTLY!

p.s. If you have too much, pm me and I will send you my address!

I believe that it is impossible to have too much reloading stuff. I moved my reloading out of the basement several years ago, too many trips up and down the steps for stuff I needed. My reloading now occupies the fourth bedroom in my house, the bench, chair and storage shelves all come from the unfinished furniture store. My gun vault is in the corner and the closet stores all my hunting clothes, everything is organized and easy to find.

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Too much, maybe. I find having extras of certain things easier for my reloading needs. I run 2 presses, have some multiple die sets, 3 tumblers of which only one is used. Yeah, I probably have too much stuff.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Never have enough reloading stuff. Still have my Herters #3 press from 1956. Some Herters dies also. A RCBS press & a Ponsness-Warren P-200. And 22 sets of dies.All get used for different operations. 20 or so cigar boxes for brass. In fact I bought another tumbler at a garage sale last weekend. Full of walnut media also. $15. No, you never have enough stuff.LOL.

I don't shoot nearly as much as I did in past years, so I have more ammo piled up than I used to. Actually, it's a lot worse than this, these are old pictures!

When I started out reloading in about the late 60's there was only one gun store locally and he had the basics. So I ended up with 4 presses, two powder measures, one electronic powder scale. Then Leslie Edelman started up his place on route 110 in farmingdale. Well he had stuff none of had seen. Plenty of powder, primers, and bullets and cases. So I aquired more stuff. Then I started shooting steel plate matches. Thats where the dillon 550B showed up. added dies and other stuff as time went along. Then as my shooting gravitated towards handguns more stuff showed up. When I got my match H-Bar thats when things started going nuts. Brass from weideners, bullets from either hornady or sierra. As of late about half of the stuff I used to use doesn't get used as much anymore. Still fooling around with pistols and revolvers. getting to old to hump all the junk kitbag, spotting scope, chrono box. Stuff a couple revolvers in a kobalt tool bag, stapeler, targest, ammo and of course earmuffs and I'm set for a nice days plinking. and cannot forget the stool I bought in sears. Best 40$ I ever spent. We never have enough chairs at the range. And it only takes a few minutes to adjust it to the proper height. I have cases, bullets and a whole bunch of stuff that should make me a better shooter. I still bring out some old mil surp like maybe one of the persian long bbld mausers in 8mm to play with. But you know what I plan on doing for my 65th birthday?. Going to get either the NRA cennentenial rifle musket or 26" bbls Canadian Cennentenial rifle in 30-30. Why you ask?. Cause I have a bunch of 30 caliber bullet molds, almost a full 5 gallon bucket of once fired winchester brass and I plan on getting a nice accurate cast boolit load worked up so I can ring the gong at 300 yds. OK rant now officially off. Frank

I have been loading since about 1962. I have collected arms in various calibers. Many times I have been thankful that by using varrious "worng" dies I have been able to assemble many strange calibers from other brass
I have shot trap (ATA) Rifle (NRA) and a lot of ppc club shoots. Not to mention thousands of varmints.
To be ready for what ever you want is a real comfort . I have an old Hollywood sr. press , a couple of Lees and Two Dillon 550s. I should be able to handle anything with these.They give me the warm fuzzies.

I'm not even close to having too much reloading equipment!

I try to have reloading capability for all calibers that I shoot. Of course, I'm not there yet. Nor have I tried progressive presses - yet. And there is casting...

If anyone out there thinks they have too much, I too (like SmithNut) will gladly supply a home to any orphaned equipment. ...just don't tell my wife about it, please.

Dan

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Gun Control: POA=POI

I have got so much pickup brass from police quals or comps from the past 20 yrs....I have strict orders from the wife......I not allowed to bring any brass home other than my own ;-p

I guess I should have rephrased the question...

"Do you have enough room for your reloading stuff?"

If it seems you have too much- it's more likely you've just plain run out of holes to stuff it in.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111


And to think I first started this to save a little money and be able to shoot more...

