Just thought I would share a little project, making an 55 cavity aluminum loading block in the shop...

Before you ask, I'm not interested in making more of these myself. My little manual vertical mill is great for some projects (drill/tap, 80% lowers, slight modifications to parts, prototypes, one offs, etc...), but Its is not designed for production work. Hand cranking through all the cuts gets tiring real quick.

Let me start by saying, I will never go back to using plastic/wood loading blocks after this project. I originally thought that all the nice and shiny looking, engraved loading blocks were just for show and didn't really offer any benefits in practical terms over plastic or wood blocks... until I started using one.

After using this fist one I made for my 223/5.56 case based cartridges (see photo), I set about on the little manual vertical mill to make another for the 308/7.62 (Dasher, 6.5x47, etc.) case size cartridges. I made mine with 55 cavities so that (while working with a lot size of 50 cases) I would have and extra row to separate cases if I wanted to while working through any of the case prep, charging, seating processes.

This is just my opinion from my recent experience with this loading block project.
Advantages: They are obviously heavier and just makes me feel better when I'm charging the cases with powder, especially when using a drop tube. The brass does not move around and I don't have to worry about putting too much pressure on the end case and have the whole block flip over on the bench.
Disadvantages: Cost...



Finished 223/5.56 size Aluminum Loading block. Perfect for all my favorite 223/5.56 case based wildcats!


Finished 308/7.62 size aluminum loading block. Ready to load all our favorite 308, 7.62, Dasher, 6.5x47 case based cartridges!
Shown here loading up some 358Yeti.

You got me thinking about that... ok, I'll work on making another set to giveaway. May take me a while, but I'll work on that!

I've seen those as well, but I wanted specifically a 55 cavity loading block for the reasons stated above.

I used some pieces of .75" thick aluminum plate I had kicking around in my metal shop for years... I don't remember where I got it but I've been known to pickup scrap cut offs whenever I find them to use for oddball projects.
I laid out the hole pattern by hand and just center punched/drilled the holes and hand cranked my manual mill for the rest of the cuts.
A member of another forum was nice enough to draw up this print after seeing this block and posted it up, so I'll post it here for anyone to use if they want to make one like this.
Hope this helps!

The hole in the bottom is just to help keep powder and junk out of the main shell area to help keep your cartridges standing straight in the block. In my block its more of a V shaped bottom hole because I used a drill bit first, then followed the hole with an end mill for a flat bottom for the cartridges to sit on, while leaving a V shaped hole in the bottom for junk to fall into while loading.
Hope this helps.