What clever little things have you "invented or discovered" that you can share?

At a glance load characteristics charts.

If you're handy with excel, the kind of charts I've made for assessing my loads in comparison with various reloading manuals, comes in handy for me. I've made these kind of charts for all of my calibers, powders, and assorted reloading manual data.

Yes, it takes a long time to craft the charts, but Hey! I'm retired and the COVID pandemic gave me lots of free time

1)Hornady Unique case lube prevents dents forming in the shoulder of resized cases.
2) I cut the fins off of empty 12 gauge shell cases and use them as quick muzzleloader loaders. Pre- load your granular powder and stick a wine cork in the open end. You can squeeze the shell end and it will work like a funnel when loading.
3) I also cut the center cartridge holders out of a plastic .38 cartridge box and filled the box with muzzleloader projectiles. The snap lid keeps them together and dry. I also use different colors for different smoke-pole calibers.
4) Flipping the powder bottle all the way back and forward on a MEC shot shell reloader before loading gives more consistent loads. Be sure flip it by moving the shot bottle.
5) I have my loading table tilted 3/16" to the back with a 1 inch rim nailed on 3 sides away from me. In one corner is a hole saw cutout held in place by a couple of old fashion storm window fasteners. When ever I spill something, I use an old paintbrush to push the stuff to the hole and I keep a small pan to collect it under the table.
6) I use some upside down clay pigeon targets to hold bullets, etc on my loading bench, so the stuff doesn't roll around while setting up my equipment
7) Just like #2, If I pull apart some loaded ammo, I will use some empty 12 gauge empties to hold the powder until I am ready to pour it into a new rifle cartridge.

Thomasss said:

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7) Just like #2, If I pull apart some loaded ammo, I will use some empty 12 gauge empties to hold the powder until I am ready to pour it into a new rifle cartridge.

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Great for reloading the same powder charge. I use small parts dishes to make it easier to separate the bullets from the powder and they will hold the contents of several pulled rounds.

When I got my wet pin tumbler, I used a coffee can and a magnet instead of buying one, which is not factual, I did buy the magnet. real cheap at Harbor Freight.

Ironicaintit said:

This thread reminds me of the old “Brownells Gunsmith Kinks “ books.

lots of good stuff here.

I still use STP/30w in a 50/50 mix for tough resizing operations. Wipe them off, and don’t mind the light film left behind (depends on which side of the Hatcher debate you’re on)

I tried normal tricklers, and they bugged me.
I just use one of those translucent pill bottles.
Wipe it with a dryer sheet, drop a couple of charges in it, and trickle away, using finger taps. With a little practice it goes really fast.

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Grandpa and Uncle used to use straight STP, I've tried to move on as it's a bit sticky but I'm having neck dent problems. Guess I'll try your mix or that hornady Unique lube? One-shot isn't doing it for me on large rifle cases.

WesternColoShooter said:

Grandpa and Uncle used to use straight STP, I've tried to move on as it's a bit sticky but I'm having neck dent problems. Guess I'll try your mix or that hornady Unique lube? One-shot isn't doing it for me on large rifle cases.

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I just smear a bit of the 50/50 on an RCBS lube pad, and give them a little roll over it, being sure not to get the necks.
It is a bit messy but it works

WesternColoShooter said:

Grandpa and Uncle used to use straight STP, I've tried to move on as it's a bit sticky but I'm having neck dent problems. Guess I'll try your mix or that hornady Unique lube? One-shot isn't doing it for me on large rifle cases.

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I have never had the slightest problem when using Imperial Sizing Wax. Very little goes a long way and its not costly.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012768051

TN Shooter said:

I use different colored Sharpie pens to mark the primer on some loads to differentiate them from others. And recently, they have come out with a bunch of additional colors. It is a great to use during load development because it eliminates the possibility of getting loads mixed up with each other in the same box. Also, when you deprime, the marking is gone

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And I make a dot with the color on primer next to load data on my data sheet to keep everything in order

Uncle Don said:

That those cheesy little collet rings that come with inertia bullet pullers are worthless and can be tossed. You can use a press shellholder for the caliber you are pulling and it works much better.

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Also use the large dental rubber bands for braces. Just asked dentist and he gave me a package.

If you use a case prep center like I do you may have noticed that there is a gap around the spindles where they pass through the housing. Brass trimmings can fall through there and get into the main body of the unit. A simple fix is to slip o rings over the posts. They rotate with the spindles and seal up the gap. 1/4" ID o rings do the trick on the lyman unit. O rings are also handy on knurled knobs like the Lee case length gauge shell holder to increase grip.

