Show us yer bench

[coffeecup]

You really dont want to see mine! It is about 20' long and has 2 stories. Both are covered with 50+ years of stuff I have collected,there is a BUNCH more in the sheds.

When I die there will be one hell of a yard sale!!!!!!!

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[thylordjj]

I have not had any ammo shortage here... a bucket of wheel weights and I got ammo...

[HotGuns]

Alright!
Always good to see another caster. Some day we need to start a thread about casting.

[Tubby45]

Yup. Love to see more casters. Here's some boolit porn.

[sgtD]

ThylordJJ: That's a nice setup you have there.

And Tubby, those are some beautiful cast boolits.

I may have to start casting soon since I can't seem to get any bullets. Or at least I thought so, until I saw that big flaming pic that Tubby posted and that scared me off.

I just stuffed my last 15 Sierra BTHPs in some 30-06 cases. They are backordered everywhere, as are Remington Core-Lokts. Still waiting on my .223 bullets to show up.

I've got about 500 .357 hollowpoints, and about 250 30-30 bullets to keep me busy until I get something else in. I guess I could load up some 30-30 bullets in my .308 and 30-06 if worse comes to worst.

[Jeff F]

Here's my loading bench again.
And some cast bullets also.

[sgtD]

Here's my loading bench again.
And some cast bullets also.

This may be a dumb question, but I have to ask. What is that tube thing that is mounted vertically to the board?

[Tubby45]

Drop tube for black powder loading.

[thylordjj]

ThylordJJ: That's a nice setup you have there.

Thank you,
I got a few bucks in it to say the least... but I have dropped my cost on .45acp down to $4.00 a box of 100... and 9mm even less... plus when I bought the press and dies, I got 1100 free hornady hollow points ... Now if I can just figure out who is hording all the Federal 150 Primers...

[thylordjj]

I may have to start casting soon since I can't seem to get any bullets. Or at least I thought so, until I saw that big flaming pic that Tubby posted and that scared me off.

Don’t let the flame scare ya', he was just fluxing the pot. We use wax to pull the impurities from the metal... It melts and then bursts into flames for a few seconds... this makes the trash float to the top… then you just skim it off… Nothing says “luv’n like hot fresh boolits from the oven”

[Jeff F]

This may be a dumb question, but I have to ask. What is that tube thing that is mounted vertically to the board?

Not a dumb question at all if you don't load black powder cartridges. It's exactly what Tubby said it was. It will allow me to put upwards to 115 grains of 1F black powder in my 45-110 cases, which in reality if you just scoop the powder in probably only hold around 100 grains without compressing. That one is just a piece of aluminum arrow shaft with a cheap Lee funnel glued on top.

[sgtD]

Not a dumb question at all if you don't load black powder cartridges. It's exactly what Tubby said it was. It will allow me to put upwards to 115 grains of 1F black powder in my 45-110 cases, which in reality if you just scoop the powder in probably only hold around 100 grains without compressing. That one is just a piece of aluminum arrow shaft with a cheap Lee funnel glued on top.

Ok, that makes sense to me. I knew there was such a thing, but really had never seen one mounted that way, or understood exactly what its purpose was.

BTW: I did a bit of an upgrade this weekend to my reloading station. The $10 drafting desk was a but flimsy and the top flexed when working the press so I beefed it up a bit. I screwed through the top into two 2x4s that run from front to back then put a 1x4 under the press and srewed through the 1x4 and the table top into the 2x4s. I also screwed some 90 degree metal angle brackets onto the table top and secured them with 2" course thread drywall screws into the wall studs. (I can do this only because the landlord is planing on gutting the entire basement and remodeling when I move out) She still aint pretty, but she's solid as a rock now.

One of these days when I'm settled into one place I'll get a real bench. But for now, while I am renting and still in school, this will have to do.

Here's a new pic of the "improvised improvement" and 50 rounds of 125gr HP .357 magnums I just finished loading.

[Tubby45]

SgtD, don't let the flame turn you off to casting. That was a show off pic I made for someone. It's the result of using pine bedding for flux in a 900 degree lead melt. If you use lube or beeswax you won't get that flame so high. It's good to burn the flux fumes to prevent breathing it in. Wear a mask when casting too.

[sgtD]

10-4. I have an aquaintance who has been sort of mentoring me along in the reloading venture. He shoots a lot of CAS and long range cowboy rifle matches. He also casts his own bullets.

I am going try to get with him next time he does some casting and learn some more about it. I was just kidding about the flame scaring me anyway. I was a welder for 15yrs (I'm a middle aged law student: career change you know) I have actually had my clothes set on fire by sparks more times than I care to count and I'm none the worse for wear. So no real worries there. However, I do see the potential danger in breathing the fumes. My dad was a car painter and I grew up wearing masks and respirators in his shop, so I know that drill. lol

Thanks for the info though. Very interesting stuff.

[Jeff F]

Interesting thing about the flamage from fluxing. Here at 7000 feet I actually have to light the smoke from fluxing to get it to burn, it will not ignite on it's own. I usually cast around 820 degrees, and when I lived at a much lower altitude it would easily ignite on it's own, but not here.

Glad to see you reinforced that bench. Was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw it. Figured you weren't full length sizing any rifle cartridges with the way it was.