.....and hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday, I'll still have all my fingers and my face!

Finally had the time, fortitude, and solitude to sit down at my humble little reloading bench I've been piecing together and loaded my first thirty rounds of ammo on my own. I've done some reloading in the past with a friend of the family, and did have him give me a little refresher on his equipment this week (including the same scale and powder thrower).

I have to work tonight, so maybe heading to the range tomorrow or Wednesday to try these loads out. Started with ten rounds each, 223, 300 win mag, and 358 win. All starting loads from published data.

And of course the requisite pictures:

My reloading bench, which I can already imagine needs to be bigger


How I've decided to package my reloads for now


My reloading partner


And clearly what my little partner thinks I should be doing instead of reloading

Welcome to the club!

Good for you sir! Reloading is one of the few hobbies I know to enjoy for a lifetime.

And so it begins!...

Reloading room looks great. The office chair is a good idea, you will likley spend alot of time in there, makes it easier on the back to have a nice chair like that.

Before you know it you'll become a handloader.

quote:

I'll still have all my fingers and my face!

Brandon,

I remember squeezing the trigger on my very first self-stuffed .38 Spl's wondering of I was going to blow up my hand & revolver .... and that with a target load of 2.8 grs. of Bullseye & 148 gr. wadcutters!

From the appearance of those outstandingly good looking .358 Winchesters you've loaded I'm sure you'll be pleased.

Good Luck, let us know the results of your loads and welcome to the wonderful World of Reloading.

Nice, neat bench. Trust you will keep it that way as it EXPANDS. Enjoy. Be safe.

Welcome to the club, a few thoughts....

1. If you just started this, where the heck did you find all that powder and primers?

2. A suggestion if I may be so bold. Store your powder someplace else that requires some effort to get to and have one and only one powder at your bench at anytime. I'm having this vision of you sitting at your bench and reaching up to grab one powder and getting another. If this were to happen, the results could be bad.

3. Nothing says "I love you dad" like a shoe filled with a saliva soaked dog toy.

Thanks, guys. The powder and primers have been collected over the past few months, all from cabelas. Just kinda picked up whatever was available for primers until I had one of everything I needed (although still looking for large pistol for my 475L), and found them to have pretty good stores of powder on each trip I've made.

I've been meaning to get a few of the airtight plastic ammo boxes for powder and primers each to store them in the closet in that room. I've been careful to only pull down one powder at a time that I'm using and said canister stays on the desk between my scale and dispenser (along with the "recipe" card currently being used) until each caliber is finished. On finishing each caliber/load, everything is returned to the top shelf, and the next pulled down after referencing the next recipe card and its original source, even if its the same powder. Maybe extreme, but it makes me feel better.

Records. If you don't know where you've been, you can't tell where you're going.

I keep a notebook (yes Virginia, there are those of us that don't use a 'puter program) for each rifle. Anything I've done to it, bedding, etc, and I keep all of my targets, the good, the bad, and the ugly. For targets, I use stickers on regular notebook paper and on the sheet, I note the load detes and the weather conditions and the wind direction, etc.

Welcome to reloading. My proposal is that if you intend reloading rifle cartridges and you want to weigh every charge for consistancy, then fit yourself a shelf to the wall in font of you at eye level. It is important that the scale is not influenced by any bumping on the bench or the loose shelve.

quote:

Originally posted by Reloader270:
Welcome to reloading. My proposal is that if you intend reloading rifle cartridges and you want to weigh every charge for consistancy, then fit yourself a shelf to the wall in font of you at eye level. It is important that the scale is not influenced by any bumping on the bench or the loose shelve.

Remarkably good advice this.

Nice set up with Lee. I started with the same stuff 5 years ago and never felt the need to change.

Ditto 7mmnut. Only one powder on the bench at a time. Ask someone (like me) who has loaded the exact amount of the wrong powder and had a disturbing surprise!

Nice set up. My main comment would be that the table / desk might not be stable / strong enough for bigger calibers. If that is a modular assembly desk, you never know when it might start to wobble.

Here is my set up - may be over kill but it is very stable & it does not clutter up the bench. The press handles are out of the way and do not get bumped (unless I bend down suddenly to pick up something and get a crack on my head!)

My first reloading station was far less elaborate than yours. After 57 years and a large variety I've graduated to the same powder dispenser as you are using.May the winds blow as favorably as long for you as they have for me. roger
Love that Dog