Wow, I hope your pooch survived. Great tip, thanks!

I didn't know they had a spent primer cup.  

An option for those presses that don't have one is to put a tall round rubbish bin under the press.

My Redding T-7 has a plastic tube you can run straight down into a waste basket.

If I remember, I'll print out some of my Navy-themed short stories and bring them to Puyallup for either your reading enjoyment or for wood-stove fire starter materiel.

My big boss2 seems to like to drop the primers forward and on to the floor sometimes instead of falling in to the tube.  Moderately annoying.

Before I got the cup, I did it the sailor way. Make a mess then clean it up.

The shell holder I need to de-cap 6.55 Grendel, .38 spl, and .357 mag arrived just now. When I get back from the gym, I'll get to work de-capping the rest of my brass.

Is there anything different about de-capping pistol brass compared to rifle brass I should know before de-capping them? I'm guessing not but why guess when I can ask?

The small primer tube arrived today too. I'll give it a quick test fit before I commence to de-capping in a rapid and expeditious military manner.

Why can't I get the shell holder out?

Why can't I remember to lift the ram a bit before trying to change the shell holder?



6.5mm Grendel brass de-capped.
Got started on the .357 but it's time to go swim laps so I'll have to finish up later.

Then I have to decide whether to go shooting this afternoon or work on the bench. The way I feel now, I'll be going to the range. That may change after several hundreds of yards of swimming.

I de-capped everything I can de-cap with the new shell holder. Waiting on the shell holder for 30-30 to de-cap it. I've been on the fence about getting a 10mm shell holder and have decided to do so. I don't have a 10mm but my club has a few and I fire them regularly.

I am getting the hang of de-capping. I'm now using one thumb and two fingers on either side of the press handle when I'm de-capping. I don't wrap any of them around the handle. I find that this gives me plenty of grip to de-cap while making it hard to put too much force in it. It also gives me a better feel of how much force each primer takes to pop out. I've also developed a nice four-step rhythm that helps me make sure I'm not shortcutting the steps. Raise the ram, make a positive stop when it seats on the prime, add steady controlled pressure until it pops, lower the ram.  

Nothing about reloading seems to benefit from "slamming and jamming." I think if I keep my focus on making sure I'm being gentle whenever metal meets metal, and don't apply the force needed to complete the process until I'm sure there is good contact, I'll have a better chance of avoiding at least some bad things. Precision before productivity is how I'm trying to proceed.

I have two weeks to get my bench built and finished, make sure I have everything I need, and otherwise get my act together. I'll have a case trimmer in about 17 days and I want to get to work on case prep so I can continue developing my 55-grain V-max load as soon as I get it all home. I'm going through the reloading instructions in the Lyman 51 to make sure I have what I need.

I have time tomorrow slotted for working on the bench. I'm hoping to get the upper and lower frame completed, at least. Legs on would be great.

I remember the primer technique but I'm sure I will need some experience to develop a good touch. I recall the key being to stop when the die is on the primer, relax the pressure without moving the ram, then apply pressure until it pops in.

The trimmer parts came in today. The primer tube has been here for a bit already.

Thanks! I'm on it.

Finding time to work on my bench has become as challenging as a unicorn hunt. My wife and I flip houses and this is the busy time of year; getting ready for the annual Spring sales boom. But I think I have enough of my schedule cleared for today to do everything except the finish.

Upper frame laid out and ready to start screwing together. The lower frame is mostly cut and ready too. I'm holding off cutting the last couple of pieces until I have the rest of it together, so I can measure the actual spans I still need to brace to make sure the size is spot-on.

Thanks! Please see my questions in blue, above.

No, I didn't see the pics in your funshow thread ... yet. As soon as I post this, I'm on it. Very cool!

Thanks! I'll start with a 1/8" bit to drill both pieces. It's a tiny bit smaller than a #30; 0.125" versus 0.1285". Three and a half thousandths shouldn't matter that much in soft wood, I'm guessing.

I went with MinWax's Gunstock color for the stain. My construction lumber is pretty rough so I got some MinWax paintable filler too. And three grades of sandpaper for prepping it before finishing. I'm selecting the best surfaces for the exposed parts. The 4x4's I'm using for the legs are sappy. I'll clean it up as much as I can, sand it down, clean it up again, and hide the worst spots by facing them towards the inside of the bench.

