My refinements are minor. I used 3/4" square wood 36" long. My pivot bolt is also 5-1/4" from the end. I inserted 3 fiber washers (like the ones on electrical outlets and switches) between the sticks, next to the bolt head, and next to the nut. I also used a little white litium grease between the sticks. Before I tightened the nut, I put a little locktite on the bolt. Then I slightly squashed the nut in a vise to tighten the threads so it won't work itself loose. Instead of two large nails with the heads hack sawed off being epoxyed into the ends, I epoxied and drove two large screws into the end, and ground the ends so that 2" of sharpened end is exposed. I also painted them with flat black rust-o-leum paint to protect them. I rubbed mineral oil into the wood legs to help preserve them, too. To keep the legs from 'clapping' together when I walk, I drilled a hole through the 'nail' ends, and put a piece of string tied with a slipknot for quick, easy, silent removal. I think Varmint Al relies on nut/bolt tension to avoid this, but I have to believe that the two legs will loosen up over time.

Stick ends with painted, ground screws and 'slip-knot' string.

Here's a little tool that comes in very handy at times for those who do not have a powder measure, or when an adjustable powder measure is not readily accessible or convenient to use. While this tool can be viewed as a 'rough' powder measure, surprisingly consistent volumes / weights of powder can be thrown with it. For a rough measure, make sure it delivers a charge that is slightly UNDER weight, and then use a powder trickler to bring the powder weight to the desired level.

These are easily crafted from 1x6 pine lumber, or 3/4" plywood. I use these to hold my rifles when doing light gunsmithing work in the shop (clamp them down to your bench), cleaning either in the shop or at the range, or I sometimes use the 'front' rest as a rifle rest for target shooting. If you use the front rest for target shooting, be sure to use a durable material for your padding, as recoil will pulverize fragile materials.

Cut two 8" - 8.5" sections of 1x6. One will be your base, and the other is the upright. Put the base aside. Take the upright, and drill a hole corresponding to the width of your rifle's forestock) so that the low point of the hole is centered about 2 inches down from one end. Make a cut on each side of the hole from the near end so you have a clean 'U' shaped cut out of the wood. Use wood glue and 2 or 3 screws to secure the uncut end of the upright to the center of the base. Add padding to the U-shaped cutout, and you're done. Repeat this process for the buttstock, remembering to measure the depth of your (narrower) U-shaped cut so that the rifle's muzzle is lower than the action so if you use the cradle for cleaning, solvent does not run back into the action. I cut the U shaped channel 2" wide and 3.5" inches deep on my buttstock holder.

It's often said that there are two kinds of reloaders - those who have stuck a case (or two) in a resizing die due to lack of caselube, and those that will. Well, I fell into the latter category for about 12 years ... then I recently swiched into the first category. Of course, I did not have a stuck case remover tool, it was late at night, and I needed to finish loading a bunch of rounds for the next day! (... as we all know, Murphy is alive and well.) So what did I do? I did what every good engineer (or other self-sufficient type) does - I improvised. I knew that these tools existed, but had never seen one nor did I know how they worked. What ended up happening was that I actually re-invented this tool on my own.

This is simply a long, thin wood stick (about 1/4" thick) with a hole drilled in the end. For seating .22 caliber bullets into a sabot, the hole should be about 5/32" in diameter - large enough for the bullet tip to pass through, but narrow enough to catch the bullet ogive. Simply place the bullet on your bench, place the bullet into the sabot, place the tool over the bullet, and press down.

Here's some general information about sabots, and more information if you want to learn about reloading with sabots.

This one's real simple and easy and I'm sure others have made these, too. Funny thing, though - I never see anybody else with their own flags at the rifle range, but they're happy to read mine. You can easily make wind flags by taking a long, thin (1/4" to 3/4") piece of wood and glueing / stapling a ribbon of some sort to one end. I use two different ribbons - one heavy and one light - to increase the range of wind speeds that one can judge. The heavy ribbon is of the 'police line' type, and the light ribbon is surveyor's tape. Make them about 18" - 24" long. Tie or clamp one to your shooting bench, one to your target holder, and a few in-between.

Mark Bonner sent me HIS wind flag design (Thanks, Mark):

I make my wind flags out of a piece of stiff wire - thin rod works even better. Stick an old shell case, .308 is a favorite of mine, with a piece of surveor's tape tied to the case on top of the rod. Poke it in the ground, wrap it around a fence post. Even a light wind will show the direction as the case will pivot on top of the rod. I like simple.

Got about a dozen around my deer blind where they double as yardage markers and wind flags. Took a lot of yahooing from my lease buddies ... at first! Bet there are 50 to 60 scattered around the lease now! - Mark Bonner

It's a good idea to 'calibrate' your flags, and to do this, you should make the lengths of each type of ribbon equal (eg all 'police line' ribbons = 24", all surveyor's ribbons = 18", ...). Find an open area with varying wind. Next, secure a flag in an upright position, and step back - but stay in the vicinity. Using a wind meter, quickly sketch the position(s) of the ribbons for varying wind speeds. With a little practice, and your sketches handy, you will soon become good at reading your flags.

Occaisionally, I forget my wind flags. However, I make sure that I have a backup. - I keep a spool of surveyor's tape in my range bag. I only remove it from the bag at the range if I forgot my wind flags. When this happens, I staple (or "push-pin") a couple 1-foot strips to the target backing. Heck, it's better than nothing.