While the attention of all the clever reloaders is focussed on this thread, I might as well take the opportunity to ask if anyone has an idea how to prevent the wooden ball on my Lee press handle from coming off when I apply force to it. Thanks in advance for all suggestions.
What clever little things have you "invented or discovered" that you can share?
- Thread starter mooseman1
- Start date
I had the same problem, I just roughed up the end of the arm with sand paper, roughed up the inside of the knob with the wrong (i.e. pointy) end of a file, epoxied the crap out of it and wacked it on good and tight with a hammer. It hasn't come off since. YMMV.
For reloading cast bullets this is a real time saver. (OK, this isn't my invention but belongs to a guy from the Cast Bullet Association, John Kort, from Erie Penn.) You get a Lee collet die and disassemble it. Grind the fingers of the collet back about the depth of a gas check, or slightly more, and deburr. Now when you size your cases, the part you ground off is left unsized so the case is now pre flared for bullet seating. If you can make a pin, for the collet die, about .002 larger than supplied, you'll size the case less than max and this REALLY makes sizing your brass a 1 step operation. Sized and flared all in one. I've done this to several Lee collet dies and it works very well.
x2 on the epoxy. I replaced the rubber sleeve on the handle of my RCBS with a wooden ball. Got the ball at Michael's (craft store), drilled a hole the appropriate size, a couple coats of varnish and epoxied it into place.
i take a wire ,make a loop stick it in my mold ,keeping the sprue cutter open ,make my own fishing weight's (45 cal 450gr ) for some real weight .
I also worked 5 years to figure out why beer goes in yellow and comes out clear, and yet water goes in clear and comes out yellow. I could have figured it out faster, but things were comming out clear at the time.
I also worked 5 years to figure out why beer goes in yellow and comes out clear, and yet water goes in clear and comes out yellow. I could have figured it out faster, but things were comming out clear at the time.
MiltonBradly
CGN Regular
- Location
- Hamilton ON
I reload some pistol calibers with a pair of single stage presses. The second press has a small metal arm bent out of shipping crate strapping clamped beside it. When I reload I feed a case into the first press, pull the lever and remove the case, feed it into the second press, pull the lever and at the end of the down stroke the little arm ejects the case out of the press, through a length of pipe and into a bucket on the floor.
Once the case is set in the second press my hand is free to grab a new case and load the first press. It's not a big time saver, but it removes a little bit of movement from the process and saves some time in the long haul.
MB
Once the case is set in the second press my hand is free to grab a new case and load the first press. It's not a big time saver, but it removes a little bit of movement from the process and saves some time in the long haul.
MB
MiltonBradly
CGN Regular
- Location
- Hamilton ON
...Oh, I made a bullet puller out of a Delrin block. The bullet is placed in a standard shell holder and dropped into a hole in the block. A spring loaded retainer holds the shell holder in place while I use the block as a kinetic puller on the cement floor. It's really fast to load and so far indestructible.
MB
MB
using a piece of rubber hose and hoseclamp you can turn your manual brass trimmer in too a flex drive with a power drill ,if you want to get creative take the switch out of the drill and mount it on the floor so you can operate it with your foot,this seems to speed it up abit.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
I use a rubber "O" ring in place of the shell holder retaining spring on my ram. This allows the shell holder to float and find its own center and reduces any chance of being held cocked or off center. An "O" ring under the lock-ring for the expander/decapping rod keeps that centered as well.
I seating bullets incrementally as I turn the cartridge in the shell holder which reduces runout.
When I crimp, I do it in a separate step from seating the bullet.
When setting up a FL resizing die, painting the shoulder of the cartridge with a permanent marker will show the amount of contact the shoulder is making.
The length of the lead is precisely measured by seating a flat based bullet backwards into a resized case and gently cambering then extracting it. Pressing the nose of a bullet firmly into the muzzle of your rifle then turning it scribes a line around the forward edge of the bearing surface of the bullet, which might be useful if you want a precise jump to the lands.
The serrated portion of a pair of plier style wire strippers makes a good bullet puller. The tool sits flat on the top of the press, run up the ram, then close the tool on the bullet just forward of the case mouth. The tool leaves very small marks in the bullet jacket, but it doesn't slip and its fast if you have lots of rounds to pull.
I don't zero my powder scale to zero, rather I use my check weight set and zero the scale to the precise weight I want to weigh.
