hand hurts

[skizzums]

okay, i am on my single stage lee for about 500 rounds a week, when its case prep time i usually just nock out a few thousand in a couple days and work off that until i run out

for the last 3-4 weeks, i have this swollen area in the middle of the backk of my hand toward the wrist, ts very sore and its not going away, i am not sure exactly what i did to injure it or if its just cummulative, but its to the point that i cant even rackk a slide with my left hand and pressiing primers is also very inflammatory

i have tried to give it a full week without touching the press, but still sore today, i bought a new gun today and the left hand was so weak, i couldnt manipulate it at all

is this a problem for others? what do you do to keep your press hand healthy? what can i do to speed up recovery? what technique can i use to prevent future injuries? or am i just a whiney girlie-man who needs to buck up?

[k4swb]

hand hurts
okay, i am on my single stage lee for about 500 rounds a week, when its case prep time i usually just nock out a few thousand in a couple days and work off that until i run out

for the last 3-4 weeks, i have this swollen area in the middle of the backk of my hand toward the wrist, ts very sore and its not going away, i am not sure exactly what i did to injure it or if its just cummulative, but its to the point that i cant even rackk a slide with my left hand and pressiing primers is also very inflammatory

i have tried to give it a full week without touching the press, but still sore today, i bought a new gun today and the left hand was so weak, i couldnt manipulate it at all

is this a problem for others? what do you do to keep your press hand healthy? what can i do to speed up recovery? what technique can i use to prevent future injuries? or am i just a whiney girlie-man who needs to buck up?

I loaded for 30 years on a single stage press. Using a hand primer, it took 4 pulls to get one round. It got to be a pain in the.......well everything.

Bought an auto progressive a few years back and now I tumble and run them through the press, one pull, one round. 15-20 minutes = 100 rounds and I'm slow. Now nothing bothers me when I load.
__________________

[Brian Pfleuger]

Well, you clearly need a doctor for advice on the hand but I can tell you that loading 500 rounds a week, on average, with a single stage press sounds a lot like one of the levels of hell.

You need a progressive if you're going to do that kind of volume consistently.

[LE-28]

Wait until you get older and then it's your elbow and your shoulder. Get an auto progressive, Hornady or Dillon and your pains will go away.

I was getting into problems with my shoulder and my elbow so I bought the LNL-AP, within two weeks my tennis elbow started to going away, within a month my shoulder quit hurting and I was golden.

Your pulling 4 strokes to my 1 with your single stage. I can load 4k to your 1k with no batch work. 500 a week justifies an auto-progressive press in my book. I load up to 1200 9mms at one time and with a case feeder on my Hornady it's pleasurable.

With an auto-progressive you will go from being a slave to reloading to being able to enjoy it again at a leisurely pace. If I had to go back to loading 9mms on a SS I would go back to buying factory ammo. Unless I was making self defense loads to me it wouldn't be worth it.

[jmorris]

For the bulk of the ammo I load setups like this work great.

http://s121.photobucket.com/user/jmo...116-2.mp4.html


Case lube all cases reduces the amount of force required in reloading and progressives reduce the number of strokes you make per round. On a single stage you are doing 3-4x the strokes that a progressive user s doing. So you loading 500 rounds would be the same as a progressive user loading 1500-2000 rounds. Looking at it the other way, if you had a progressive it would seem like you were only loading 125-167 rounds on your single stage.

[Mike / Tx]

After I divorced my first wife I was burning through upwards of 500 a week myself and my girlfriend at the time was helping out with another 200 or so. I was also coming home and loading those right back up as well. I never got the swelling or pain that stayed but then again I was pretty saturated during my off time anyway and most of the pain and swelling was in my head.

That said, this girlfriend whom after I got my head screwed on right I married, thought all that single stage stuff was a bunch of bull, so SHE bought me a RCBS 4x4 progressive, along with shell plates to go with the three calibers we were burning through. She also purchased me a safe to hold all of my rifles and handguns in as well.

I totally concur with the above in that if your going to keep up that regiment your going to need to invest in something which does a bit more of the work for you per pull. Repetitive motion injuries can arise even from the simple act of using a mouse while surfing the internet. Repeated pulling and torquing your wrist as with pulling the handle as much as you are can also result in a form of corporal tunnel syndrome. This comes about when the area of your wrist where the nerves and tendons go through becomes inflamed and repeated use only makes it worse.

Give it and the shooting a rest and see your DR about getting some relief. I had a similar condition in both of my elbows from casting surf rods of all things. I eventually had to have surgery to correct it after they both got to the point I couldn't even pick up a coffee cup. Being an industrial mechanic and pulling big wrenches and other things similar just wasn't cutting it.

[bt380]

At a minimum, get a new bar/handle that is ergo friendly. Probably with a spinning handle.

