How Many Load Ammo Inside Home/Apartment

[Kerplow]

It's been well over 4 years since I reloaded a single round, and the itch has been strong. The reason I haven't loaded anything is because I haven't had a suitable garage since the great break up of ought-twelve.

I'm curious to see what other people have set up. Living in a 1-bedroom apartment I have very limited space, but I'm seriously considering building a small but stout (maybe 18x24") reloading bench for my living room/dining nook. I've already resigned myself to the fact that I will need to purchase a wet tumbling apparatus of some sort because I sure as hell am not running the obnoxiously loud, lead particulate spewing vibratory tumbler inside my apartment.

Part of my apprehension stems from cleanliness and toxic particles. I feel like loading ammo inside would call for absolutely meticulous neatness and clean up. I really don't want my living space contaminated with lead dust & vapors and the garage made me feel like there was a sound barrier between my home and the heavy metal nasties associated with our hobby.

[someoneeasy]

I load indoors and run a vibratory tumbler inside too. I keep the lid on and use dryer sheets to help with the dust.

[hambam105]

Reloading in small areas won't be cheap and it won't be fast.

Don't kid yourself, pulling the lever on any reloading press makes a noise that carrys to neighbors. Now the neighbors won't be able to identify the sound, most likely anyway, so anytime you run the press the neighbors with good ears and a tinge of curiosity might say something.

I'd go to Home Pot and find a tool box big enough to hold all your reloading equipment and all your reloading supplies including work bench. Be creative. Snoopy people will think you have carpentry tools stored in apartment for safe keeping.

Keep the work area clean and quiet and organized.

[ElDub1950]

Yep, small apt. This was originally a heavy particle board computer cabinet from some office store. Just added some wider support and locking casters. The Lee has been upgraded to a turret, but works great, stable & rolls away easily.

[Divernhunter]

I have loaded ammo in a dorm room in college. I have also loaded it in a garage, in a 2 bedroom duplex and inside my home. I see no problem with you loading in your place using a small area.

[the86d]

I have a computer room with my servers and rack-mount PC. In this room my reloading is done, and components are stored in the closet.

Originally this room was for working on people's computers (when I was doing that), we got a home with an additional bedroom for this purpose... mainly to keep the living areas free of computer-parts/debris and has progressed (progressive pressed?) into a reloading room too. I have virtually stopped working on people's rigs, as my pay has increased, and I have almost no child care fees requiring additional/side income, so it is my happy-place now.

Tumbling, trimming, and swaging primer pockets is done in the garage.

Case length checking is done in the living room in front of the TV.

[Gromann]

I just keep all my firearms items in ammo cans and became very good friends with Lee. The Hand Press and single caliber reloading kits are great in small areas. Sitting with a 6x6 block of wood on my table/desk while watching something on TV and spending an evening of loading for my M39.

I just got a small tumbler from HF (dual drum wet tumbler for $40), everything I have has been under the constraint of my living area.

[Paseclipse]

I actually run two presses in my apartment, a single stage and a progressive.

I’ll store my powder and primers in coolers and all my other components in a large plastic storage container. I’ve got my single stage press mounted on a 2” x 6” that I can clamp to my computer desk. My progressive press is mounted on a 2” x 8”’s bolted to a cheap POS wood Ikea table. I’ve set both presses up so they can be easily broken down and hidden in my closet if necessary.

For trimming, I do it on my computer desk. To catch the metal shavings, I’ll put a large rubber matt underneath my trimmer (it catches most). After trimming I’ll immediately clean and sweep (my apartment has wood floors) everything up.

Tumblers are a little loud and you also have to deal with their vibrations. I’ll run mine (I run two) in my bathroom with the door closed to cut down on the noise. To dampen the vibration, I’ve found putting a couple soft rubber pads underneath them helps tremendously. To deal with the dust from the vibratory tumbler (I only use it to polish and not clean), I’ll run a HEPA air purifier right next to it.

[JackEllis]

If you're living in an apartment I assume you have an outdoor patio of some kind. That might be a good place to use a dry tumbler.

My workspace is a dedicated workshop on the ground floor. I wash cases (without a tumbler), in part to get any lead dust out of them, and then I'm pretty obsessive about washing my hands after handling cases, bullets, powder and primers before I walk back upstairs.

I still have some lead practice ammo and reloading bullets but my plan is to convert over to lead-free entirely largely because I want to minimize my exposure to lead dust.

[bruss01]

Here's my setup.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?p=11979208#post11979208

While it's short on space - you can't be a bull in a china shop - there is room to get the necessary stuff done and to store and use all the necessary tools. I've contemplated a case feeder which would definitely be a tight squeeze and I may need to get "creative" with the installation to make it work.

Getting this set up right did cost me a bit of coin but it is cheaper than heating and air conditioning a garage or putting up some kind of out-building.

I'm sure you already know this but please DO NOT do your brass tumbling or media/case separation indoors. The dust is full of lead particulate, and you don't need or want that in your home where you'll be exposed to it around the clock. Once that is done though, the risk of heavy metal particulate is pretty low as long as you remember to wash your hands after handling your reloading stuff.

[Win231]

"Lead dust" only occurs when shooting lead bullets; not handling them (as far as I know). Wash hands after handling lead.

[bruss01]

"Lead dust" only occurs when shooting lead bullets; not handling them (as far as I know). Wash hands after handling lead.

Most modern primers contain lead styphnate. They leave a residue in the primers, pockets, and case interior. When you deprime, tumble or use a vibratory polisher, that residue is worked loose in the form of dust.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_styphnate

Handling lead bullets is generally considered "safe" as long as you wash your hands immediately after, before eating, drinking, smoking. I generally treat it the same as handling raw chicken... don't spread it around, wash up right after.

If you are only loading brand new cases, it reduces your potential lead exposure a lot, because of this.

[hambam105]

99:100 adults have zero respect for dust.

Dust is something that accrues around the little lady's trinkets displayed around the house and is taken care of with a feather-duster.

And I have no idea why an overwhelmingly number of Reloaders, new & old, see no hazard storing primers next to powder.

[Kerplow]

Here's my setup.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?p=11979208#post11979208

While it's short on space - you can't be a bull in a china shop - there is room to get the necessary stuff done and to store and use all the necessary tools. I've contemplated a case feeder which would definitely be a tight squeeze and I may need to get "creative" with the installation to make it work.

Getting this set up right did cost me a bit of coin but it is cheaper than heating and air conditioning a garage or putting up some kind of out-building.

I'm sure you already know this but please DO NOT do your brass tumbling or media/case separation indoors. The dust is full of lead particulate, and you don't need or want that in your home where you'll be exposed to it around the clock. Once that is done though, the risk of heavy metal particulate is pretty low as long as you remember to wash your hands after handling your reloading stuff.

My thoughts were to use a rotary liquid tumbler to clean cases as that would mitigate the lead dust issues. I can do my fouled case separation outdoors and once it gets wet tumbled all the lead should be suspended in a water solution. Which will go down the terlet.

One thing I noticed while resizing is that little puffs of dust came out of the primer pocket as the proper gets popped out. I will likely be wet tumbling all brass before any resizing occurs and hopefully that will help control the dust issues. Before I would dry tumble all my brass prior to resizing and use the waltnut powder as dry lube in the resizing process.

[hambam105]

If I had to deprime cases in an enclosed environment and was concerned about dust, get a big salad type bowel at the GoodWill Store, fill it half way with water, and deprime the cases with the primer pocket underwater.

Yeah, sounds silly. But remember, you are in a confined space and we are not talking about efficiency.