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

it seems like I am constantly moving brass between different containers. These one pound powder jugs make a great funnel for moving brass from one container to another. Just cut off the bottom and use it inverted. As an added bonus for me, it seems to fit perfectly into may of my other containers.

I found that a case neck expand mandril makes for a LOT straighter cases (better concentricity) than the sizing ball in a FLS dies. I've have Lee/RCBS/and Redding FLS dies in 223 so I can compare results in my dial indicator. Ball is "ok" but it you want match grade the expand mandril consistently produces better results in my Redding T7 press.

Mounted my presses onto "2Xs" that attach to the bench with wingnuts. They can easily be removed and attached with "C" clamps to most any surface. Hornady has a new spray lube that is promising. In a demo you take a tray of casings and VERY lightly spray each side. The spray does not need cleaning off prior to loading powder. Will try it shortly-don't have any brass not primed at present.

Hello to everyone, I found this Web page by accident. I was on another for the tips on accurizing a Minni-14. First off, I would lke to comment on what a pleasure it is to read the many post you guys are making and it doesn't sound like you are fixing to get into a fist fight! The many tips I am picking up on Reloading is refreshing indeed. I have spent a whole evening reading them. The tip on Nu-Wax car polish is absolutely outstanding. also I can't wait to try the Lee Powder dispenser on my Dillon RL 550. I have seen people using them and thought how simple they were. I have reloaded for several years and I can't believe how inovated you Guys are. Makes me believe I might be a little slow. I have enjoyed reading the many,many tips I have seen in this thread and I thought I was an expert, Ha. Keep it coming . I might just learn something here tonight. I'm new to this forum and I'm really hard to impress, but I'm impressed with it. Real impressed with the friendlyness of all of you. Sorry this is all I can add to it, but PLEASE, keep it coming. By the way , this is 1st post. I'm loving this Forum.

I had seen one fellow's bench where he had painted the benchtop and back pegboard white. That made it a lot easier to see everything. Using flat white paint so as not to get too much glare.

Homemade bulge resizer

Have been reading about "Glock Bulge" in 40S&W and since I load range brass I decided I could make something similar to the Lee tool. I already had a Factory Crimp Die in 40S&W so all I needed was a case pusher and something to catch the sized cases.

I started by using a fired 9mm case and then a fired 38spl case for a pusher but both would collapse when a larger than normal (over size chamber?)40 case went through the FDC. I had some JB Weld on hand so I tried filling a 38spl case with the weld ( deprime the case so air can escape from the case when you pack in the JB Weld). After hardening I filed the filled case mouth smooth & square. It now pushes the 40 cases w/o collapsing.

For the catcher I drilled (cut) a 1" hole in the bottom of a "Cool Whip" container to insert the FCD and tighten the container between the die lock ring and the press. Added a 3/4" copper pipe connector to raise the case discharge above the top of the FCD but I don't think it is needed.

(Hint) Put the lid on the container as some of the shells require extra effort(case lube helps even with the carbide die)to go through the die and when they do go through will eject out above the top of the container and onto the floor without it. Also found it best to start the 40 shell into the die by hand & then bring the ram/pusher up under it.

Clemsum, that is pretty awesome.

redneck2 said:

another thread reminded me of this...

if you have rifle dies that have an expander ball, polish the expander. If you don't they may be rough. This makes the ball hard to pull thru the neck and also contributes to case lengthening

Remove the expander and chuck it in a drill. I use emery cloth with oil on it. A few seconds really polishes it up.

Click to expand...

Hi
the expander ball on my reddding neck sizer has a milled finish, do you mean that I should polich the milling off? surely that would reduce the diameter of the expander ball, sorry if I'm being a bit stupid here!

Here's a tip on using the Lee Pro Auto Disk powder measure for larger caliber rifles loads. Lee says you can stack two disks but this only gives you 42 Grains of powder. I got longer screws for my Lee Pro Auto Disk powder measure and stack 3 disks. This allows me to load 53 grains of powder for my 7.62x54. The Lee powder through rifle die will take a 30-06 case but not a 7 mm. I'd like to see them make a larger diameter rifle charging die.

