My ideas.
It's late and I am too tired to read all of these, so I acknowledge anyone who came up with these as well
Handy bits:
Get a pair of big funnels from the junk import shop. Cut the spout to an inch or so on one. Use the short funnelled one for returning powder to the tin without spilling it also useful for dumping a box of Federal Primers in their goofy big packets onto a small Lee or similar flipper tray. Place the funnel mouth on the flipper tray, hold it on place and dump the primers into the funnel (make sure you keep it in the cupboard so it is not clogged with dust, etc or wipe it before use.) Lift slowly and your 98% federal primers wll be all on the tray! (I call them this, because you normally can only get a maximum of 98 on the tray, two (at least) always end up on the floor.
Ammo tins: I store all primers in these (you need 50 cal ones if you are using those pesky Federals). Also each handgun round I load has the bulk ammo stored in these and I decant from these into range boxes.
Plastic meat trays/ice cream trays, etc: ALDI stores in Australia have excellent plastic ribbed meat trays which clean up and are very handy, as are ice cream buckets for trays while you are loading/polishing, etc, can't seem to have too many. In this house, the ice cream containers are Dad's, OK?
Plastic zip lock sandwich bags with white label panel:
These are especially handy for working up loads. Each level (10 at the lowest level, handy to have a few extra if something goes wrong and 5 for each other level) is placed in them and when fired, placed back into the same bag so that you can examine carefully for pressure signs at home without the distractions of the range, etc). I always carry a few bigger ones as well, just in case I pick up some brass, etc.
Loading dies:
Keep a spare pack of decap pins of each type. Write on the shelf where you stored them, it's often a long time between uses and you might not remember and have to pull everything apart (ask me how I know this
).
If you have a calibre where you load two types of bullet, make up a tag which shows what the die is set up for (marked on both sides), this works especially well with the Lee upright dies holders.
I keep my eyes open and buy spare seating dies when I can, this saves you a lot of fiddling. They are usually very cheap when sold as an odd die (the micrometer option would be the best option.)
Dummy rounds:
I keep samples of each bullet used, clearly marked, in labelled zip lock bags if there is many of them. This allows very quick seat die set up.
For each rifle, I also seat a flat based bullet back to front in an empty case and close the action carefully and extract it carefully. This will give you a quick eyeball gauge that you can comare against any loaded bullet to see where in realtion to the start of the lands the bullet sits.
Powder:
I only have one tin on the bench at a time. This will be returned before getting another one out. You don't want to be mixing Bullseye with your Lincoln Logs!
Loading tricks:
When setting up a bullet seating die which I am going to roll crimp as well (yeah I know, Ive tried separate roll crimping on numerous occasions and it never made that much of a difference to me, not enough to add another stage to the loading process. Not many people believe me on this, I'm going to have to conduct this test again) I always seat at least three bullets before applying the roll crimp. If you screw up, you dont have to start again, just pick up the second round and use that.
If just setting the dies up or changing the settings, bullets, etc, I always try the rounds in the chamber of the revolver or auto before I crank too many of them out.
If I am using softish bullet lube, I pick up a round very frequently and comare it aginst one of the first ones I have loaded, to make sure the seater is not getting plugged with lube and affecting the depth setting. Doesn't happen very often, but huge pain when it does.
Progressive presses:
careful now! I always stop at exactly the same stage in the loading operation if interrupted. I have explained this to my family and if they see me cranking them out they wait a moment until I stop. I stop with the handle raised, a bullet seated in the charged case (seals it if I have to leave the press for a while) and an empty on the launch pad. I know when I return to loading, I just have to pull the handle and I am back in business. I absolutely refuse to stop at any other point.
I also try and go to the toilet before I go downstairs to load or tinker, because if I don't I'll be back shortly. We call it a gravity attack
Boy, that guy sure can talk! Sorry about that!
Mick.