Wow, what a fun day. I met Drylash3 at the funshow and picked up all the stuff he had for me. The RCBS Rockchucker press he found for me, the H335 powder I got from him, so I can continue to develop the .223 55-grain v-max load we worked on in training. I also got from him the care package kindly donated to me by a member here. I can't thank you enough! Including a very nice power case trimmer, a nice, weighty primer tray, and a dibbler. The dibbler was enhanced by DryFlash with a slug of lead on the bottom to make it vastly more stable.

I also picked up a thousand small rifle magnum primers. As soon as I arrived, DryFlash told me about them and I went and grabbed a box. I might have bought several more boxes if my wife hadn't been with me. It's a small sacrifice compared to spending the day at a funshow with my soulmate, though.

The rest of the adjusters for my bench arrived today too. I have eight total, one for each of the eight legs on the bench I'm building. They have hex heads cut into the top of the screw to make them easy to adjust. 650 pound capacity each. I seem to recall something about not being able to over-build a reloading bench.

I now have everything I need to reload; I just need to finish the bench before I can use the press.

I have the top and bottom frame assembled and glued. And I have the eight 4x4 legs cut. I'm going to assemble it tomorrow without glue, then take it apart, take it up to the garage and do a whole bunch of prep work with some heavy-cutting sandpaper on an orbital sander. It's all construction grade lumber and if I'm going to go to the effort of staining and sealing it, a couple of hours of progressive prep work seems like a good thing to do. I think I'll start with 80 grit, then move to 220. If the 80 doesn't do it, I think I have some 40 as well. And some 110 if I need an intermediate step.

Next up: Finish bench construction and wood prep. Repair the cord and install the new parts on the trimmer. Case prep. Stain and seal bench frame. Construct and finish top, top edge strips, side panels, rear panel, and shelves. Finish scale/dibbler shelf and powder dispenser bracket. Install feet, fabricate wall mounts, level bench, and mount bench to wall. Fabricate and install press mount plate. Install scale/dibbler shelf. Install powder dispenser bracket. Install coffee maker.

First reloading test: Duplicate the three loads 55-grain v-max loads with H-335 from training with DryFlash, take them to a 100-yard range and shoot them head-to-head with the rounds remaining from training. Pass = Equal or better performance. Fail = Lesser performance.

When I pass, I'll continue to develop the load in accordance with the discussion much earlier in this thread.

Question 1: Given that I want the top to be removable to make it easier to get out of the basement, should I or should I not glue the connections between the 2x4 frame "joists" and the tops of the 4x4 legs? If I don't, should I add some cross-bracing to reduce flex?

Question 2: Shelves. I'm thinking 24" tall shelves along the entire 6' width of the backsplash. I could go taller but 28" above the top is about the most I can reach while seated.
Question 2a: Shelves. We covered this the last time I visited but I want to make sure my memory is correct. I should use 6' long horizontal pieces and use short pieces for the vertical, right? It seems like it would be much less work this way.
Question 2b: Shelves. Recommended dimensions: 1x4 for construction, or 1x6? Height? With 6' horizontal pieces, I can vary the height of the shelves at each level but I'm not sure I know enough to know what I need. I could do 1 at 12" tall and 2 at 6", for example. Or 2 at 8" and 2 at 4".

Thanks!

Thanks!

I am as happy as a clam in deep mud at high tide! So happy, I almost feel guilty. It's like I'm not paying my reloading dues by struggling with cheap gear and hand-trimming thousands of cases. I'll try to mitigate that guilt by being safe, diligent, and always keeping a keen eye on every detail.

I have two hours before I leave to go the the gym, so I'm going to work on the bench until then. Time to assemble both frames with the legs. If that goes well, I'll be sanding it later today and maybe staining it tonight.

Mission Accomplished. CEP Zero. High-order detonation.

You're quite welcome. Who knows more about a sailor's love for coffee better than another sailor, shipmate?

Life has been busy but I finally got back to reloading. I am so frustrated with the poor quality of my construction of both the upper and lower frames that I am taking them apart, replacing some of the pieces, and putting them back together again. I'm going to make a clamp-jig for my miter saw so all the ribs will be the same length. The biggest problem was ribs that twisted while I was securing them. The cumulative effect was to torque both frames such that nether of them was even close to being flat. When I test fit the legs, it was wobble city even tough the legs are equal lengths. Like over an inch, wobble. So I'm going to do what needs to be done to fix the root cause rather than trying to fix the symptoms. My framing skills aren't serving me well here but I'll get it right this time and learn something in the process. So good deal, eh?

