Containers

Building the bench

On this page12

Count the sorts before buying One size, repeated Smaller than instinct, because brass is heavy Clear, so the first check is visual Lined, because everything here corrodes Numbered on the body A scale beside the rack One jar for unknowns And two things that do not live in the rack Leave room in the tray That separation is the design References

The rack is ours. The powder cabinet is not.

Count the sorts before buying

Each calibre splits by headstamp and by firing count. Each bullet splits by weight and diameter. Thirty containers is a modest bench and forty is common.

One size, repeated

A rack of identical jars stacks, shares a spare lid and is read at a glance. 101 PET single wall jars makes that affordable.

Smaller than instinct, because brass is heavy

116 containers at 120 mL or under. A large jar of rifle brass is heavy enough to crack when dropped and to strain a shelf.

Clear, so the first check is visual

91 clear containers, the largest colour group here. You narrow by looking and confirm by reading.

Lined, because everything here corrodes

9 liners and sealing discs. Brass tarnishes and steel rusts, and a garage through a winter is the environment this craft actually lives in.

Numbered on the body

Calibre, headstamp, firing count, grain, diameter. Lids get swapped and a colour code fails for around one in twelve men.

A scale beside the rack

Because the only route back from mixed bullet weights is weighing them apart, and a doubtful case can be settled in seconds rather than guessed at.

One jar for unknowns

Anything swept off the floor, anything whose jar is in doubt. It stops a single spill contaminating the rest of the rack.

And two things that do not live in the rack

Powder in its factory container and primers in their trays, stored separately from each other and from everything else, to the fire code that applies where you are.

Leave room in the tray

A component collection only grows, and the next calibre arrives in whatever was to hand if there is nowhere for it. A half-full tray is the cheapest discipline available.

That separation is the design

A tidy matching rack for eleven leaves, and two components deliberately left out of it. The gap in the rack is the point rather than an oversight.

References

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 19 October 2026. The reloading and shooting shelf is 539 rows: 251 containers and 288 closures. 5 mL to 500 mL with a median of 177; 17 containers at 15 mL or under, 25 at 30 or under, 60 at 60 or under, 116 at 120 or under. 117 PET, 78 PP, 56 glass. 210 jars, 27 bottles, 12 tubs and pails, 2 tubes. 91 clear, 47 white, 32 amber, 26 black, 24 natural. Closures: 221 continuous thread, 22 dome lids, 18 lug and twist, 9 liners and sealing discs, 6 round tubs, 5 phenolic, 4 specialty.

The archetype behind this shelf is store-small-dry: 15 to 500 mL, wide mouth, PP and PET and glass, cold, solid, chunky, scooped, with "small dry parts, wide mouth to get fingers in, clear so you can see what is inside" as its stated reason. Eleven of the thirteen leaves are small dry parts and the shelf is 210 jars against 27 bottles, which fits. It describes the powder and primer leaves too, and should not.

The standing instruction from powder manufacturers and the propellant industry is to keep smokeless powder in its original container, with the original label, and not to decant it. The reason given is confinement: the factory container is built to give way rather than to hold, and a strong sealed container changes how the material behaves when it ignites. This property states that as the industry's stated reason. It is not a regulation, there is none to quote because the material is exempt, and we have not independently verified the mechanism.

Written from 27 CFR 555.11 and 555.141, and from the catalog as it stood on 19 October 2026. No storage quantity limits for smokeless powder or primers appear here: those come from NFPA 495 and from state and local fire codes and they vary. The reason given for keeping powder in its original container is the industry's stated reason, not a regulation and not something this property has independently verified. Nothing here addresses who may manufacture ammunition for sale or how any of it may be transported.