Portable reloading equipment

[Member 5605]

Put it between your legs ;-)

Not everyone can close their legs...

Just saying..

 

[Tilos]

Put it between your legs ;-)

yea, like a thigh-master...
might pinch your junk though,

 

[The Heretic]

Seriously, using two hands from each side, flat palms would be easier than pushing on the Lee loaded with one hand, or two with their setup.

 

[Jamie6.5]

you could always buy or build one of these, and make all your reloading portable.
I found this pics in I-Fish's "for sale" section today:

 

[41mag]

Years ago loading for XP100 308FL needed to size only the case mouth, the rest was easy as well. Still though, from habit, the Dillon 550 was my own choice.

 

[Jamie6.5]

you could always buy or build one of these, and make all your reloading portable.
I found this pics in I-Fish's "for sale" section today:
View attachment 306861

View attachment 306862

I've been searching, but can't find a "Magnum Products Co." associated with reloading, so you may have to make your own, but with some good hardwood like Maple or Oak it shouldn't be that difficult.
As a matter of fact, I may make one myself!

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

I always wanted to put a set up in a 5x8 covered trailer and just haul it to the range. I'm not sure what Mrs ageingsutdent would think of that so I've kept it to myself.

On one of national forums a few years back had pictures of a guy who had his reloading room attached to his house and had his range off of that. I guess he had a pretty good size chunk of land. He had his reloading bench on one wall with a window in it. He would work up a few rounds, open the window and test them on his range. Needless to say I am very jealous of his setup. Don't even have to wet, cold or hot to shoot a rifle or handgun and be able to reload your just shot brass. I can only dream of having a setup like his.

 

[The Heretic]

you could always buy or build one of these, and make all your reloading portable.
I found this pics in I-Fish's "for sale" section today:
View attachment 306861

View attachment 306862

Not something you can fit inside an ammo can

 

[Jamie6.5]

Not something you can fit inside an ammo can

No it won't, and it's not going to be light either.
So if you want to FL Resize the LL is going to be your best bet, because I have a Lee hand press and it won't FL resize a decent sized rifle round. You can't generate enough force. And by the feel of it, if you tried, you'd break it.

Good luck in your quest.

 

[AMProducts]

There are other hand operated "presses", mostly old/no longer made and expensive when you find one used.
Here's a modern version of an old design, built and sold as a custom:
Introducing the Buchanan Precision Machine Hand Press

They are out there, but you'll pay for one, and don't expect to find anything that is comparable in price to a Lee or Lyman.

So the real problem with that thing is the guy is completely giving up on a lot of mechanical advantage with the way his linkage system is designed. The closer the drag link gets to the vertical of the handle the more force he can generate. As it looks, he's maybe getting 70-80% of max.

Lots of benchrest guys reload at the range. Find a small press like the RCBS Partner press if you want to FL size while in the field. It can be clamped to a pickup bed or attached to a bench. If you can get away with neck sizing you can use an Arbor press with Wilson dies. Using a scale can be next to impossible though due to the slightest wind, so a good powder throw is what a lot of people use.

When I go to a range and have to do load dev outside, the RCBS partner, the RCBS powder thrower, and usually a scale come with me out to the range. However, I prep all my brass ahead of time, usually all I'm doing is seating the bullet. By far this is the superior method. Many of the hand based tools, like the lee, the lyman 310, don't do a good job of sizing the brass, and at least in the case of the 310, was damn near impossible to use. I ended up tearing off more stout .44mag rims than I ever made sized brass with that thing. The Lee tool is better, but it's not really adjustable, it only sizes the neck, and it wears out super quick, but it does work.

Seriously, using two hands from each side, flat palms would be easier than pushing on the Lee loaded with one hand, or two with their setup.

The lee tool is fairly easy to use, provided you're doing a cartridge smaller than .308 or not full length sizing. For pistol with a carbide die set, it will work just fine for you, however the lee (loadmaster? the cheap single stage they sell?) mounted to a board and then clamped to a table would be easier to use and you wouldn't have to worry about spilling powder as frequently when seating bullets.

At the moment I do most of my load dev in my shop. I have about 10' range with the gun firing into a 8x8" steel tube filled with wet sand. This allows me to look at velocity and standard deviation and at least turn up lots of promising candidates before I try to load outside.

For what it's worth, loading at the range for testing is a neat idea and has been done before, but reloading is really a practice best done indoors so you don't have gusts of wind blowing your scale out of calibration, or powder spilling out of the case, or any number of other things that can go wrong. If you have to do it, take prepped, primed brass, and just load powder and bullet at the range. This is much easier than making offerings to the heathen gods of benchrest shooters who load at the range.

 

[P7M13]

I always wanted to put a set up in a 5x8 covered trailer and just haul it to the range. I'm not sure what Mrs ageingsutdent would think of that so I've kept it to myself.

As long as you haul it behind the Marathon Coach you bought for her, she's good....

When my 1st marriage died after 21 years, I moved into a 850SF apartment. I think the only thing I took besides clothes was my progressive press. I mounted it, quick release, to some aluminum bar stock. When I needed more rounds, I'd pull it from the top shelf, clamp it to the dining table & rock out hundreds of rounds. Setup & takedown were ~10 minutes each. The only thing that would be different for the shooting benches at the range is the jaw gap on my C-clamp.

 

[The Heretic]

Okay. I left out a bit of criteria - not on purpose - that I should have included.