No pics. I'll post more pics when I get it right.

I'm glad you're enjoying it.

I realized today that I made a mistake when cleaning brass. I didn't separate out the 25 rounds I loaded during DryFlash's training. So I now have 25 twice-fired rounds mixed in with about 400 once-fired rounds.  I'm not too worried about it at this stage. Once I have a load dialed in, I'm going to load a bunch of it for long-term storage. I plan to get my new brass from bulk purchases of inexpensive target ammo, like PMC X-TAC.

I realized that I should have kept those three batches of brass (3 different work-up loads) separated all the way through the process, so that my case inspection could be correlated to a specific load. Lesson re-learned.

I'm guessing that once they've passed case inspection, I can then mix them in with other brass of the same caliber that has been fired the same number of times?

Case Inspection, .300 BO, Lake City brass, from factory Winchester 170 grain XP ammo. I don't think there's anything of concern here but wanted to poste my thinking anyway.

1) Four cases. Only the one on the left has anything questionable on it. Virtually all of the Lake City 300 BO brass has one or two rings impressed around the top of the neck. None of the AAC 300 BO brass has this. I don't think it's cause for concern. My guess it has something to do with the bullets are retained in the case at the factory. Note the minor scratch on the case on the left, below the neck. Another pic of that coming below.



2) A closer shot of the rings around the necks. Are those extractor marks on the side of the neck? They clearly belong there since i see them on all fired cases. Just curious. I'm curious about the dimple on the case on the right, on the shoulder. My guess is it's from contact with something on the rifle on its way out? I see these dimples on most, if not all cases, though in different places.



3) A grayscale version on the case on the left in the first pc. The scratch is easier to see. I don't think it's cause for concern because it doesn't penetrate?



4) A slightly-squashed case neck. I've always assumed this was caused by the case landing on the neck. I understand it's not a big deal as long as it doesn't interfere with the dies.




Thanks! Time to get back to work on the bench.

I've discovered that the factory .300 BO ammo I have stockpiled, AAC 110-grain v-max, doesn't feed reliably under rapid fire. It's too short. So my stockpile is now range ammo. As a result, I think I'm going to start reloading .300 BO first when I get my bench done, rather than .223. My stockpile of .223 runs just fine. I want to make sure I know what caliber-specific things I need to order so I can be ready to go. Here's what I've got on my list:

Hornady Custom-Grade New Dimension 2-die set in .300 BO
Hornady Micro-Juster
Lyman M-Die in .300 BO
Case go/no-go Gauge in .300 BO

Shell holders for the press and trimmer will work on .300 BO.

Am I missing anything?

Thanks.

I got started on my second attempt at building a bench. The lumber is cut and ready to be dry-fitted. I paid a lot closer attention to my lumber selection and my cuts. I will do the same with assembly as well.

I'm used to adjusting alignment and fit with a 24-ounce framing hammer. It's not a terribly useful technique for a bench.

To me, it looks like a collet crimp, and the little vampire bites I think are from the barrel lugs

Thank you. So, good to go for reloading then?

As far as I know, yes. But, I'm a novice reloader.

A fair point. Thanks!

Thanks! I'll do that.

That's good enough for me. Thanks.

Thanks! I'm on it.

I have all the pieces cut and am ready to assemble them. I'm wondering if the way I assembled it last time might have exacerbated the problems caused by my low-precision cuts.

Last time, I attached all of the cross-pieces to one of the longer pieces, then attached the the other long piece to the end.

What is the best order of attachment, please?

1) Attach two short end pieces to create the perimeter and then add the interior cross-braces?

2) Attach each cross-brace, one at a time, at both ends, to both long pieces, starting at one end and moving to the other?

3) Like I did it before, attach one end of all the cross braces to one of the long pieces, then attach the other long piece to the other ends of the cross-braces?

4) Something else.

5) With more accurate cuts and square joints, the order of assembly doesn't matter.

Thanks!

In the pic, nothing is attached. I just laid it out on the floor without measuring anything.

Thanks!