Spare turret holder made from shelf brackets. Home Depot has the short double slot brackets. Put a piece of dowel on the end (they have it in the baseboard area) mount the upright rail (will have to cut to the size you want). That fast and your done.

I was having trouble with my RCBS hand primer. The gate on the tray kept sliding shut, a real frustration. So I put on my Tom Terrific hat.

I used two small pieces of scotch tape at the end of the slot and I cut slot with the a sharp knife. Now the gate stays in place and can slide to the closed position.

Dean Grennel wrote a series of book called " the ABC's of reloading" . It is loaded w hacks , homemade tooling ideas, techniques & much more.

I started making my own primers about 6 months ago.
Actually I'm just re-using my old primers.

PWC said:

Also use the large dental rubber bands for braces. Just asked dentist and he gave me a package.

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Now that's simply BRILLIANT!!!

I use a hair drier and a sieve to dry my brass after wet tumbling.
Dries 'em in under a minute!!! They be seriously hot though, be careful!!!

I use an old pill bottle to fill my hopper to almost the exact amount of powder I need to load my brass.(50 pieces at a time)

Previous:
"I was using an RCBS lube which had worked fine for all other sizing work I had done, up to that time.
I decided to try a bit of STP, and what do you know, NO MORE stove piped necks!!"

GONRA told ya'll that STP is the way to go when "resizing" gets tough!!!!
Tri-Flow synthetic grease (get it at bike shops) is useful too.....

GONRA said:

Previous:
"I was using an RCBS lube which had worked fine for all other sizing work I had done, up to that time.
I decided to try a bit of STP, and what do you know, NO MORE stove piped necks!!"

GONRA told ya'll that STP is the way to go when "resizing" gets tough!!!!
Tri-Flow synthetic grease (get it at bike shops) is useful too.....

Click to expand...

Try FrogLube

Filing Cabinets are great storage. I got filing cabinets at our local county surplus sale. Most every county has one that they get rid of stuff like, pc's, computer screens, chairs, desks. filing cabs, shelves lots of stuff at below market or auction prices. Check out your local county surplus store website. I even took 1" steel angle, made a frame and put casters on the frames so I can move the filing cabinets around quickly.

My new Lyman powder trickler has been giving me some fits with fine ball powders. The granules work their way into the bearing surfaces and all but completely lock the spindle up. It also squeaked like a banshee! I also didn’t care for the amount of front to rear play I the spindle. My solution to all of this was to add two small O-rings to the inside as close as I could get them to the walls, and a larger one in front of the spindle knob. I also added a very small smear of Hornady Unique lube to the bearing surfaces. The O-rings are not perfectly up against the walls, but that would be nearly impossible to do. I just did some loading with some ball powder (Lil Gun) to test it out. No binding, no front to rear play, and silent as a graveyard! I’m very pleased now. I’ve really wanted to like this trickler as it has a lot of weight to it, a nice adjustable base, and will trickle single granules of fine powder. Up until now, it’s been very trying, but now it’s awesome!

Now that's simply brilliant!
I have an RCBS trickler. It works great out of the box but nice to know what to do when it starts acting up.

Apologies if this has been mentioned already; I haven't had time to read all 68 pages yet.

I bought a used collet-style bullet puller and it came with 7mm, .30 cal, 8mm and .35 cal collets. But the first bullets I need to pull are 6mm and I keep forgetting to order a 6mm collet. So I had an inspiration: I cut the neck off a fired .243 case and used it as a spacer between the bullet and the 7mm collet. It fills the gap just right.

Here's the interesting part: for folks who don't like the marks that are created by the collet, the brass spacer eliminates them.

UPDATE: cutting a slot in the spacer helps keep it from tightening up over the course of multiple bullet pulls.

My reloading area is in an unheated garage. I have been using one of those small electronic milk house heaters in there, but because of the size of my garage it really was not heating up enough of the reloading area. I had an inspiration and I took some rolled plastic sheeting and stapled it to the ceiling around my reloading area to make "walls" and now with running the heater those walls retain the heat nicely. I am now able to go out there and reload wearing a sweatshirt instead of a jacket and even my hands remain warm.

A friend of mine built his reloading room as a building within his pole shed, one common wall (the reloading room part insulated) it had heat and A/C, warm in the winter, cool in the summer, nice stereo, and a mini fridge. It was his sanctuary. He had a DIllon 550 and a couple RCBS single stage presses for rifle, and casting equipment in there, though he did the casting in the open part of the pole shed.
Hanging plastic sheets would be cheaper.