What clever little things have you "invented or discovered" that you can share?

Brass tumbler

Here is my homemade tumbler. It is made from an old ice cream motor and popcorn tin. I mounted some fins inside the tin and use english walnut shells from the pet store as media.

When using the Lyman series of tumblers and you have the sifter lid, cover the sifter lid with duct tape (cheap) or whatever and.... Voila! No dust accumulation on your bench or even all over the room you reload in. While some will tell you that using polish or a certain media may cut down on dust, it doesn't matter. Containing it is the best solution.

Damian

Clear Drop Tube for Lee Perfect powder measure

I took a pen with a clear case and cut it down to size and used it to replace the black drop tube. I like being able to see the powder drop into the case.

I use walnut media and I like to run my vibrating tumbler outside on a slightly windy day. I leave the lid off so that the dust produced during cleaning wafts up and out of the bowl. It significantly cuts down on the residue left over once I remove the brass.

Like Bob K, I always run my tumbler on the back porch with the lid off. Keeps the dust way down.

while i was recently making lead bullets for my 357 and 45 acp i found that with the 357 -158 swhp you can press a copper bb into the hollow and with the 45 acp 230 rnhp you can press a silver coated in to that hollow too--homemade hydra shocks -so i too a few to the local range and bow a big difference when they hit a target--i use a small arbor press to press the bb,s in but you can use a channel lock plier to do the job and i do the pressing before i lube and size the bullets-----------remember its better to have and not need than need and not have

Case lubing on progressive reloader:
On a progressive Dillon 650XL I use a little piece of an old shirt which I roll up to a ball and fix it with a little piece of string. I put the lube on this ball, massage it in and throw it into the case-feeder. It pretty much touches the cases lightly, making reloading a breeze. And as a bonus, you will get no lube in the case-mouth.

Visually checking powder:
I wanted something small.
I did take an old sizing die, took the primer punch out and fitted it to station 3 of my
650. The hole at the top is big enough to hold a Maglite Solitaire. I turn it un while loading and off when ready.
It shines straight into the case. Some LED flexible bore-lights will fit as well.

I wipe out my powder funnel and the inside of the powder measure with a dryer sheet from time to time to kill the static.

I bought solid rubber shelf liner from Lowes to cover my bench. Easily replaced, durable, stuff doesn't roll away from me, and it gives a little "softer" surface than the usual wood or formica surface. 20" x4' for about $6. The scraps are also priceless for cutting into gaskets and washers.

Instructions for my Lee balance beam say I have to re-zero if I move the scale on the bench. So I mark the outline of the base on the black rubber with a while paint pen. Now I just have to set the scale in the same spot each time and run a quick check.

I only load a few calibers and only a few bullets in each caliber. Since I use a single stage press, I find it easier to buy a couple of extra seating dies and set the locking ring for one particular bullet rather than change the same die each time. I set the lock ring, tighten it and then mark the die.

John

Adding one for those who change tool heads on a 650 a lot.
If you do not want to transfer your powder to the container
every time, take a piece of a poster packaging roll and slide
it over the powder storage on the toolhead. Make sure it fits
snuggly to avoid light reaching the powder.
And !CLEARLY! mark it with the type and brand of powder off course,

Cleaning Lube/Crud from loaded cartridges

About 40 years ago I was just learning the in's and out's of reloading. The fellow who was mentoring me was 80+ years young. He would load match quality 45 acp ammo for a top shooter on the United States air force pistol team. When he finished loading the rounds on his Star Machine and Tool mfg. progressive loading press he cleaned the rounds of any crud on the cases in a very easy way. I've heard tell of tumbeling loaded rounds to get the gook off but I'm not suicidal and neither was my 80 year old friend. His solution to get the cases bright, shiny and looking like new was to lay out an old bath towell, spinkle on some Coleman stove fuel and fold the towell over the cartridges lying on the towell. Then he rubbed the rounds between the layers of the towell a few times and they would come out looking like new. The Coleman fuel was used because of it's purity and fast evaporation properties. All traces of crud disappear as if by magic. It goes without saying-NO SMOKING is a cardinal rule while doing this. I've been using this method now for 40+ years with complete satisfaction.

WayneConrad said:

We've got one of those bagless vacuum cleaners that I absolutely despise. Give me bags any day--emptying those canisters is messy! But... Since no debris goes through the motor or fan, and it has a HEPA filter, it's safe to Jerry-rig the hose up to my press when depriming.

It's kinda fun to hear the primers rattling down the hose when I'm depriming, and sure keeps a lot of that nasty burnt primer "dust" (more like toxic sand than dust, ain't it?) off of the press and floor.

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You may want to start saving your spent primers. The price of scrap brass has gone through the roof as of late and they qualify for the same salvage price a cartridges!

Try Lee bullet sizing compound. Works great!

