Loading Shelf
If you use a single stage or turret press, this should be a help to you.

01/18/16: Add more Sliding Shelf Pics from Sliders page.
12/07/13: Page Origin.
Construction of a Loading Shelf.

I have always had problems "fumbling" around in containers while picking up small things like cases or bullets (sometime while looking at something else) so I have tried to make things more visible and minimze my handling of these while loading, especially cases.    

In 2010 I did some time/motion studies about how I loaded ammunition and started thinking about how to improve the operation.   I decided I needed to reduce some of the distance between containers and by getting them closer to me, make their contents more visible.   If my right hand operates the press, my left does all the rest of the motion.   I had to start thinking 3 dimensional, that is another place to put loading items rather than on the table top.   It ocurred to me that it would be faster to just drop a resized case, so I needed something to hold a receptical (or bucket) just below the press on the left side.  
My initial thoughts were about depriming/resizing, but, after I thought of the shelf, I realized it would help loading as well.   At the time I was using my loading press on my woodworking bench, so I built the prototype loading shelf as part of that bench.

The Deprime Operation
1 Get a fired case from a container.
2 Move it to the shellholder to be deprimed.
3 Operate the press handle to depriime the case.
4 Move the deprimed case to another container.

Two different containers on the bench top meant one move was a lot further than the other to move my hand.

The Loading Operation
1 Get a clean case from a container.
2 Move it to the press and place in shellholder.
3 Get a primer from another place,
4 Move it to the primer arm, move the press handle up to prime the case.
5 Move the press handle down to charge the case.
6 Rotate the turret.
7 Get a bullet from another container, move the bullet to the case and set it on the case
8 Move the press handle down to seat the bullet.
9 Rotate the turret to the crimper die.
10 Move the press handle down to crimp the bullet.
11 Move the finished round to the ammo box.
12 Rotate the turret back to the powder measure with my right.

I looked at the real estate required on the bench top for this operation, the press, a primer source, a case source, a bullet source, a container for finished rounds.   Some hand motions would be much further than others.   I don't do it this way, because I couldn't get the RCBS Turret press primer operation to work consistently, so I use the RCBS Universal Hand Priming Tool.

The Loading Shelf
I realized that in order to reduce the travel distance I needed to start thinking in 3 dimensions instead of two, so I came up with a small shelf under and just left of the press which could be pulled out a short distance.  
To deprime, I get a case from a container at the press level, move it to the press, when its deprimed move it a short distance to the left and drop it into a container on the loading shelf, move my hand straight back to the container on the bench to for another case.   This was a good reduction in hand motion.

To load, get a case from the container on the shelf, move it to the hand primer tool on the shelf, with my right hand squeeze (prime the case), move the case up to the shellholder.   I move the ram up to charge the case with my right hand, while I get a bullet with my left,   I place the bullet on top of the case with my left while I rotate the turret to the seater die with my right.   Activate the ram with my right (seat the bullet), while I reach around to rotate the turret with my left.   Activate the ram with my right (crimp the bullet).

The loading shelf setup for depriming with my turret press.   When I remove a sized case from the shellholder, I just drop it into the catch bucket on the shelf.


The loading shelf setup for loading 9mm.   I pick up a sized case, prime it with the manual primer, then put it into the shellholder on the press.


The loading shelf in my compact loading bench is the first Under Frame sliding shelf I built.  


A little closer view, you can see the shelf fits snugly between the sides of the cabinet.   Note the slides are below the shelf, this is the only loading shelf where I had actual slides, I made the rest from wood.


Extended.   These aren't full extesion slides, I couldn't find any 10" long.


You can see the frame under the shelf.   The shelf is the full width of the enclosure, the slides are underneath.


I had to rabbet the frame for the slides for more clearance under the shelf.   You'll note the "pull" or handle is just a small 1/2" square strip about 6" long glued under the front edge.