Safety

[Draciron]

Shrug I don't smoke when I have powder on the table, until there is a bullet in the cases and any excess powder either disposed of or put back in container nobody smokes near the table. Gun powder isn't like gasoline, it's going to flash rather than burn.

Keep the table clean of powder. No highly flamable materials ever go near the bench. I don't clean or oil my guns anywhere near my bench. No lighter fluid, no flamable case lubes, etc.

I have a fire exstinguisher but not related to reloading in any way. I keep one in every room normally. If powder goes up it'll be done burning before you start cussing and isn't likely to start any kind of fire you can deal with with an extinguisher. The fire's likely over before any human could reach for an extinguisher.

I try to make it a habit to dump every case upside down before I put powder in. Most of me loads make it impossible to double charge but I try to be in this habit just in case. So far only once have I picked up what I thought was an empty case to put powder in and discovered it was already charged when I turned it upside down, but once was enough. I use a single stage press so I powder each case individually. If I were using a multi-stage I'd keep the cases upside down until they are powdered which I probably should do anyway.

Before loading each case I scan the tray to make sure every case is actually charged and that none of the charges look much different in the case.

1 powder open on the table. Different dixie cup for each powder. When not in use they sit atop the powder. This prevents contamination by other powders.

If I'm pulling a live primer out I tend to reach for the safety glasses. If I had a multi-stage press I'd wear safety glasses in case the primer tube went up. Have read a few tales about that happening.

No gloves, I just don't touch my eyes or mouth until I've washed my hands fairly well.

Only 1 primer type on the bench at a time. Unused primers go imediately back into the primer box.

Any primer which I'm not %100 certain of it's type gets put into plinkers which I load with really low pressure loads. I use both magnum and regular primers. When I pull a bullet or find a stray on the floor or a nook of the bench it becomes a plinker primer.

Load data for what I am loading is written down and taped/leaned in a promient place.

I double check my powder type and the load data before seating bullets. Once grabbed a rifle powder and filled handgun cases or vice versa and was about to seat bullets when I did my check and discovered my error. The powder canisters look exactly alike and have almost the same numbers H414 and H110. Double checking possibly saved my life.

If I have a nudging feeling that something aint right I listen too it. Unload what I've done and start over even if I can't figure out why. In one case I discovered I was using load data apropriate for that round and bullet weight but with a different powder. I'd mistakenly read the line above in my notebook.

Primers are stored well away from the powders. A good 5 feet away. Primers are also stored where nothing heavy will accidentally drop on them. I prime my cases before the powder comes out onto the table. So loose primers are never on the table while there's powder on the table.

I record my load data as soon as I'm done and putting it in the box.

[gdeal]

i don't clean or oil my guns anywhere near my bench

ok.

primers are stored well away from the powders. A good 5 feet away. Primers are also stored where nothing heavy will accidentally drop on them. I prime my cases before the powder comes out onto the table. So loose primers are never on the table while there's powder on the table.

ok.

[number2onmyshoe]

The other big thing on safety - is my last step on reloading. As I take completed rounds off the press - I dump the bucket onto a terry cloth towel - and I roll them around to remove any case lube left over. Then I take each round, and drop it into a hand held "case gague" - they are in the Dillon catalog for a few bucks - if the round drops in easily, and seats flush, and doesn't extend out the bottom - and it drops out easily as you turn it over - its a good round. Then, and only then, does it go into a box.
This is the last step that will pick up a little burr on the case / or a little crack I missed on pre loading inspection / because now the case is under pressure. So this is when I reject a few rounds out of 300 or so ( a cock eyed primer seat, a little burr, etc ) - and pull the bullets, and recycle components.

Aside from safety glasses, and proper checks on powder type and measure per manual specs for the given caliber I think BigJimP's recomendation is one of the best in this post. I've been using the case gauges for a double check for a long time and would not even consider getting a new set of dies without getting the gauge to match, I've caught allot of problems early with them...

Fire extinguisher? Yup, 10 pound ABC dry chem hangs right next to the door to use on the way out, but let me tell you if I do need that you can bet the 2005 ALF Eagle 1500/1000 is going to be on it's way, if you know what that means you know what my other major hobby is besides reloading

[gdeal]

Aside from safety glasses, and proper checks on powder type and measure per manual specs for the given caliber I think BigJimP's recomendation is one of the best in this post. I've been using the case gauges for a double check for a long time and would not even consider getting a new set of dies without getting the gauge to match, I've caught allot of problems early with them...

Fire extinguisher? Yup, 10 pound ABC dry chem hangs right next to the door to use on the way out, but let me tell you if I do need that you can bet the 2005 ALF Quantum 1500/1000 is going to be on it's way, if you know what that means you know what my other major hobby is besides reloading

You're a FireFighter?

