Handloading - Sitting or Standing?

[WWShooter]

Standing. Precision center fire for rifle, meatball pistol - but in either event standing is better for my overall fitness than sitting.

 

[P7M13]

Whatever the ergonomics dictate.

 

[tac]

I use a dentist type mirrior to verify powder charges.

I just look.

It's cheaper.

ta

 

[ageingstudent]

I just look.

It's cheaper.

ta

I can't see down in .38 cases. On the progressive it's more difficult to take them off so I started using the mirrior.

 

[tac]

Ah, being a mean old f*rt I do my .357Mag fills on a Lee turret press, one at a time. My days of loading a thousand for a weekend are a fast-receding memory...

You got to rememb that over here only I can shoot my revolver - nobody else can. It's the LAW.

tac

 

[KKG]

You got to rememb that over here only I can shoot my revolver - nobody else can. It's the LAW.

tac

We do feel your pain.

 

[tac]

Thanks, bud. I appreciatise that sentimentation.

tac

 

[2Wheels4Ever]

I get more control when standing, and more comfort when sitting. Right now the press it set up for a sitting position.

 

[teflon6string]

if CNN reported gravity was suddenly discovered on the Earth I'd want a real source confirming details.

You got me 41mag, and I fully expected that response when I generically Googled "Sitting Death" and drug the CNN link over here. There's dozens of similar reports everywhere.

Actually, though, I think CNN might agree with Fox (for once) that gravity indeed exists. And then blame Trump for clumsy people falling down and injuring themselves.

Back to workbench height... I do everything I possibly can in a day to remain standing, especially for hours on end. My last 5 years at work were in the elevated/standing position. Desk at elbow height.

When I retired, I was ready to pull the trigger on a slick electrical adjustable height desk/counter at home from IKEA. But then I read dozens of reviews complaining about power transformers failing repeatedly. Guess that explains the reduced price - bastiges.

 

[best defense]

When my cousin first got me into handloading decades ago, I started out doing it standing. Over the years, I've tried doing it in the sitting position a few different times, never worked for me. I've tried chairs and stools of different heights. Even adopted a lower bench for experimental purposes. When I'm sitting, it seems that my movements are more restricted. Standing, I have more freedom of movement.

Before I retired, I worked at a place where "sit down jobs" were rare and highly coveted. And down through the years, management did everything they could to do away with as many sit down jobs as possible. They had an institutional belief that sitting tended to make people more comfortable and less productive. So after all that standing in my working life, you'd think I'd go for sitting at the loading bench. Hasn't worked for me yet.

I've found that different presses work at different heights. Some have a longer ram, that's great for longer rifle cartridges. But usually a longer ram means long throw of the lever. In my case, I'm taller and a long throw on a press lever might mean that I have to dip down to move the lever to full bottom travel (or full ram height, your pick). One answer is to get one of those press risers that are made to raise up the whole press about nine inches. Puts your work more at eye level, raises the press action.

How about you, sitting or standing?

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No, my tired old feed do not want to stand for long periods of time, but if you don't have any problem standing for long periods of time there is nothing wrong with that.

 

[gmerkt]

Tired old feet, I'm right there with you. One December shortly before I retired, my employer asked me to work overtime, 10+ hours a day for 20 straight days. Nearly all of it on my feet. Besides OT pay, I got plantar fasciitis in my left foot out of it. Fortunately, that mostly cleared up over the years since. However, in the meantime, I've acquired peripheral neuropathy which doesn't help.

I have some of those thick, anti-fatigue mats on the floor in my work space and they help. Around the property, I normally wear Stegmann cork sole clogs that have real good arch support. My grandpa Fritz used to wear house slippers around home all the time, I thought that was strange. But Fritz was old, about where I am now, had spent a lifetime on his feet first for decades as a farmer, then for the last part of his life as a security guard for the US Navy and then Howard Hughes.

I couldn't wear combat or cowboy boots for any longer than about 10 minutes. Not long ago, I gave away my last pair of army boots and they were the soft, suede leather kind. Not the old, hard shiny black boots that we wore in the army years ago. I just couldn't wear them. I got them a half size over, then put orthotics inside, didn't help much. But after all, American society as a whole is pretty much in running shoes; about the only time I see real leather is when it's being worn by business world Weisenheimers on those rare occasions when I'm in downtown Seattle. No wonder we don't see shoeshine stands anymore.

