Well, here’s my chance to do a little public service announcement! Listen up fellas, so you won’t end up like I was, unable to reload for over a year.
Tennis elbow is no joke. I got it from prepping hundreds of pieces of brass at a time on my LCT, without a break. No duh, right? It’s all about the grip, and how hard you do it and for how long. Gripping the press handle for depriming, ditto for sizing, ditto for using my Dillon swager, ditto for using a cordless drill and chucking up piece after piece of 223, ditto for pulling the drill trigger, ...
I just overdid it and ignored the pain. Shot right past tennis elbow, which is a tendonitis, and actually got a tendonosis or tendonopothy. As I understand it, tennis elbow pain is from overuse and inflammation, and beyond that is damage and scar tissue on the tendon — tendonosis/tendonopothy. That was me. Took 6 months of physical therapy, and a few thousand bucks, to get even close back to normal.
Nowadays, I know not to grab so hard or for so long. Weedeating can aggravate it too, by the way. And although I prime by hand, I stick to only 200 or so at a time.
A newer issue is pain in my right shoulder. I thought it was from sleeping on it, but maybe I gotta check out my technique a bit better.
A few of things that I’ve found to help: Just this evening, I deprimed a few hundred pieces of range brass. That’s not too much, but I did notice crimped 223 was making me grab a bit harder on the handle. So I stood up for the last few pieces. Much easier.
Second, I’m watching my chair position more. I tend to sit to the left just a bit, looking toward the press at 1 or 2 o’clock. I think I do that to get my left hand closer to bullets, brass, etc., or maybe it’s the right hand column on the LCT nudging me that way. But sitting at an angle like that makes it a bit more awkward position with using my right arm. More of a pull back past my body, a bit to the right. Not strong — gotta sit straight and pull straight.
Finally, I just got the In-line Fabrications Ergo handle. Really just used it for the first time today. I think it’ll really help, and wish I’d done it sooner. I think the way it turns your hand horizontal, palm down, really feels like a stronger move than the ball did.
Anyway, that’s my .02. Carry forth and so forth.