Pics of reloading setups

[NS2]

Very nice upgrade Rob!!!

[Steve R]

The Bench is from Harbor Freight $125 on sale.


Another angle of the bench


The Redding T7 and Power Measure are Bolted Only to the two particle boards (that are glued together for added structure. 


The particle board with the attached tools could be removed from the bench. To allow them to be moved for use of full bench for something else or moved to location if I would want to load on site.


The short bolts don't get in my way and keep me from setting any thing down in that area.


I found a use for all the DVR cases. I do have the top/bottoms (depending on how you use them) to close up the bins and store them. What you don't see are the cards that I normally have in each, to keep everything straight, such as Brass to sort, 9mm dirty brass, 9mm deprimed dirty...etc.


Powered is stored below, and is labeled with date of purchase on the far side.


Top Left drawer is for my only reload manual (yea... I know I need to buy more but just starting out.) and my note binder that is up in my office during this shot.


Bottom Left drawer is my 9 mm stuff, bullet puller. The Sharpies I use to color my primer so I know what brass is 1st reload, 2nd...etc.


Top Right drawer My delicate stuff. Priming tool, primers Dies 9mm and 357/.38 spl. and my digital calipers. Also a bit of lube for the T7.


Bottom Right drawer 357 and .38 spl stuff.


I store the scale in a cabinet to the left of the bench and only bring it to the bench when I'm going to charge the brass. Moving it makes me to zero it out every time and not assume it is good to go.


I use the Hornady Ultra sound cleaner and have read there are some good homemade cleaners that are cheaper but starting out I just wanted to get going and not deal with that now. Note date on power case.


I find the ultra sound very fast and effective. The brass on the left is before. On the right is after 2 - 8 min cycles in the same fluid. It really does  a good job.

I hope you find this interesting.

Cheers,
Steve

[Jim Fleming]

Very neat and well organized!!

Good job Steve, thanks, sir!

[nicktheww2fanatic]

Well, I picked up a Dillon 450, so had to add more room.  The old bench has been relegated to cleaning/whatever.

The bench is bolted to the cement wall.  It is a steel door with 3/4" OSB on top.  Under each press is a 4x6 running to the wall.

[Jim Fleming]

Are you getting any flex at all from your bench when you resize large cases, like 300 WinMag or 30-06 Sgfld?

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[nicktheww2fanatic]

Are you getting any flex at all from your bench when you resize large cases, like 300 WinMag or 30-06 Sgfld?

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Not sure who this is directed at, but I'll answer anyways.

Not sure, haven't loaded anything but .38Spl, .40 & .45 ACP on  my bench.

[Jim Fleming]

You're correct Nick, it was directed to you. Thank you sir, for the answer.

You're also right about time will tell when you begin loading larger rifle cases.

Jim

Are you getting any flex at all from your bench when you resize large cases, like 300 WinMag or 30-06 Sgfld?

Sent from my Droid

Not sure who this is directed at, but I'll answer anyways.

Not sure, haven't loaded anything but .38Spl, .40 & .45 ACP on  my bench.

Sent from my Droid

[nicktheww2fanatic]

You're correct Nick, it was directed to you. Thank you sir, for the answer.

You're also right about time will tell when you begin loading larger rifle cases.

Jim

Are you getting any flex at all from your bench when you resize large cases, like 300 WinMag or 30-06 Sgfld?

Sent from my Droid

Not sure who this is directed at, but I'll answer anyways.

Not sure, haven't loaded anything but .38Spl, .40 & .45 ACP on  my bench.

Sent from my Droid

I'm not terribly concerned that there might be flex.  4x6's are pretty beefy.

[Jim Fleming]

I'll say they are!

Good job Nick! Understanding things like building your bench well go a long ways towards building confidence in yourself, your equipment, and best of all, your loads.

I simply didn't see the sturdiness your telling me about, I'm using a cellphone, and the images I'm seeing are pretty limited at best.

Keep us posted as to your results, Nick!   

Thank you sir!

Jim

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[nicktheww2fanatic]

I'll say they are!

Good job Nick! Understanding things like building your bench well go a long ways towards building confidence in yourself, your equipment, and best of all, your loads.

I simply didn't see the sturdiness your telling me about, I'm using a cellphone, and the images I'm seeing are pretty limited at best.

Keep us posted as to your results, Nick!   

Thank you sir!

Jim

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Besides, it got the flop-shank stamp of approval, meaning over-engineered.

[Jim Fleming]

Nothing wrong with sturdy...

My kids used to call me Mr. Sturdy!

LOL

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[Teamklr2bar]

nothing much but the room is also my gunsmithing and safe room as well.

[Jim Fleming]

very nice!

