Handloaders: Are You the Organized or Random Type

[COSteve]

So, which type are you? Is our bench kept clean and tidy or is it piled with stuff? Do you have your equipment and components organized and/or marked or do you have to dig through a pile to find things? I'm not saying that this is the way everyone should do it at all. I'm saying that this way works for me. What works for you?

As you can see below, I fall squarely in the organized type. A place for everything and everything in it's place is how I keep track of my stuff. My bench looks like this each and every time I finish doing anything on it as I include cleanup as part of my handloading experience. Also, I'm proud of my 'Man Cave' and enjoy it looking good.

It's not that I'm especially anal but rather I really enjoy getting in the grove when I'm working and to do that I need things organized efficiently so I know where they are and don't break the rhythm once I'm going. It's not about speed, it's about ease of operation and being organized that makes the tasks fun.

In addition, I've had the knack of loosing things I put down since I was a small kid. The only way I can keep track of stuff is to have a place for it and put it there every time. That way I know where to find it. Things are labeled because then I don't have to get out my reference books for everything.

The kegs above the bench top are full of empty brass, cleaned but in various states. The kegs on the bench and under it are loaded ammo that is overflow from the ammo cans on the ground and in my storage room outside the picture. The TV is not ever on when I'm handloading, it's there for an old exercise video that my wife uses sometimes with equipment out of the picture. (Click on the Picture to enlarge it.)

23-Reloading Bench.jpg

(BTW, I don't need to lock up each firearm as my basement arms room is secured. That way I have both my arms and ammo secured. My HD items in another part of the home are equally secure but available in an instant if needed.)

[Rimfire McNutjob]

I see you have a dedicated powder measure for what's likely are your most used toolheads. Are those case activated or does Dillon use a linkage to throw powder. I'm Dillon illiterate ... as you could tell from my question about the trimmer die in another thread.

I also see you're into primers in the tradition storage size versus the monster Federal boxes. I like Fed. 100's and 150's and so my primers take up quite a bit more space.

[JimT]

Yes I am.

[COSteve]

Dillon's powder measures are in fact case actuated with a fail safe return linkage on them. I'm all about not having to readjust for a new caliber and/or swap dies so I have toolheads all set up for most of my calibers.

However, I don't have powder measures on all of my toolheads as some I only use once in a while and as you see, shelf space for my toolheads is at a premium.

As to the primers, I happen to have a single box of Federal SP primes in the row behind the one showing and as you said, Federal's box is huge. I got them from a friend for helping him with his press some years ago and have never got around to using them.

BTW, I feel that organization of the space is an absolute necessity if, like me, you are limited in what you have. My bench is a whopping 5.5 ft long and 2 ft deep and I've run over 300,000 rds through 3 different Dillon presses on it.

I learned on a RL550B I had for 4 yrs and then sold my 550 and upped my game to an XL650 with Casefeeder as I got into necked rifle calibers. I kept that for 18 yrs and then on a whim sold my 650 and bought a 750 in Jan 2020.

Almost all of the parts on the 650 work with the 750 so I just sold the 650 press, spare parts kit, and second primer system I had so I didn't have to swap out parts to go from small to large primers.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

I assume you have a set of shell plates organized in those bins behind your press. Mine are in a holder that some guy up on eBay prints with a 3D printer in what is approximately the RCBS green color. I've found there are a few cool widgets that people who are handloaders are producing with their 3D printers now. Mostly for organizing their tooling.

ShellPlateHolder.png

[Walt]

Steve, while my loading room may not be as neat and organized as yours, I do know where everything I need is.

[Jeff H]

ORGANIZED, but when you don't have a lot of stuff, it's easy.