Couldn't find freaking funnel to use to load powder and shot into bottles on MEC Jr. Was searching the house when I looked in the trash and spied an empty rubbing alcohol bottle.

I give it a quick rinse with HOT water and it dried quickly, pulled out my utility knife and sliced off the top part just above the label on the bottle. Top of bottle turned up and just fit in hole on bottom of MEC loader bottles. Big around enough to hold itself up and pretty sturdy thick plastic.

I was just about to toss the bottom part of the bottle back in the trash then I realized that it would be pretty easy to use it to pour the shot in out of the large bag then dump it thru the top portion/ funnel into the loader bottles. Easier than holding up a 25 lb bag of shot. Used it much in the same way for powder.

I was down to just the lid being unused then I seen on an old powder/shot bottle that I had that it in fact just happened to be the same threading as the bottles used

For the record it was the round type of the wally world generic brand and color being the only difference really between it and the hydrogen peroxide bottle. In fact the smaller rectangleish shaped bottles would work too altho the funnel would be funny shaped. (i'm sure they are different bottle types out there that may not work)

I store all my brass in old plastic large peanut butter "jars" Easy to tell which ones have which calibers, which ones have been tumble-cleaned and which ones not.

I put a dab of Imperial Sizing Wax on the threads of the leveling screw on the bottom of my scales. It makes the screw extremely smooth moving.

When loading #4 buckshot the BPI manual says "there is little point in attempting to stack the pellets in larger gauges". They are still decent size and I found they don't pile in there so well. What it really should say is that "without a trick up your sleeve stacking #4 buck is an act of massive frustration".

27 pellets in the common load, 5 will fit on a layer but the 6th one won't quiet go down in the middle and you will have issues getting the next layer to stack on top without one trying to get in the middle spot.

Here's the trick the outter jacket off a piece of cat5 network cable was just about perfect fit between the layer of 5 in the middle. So what I do is drop in 5 shake em around and poke the insulation piece in the middle spot(3 inches or so is plenty). Drop another 5 around the insulation piece, pull it out drop 1 in the center drop next 5 in poke insulation piece back in the middle, 2 more layers of 5 on top pull out insulation piece and drop 1 more in the center. It gives you a stack of 5515551, (27 total). I suppose you could vary where the ones in the middle are and it may affect pattern somewhat. It seems a little bit like work but if i'm gonna do it myself i'm gonna do it right.

Of course you could use anything else that would fit I suppose but I happened to have a piece of cat5 insulation laying on my table (my other hobby is being a computer nerd).

yeah, I save all of my brass scraps in an old gallon tub for ice cream, it's even got a handle.

I've discovered an alternative to latex gloves called finger cots. They're little condoms for your fingers.

Yeah, that sounds stupid, but they're perfect for reloading. Instead of sweating up your entire hand, you can just cover the tip of your first two fingers and thumb. This keeps 98% of the powder residue off your hands and keeps your brass from tarnishing from finger oils and sweat.

It gets even better. You can roll them off and reuse them (just like regular condoms!? ). So you don't have to trash a pair of gloves every time you take five.

I love getting these responses. Awesome stuff guys, keep em coming

"You can roll them off and reuse them (just like regular condoms!"

Never tried that!

rather than try to sort out 9mm from .380 and 38 super by hand, i just tumble them all together. then after i take them out, i drop them in loading blocks (i use factory ammo trays for .40 so they fall in easily). From there you just have to look at the height of the cases to sort them quickly.

"You can roll them off and reuse them (just like regular condoms!"

Never tried that!

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Yup. And when they get icky, just turn them inside out.

^If you use a loading block during reloading, you can easily find any mak stragglers in your luger cases by giving a quick eyeball during the loading block phase. Also give the tray a shake to locate any proud primers.

Another trick: Whenever I had to decap the occasional backwards primer, I used to toss it. I was paranoid that it could seat too loose the second time around. Now I set it aside until I find an S&B case.

For rifle brass, I segregate by weight and the number of shootings in batches.

1. After cases are deprimed/decrimped and primer pockets/case necks cleaned, I tumble polish them.
2. I use HF storage bin with 3 rows of bins labeled to sort cases by weight and put them in the bottom row bins.
3. After I resize the cases and remove the sizing lube, I move them to the middle row bins.
4. After I trim the cases to length and chamfer/deburr the case neck, I move them to the top bins.
5. When I am ready to reload, I pull cases from the top bins by weight.

I made a shavings shield for my possum hollow case trimmer.

I shoot .357& .45 ACP using lead bullets. Some times I have some lead that wont come out with chore boy copper pads and is a pane in the butt. So I made some simple tools to help remove the lead. Take brass welding rod put a bend on it with a sharp edge, it comes right out of hard spots in barrel. The .45 acp I use a 30-06 case flair it out and it removes any lead in the case mouth. The 3/8" hard wood rod is for cleaning the bore with a tight patch. Hope this helps some of you. Gene