[Gster]

Might be me but I'm well into my 50s. Gettin real close to 60 and I use a single stage. I have done up to 800 a week and love every minute of it. No sore hands, wrists, arms, or nothing. Maybe it's because I've worked construction all my life. I've yet to yearn for anything faster or easier.

[skizzums]

yeah, i dont hate the single stage, and i def cannot fund a progressive atm, i guess ill just give it a rest till its completely healed up and possibly look into the new handle idea, of course jmorris s setup is ideal, but also looks like thousands of dollars


now that ive been thinking about it, none of this has started until i switched to the hard wolf primers, but also being a paramedic and woring the levers on the stretcher while lifting 400+ pound fatties doesnt help either, as for going to a doc for a sore hand? havent signed up for the unaffordable care act, dont want to give O the satisfaction yet, ill take the fine and stay with the 40mil uninsured

[Slamfire]

Sure sounds like repetitive motion injury. I am not a medical Doctor but I understand electrical wiring, so I guess this makes me an expert. You have nerves which pass through the wrist and the constant repetitive motions of moving the press handle has stretched and rubbed them against the bones of the wrist. This is not something that should be ignored because nerve damage can be permanent. I recommend you Google this as there is all sorts of information on this. As an example : http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~cscott/rsi.html

Occupational health people would tell you to give it a break, re arrange your workstation, the arrangement of geometries is not something that can be described in a post, and I certainly don’t know how high, how low, or how much wrist flex you are having.

You need to give reloading a break. And when your hand feels better, get a progressive and have someone talk to you about reducing nerve damage due to repetitive motion injury.

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Progressive suggestions make a lot of sense. In the meantime some adjustments to height might be in order. I have found that by adjusting my press height. The pressure end of my stroke feels better with my arm extended and the pressure end/bottom end of the stroke starts at or ends a little below the waist. You don't want to over extend by bending at the waist, it uses to many back muscles. If you get it just right, the arm will have a slight bend to it at your side.

Another thing I do is choke down on the lever to make the stroke shorter on the stages that don't require pressures to be higher (de-capping and resizing) . Since I only need three strokes per round ( use a three die set)on the 9, 40's and 45's I shorten my arm stroke with this method when flaring and seating by choking down. Saves the back and the spasms for me.

[Jeff2131]

Im easily pushing 500rnds per week and i havent had any issues. Only thing that feels sore is my lower back but thats just from standing in the garage for hours. Looking into a thick cushiony mat to stand on. And im using a single stage press.

[Metal god]

Sounds like you have a ganglion cyst goggle it . I get them on my wrist area , not from reloading but from construction work . Very painfull to deal with . The old school fix is to bang it with a book and rupture it . I'm not a doctor , just talking here . You should see a doctor >

[skizzums]

i have seen the ergo handles before, does anyone have a link for a decent priced one?

[skizzums]

case lube is also a good idea, maybe ill try that one-shot stuff

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Got a pic of the press, I might be able to design a little spring assist for it. I was kicking the idea around on mine a few months back and when you mentioned the handle it came to mind. shoot me a pic and pm if you want.

[skizzums]

okay, give me a sec

[skizzums]

http://s998.photobucket.com/user/nwa...13163617008806

http://s998.photobucket.com/user/nwa...21797783567165

http://s998.photobucket.com/user/nwa...56383023486997

sorry, its a mess, wasnt expecting company

[Jeff2131]

Im using the same.exact press. No issues here, maybe you could pad the handle to make it more managable

[buck460XVR]

Since you're a paramedic, you probably already know this. 400mg of Ibuprofen 4 times a day and R.I.C.E.

[jag2]

The fact that it still hurt after a week tells you that wasn't enough time. Stay off the press til there is no discomfort, could be several weeks. As I get older, healing times grow exponentially. A few years ago I switched from an RCBS Rockchucker to a Forster. On the RCBS I sat a bit to the left of the press but on the Forster I'm directly in front. Just that small change in the angle the way my arm moved created a very sore shoulder that lasted a couple of months. Probably would have healed faster if I had quit reloading for a while but it wasn't that bad. The previous advice for Ibuprofen is also a good one, it's a good anti inflammatory.

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Same as mine skizzums.....let you know what I come up with.

[CowTowner]

i have seen the ergo handles before, does anyone have a link for a decent priced one?

Here's where I got mine:
http://inlinefabrication.com/

[g.willikers]

If money is tight, you could make a replacement for the ball, that attaches to the same place.
With stuff from the hardware store, it shouldn't be difficult or cost much.
More of a handle than just that small ball.
Short of that, have you tried just holding the ball differently?
From the side, instead of from the top, using more arm and shoulder muscle instead of hand and wrist.

[flgolfer29]

The link below is a thread I started for the same reason, using a LCT press. World of difference with the new roller handle...

http://smith-wessonforum.com/reloadi...ret-press.html

joe