I use dry neck lube for inside case necks, but also to keep the cutter from chattering when I uniform new primer pockets.
You can make a stuck case remover cheaper than you can buy one. A drill bit, a tap, a stack of washers and a bolt is all you need. Oh, and a wrench that fits the bolt head.
I seating bullets incrementally as I turn the cartridge in the shell holder which reduces runout.
When I crimp, I do it in a separate step from seating the bullet.
When setting up a FL resizing die, painting the shoulder of the cartridge with a permanent marker will show the amount of contact the shoulder is making.
The length of the lead is precisely measured by seating a flat based bullet backwards into a resized case and gently cambering then extracting it. Pressing the nose of a bullet firmly into the muzzle of your rifle then turning it scribes a line around the forward edge of the bearing surface of the bullet, which might be useful if you want a precise jump to the lands.
The serrated portion of a pair of plier style wire strippers makes a good bullet puller. The tool sits flat on the top of the press, run up the ram, then close the tool on the bullet just forward of the case mouth. The tool leaves very small marks in the bullet jacket, but it doesn't slip and its fast if you have lots of rounds to pull.
I don't zero my powder scale to zero, rather I use my check weight set and zero the scale to the precise weight I want to weigh.
I use dry neck lube for inside case necks, but also to keep the cutter from chattering when I uniform new primer pockets.
You can make a stuck case remover cheaper than you can buy one. A drill bit, a tap, a stack of washers and a bolt is all you need. Oh, and a wrench that fits the bolt head.
Powderfinger61
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Nova Scotia
when i started shooting ISU and using .38 cal for my 686, my brother inlaw got me into reloading.
The load was 3 grains of Bullseye. At the time i didnt have a scale so he gave me his....it was a empty .22 casing with a piece of coat hanger brazed onto the side. Fill it full and dump into the .38 casing. Voila 3 gr Bullseye powder....I will look to see if I still have it and take a pic.
The load was 3 grains of Bullseye. At the time i didnt have a scale so he gave me his....it was a empty .22 casing with a piece of coat hanger brazed onto the side. Fill it full and dump into the .38 casing. Voila 3 gr Bullseye powder....I will look to see if I still have it and take a pic.
this is my brass cleaner/polisher 
the Q5-2000 cleaner/polisher
Instead of paying hundreds of dollars for a name brand vibratory cleaner, I use a bucket, my old black and decker sander, Lyman corn cob media, and few drops of Brasso brass cleaner..it took just 15-20 minutes to clean 100 pcs. 357 mag. casings..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UetR2wf0jcQ
this is the improved version;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVFn5ThgzV8
the Q5-2000 cleaner/polisher
Instead of paying hundreds of dollars for a name brand vibratory cleaner, I use a bucket, my old black and decker sander, Lyman corn cob media, and few drops of Brasso brass cleaner..it took just 15-20 minutes to clean 100 pcs. 357 mag. casings..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UetR2wf0jcQ
this is the improved version;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVFn5ThgzV8
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I did the exact same thing on my classic cast press.
But when using a rubber mallet I just had to give it one more good tap to seat the ball all the way. CRACKED the ball.
I have a dillon 550 b press and like everybody does I ordered the accessory roller handle. So the factory dillon handle sat unused under the bench.
Would you believe the dillon handle fits the lee press perfectly, is heavier and works just a little better.
Lee sent a new ball for free.
I do like the Lee press too.
Not a "clever" kind of discovery ,but still might be useful to someone-13.8 or 14 GR of Red Dot works best under WW casts in all milsurp calibers I have- 8x57,8x56R,7.62x54R.I bet it will work just as good in 8x50R Lebel when it arrives.
Goodness, where do I start...
1. A whet tumbler using stainless media. Similar to the famous Fog Ducker's model, but smaller, handling about 400 9mm cases.
2. Poor man's OAL gauge. I built it based on descriptions I found elsewhere, so its not my invention.:
3. I put this 50 CD case through the side whole upside-down on my Lee FCD installed in a single-stage press. This setup is my bulge buster, I collect about 200 .40S&W cases then empty the CD case:
4. My spent primer collector. Not much of an invention, but keeping the bottle closed makes me breathe less sh*t from spent primers:
5. Two in one shot: A ghetto bullet tray. Does the job for a fraction of the cost (look at ultimatereloader's tray & you'll see my point). Also a LED flip-light from Costco, hanging on the expander die. I found this gives me the best chance to spot a squib load:
6. A counter. A saw others doing the mechanical version, so I thought it would be cool to make an electric one, from all the copier spare parts I have lying around. I don't really need one, I just had an urge to make it.