[Teamklr2bar]

Well, thank you.  The equipment is lacking but I chose the Lee 30th anniversary on purpose to learn on.  It would have been easier with the 50th anniversary. Thing is that with the 30th you don't have the luxury of the breech lock.  I chose the 30th so that every time I changed a die I would be forced to set that die up.  Now I am a pro! haha  I was afraid that I would not get the accelerated practice with a simpler system. (to learn on)

I will be moving my gunsmithing operation out into my shop in the summer.  I have more room for mill, lathe, welder, grit blaster, etc.... The solvents, guns, etc take the heat better than the cold and my climate control system is not finished in the shop yet.  Work in progress as is everyone's.  Have a great day!

[reloader7.62]

Most of my tools gets stored away when not in use but you can see my old Lyman press and D-7 scales I started out with 30 years ago.  As you can see I make good use of thing people throw away,an old entertainment center with a pullout shelf,nice office chair that just needed a new leg and a old office desk I picked up for $15.



Bullet and brass rack.  Not to many coffee cans or plastic container ever make it to the trash around here.


All my casting equipment and lead is over at my best friends house just down the road,we split the cost of equipment and supplies and do all our smelting,ingot and bullet making over the winter months.

[Jim Fleming]

Not too shabby, nice, neat, and clean.

[sprskip1212]

I have a real estate problem

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[Jim Fleming]

Yes sir, you do. All Reloaders run into this problem... Stockpiling is the word, it's a blessing, and a curse. Good luck finding a solution. It's usually solved by expanding the walls! lol!

Sent from my most excellent Droid Razr, laughing at all iPhones!

[otis]

Thought I'd throw in my $.02 worth!  This is dedicated to Mr. Foxtrot, hoping you see here that it doesn't take a lot of space to get set up!!    I don't have a permanent setup at all.  I've attached my RCBS Ammomaster to a 2X6 board, which I can clamp to a counter I built in the basement for my PC's.  In one corner, in my exercise area, I put a locking Stack On cabinet in which I can keep all my brass, primers, powder and bullets, along with various reloading items and tools.  Don't know as I need to keep these items locked, but the cabinet was available since I recently acquired a 30 gun safe.

I originally attached the press to a 1X6 board, but that flexed too much when manipulating several cases at once, with the decapping, sizing, seating and crimping all going on. 

Also, when I am not using the press, I can leave it attached to the 2X6, remove the 2X6 from the countertop and place it all on top of the Stack On cabinet, out of the way. 

Nothing too fancy here, but it sure is effective.  I started with 10mm and 45 ACP.  Have worked up some pet loads for my guns in these calibers.  Then I went to 9mm and am still playing with different recipes here, but getting close to favorites for each of my guns.  Next I went to .380acp, which was a real challenge to get right.  Once I figured out the need to seat and crimp in two different steps, things smoothed out like crazy.  Now, I'm working up some 38 special and 357 mag loads. 

Once I get more comfortable working with these handgun loads, I'll expand into the rifle loads.  I'll be doing .223/5.56, 30-06 and some 45-70.  I won't be doing the volume of loading for these, but anticipate the ability to save some money and dial in the loads my guns work best with at the ranges I like to shoot.

One deviation I took from the norm was the use of stainless steel media for cleaning my brass.  I have a small Thumler Tumbler and clean my brass with a little water and a drop of dish soap.  Does a pretty nice job, the brass comes out pretty shiny.  The stainless media doesn't wear out like the corn media will, either. 

I started this whole process thinking I'd be able to save some money, and think in the long run, I will save money on a per round basis.  However, I find that I am shooting more since the ammo doesn't cost quite as much.  I've also set up an excel spreadsheet to track my reloading costs.  I have assigned categories to each item purchased and calculate a per round cost.  Items like powder, primers and bullets are a variable cost, I use a unit for each bullet made.  Then, items like the dies, the press, tumbler, etc., etc., are fixed costs. I take the total fixed costs and divide by the quantity of bullets made, added with the variable costs, I can determine what each bullet costs.  Of course, as I load more, my per bullet fixed costs will go down, bringing my total per load cost down, as well.  I expect to realize significant savings on all loads as I get into the thousands of rounds loaded.


I guess with all these words, it's a little closer to $.15 worth, but these are my humble beginnings.  Maybe over time, my setup will grow and become a little more permanent.  Time will tell.


Be Safe!


Jeff

[Charlie Foxtrot]

 
Just. Freakin'. Cool.   

Coincidentally, I worked on my garage reloading corner this weekend.  It's *almost* ready for production: need to fix the lighting and get an adjustable stool. But it'll always be strictly ghetto compared to the setups you guys have. Wow.