There's a case guage or some kind of guage from LEE but it looks nothing like the case guage from Dillon. I have LEE Carbide dies coming and that LEE guage. Should I get a Dillon guage?

[Mal H]

Originally Posted by Crankylove

... and almost never wash my hands after handling lead bullets.

Somehow that explains the rest of your post!

Safety glasses - yes.
Fire extinguisher - yes.
Gloves, face shield, ear plugs, ventilation - no.

Ventilation is necessary when cleaning guns with some of the nastier chems, but in general, I do it in the same room in which I reload.

As Tuttle8 mentioned, ventilation can actually be bad when weighing powders.

[number2onmyshoe]

You're a FireFighter?

There's a case guage or some kind of guage from LEE but it looks nothing like the case guage from Dillon. I have LEE Carbide dies coming and that LEE guage. Should I get a Dillon guage?

You got it gdeal

All of my gauges are L.E. Wilson, http://www.lewilson.com/casegage.html, I don't actually know if Dillon has their own brand of gauges or not, but the Wilson's are widely available from just about every reloading equipment source....

[dmazur]

Should I get a Dillon guage

Dillon does make this "chamber type" gauge, but Wilson makes them in more calibers. I've always heard of them as "Wilson" gauges, but this is kind of like calling facial tissue "Kleenex".

The Lee gauge, as far as I know, doesn't check the cartridge headspace dimension for bottleneck cartridges, just case length. The Wilson gauges can be used to check both.

I only load 4 cartridges ("calibers"), and I have a Wilson gauge for each.

The way I use them, in addition to checking for the need to trim brass, is as a final check on headspace (for rifle) before dropping the rounds in the labeled boxes for that run. If anything went wrong, I'd rather find out before I try making a rifle chamber the loaded round.

[shooter-55]

Some of yu guys crack me up...
I hopefully won't be reading any names in the obits that I recognize anytime soon.....

[gdeal]

ventilation can actually be bad when weighing powders

OK. Windows closed. No ceiling fan. No floor fan. It's gets warm in the room where I will be setting up my bench though. I'll figure something out.
OH... What are the temp tolerances for GunPowder and Primers? For example, if the room got to a temperature of 97 degrees F, would that be OK?

All of my gauges are L.E. Wilson

NOW this is why I love the Firing Line Forum. You can't get this kind of good info anywhere else. But I wish I didn't buy that Lee gauge though. I thought it looked kind of weird especially compared to Dillon. Well I have to go to that Wilson guage website now. Thanks again.

[Mal H]

Humidity is more of a problem than temperature. If you are comfortable at 97*, and the humidity is around 50% or less, then that would be ok. However, no matter what the humidity, I wouldn't be comfortable at 97*!

In general, a reloading room should be at a temp and humidity level that is comfortable for the reloader, not the reloading supplies because when it is, then you know the supplies are in a good range also.

[Crankylove]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankylove
... and almost never wash my hands after handling lead bullets.

Somehow that explains the rest of your post!

Now, I never said I was the smartest guy out there.............

[Magnum Wheel Man]

If you have primers that are magnetic, they're some kind of foreign crap. Primers made in the US of A are made from brass.

FYI... SNUFFY you are correct... I based my statement on the 2 big coffee cans of spent primers my father in law had sitting down by his loading bench when he died ( I know that as I was learning, that my spent primers ( mostly 243 & 357 mag at the time ) went into those cans as well )... when I had to deal with them, so many stuck to the magnet, ( what seemed like all of them ) that I dumped both cans into the steel scrap...

last night I tested the couple pounds of spent primers that I have in a large zip lock bag ( these are from this last year & are almost exclusively 22 Hornet, 5.7 X 28, 223, & 45 Colt )... & none stuck to the magnet... so thanks for correcting my statement... my newly spent primers will go into the brass scrap...

I have to assume you were correct about either cheap imported primers or shotgun primers being steel, I'll have to test any I decap before adding them to my brass spent primers... my father in law did reload shot shells, but only a hand full here or there compared to the 1000's & 1000's of 223 ( which was by volume, his most reloaded cartridge )... he had several 1000 military cases... could the original ( mostly LC ) 223 cases from the late 70's or early 80's have had any steel in the primers ???

[Gbro]

Draciron posted;

Gun powder isn't like gasoline, it's going to flash rather than burn.

unconfined rifle powder(extruded), like in a scale pan or such will not flash. It will burn quite slowly.
Flake powders will burn very fast.
Black powder will flash! that is why the canister is marked explosive. All others kinds of powders are marked flammable.
Everything changes when the powders are confined.