Reloading bench cleanliness methods

[Morne]

One thing I've learned already, you can make quite a mess while reloading!

What's the best and safest way to clean up a little bit of spilled powder? With all the dry, static laden air I am hesitant to just grab the dust buster and suck it up...

[JustaShooter]

One thing I've learned already, you can make quite a mess while reloading!

What's the best and safest way to clean up a little bit of spilled powder? With all the dry, static laden air I am hesitant to just grab the dust buster and suck it up...

Do *not* use a vacuum to clean up powder spills. Not only are there static concerns, some motors are a bit "sparky". I've heard (urban legend warning) of it causing a fire and it just makes sense to avoid the possibility.

I use a small whisk broom & dustpan, and then dump the powder on the garden (supposed to be a good fertilizer, though I've never spilled enough to be able to confirm that).

So, by corollary, don't reload in an area with a carpet so you can sweep the floor rather than vacuum it. Besides, as many spent primers as I've had escape while decapping I can't imagine the racket vacuuming those up would cause.

[Klingon00]

I usually use a 3x5 index card to sweep it up onto a piece of paper or paper cup and discard that. There may not be much risk of an explosion with smokeless powder in the open but it sure is flammable!

[Ring]

shop vac.... motor and parts not not a issue with powder or primers...

[JustaShooter]

shop vac.... motor and parts not not a issue with powder or primers...

My Shop Vac cautions me against using it with flammable liquids and combustible materials. I wouldn't worry about spent primers but I don't think I'd want to vac up spilled powder.

[BobK]

I wipe up with a damp paper towel.

[Aesinsp]

I usually use a 3x5 index card to sweep it up onto a piece of paper or paper cup and discard that. There may not be much risk of an explosion with smokeless powder in the open but it sure is flammable!

Hmmm.. can you expound on that. I can speak to rubbing alcohol, but not this.

[techgebhardt]

I usually just use my hand and dump into the spent primer waste basket. There is usually not much spilled powder, but a few fragments from my Lee press.

[Jake]

Dust pan?

Just how much powder are you still spilling?

I use a 1 inch paint brush and it helps getting into all the nooks and crannies of the press.

[Imcrazy]

I just light it up with the embers of my cigar I usually smoke next to the fire place my bench is next to LOL!

I use a damp paper towel if I spill much, other wise I just brush it off into my hand like Steve said.

[evan price]

Fox tail brush and a mini dustpan. I put unusable powder into a medicine bottle, it is labeled in big black letters "SCRAP POWDER DO NOT LOAD" and when it starts looking full I put it in the fireplace or dump it on the rosebush.

[stephen45-70]

I have no good advice for a clean bench ... mine looks like a herd of swine took up living on it

But i can give some good advice towards live primers .. live primers and vacumn cleanrrs are not a good mix

I was sitting on the couch one night using my lee hand primer .. i axidently spilled
A whole tray of primers in the carpet ... it was late and being a s i live alone i figured thet would wait till tomarow
The next morning my girl friend came over to do some cleaning .... including vacuming

Acording to her ... she didnt have the vacumn on for even a minute when she hit th e primers .
I guess it sounded like a machine gun going off ... i found the remains of about 70 primers that went off
And 30 that didnt ..... didnt hurt the vacumn at all .... she never used it again

[Sevens]

Nothing personal, so please, don't anyone take it that way...
But it's always made me laugh in handloading discussion forums, this whole priming OFF the press. Handloaders will talk endlessly about safety, cardinal rules, and how important all of it is to make good ammo and maintain a safe operation and environment.

And yet, so many like to prime OFF the press, usually in front of the idiot box with mindless TV running or movies.

Primers in the couch, in the carpet, and all over the area that 98% of people eat & drink in every day. Primers -- the -ONE- tiny little part of the operation that explodes.

I don't happen to own a hand priming unit made by any company. I can definitely see the draw to them, but I also can't imagine much (if any?) situation where I myself would prime brass with a hand-held unit and NOT be drawn to watching something like TV or movies.

I started priming on a single stage press with a ram-prime, and now I do all my priming on a progressive press. I still have no method and no tools for priming away from the bench.

I definitely do sort brass in front of the TV.

[JustaShooter]

I started priming on a single stage press with a ram-prime, and now I do all my priming on a progressive press. I still have no method and no tools for priming away from the bench.

I definitely do sort brass in front of the TV.

Likewise, on both counts. Anything related to loading (other than sorting brass) happens in a room without a TV and it it arranged such that distractions are minimized as much as possible.

[JediSkipdogg]

I vacuum it up. I figure with the small amount of powder and other dust in the vacumm cleaner the chances of anything are mimimal. I also only use bag vacs so the powder isn't "spinning" around inside a container. If one is talking a large quantity, I'd be hesitant on a vacuum.