LESSON 2

LESSON #2

WHAT DO I NEED?

Location
The Bench
Equipment

LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION

First you must decide what part of your home you can dedicate to your new-found hobby.

Ideally, a separate room designated for reloading/guns only is best, but most of us do not have that luxury.

A quiet corner in a recreation room or dry basement will serve well.

It is best that it not be a traffic lane, for instance, the utility room. There will always be someone rummaging around looking for clothes or washing, ironing whatever. This is too much of a distraction, not to mention the flat surface of your loading bench can quickly become a storage shelf or catch all.

Over in the corner where nobody goes would be a better choice. Even if you have to add lighting or maybe even a simple wall, you will enjoy a little quieter area.

That is not to say they can't come visit, you might even put a chair there for guests, but stop the tedious work when your guest arrives.

SAFETY CONCERNS

A large percentage of people consider "Gunpowder" to be dangerous. While caution cannot be overstressed, gunpowder is an accelerant and not an explosive. Probably not as dangerous as the gallon of gas in your garage for your lawn mower.

Gunpowder is shipped and stored in canisters that allow for expansion within the container for the gases given off by the powder. The container itself is not overly strong so that in a situation where too much expansion has occurred, the container will fail.

NEVER STORE POWDER IN ANY CONTAINER EXCEPT THE ORIGINAL MFG CONTAINER

Though you should read a manufacturers guide on storage, basically you need a cool dry place away from electrical sources and heat. The cabinet should not be airtight and of course keep out of reach of children.

Primers are to be stored in a cool dry place as well and in a separate location or cabinet from the powder.

READ STORAGE AND USE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE MANUFACTURER

LEAD POISON

While of course bullets have lead content, primers do as well. Lead in the blood stream is a cumulative poisoning and care should always be taken while handling components. Wash hands thoroughly afterwards.

APPROACH THE BENCH PLEASE

I have said elsewhere that a bench constructed of concrete and railroad ties would not be too rigid.

This is an exaggeration of course but as rigid a bench as you can come up with is best, and always build it a couple feet longer than you think you need. In time you will out-grow it anyway.

A good size to work around is 72 inches long and 30 inches deep and 32 inches tall. Another good size to work with is one that fits your area.

There are a million ways to set up a bench and it only has to meet one criteria: It has to work for you.

The bench I am currently using is just a prefab shop table with a particle board top. I have moved things and remounted so many times the top is almost worn out. In making all these changes though, I have finally come up with a layout that works for me. My Bench

I do most of my work standing. It is just more comfortable to me. If you are going to stand, carpeting or a rubber pad are a good idea.

What looks to be a nice set of bench plans is available from the National Reloading Manufactures Association

The plans seem well thought out and would not be tough to alter to accommodate any reloading need.

The bench could be as short as 10 inches across the front but if you want your equipment mounted permanently, 36 inches is a more realistic minimum.

WHAT EQUIPMENT SHOULD YOU HAVE ?

There are countless pieces of equipment that you may or may not eventually own, but basically this is what you need.

-RELOADING MANUAL(s)
-RELOADING DIES
-RELOADING PRESS
-POWDER MEASURING SYSTEM
-CASE MEASURING METHOD
-CASE TRIMMING SYSTEM

To reuse brass cases, there are basically 5 steps involved.

-REMOVE THE SPENT PRIMER
-RESHAPE THE CASE MOUTH TO HOLD A NEW BULLET
-SEAT A NEW PRIMER
-CHARGE THE CASE WITH FRESH POWDER
-SEAT A NEW BULLET

RELOADING MANUALS will supply you with a wealth of information and data that you must have readily available to safely reload ammunition.

Most equipment and or component manufacturers publish manuals and they are all pretty good. If I could only have one, it would be a older Lyman manual. The newer ones are conservative.

RELOADING DIES accomplish removing the primer, shaping the brass and seating the new bullet while charging the case is left to a measuring system either by weight or volume.

Dies come in sets of 2 or 3 depending on the caliber you are working with and the type of dies that you purchase.

This is a set of rifle dies disassembled

RELOADING PRESSES come in basically 3 styles;
SINGLE STAGE, TURRET and PROGRESSIVE.

Single Stage is as it sounds, it accomplishes one or two steps at a time, you run all the shells through and switch dies to accomplish the remaining steps.

Turret style presses allow you to mount all of the dies in a plate that rotates on the top of the press. To perform the next step, simply rotate the plate to align the next die with the press ram.

Progressive style presses allow you to mount 3 or more dies at various stations in the press and the case is indexed to the next die with the pull of the handle.

For a beginner, I strongly recommend a SINGLE STAGE press. You may in time find that you would like to move up to the faster Turret or Progressive style but you will always find yourself using a Single Stage for one reason or another and they seldom if ever wear out.

Single Stage demands that you pay attention and leaves less room for error.

POWDER MEASURING

Consistent amounts of powder are required for safety and accuracy. There are basically 2 methods of accounting for a "Charge" of powder.

Volume or Weight

Volume is the faster of the 2 methods and can be accomplished with a scoop known to throw a given amount of powder or the use of a powder measure. A powder measure is not much more than a mechanized scoop under a hopper of powder. You simply adjust the measuring compartment to hold a certain amount of powder, scale it to verify, and you're set. Crank the handle and you throw that volume each time. Some powders flow through the measure more consistently than others and for that reason most measure manufacturers recommend scaling every 10th charge to verify consistency.

Weight is a slower method but is usually more accurate. You can physically pour powder into the scale hopper or use an electronic dispenser. Of course for the right price, the 2 items are connected and you simply press a button, powder is dispensed to the scale and cuts off at the preset weight.

A very popular and accurate combination of the 2 methods is to set the measure to throw just under the correct weight into the scale pan and then trickle in powder to bring charge to the exact weight.

Powder measures can and have been incorporated successfully into the press operation of the Progressive so that the proper volume is dispensed as a step in the progressive indexing of your case.

Powder measure

CASE MEASURING METHOD

The operations of working brass tend to make it grow in length. For that reason, you must keep close tabs on case length. A case that is too long can actually pinch the bullet when chambered and increase pressures to dangerous levels if not worse.

A good caliper is worth its weight in gold for checking case length and other measurements along the way.

They make a max case length gauge that is basically a plate with a notch cut at the maximum length for your case and if the case does not pass through the notch, it must be trimmed.

CASE TRIMMING METHOD

There are at least 3 methods for trimming cases to the proper length.

TRIM DIE
HAND HELD TRIMMER
ROTARY TRIMMER

Trim dies simply mount in the press and when the case is raised into the die, you file off any excess protruding above the die top.

Hand held trimmers operate on a dead length pilot, where the cutter head is mounted to the pilot. The pilot is inserted in the case and if the case mouth contacts the cutter you simply twist the cutter to trim the case.

Rotary trimmers look like miniature lathes. The case is locked to the trimmer by the head and the cutter is mounted on an adjustable shaft. Aligned by a pilot on the shaft, the cutter head travels to stop against a collar preset by the user. Simply rotate the shaft either with a crank type handle or a motor and you're set.

Rotary Trimmer

This Concludes Lesson 2

Lesson # 1 Lesson # 3