I have this "thing" about having more stuff than I can use, keep track of or care for. I don't like it. I noticed it was all getting ahead of me about fifteen years ago, so I started getting really serious about what I really needed, and more importantly - what I REALLY WANTED. I've sold a bunch of guns, knives, even axes, gave away, sold or traded some reloading stuff and a bunch of shooting paraphernalia. I feel MUCH better and enjoy my stuff MUCH more now. My casting hardware has become similarly spartan, with two moulds for each of four bore sizes and I could easily ditch a few of those - and may. I'm down to four sets of dies, plus a set for 223 in case I ever finish up the box and a half of those I already have loaded, which is the only thing I shoot jacketed bullets in.

My reloading space is all inside a college dorm wall-locker. I can close the door and lock it and walk away when I'm done using it. "Expendable supplies" are kept in a defunct freezer next to it. Everything I need, even with an element of luxury and convenience, resides from the bench up and everything below is brass storage, chronograph, a separate single-stage press and a bunch of cast bullets. And I STILL have some room. I get a great deal of pleasure in seeing how much and how well I can do with how little anyway, so there's little danger in growing out of my reloading space and NO way to get disorganized. I can reach everything while standing at the press to get it out AND to put it back.

EDIT: By the way, those are some beautiful setups!

RELOADING LOCKER.jpg

[Bullard4075]

I'd say I'm kinda 80/20. And no I'll not show a pic of my gun room.

[Griff]

Yes I am.

Ditto.

[Bill in Oregon]

Wow, Steve. I'll bet you are very good at math.

[Bronco]

I thought I was organized ! BUT after seeing these setups I find I am in a state of denial ! : and I don't mean the river

[Grizz]

i am completely disorganized, and i like it . . . i only organize the project i need to get done today, the rest of the stuff drifts around amongst the crates and boxes i use to increase floor space . . .

i don't recommend this, but it works for me. i have failed on every campaign i've begun to 'be organized', but the 'clutter' fades into the background until needed, seen and not heard . .. . . .

now, at sea, there are some strict exceptions for certain items that have life-saving implications. . . . which they have done. . .

†
grizz sendz

[Rockrat]

Chaos theory here. But I do know where MOST stuff is.

[Grizz]

Chaos theory here. But I do know where MOST stuff is.

we all don't know that. chaos is normal but we are only tasked with organizing the things that disorganize us. i hope

[marlinman93]

Since I don't have the luxury of a dedicated reloading room, my gun room serves as a reloading/gunsmithing bench and area, plus storage for three safes, and several metal cabinets that have powder, bullets, loaded ammo, etc.
Mostly the bench is cluttered until I need it cleared off to reload, or to build or work on another gun. It's a good sized room, but looks pretty crowded most the time with all I have in it.

[buckeyeshooter]

I am very organized and keep everything neat and tidy. I bench for my Lyman Spar-t (47 years old) and my Hornady lock and load and a different bench for a MEC 10 gauge, MEC 12 gauge, Lee 16 gauge and my Lee bullet casting furnace.

[jeepnik]

Somewhere in between. Some frequently used items are on the bench. But I tend to group tools in calibers.

Then again, while I load a number of calibers ranging from .25 acp (yesI am a semi crazy) to 45-70 I don’t experiment much. I find a load that works and stick with it.

I guess I look at reloading as a means to an end.

[Grizz]

Somewhere in between. Some frequently used items are on the bench. But I tend to group tools in calibers.

Then again, while I load a number of calibers ranging from .25 acp (yesI am a semi crazy) to 45-70 I don’t experiment much. I find a load that works and stick with it.

I guess I look at reloading as a means to an end.

THIS ^^^^^ when i find the combo that works the way i need it to work, i stop right there.

I have guns that get one load. If i want to try a different 45/70 load i use a different gun, but the hunting rifle gets one load. it'd be like having four different wheels on the runner to do it any other way. for me. and i don't recommend this, it's just a statistical anomaly...

[Jeff H]

Somewhere in between. Some frequently used items are on the bench. But I tend to group tools in calibers.

Then again, while I load a number of calibers ranging from .25 acp (yesI am a semi crazy) to 45-70 I don’t experiment much. I find a load that works and stick with it.