Cowboy boots. My friend Mark in New Mexico loves them; me, my feet don't come to a point in the front like that, not shaped for me. When I was a kid, I had a pair of Acme leather Wellington boots and I practically slept in those. My Uncle Ray used to kid me, he saw the Acme on the bottom, said, "Boy, ya got yerself a pair o' ache-em's."

Mark and his boots, that's part of his conforming to his rural NM surroundings. Like having a Ford F-250 Diesel. He says he wouldn't get any respect if he didn't have the boots or the truck.

 

[Certaindeaf]

. I do everything I possibly can in a day to remain standing, especially for hours on end..

I figure we'll all be resting in the ground soon enough so I went further and reload while climbing mountains.

 

[SageRatSafaris]

I have some of those thick, anti-fatigue mats on the floor in my work space and they help.

I stand when reloading. Getting proper shop mats to stand on made a huge difference for me. Bench height 37.5" keeps things comfortably at my hands.

 

[teflon6string]

I figure we'll all be resting in the ground soon enough so I went further and reload while climbing mountains.

Kickboxing.

 

[HB of CJ]

I was only 15 years old and weighed a whopping 150 pounds. We were full length resizing Lake City 30.06 brass. Were using LOTS of lube. Still had to stand. Later when reloading Carbine and 45 brass we used a tall bar stool. Leverage.

 

[w6rat]

Sitting. It's more comfortable to sit and listen to Bluegrass and reload ... I'm getting old an wore out...

 

[teflon6string]

******************************************************************************
No, my tired old feed do not want to stand for long periods of time, but if you don't have any problem standing for long periods of time there is nothing wrong with that.

Never had any problem walking and moving around on my feet all day, but it took me awhile to get used to standing still at an elevated desk. During my first 40-hour week doing that, I laid down a set of those cheap Harbor Freight foam rubbery work mats.
Anti-Fatigue Foam Mat Set 4 Pc
They seemed to provide some relief, but they stunk to high heavens of the chemicals used to manufacture them, enough that I was concerned they'd bother my office mates, too, so I took them home and tossed them out on the patio in the sun and rain. After off-gassing for a month, the toxic smell was gone, but I didn't need them anymore.

 

[Lastcat]

Sitting, with a low bench, about kitchen table height.

 

[gmerkt]

Re. those fancy new stand-up desks that have become so popular, advertised as being healthier. I don't know, standing in one place isn't the same thing as moving around upright. I imagine that bosses like the stand-up desks, employees are less apt to get relaxed and slow down. Where I worked for decades, sitting jobs were highly prized, the employer did everything they could over the years to eliminate them. In their view, comfort decreased productivity. To quote one manager i worked under, "If you're not moving, you're not working." I wonder what he'd think of contemporary workplaces where many of the employees are spending much time on the clock peering into their smart phones. Or Googling/Facebooking on company PC's. I retired nearly 11 years ago, but my wife worked up until September of last year. Part of her work caused her to circulate around among the other desk-bound employees; she observed that they were often Googling or playing electronic games on their company computers. Toward the end of her time, the trend was toward those folding stand-up desks, many of her fellows were ga-ga over them but part of that may have been novelty of the moment. They were still Googling whether sitting or standing. Maybe the manufacturers should supply support hose with each stand up desk.

I'm not making it up about time-wasting at work. It's pretty well-known. According to a Harris poll, 24% of those surveyed said they wasted at least a hour a day on personal email, texts and personal calls. Forbes magazine has carried articles on this subject a number of times. One recent article stated that 89% of workers surveyed said they wasted time at work. 31% said they wasted roughly a half hour; another 31% said they wasted roughly an hour. 16% said the wasted roughly two hours. 6 percent said they wasted three hours a day. Oh, and get this: 2 percent said they wasted four hours a day, and 2 percent reported that they wasted five hours a day.

What kind of job do people get where they can waste four or five hours a day and get away with it?

 

[jordanka16]

I almost always sit, I stand all day and it is nice to sit down. I use a tall stool and my press is mounted on an inline fabrication riser so I'm not hunched over. Occasionally I will stand, resizing machine gun fired .308 brass or other heavy duty tasks.

I suspect most people have their press and bench height too low, and that contributes to it being uncomfortable. I can sit and load for 2-3 hours and the only thing thst is sore is my arm