Useful Tips/DIY extras addons to make reloading easier

C

calvin5673

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Hey,

Seen a few threads in the past about similar stuff, but didn't want to resurrect so I'll start this one with the goal of seeing interesting/Macgyvered ways of making reloading easier and quicker for rifle and pistol rounds

Two things I've done to really help speed me up are shown below:

The bucket screwed to the side lets me quickly knock brass or cartridges to side when the task is complete, Really the simplest and most useful thing I've done to date.

The metal C-Shaped arm allows me to bolt my powder throw right above my press, which - when combined with a funnel and a powder thru die lets me quickly flare and charge my cases. (More useful for pistol than for rifle as I weigh most of my rifle charges anyways.


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Please excuse the mess, hadn't gotten around to cleaning since I just did a batch.



I'd love to see more ideas! Put em up (with pictures!)
 
Couple of tips to add:

If you run out of room in your reloading tray the cover of the Lee Dies set works great for 9mm. can get about 150-160 in there and if you tip one you dont waste the powder.

Painters tape is great for labelling things as in can be removed later with no sticky residue. (unless it gets real warm, then not so much)
 
I don't use the Lee press mounted priming system, so I took the metal bit that fits in the ram, cut it so it fits flush, and leave it in the ram so the spent primers always deflect into the disposal tube.
 
When working up a load, I mark the primers with a Sharpie (or similar marker), and make a note of which primer charge has which color primer.
I keep the plain ones for the lightest load, then usually go green, blue, red then black. If I need more than five, I'll also do a green/red and blue/red, doing half the primer with each color.

This works best with nickel plated primers.....
 
I brought one of those small USB HD cameras and set it up on a dti mount pointing at the scale on the 505 beam scales. The image of the scale and pointer fill up most of the screen on the Laptop and the scales can be positioned anywhere that is easy to see. My eyes dont get nearly as tired now and there is also no parallax error when reading the scales.
 
Just to keep this thread going....

I replace the screw which attaches the crank on my RCBS case trimmer with an Allen head cap screw. That way, I can use my cordless drill with the appropriate sized hex bit in it to turn the crank. My vintage Makita drill gets about 150 .308 cases to a battery charge doing this.

Oh yeah: if I were a JD No7 sort of guy, I would wait until my reloading tools are put away before having a sniff. Same idea as drinking and driving - a potential hazardous combination.
 
I tape a checklist to the inside lid of all my MTM cases and use them to keep track of brass prep.

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This was one of my first ones, now I have a template made in Excel that I just print and cut out.
 
Silfield said:
I brought one of those small USB HD cameras and set it up on a dti mount pointing at the scale on the 505 beam scales. The image of the scale and pointer fill up most of the screen on the Laptop and the scales can be positioned anywhere that is easy to see. My eyes dont get nearly as tired now and there is also no parallax error when reading the scales.
Click to expand...

Cool idea..
 
Not a DIY thing, but was a huge discovery for me. I use the electronic scale/dispenser from RCBS and the pan they provide plain sucks. This pan with the integrated funnel is awesome :)

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Loyalist said:
That is unique, where would one get that?
Click to expand...

Picked up one of these a while back from Brownells - a great design.

It saves a lot of time, effort and spilled powder (at least until I get fumble-fingered while taking it off the balance...)

About a month after buying it, I MacGyvered a wire hook onto the top of the "hood" so I can hang it directly from the arm of the balance. Even easier to work with now!

The only design change I'd make would be to have the sides of the bowl part just come back inwards slightly at the top, to prevent the occasional kernel of powder from splashing out sideways while filling the bowl.
 
its not my invention but i bought this primer catcher for my rock chucker iv
works a whole lot better than the original primer catcher that the press came with

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