I apologize for that - I thought including "in the field" would be enough.

If I have a "bench", whether at the range, my shop, an apartment, hotel room, or an RV, then I would probably setup bench press.

What I was looking for was something that would be a "hand press". Something that would work if you were nowhere near a "bench".

I am a "prepper", and I think part of that prepping would be a lightweight compact hand press I can throw in a "fat 50" ammo can (or something similar) with some components, that I could use to reload no matter where I am - even if it is sitting on the ground by a campfire.

That is what I was aiming for.

I know - it is probably more efficient and less weight to just have loaded ammo vs. the components and a press, but that was what I was and still am thinking.

 

[Otter]

Sounds like you are loading more ammo for your AR15 in a SHTF situation. As long as you don't load hot I've found you can neck size .223/5.56 brass 5-10 times before you have to FL size again.

Wilson neck and seating dies can be used with a wooden mallet. Arbor press is better and you could use it on the ground by a campfire but a mallet will work. The hand held Lee setup is about your only other option. Use a slow enough powder where you could dip the case into the powder and fill it up to the neck without worrying about an over-charged case. That solves your scale/power throw issue.

Weight would be minimal.

 

[AMProducts]

I am a "prepper", and I think part of that prepping would be a lightweight compact hand press I can throw in a "fat 50" ammo can (or something similar) with some components, that I could use to reload no matter where I am - even if it is sitting on the ground by a campfire.

That is what I was aiming for.

I know - it is probably more efficient and less weight to just have loaded ammo vs. the components and a press, but that was what I was and still am thinking.

Just imagine spending all day running for your life from 2-legged predators, and then having to reload the same 5 cases you started with and hoping you can finish before the night-time predators find you!

Don't get me wrong, there's a POU there, it's just not really fully thought through.

I'm kinda interested now to go weigh all my tools and figure out how many more magazines you could carry instead of reloading gear.

 

[The Heretic]

Just imagine spending all day running for your life from 2-legged predators, and then having to reload the same 5 cases you started with and hoping you can finish before the night-time predators find you!

Don't get me wrong, there's a POU there, it's just not really fully thought through.

I'm kinda interested now to go weigh all my tools and figure out how many more magazines you could carry instead of reloading gear.

Mags can be reused, and I think I mentioned that carrying more ammo would probably be a better idea with regards to weight - ammo weighing only slightly more than the components minus brass, not to mention the press and dies.

But I got to thinking about this, and it stuck in my head. I am not hurting for funds, so I don't think it would be harmful to have some suspenders to backup my belt - just in case.

 

[AMProducts]

Mags can be reused, and I think I mentioned that carrying more ammo would probably be a better idea with regards to weight - ammo weighing only slightly more than the components minus brass, not to mention the press and dies.

But I got to thinking about this, and it stuck in my head. I am not hurting for funds, so I don't think it would be harmful to have some suspenders to backup my belt - just in case.

I'm not trying to pick on ya, I've already been down this line of thought and it's much simpler logistically to reload ammo now with a big progressive press than try making some specialty kit that you need to remember to grab everything for when you bug out. If you stuff a 1lb bottle of powder in there, that's 150rds of .308, 300rds of .223, or maybe 1000 pistol cartridges.

The real advantage to being a reloader is that you have a ready supply of a material that can be readily converted to blasting gel.

 

[Crohnos01]

I am a "prepper", and I think part of that prepping would be a lightweight compact hand press I can throw in a "fat 50" ammo can (or something similar) with some components, that I could use to reload no matter where I am - even if it is sitting on the ground by a campfire.
.

Hey I remember... that was the Dr Prepper commercial, right? "I'm a prepper, she's a prepper .... wouldn't you like to be a prepper too?"

 

[Certaindeaf]

AMP is smart.
I've also thought about this issue also and lots of good articles have been written on it over the years.
The thing about having loose fixins is that they are then very likely to be compromised by the elements. And then you've got all of those heavy tools rattling around, along with all of your components.. to load into your brass.. that doesn't really weight that much, all things considered.
If, however, those components are properly loaded into that brass, those artifacts are essentially then rendered safe from the elements.. to include full water submersion for a thousand years.
Back in the old days, you'd prowl around with a mold/nipper combo as you could re-use your shot and or convert those found .68 balls or whatever to whatever.. and flint grows outa the ground. Might wanna keep your powder dry though, as the saying goes.
But what you're thinking is sound and perhaps viable.. Pope shot like a half a million rounds out of his rifle with one piece a brass.. loaded at the "bench" or shooting line.

 

[ma96782]

FYI....

Some of those "hand presses" may not be suitable for reloading bottle necked cases for your semi-auto rifle (i.e. .30-06 or .308 Win). I tried it, it wouldn't resize the brass enough to make it reliable. I gave up on the concept without even trying it for .223 Rem ammo. BTW...I was using a LEE hand press (the red one, 2nd from the left in your picture).

That being said.....

I'd go with a bench mounted press (a C frame press might be OK) for that job. But, you need a bit of "over cam" in order to get the brass resized enough to make it reliable. So, maybe an O frame press would be better (think: RCBS Jr.).

Anyway.....LEE loader kits only neck size. So, if you're loading for a semi-auto rifle you'll have that problem again.

Aloha, Mark

 

[Certaindeaf]

I've thought about getting a Lee hand press for some time.. that you can screw any full-length die into.. to full-length resize most all cases. What else is there.. a Lyman tong tool?. (see, that was/is a joke right there)