7. And, last but not least, my latest improvement to LnL pickup tubes: a tube mounted to Lee AutoPrime tray, with a 'vibrator' from a cell phone and a small switch. Loading the tubes has become fun! Don't let the small allen keys scare you, these are to center the tube so I don't have to mess with epoxy.
I am currently trying to make a motorized slide, to mimic the LnL case loader's shuttle. I'm also making a bullet collator so I don't have to spend $250 on Hornady's.
1. A whet tumbler using stainless media. Similar to the famous Fog Ducker's model, but smaller, handling about 400 9mm cases.
2. Poor man's OAL gauge. I built it based on descriptions I found elsewhere, so its not my invention.:
3. I put this 50 CD case through the side whole upside-down on my Lee FCD installed in a single-stage press. This setup is my bulge buster, I collect about 200 .40S&W cases then empty the CD case:
4. My spent primer collector. Not much of an invention, but keeping the bottle closed makes me breathe less sh*t from spent primers:
5. Two in one shot: A ghetto bullet tray. Does the job for a fraction of the cost (look at ultimatereloader's tray & you'll see my point). Also a LED flip-light from Costco, hanging on the expander die. I found this gives me the best chance to spot a squib load:
6. A counter. A saw others doing the mechanical version, so I thought it would be cool to make an electric one, from all the copier spare parts I have lying around. I don't really need one, I just had an urge to make it.
7. And, last but not least, my latest improvement to LnL pickup tubes: a tube mounted to Lee AutoPrime tray, with a 'vibrator' from a cell phone and a small switch. Loading the tubes has become fun!
Don't let the small allen keys scare you, these are to center the tube so I don't have to mess with epoxy.
I am currently trying to make a motorized slide, to mimic the LnL case loader's shuttle. I'm also making a bullet collator so I don't have to spend $250 on Hornady's.
- Location
- Haliburton County, Central Ontario
Boomer,
Nice idea with calibration method for the powder scale - i.e. zeroing to the charge weight. I will try this. Also, I leave my Lyman electronic unit 'on' for a while before using, since it seems to stop wandering that little bit after it warms up.
Nice idea with calibration method for the powder scale - i.e. zeroing to the charge weight. I will try this. Also, I leave my Lyman electronic unit 'on' for a while before using, since it seems to stop wandering that little bit after it warms up.
vagrantviking
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Alberta
Probably made a dozen measures like this from all kinds of different shells.
Find a shell close to whatever size you need and file it down then soft solder a copper wire handle.
I shoot a ruger mk3 and have 6 mags for it. Too cheap to get the magloader for them, so one day at the range after shooting 24 mags my thumbs and fingers were so sore from loading that I packed up and went home. was looking at the mags and tried to figure out how to hold the follower back so took an sks stripper clip and broke one spring out of one side and bent the other at a 90ish degeree angle at the right spot and now I can hook the mag follower button with the open end and pull it down and hook the bent end under the mag. So now you just drop the cartriges into the mag instead of having to push them in against the spring. If you try this put the concave (outside) of the clip against the mag.
I'm new to reloading, and enjoy all aspects of it exept for case trimming. I found it hard to get into a rythm.
Solved that problem by modifying the 1/4 of an inch of the end 1/2 inch milling bit to pilot into the neck of a case and then sharpened the step. Then the table on my drill press is set to a level where the case would be trimmed to the right length at the end of the stroke of the drill press by using a trimmed case as a gauge.
Now it's just a matter of set the case on the table standing upright, make sure it's sitting aquare, trim, go to the next one. Works great, and it's fast. Now I don't mind case trimming so much anymore.
Solved that problem by modifying the 1/4 of an inch of the end 1/2 inch milling bit to pilot into the neck of a case and then sharpened the step. Then the table on my drill press is set to a level where the case would be trimmed to the right length at the end of the stroke of the drill press by using a trimmed case as a gauge.
Now it's just a matter of set the case on the table standing upright, make sure it's sitting aquare, trim, go to the next one. Works great, and it's fast. Now I don't mind case trimming so much anymore.
