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Reloading in an apartment


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Any ideas/equipment for starting to reload in a compact space with neighbors? I will likely be living in an apartment for the foreseeable future and there is a nonzero chance of having to move in the next year.

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My setup when I lived in an apartment was a Lee Turret lag-screwed to a 2x12. I clamped that to a Black & Decker folding workbench. For storage, the press just sat on a shelf in the closet, and the workbench folded up and leaned behind the door. I could do 200 rounds/hour if I was really booking with the turret. The powder inevitably leaked in the carpet, but I just made sure to vacuum afterward.

5K9I5.jpg

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My first setup was similar-Turret Press bolted to 2x12, then C-clamped to my dining room table, which was very solid. Since I was in the kitchen it was easy to sweep any powder spills/spent primers off of the linoleum.

 

This served me well for several years.

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Would small kits like the Lee Loader reloading kits work out fine or would it a better idea to just spring for a larger press like the ones mentioned above? I am a complete beginner to reloading.

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Personally, I think the Lee Turret is a great balance between simplicity (only loading one round at a time) and speed (can do 100 rounds in 30 minutes). But you also don't have to load in batches. You start one round and finish it a few seconds later. If you have to take a break in the middle of the session, there's nothing sitting open to get messed with. And the turret press isn't much more expensive than a single stage.

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4 hours ago, Ben3 said:

My setup when I lived in an apartment was a Lee Turret lag-screwed to a 2x12. I clamped that to a Black & Decker folding workbench. For storage, the press just sat on a shelf in the closet, and the workbench folded up and leaned behind the door. I could do 200 rounds/hour if I was really booking with the turret. The powder inevitably leaked in the carpet, but I just made sure to vacuum afterward.

5K9I5.jpg

 

If you don't mind I'm going to save your pic to show others who ask the same question in another forum I belong to, and to show those who say it can't be done.

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41 minutes ago, CClassForLife said:

What purpose are you reloading for?

How many rounds do you intend to make at a time?

How much does it cost to buy factory ammo in your location?

 

For now its just to get my feet wet reloading 9mm and hoping to save a bit in the process, as I want to eventually get into the open game. I'm not sure how much I would really need for training and local meets, but I want to make just enough rounds as I go to events and stuff. Right now I'm finding basic range 9mm for about .45 cents per round locally.

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1 hour ago, Johnny_Chimpo said:

 

If you don't mind I'm going to save your pic to show others who ask the same question in another forum I belong to, and to show those who say it can't be done.

 

By all means.

 

27 minutes ago, cykapath said:

 

For now its just to get my feet wet reloading 9mm and hoping to save a bit in the process, as I want to eventually get into the open game. I'm not sure how much I would really need for training and local meets, but I want to make just enough rounds as I go to events and stuff. Right now I'm finding basic range 9mm for about .45 cents per round locally.

 

Yeah, the setup I posted above is perfect. Once I had house with a garage and was comfortable loading on the Lee, I upgraded to a 650. If you stick with it and do the same, you can sell the Lee and someone else starting their journey can benefit from it.

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16 hours ago, Ben3 said:

 

By all means.

 

 

Yeah, the setup I posted above is perfect. Once I had house with a garage and was comfortable loading on the Lee, I upgraded to a 650. If you stick with it and do the same, you can sell the Lee and someone else starting their journey can benefit from it.

Nice, thanks for the tips!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Lee hand press or lee loader.
or the Lee single stage or really, any press that you could bolt to a stool would be my options. Just hold it down with a counter weight. 

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I used this Lee stand for years… with a Loadmaster, Lee single stage & an APP press… you can’t beat it for the cost and has a quick change setup for presses.. lower storage for presses it holds acro bins, is super Sturdy(with the stone weights)… and  has a considerably small footprint for an apartment.

D26BA33F-BA2F-47E3-850B-F8065ADA462B.jpeg

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1 hour ago, Leezway said:

I used this Lee stand for years… with a Loadmaster, Lee single stage & an APP press… you can’t beat it for the cost and has a quick change setup for presses.. lower storage for presses it holds acro bins, is super Sturdy(with the stone weights)… and  has a considerably small footprint for an apartment.

D26BA33F-BA2F-47E3-850B-F8065ADA462B.jpeg

Yup, this. Im not really a fan of LEE stuff but this set up is pretty solid when space becomes an issue. 

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If you’re loading a single pistol caliber, a Dillon SDB is compact enough for a small space. If you you intend to load a variety of ammo, a Dillon 550, 650/750 or Hornady lnl without a casefeeder/bullet feeder would be good to go as well.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I strongly recommend against the Lee Loader.  Resizing is done with a mallet as is primer seating.  Hammering on your apartment floor will not make the neighbors happy and there is a fair chance of a primer going off while seating it.  My first reloading tool was the Lee loader for .45ACP and I couldn't wait to get something better. 

 

Any decent single stage or turret (or progressive like the SDB) will be far less of a problem and can be mounted as several of the posters have shown.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Years ago I had a Square Deal bolted to a plank that I'd clamp to a built-in shelf in the apartment.  Worked pretty well.  Eventually I built a tiny bench in one half of a washer-dryer closet.  Had a 650 and then a 1050 on that before I finally got a house.

 

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My first setup was a Dillon 550 on an old kitchen table in the living room of my apartment.  After that it was the same Dillon 550 on an Ikea desk in the living room of my college studio apartment.  I believe I continued to load on that Ikea desk throughout graduate school in my dad's basement when I was home on breaks so that I'd have enough ammo for the school year, and only after I moved thousands of miles away to New Mexico where I am now did I get anything resembling my current bench, which is made out of a used piece of countertop from one of my uncle's apartment buildings.  I also vacuumed up more gunpowder and spent primers than I care to admit.  Don't be discouraged.

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12 hours ago, Johnny_Chimpo said:

 

I've been doing it for years.  How much longer before the earth shattering kaboom?

Just said it wasn’t a good idea. Friends dust buster started smoldering after vacuuming up some powder and hanging it back up. 

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On 7/14/2022 at 10:52 AM, Farmer said:

Just said it wasn’t a good idea. Friends dust buster started smoldering after vacuuming up some powder and hanging it back up. 

 

Those things don't work like upright vacuum cleaners with bag filters.  The powder never touches anything hot, metal, or moving in mine.

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3 hours ago, Johnny_Chimpo said:

 

Those things don't work like upright vacuum cleaners with bag filters.  The powder never touches anything hot, metal, or moving in mine.

Just an entrance with a rubber flap and a small filter. All plastic and we kinda figured that’s where the problem occurred. There was some lint, paper and hair in the cup and he figured static got it started. Wasn’t much powder but he could smell something hot about 30 min after he hung it up. When he opened the vac the hair and other bits of paper & stuff was smoldering but the powder was gone. He was just glad he didn’t hang it up and then leave. Don’t know if it would have lit but didn’t want to find out. It’s really dry in our area (15-25%) and static can be a problem. Around here when vacuuming out equipment with a metal can shop vac the hose sometimes looks like a scared cat’s tail, all fuzzed up. 😀 If you grab it you’ll get a pretty good jolt. 

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