Need some quick advice on what side to mount my press

[Kali]

Hey so I just built this little portable reloading station and I'm getting ready to drill holes for the press and I need some advice.



Ive never reloaded anything before and I was wondering what hand you guys use to pull the lever. Press is a single stage lee classic breech lock challenger.

I was planning on mounting it on the right because I'm right handed, but then I read from a guy who was right handed saying he pulls the lever with his left hand and uses his right for other tasks.

Just looking for your thoughts before I drill holes. Thanks!
-Ryan

 

[Col]

right

 

[cfullgraf]

I am also right handed and pull the press handle with my right hand.

I would mount the press in the middle, which would put the handle to the right and give clearance around the press.

My press are mounted on floor stands which affortds me the opportunity to rotate the stand around to get the comfortable sitting du jour. You can obtain the same with your table top stand if you c-clamp it to the table.

Leave some options open so you can experiment and adjust to your liking.

Hope this helps.

 

[BYJO4]

Being right handed, I would mount the press on the right side. Since you will be using your left hand to feed cases and bullets, you want enough room on the left side of the press to place your componets.

 

[Kali]

Thanks guys

 

[Josh45]

Same as the rest. I pull the lever with the right hand and feed the press cases and bullets with my left hand.

 

[rcmodel]

Right is Right.

You will need the strength advantage and fine motor control of your strong side most of the time.

If you can pick your nose left handed when you have too?
You can pick up bullets and hold them in the right place left handed when you have too.

rc

 

[bbuddtec]

Yep, my single stage is on the far right of my bench, in this case, lately I have a small container of the bullets to throw up on the shell, with the right hand, and position it with the left as I bring it up, but I pretty much started that cuz it felt like the left was doing a lot of running...


In other words... set it up and let your pref's as you learn dictate the "re-modeling" of your bench in the future... my single already moved farther to the right on the bench since I started. (I'm a R as well)

PS hope you got a good stool, voted perhaps the most important piece of equipment !!!

 

[Bud0505]

I'm right handed and I pull the handle with my right hand. Using a Dillon 550B progressive the sizing die is in the right front of the press and the shell plate rotates clockwise. I feed the casing with my right hand, rotate the shell plate using my left thumb and and add projectile with my left hand. Therefore I would mount the press in the middle leaving room on the right for casings and room on the left for bullets.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

I have my shell tray in the center of my work bench along with the bullets I am using with the powder dispenser on the left and the press on the right. I pick up a casing with my left hand, rotate to the powder dispenser and fill the casing using my right hand to operate the lever, pick up a bullet with my right and place it on the top of the casing and then place the casing in the press. I then switch my right hand to the press operating lever and steady the bullet/case until it enters the die with my left. I then remove the finished round and place it in the "finished" block before a final QC inspection and labeling for the container they will be stored in. I snagged an old computer chair so I can swivel comfortably during the process. I am also right handed but as I age and my right arm becomes less dominant I have become a lot more ambidexterous.

 

[James2]

I would put it on the right.

 

[Hondo 60]

I'd put it in the middle so you have room on each side.
I keep cases on the right & bullets on the left.

 

[zoom6zoom]

They're all wrong. Mount it on the top side.

 

[splattergun]

^^^

 

[Lost Sheep]

On the outside?

Left, Center, Right, it will depend on how you lay out your work/components.

Will you have a separate powder measure mounted on your bench? Will you have your scale on the bench or on a separate shelf or table (good idea, to keep it isolated from the jostling of the press).

My advice. Mount on the right with the press handle on the right. But get used to the idea that you will eventually wind up with three sets of mounting holes, left, right and center.

You are new at this. You owe it to yourself to think about how you design your loading process and try out different algorithms and figure out what suits you.

Good luck,

Lost Sheep

 

[brickeyee]

The fixture you have built is for the press to be mounted on the right side based on the picture you posted.

It has nothing to do with your preferred hand.

Putting it towards one edge or the other based on you dominant side might be the adjustment.

i hope you also used glue to hold things together.

Screws in wood have a nasty habit of working loose, especially under cyclical repetitive loading (let alone from wood repeating shrinkage and swelling with moisture content).

 

[GLOOB]

I'd put it on the right side of the bench. But leave a little room on the right side of the press.

On the Breechlock, the priming arm comes out the right side, and you can easily feed primers in with the right hand while putting the next case in. So you want to be able to put a tray of primers on the right.

While flaring, you can put the shelholder to the right and let each flared case drop into a bin when you put in the next one. The bin would go on the right.

When seating the bullet, I put the loading block of filled cases to the right and bullets on the left. I put the case in with my right hand while putting the bullet in with my left hand. I could have learned to put the bullet in with my right hand, but I figured this was a little more foolproof. This way, I can have empty cases still on the bench (to the left) and I have no chance of accidentally picking up an empty case by autopilot, when I'm seating bullets.

 

[ole farmerbuck]

Right is Right.

You will need the strength advantage and fine motor control of your strong side most of the time.

If you can pick your nose left handed when you have too?
You can pick up bullets and hold them in the right place left handed when you have too.

rc

But its hard to pick the right side of your nose with your left hand!

 

[Certaindeaf]

As soon as you remove that birdhouse, I'd mount it on the right also.

 

[Win1892]

Right is right. (and left is wrong) oops....wrong forum