Tips and Tricks!

[Wee Hooker]

What does anyone use to store your Lee turrets with dies in?

Heavy Duty zip lock freezer bags. I label the bags with a marker and also include the shell holder, a sample specs/build list and a sample dummy round (minus powder and primer) from it's last use. That way, when I revisit the die set, I know exactly what it was set -up for. The bags then just get stowed in a plastic storage container (in no particular order but well positioned to prevent excessive movement.)
FWIW, all the hard food storage containers I tried were either cumbersome or took up too much room.

 

[RedHawk357Mag]

Tic Marks on Reloader Press

On my Rock Chucker I placed tic marks at 0, 45, 90, 135, 180, 225, 270 and 315 degrees. This has help me logically step case expanding, and crimp. I place a tick mark on dies when they flush sit on shellholder at 180 degrees for a start point.

 

[wyo-man]

For apartment dwellers, use a Black & Decker Workmate 225 as a reloading stand.It is sturdy and can be folded up and stored in a closet if necessary. A couple of C-Clamps to "attach" your press and you are good to go.

wyo-man

 

[Skip Sackett]

Can you post a picture of your setup?

For apartment dwellers, use a Black & Decker Workmate 225 as a reloading stand.It is sturdy and can be folded up and stored in a closet if necessary. A couple of C-Clamps to "attach" your press and you are good to go.

wyo-man

Recently I gave a Square Deal to my son in law. They live in an apartment and I looked for one of these. There were none in stock so I went to Harbor Freight and looked around.
Here is what I ended up buying him:

The only problem comes when you try to seat primers. The "up" action of the handle causes the base to tip up a mite.

Then, when I get back from that visit, I go to Lee's website and see this:

So maybe all I need is a heavy cement block of some kind!

At any rate, I have a friend that has the Workmate setup. Never been to his house though. Would like to see one and how do they work with the "up" stroke thing?

p.s. The Harbor Freight thing was only $29 while the Lee one is listed @ $130.

 

[geddylee10002000]

Homemade Firearm Related Products

 

[MakeMyNight]

How many of those small plastic or mini-bags filled with desiccant crystals have You thrown away over the years?

Back in the early seventies, when I began to reload metallic cartridges, I noticed that My dies & shellholders were rusting due to the humidity in My reloading area.

Since that time, I've been placing one or two inside of every die container, or collective shell holder storage box.
Also, I keep a larger capsule inside of My powder measure (when not in use), and under the scale cover as well.

Keeps everything looking like new!

 

[Dale53]

I have a couple of tips.

1 - I cast my own bullets and find a small manicurists fan (6"-7" size from Walmart or Target in the fan department) running next to my RCBS bottom pour furnace freezes the sprue in 2-3 seconds and maintains mould temperature (keeps it from getting too hot).

2 - A hotplate near my casting furnace to pre-heat ALL moulds before casting (whether aluminum, brass, or iron).

3 - Tool head rack for my Dillon 550B's made from a piece of scrap lumber, a dowel, and pvc pipe:

Here's how the rack is put together:

The PVC pipe (cut into proper length with my "chop saw") holds the dies off the board to avoid bending or breaking the decapping pins.

Dale53

 

[Paul5388]

Dale's idea on the hot plate works good! Here's how mine is set up, along with the movable lube sizer that's clamped to the bench with Harbor Freight clamps (I like the screw type better than the ratchet type).

I "trimmed" a 4X4 to get the proper height for the moulds to lay flat on the hot plate. The glucose test strip bottle is what I have labeled and that's where I store sizing dies. I leave the bottle out with the sizer, so I know what's in the sizer at the time.

 

[Rule3]

For apartment dwellers, use a Black & Decker Workmate 225 as a reloading stand.It is sturdy and can be folded up and stored in a closet if necessary. A couple of C-Clamps to "attach" your press and you are good to go.

wyo-man

Regular Workmate with 3/4" ply on top. Press bolted to ply and ply bolted to workmate. I move it indoors in the summer as it is to hot in the garage on my main bench.
1- quart food grade Chinese soup containers to hold turrets and dies. Tight seal no rust.
Made some shelves that just lay in the frame. Whole thing comes apart in a minute or so, or put in the bed of pickup and take to the range.

 

[Skip Sackett]

Regular Workmate with 3/4" ply on top. Press bolted to ply and ply bolted to workmate. I move it indoors in the summer as it is to hot in the garage on my main bench.
1- quart food grade Chinese soup containers to hold turrets and dies. Tight seal no rust.
Made some shelves that just lay in the frame. Whole thing comes apart in a minute or so, or put in the bed of pickup and take to the range.

COOL! If I had a small place to work, that is just what I would do!

Nice, Roy!

 

[Smith357]

My cheezy press light gave up so I made up a new one. Rather than a using somthing that had batteries I went for something a bit more. Starting with a Nite ize LED Maglite bulb and a 6v power supply and about a half inch of rubber hose. I soldered up the positive lead to the nipple on the bulb, the negative lead is just held in place with friction between the hose and the bulb.