I have a Dillion 550, a tempermental Hornady Lock-N-Load ,2 RCBS rock chuckers(both set-up for lock-n-load),and a Redding T-7 and a Lyman sizer; those are set up on the benches now-there are more presses put away. I also made a 20 ton case forming press in the basement. I have around 6 shotgun shell presses also. I load for 108+/- cartridges, and on some cartridges, have a set of dies for each gun in that cartridge (3-223 sets, 2-308 sets, 3-45/70 sets, ect.)I cast many different bullets and am always looking fof the "right" mould for the big black powder cartridges. I have given entire loading set-ups to the underprivliged (shooters from down under, and South Africa), and am always looking for more! I have used loading presses to seat bearings and bearing presses to load ammo. I think many people need/have a portable press and scale for at the range. And then there tong tools (I have 4 Lyman 310 tongs and 16 die sets) for that old west feeling. One of the things I hope to do, is figure out a simple way to make 8mm Saimese ammo, it seems none has existed since before WWII and I'd like to shoot the gun and maybe do the some for 11mm Italian Voletti CF, I still need the right bullet mold for 43 Reformado (it's Spanish). So many to load, so little spare time.

Been going over what I need next in my reloading bench, besides the Case Activator linkage for my RCBS Uniflow and a L.E. Wilson Small Primer Pocket Reamer, is bullets. I have in a good supply of primers to keep me shooting at my current rate for a couple years, and enough powder to fill them, finish up prepping my 357 brass, and have over 1,100 pieces each of the handgun calibers I shoot: 9mm, 38 Special, 357 Magnum, and 45 ACP.

Novalty; Maybe a bullet mold or 3. Your 38's and 357's can share and I have sized 9mm castings to .357 before, so a 124RN mould could do triple duty. Ivan

I have to buy my stuff in dribs and drabs and I haven't even gotten my basic reloading skills and equipment ironed out. It really bothers me if I buy something and it doesn't work right or very well, making me save up to buy a replacement item. Some of you guys have some jim dandy loading setups.

Funny. I'm just starting to reload and thought the same thing! I purchased, what i thought was enough, of each box in different colors: Light Blue for 9mm Luger, Green for .40 S&W, red for .38 Special, etc. Now I'm out of "box space" and can't find these boxes in stock anymore and I find myself looking for new boxes in significant quantities to replace the ones I have so everything matches! Best be careful though, that kind of talk could end up putting us in this new mentally challenged database.

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Semper Fi

Don't encourage him, FishingPilot!

He changed his "handle" on this forum a while back. Do you know what it USED to be?

OCD1! Not, as in another one but as in NUMBER ONE OCD!

The truth (which I would never admit to my wife) is that reloading is a fun hobby all unto itself. I feel good when I build up a few boxes of whatever I want. I enjoy reloading for it's own sake. Sometimes, I am actually a bit disappointed to see every possible ammo box filled, and realize that I need to go shoot to make room in the boxes for more reloads. Never imagined that I would get as hooked on the hobby of reloading as I am hooked on the sport of shooting, but there it is!

We are scroungers by nature.

The .33 WCF dies are worth $7.50 of any handloaders money. I'm down to 3 presses now. I lost count on the powder measures and hand priming tools a long time back.

I have at least 5 complete .223 die sets and about the same number of .308 dies.

Yes, I buy firearms because I have a set of dies. I have tools that I come across that were needed at the time, now I sit and wonder, "what did I use this for?"

Yea, I've got stuff!

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GOA
USA Shooting Supporter

A 20 ton case forming press???? Are you loading mortor shells or making guided missiles? Seriously, what press would you recommend for me to get started. I only want to load 38/357, 45, 44 spl and mag. And, I only want to work with one press. I'm 66 yrs old and have asthma so I don't need a press that takes Mr America to work. I always said that when I retired I would learn how to reload for a hobby. Thanks for any advice.

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Dennis
He's got a gun!