I guess I look at reloading as a means to an end.

THIS ^^^^^ when i find the combo that works the way i need it to work, i stop right there.

I have guns that get one load. If i want to try a different 45/70 load i use a different gun, but the hunting rifle gets one load. it'd be like having four different wheels on the runner to do it any other way. for me. and i don't recommend this, it's just a statistical anomaly...

In agreement on that, but only after many decades of "messing around" with all kinds of other stuff - always working something up, working something over, never complete, never finished. I eventually settled on a small selection of cartridges and corresponding arms, which I enjoy having set up, ready to go and fully functioning. I still enjoy casting reloading a great deal, as it is very relaxing and now, I have pretty much everything I want or need and at my fingertips. Hard to get disorganized at that point.

I also don't load up bunches of ammo, like I used to, which helps a lot in organizing. I am STILL shooting up or breaking down stuff I loaded in the nineties. Any more, I may load up five, ten or maybe fifty rounds of something at a time. No sense tying up components I might decide I want to use for something else. Revolvers and single-shots don't use it up that fast and it makes my "expendables" last longer too.

[Pisgah]

The only time I am well-organized is when I am actually loading. It might take me an hour to hunt everything up, but once I begin loading there is nothing on the bench except the components and tools needed to load for that cartridge.

[GunnyMack]

I'm randomly organized. Bench dedicated to metallic loading but somehow it's always a random mess.

[Ysabel Kid]

Somewhat OCD...

[Walt]

Hey Kid, what's the tool on the left side under your pinup gal?

[Ysabel Kid]

Hey Kid, what's the tool on the left side under your pinup gal?

It's a off-gun loading tool for a black powder revolver cylinder. Doesn't usually sit there - but I was rearranging some stuff!

[Ysabel Kid]

And, BTW, I altered it to load conical bullets without deforming them (as it was made to load round ball).

[Woodsloafer2]

Organized enough to be efficient but not overly neat and tidy....

[Walt]

I have very little fired brass lying around. I really enjoy loading so it's all loaded shortly after shooting it.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

Hey Kid, what's the tool on the left side under your pinup gal?

It's a off-gun loading tool for a black powder revolver cylinder. Doesn't usually sit there - but I was rearranging some stuff!

What's the super long brass up above the gold 40 S&W container?

[Ysabel Kid]

What's the super long brass up above the gold 40 S&W container?

.45-120 Sharps

[Streetstar]

I kinda get depressed when things are not organized. My reloading spot rivals Steve’s for tidiness, however I haven’t used it in several years because I only reload large centerfire rifle rounds, and I used to dabble with benchrest stuff. 6mm PPC and the like

It’s easy to stay on top of things when you rarely load over 100 rounds a year (and not for several years). The hardest thing is not repurposing the space for other things, but I refuse to do that because it would constitute “giving up” almost. I’ll get my “mojo” back one of these days.

I doubt I will ever reload big magnum calibers ever again, but my M1 A is kind of finicky so I may have to start loading 308 given the cost of factory ammon now, —- and it doesn’t like cheap Chinese plinking ammo at all.

[6pt-sika]

Organized sheeezzzz ! My loading room and it’s quite large is quite unorganized . And that’s because I time to time get good deals on this that or the other and it gets stacked piled in there . I have an oak conference table with four or five things bolted on top that I’ve not used in a couple years . I do about all my loading shotgun or metallic at the shop in town . I keep several shotgun presses there as well as an old Lyman metallic press for what few rifle/handgun cartridges I load anymore . Forty rifle cartridges a year are about it . Yes I do/did experiment a lot and still do from time to time . I do however tend to load a bunch of 8 gauge , 10 gauge and 12 gauge each year . 16 and 20 I loaded a veritable pile of the last two years so I doubt I load any of them this year . So to be totally honest my loading room looks like a bomb went off and my desk/table at the shop are about the same .