" Broken Sights ": May 2011

An ergonomic "workbench" (and a methodical process of addressing it in a safe and eficient manner) is a key element for succeeding at a MLAIC match. Part of this ergonomics are a few "holders" and their positioning on the bench - holders for the powder and semolina charges, holders for the loading tools and, last but not least, holders for the lead balls.

With the work and tools / design know-how of fellow shooter and friend J. Almeida Santos, also my instructor on the national Black Powder certification, I got a custom made bullet holder for my MLAIC workbench - "dual faced", on one side for the .36 caliber (pistol) and on the other for the .44 caliber (revolver).

Construction was made over a simple piece of pine wood, later finished with generous amounts of teak oil. The bullet holder has 16 holes, in 2 rows of 8 - allowing the management of the MLAIC shooting rules - of 13 shoots - 6 on one target, 7 on the other - with some extra / spare room left on the holder. The most important dimension - ergonomic wise - is the center to center (CTC) distance between holes (20 mm , 0,78") - that must enable a easy access and prevent accidental "impact" on the "neighbour" bullets - we don't want to spill extra bullets "all over" the bench, and we must also be space saver as the bench is not infinite and there's a lot of elements to work over it (and on some matches the bench is somewhat confined). Also important is the relative depth of the holes - approx. one third of the ball size.