The module then was pressed into the recess of the underside of the tool head. I ran the wire tight around the dies and taped it in place down the back side of the press and underneath the mount. Now I have a reliable bright light at little to no cost. I may add a switch later, if I feel the need.

I believe the bulbs were about 3 bucks at wally world and I bought 5 of them last year when they were clearing them out. Any small bulb should work as long as you match the voltage of the light and the power supply. The power supply was an old leftover savaged from work. The light will just pull out of the recess and slide into any tool head I put in the 550.

 

[Skip Sackett]

I was asked recently how I get my primers into a coffee can.

On my Square Deal B presses, here is what I did:

The hose barb is a 1/8" NPT to 3/8" tubing male. I threaded the press hole at the bottom to 1/8"NPT, yes, I had a tap, and then threaded the barb in there. Soft tubing from Ace Hardware, the other end stuck in the top of a plastic coffee can and VIOLA, big time primer catcher for cheap.

I also have a system for the XL650 but don't have any pictures to share. I will work on it and get some up soon.

Hope this helps!

 

[venomballistics]

I dont have pictures handy but I should be able to describe this in text.
since moving I lost the space for a permanent loading room / bench. instead I have a B&D workmate folding workbench to do all my damage with.
what I have done is built a few interchangeable bench tops that slip into the B&D bench and clamp into place. This arrangement allows me to switch between various reloading operations such as lube sizing, pistol loading, rifle loading and shotshells by changing out the benchtops with all required hardware installed

 

[Hobie1]

I built a small room in my basement to load in. I rapidly ran out of bench space so I got some bolts long enough to go through the bench, flat washers and wing nuts. Voila! I can change out equipment in a couple of minutes. Very sturdy and universal. Strong enough that my 550b doesn't wiggle a bit.
I do have a great deal of good lighting also which helps all around. I like that lamp for the toolhead. I may just do that. Never enough light.

I'll tidy up my bench and take some pics.

Hobie

 

[Skip Sackett]

'Couple of pictures

Here are the pictures of the XL650 modifications that I made.
The first one is the one that I used the silicone on. Inside the regular plastic cup, the pipe thread was sticking up and primers could fall down between the barb and the sides of the cup. I filled it up level + 1/8" and "funneled" down to the opening of the barb. This works 100% of the time. Use some water on you finger as you smooth out the silicone. That way it doesn't stick to it as you smooth it out.

Here is the one that I just made today. I used a mental image of what I found on the web for $25 and the suggestion that Bob (Vonfatman) showed.

This took a bit of time but, after about 20 rounds, it too seems to be 100%. Gonna have to empty some 45Colt cases before I can get a bigger/better test!

The "bottle" on this one is a Hodgdon BLC-(2) empty. The bottom is pretty thick and made tapping the hole pretty good. May not last. This was free though!

At any rate, when the primer falls into this can, you hear a real "CLINK" as they hit the metal lid! Also, this one will be easy to empty, as long as you remember to tip it up a bit before you unscrew the lid! hahahaha

Maybe I'll change this one over to 45ACP and crank out a bunch of rounds. 500 or so in say, a half hour!

 

[125JHP]

Although my rule is to have only 1 powder on the bench at a time, I have gotten in the habit or putting a swatch of masking tape with the powder I am using on the measure cap. Then if I take a 3 day break or get interrupted or forgetful, I know what that powder is in the measure.

 

[Steve in Vermont]

I tried commercial reloading labels. They were usually to small and hard to remove. I bought a 60 yard roll of 1" masking tape (the kind used for painting) and using a magic marker drew four lines radiating from the center to the edge, equal distances apart. I can then pull off a piece of tape, stopping at the small black mark, cut and get an even 3 3/4" piece. This will give you over 500 labels, very secure, easy to write on, yet comes off w/o any damage to the box. 3M has blue tape but I like the green stuff made by another company.

 

[bnewc75]

thanks to all ..... love it!

 

[semperfi71]

The Lee Dippers will measure powder as well as the standard powder measures such as the RCBS Uniflow.

I fill a brass canister with my intended powder. I drag the desired Lee Dipper through the powder and deeply. This to make sure I have a measure packed "full" with powder.

Then I skim off the excess with a sharp-bladed Exacto knife or some such instrument.

This method will consistently throw accurate charges. I buy "used" sets of Lee Dippers for as cheap as $5.00. Then I trim the dippers to get the powder weights I need for reloads.

For instance I load a lot of Bullseye in a lot of handguns. I have Lee Dippers for the following weights of Bullseye: 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 grains.

This method is a lot faster to setup than using the above RCBS "type" powder measures.

If you think about it this is exactly how the RCBS Uniflow works, it "shaves" off the excess powder in the measure, then it dumps it in the case.

 

[Steve in Vermont]

Just wanted to say "Thanks" to Skip for starting this thread and all those who contributed. Learned some things that made reloading even easier.