Added a 3/4" copper pipe connector to raise the case discharge above the top of the FCD but I don't think it is needed.

Click to expand...

Yeah, it's needed. Without it, the case mouths can catch on the top of the die, mid-stroke, and can get dinged up.

What I use is a rolled up tube of paper. It's the same idea as the plastic tube that comes with the Bulge Buster. When it is filled, you just pull it out, dump them into a bin, and reinsert.

I haven't read these all yet so I hope this isn't a repeat. I used to work at a Home Depot. We used to mark down all kinds of cabinets that came in damaged, were returned, or were out of date displays. I never could see a use for them. Now I would love to have bought a few for one great building block for my reloading bench. Even if you replaced all the doors and handles you would still be ahead in price for what you bought.

Made a power adapter for my old Lyman case trimmer. I don't understand why Lyman pressed the hand crank onto the shaft. I am able to bolt the handle back on if needed now.

How were you able to remove the pressed on handle. I have the same trimmer and would love to upgrade mine like you did.

I ground off the metal that was peened over the handle and then tapped the handle off.

Savage Missed out on ALOT of money ?????

Resizing Lubricant

I've heard the good and the bad about every resizing lubricant out there, but the one that sticks out the most is the Imperial Sizing Wax. Nothing but praise for this little tin of stuff.

I decided that I wanted to try it for myself since Lee's lube wasn't that great, even mixed with alcohol. However, nobody in my area carries any of this mana from the reloading heavens.

This led me to to dig deeper..... into my pocket. Here's what I came up with:



It appears to be of the same consistency as Imperial, plus you can just rub it on with the stick, and a quick slight rub over the case mouth to lube the inside of the case neck. No having to get the wax on your hands or wear gloves, and whatever remains on the case after sizing wipes right off with no problem! I couldn't be happier as resizing bottleneck cases is now a breeze. I don't even think I use half the effort as I used with Lee's lube.

Note: Sorry if this was mentioned before. I read this thread all the way until about page 23 when it started, but it appears to have grown since I looked last. Great amount of "tricks of the trade" in here.

I found out I can use an RCBS 25 WSSM Case Mic base, a 1/4" nut and a 223 Case Mic top and get a shoulder measurement on a 6 PPC case for setting my dies up for my 6 PPC AR.

Greg

My primer catcher



Not sure how clever it is, but it works! Velcro Gorilla glued to the bottle, stapled to the bench leg. When the bottle gets mostly full, I dump it into a ziploc and drop it at the hazardous waste site.

I like it better than my bottle cap screwed to the bottom of the bench and threading the bottle into it. Moves the clutter out of the way so you don't do what I did, and knock a bottle full of primers to the floor!

I have kicked it a few time inadvertently, but I put enough Velcro on it to hold it well. Had a larger bottle at first, but as it filled, the primers got too heavy for it all. This is the second version, and is working better. I refuse to pay the kind of money bottled water companies want for their product, but flat-sided bottles are not all that easy to find!

When the bottle gets mostly full, I dump it into a ziploc and drop it at the hazardous waste site.

Click to expand...

Better than a haz-mat site, save them up, and take them to a recycler. around here scrap brass is $2/pound, and spent primers are just plated brass.

Nothing new, just another primer catch for my Lee Classic press...

Parts list:
1/2" ID Vinyl Tube
1/2"X1/2" Plastic Barb
Water Bottle

Works pretty slick. Just screw the old bottle off and dispose and screw on another so you don't have to keep using the same dirty bottle.

I did something very similar with my setup, used bicycle water bottle holders to hold 1L SmartWater bottles.



The press on the left has been replaced by a Dillon 650, and I'm using the 'cut-open-rifle-case' trick to catch primers into the tube.

cidirkona said:

I did something very similar with my setup, used bicycle water bottle holders to hold 1L SmartWater bottles.



The press on the left has been replaced by a Dillon 650, and I'm using the 'cut-open-rifle-case' trick to catch primers into the tube.

Click to expand...

Nice bench support braces. That looks pretty stout.

Thanks. It was my 4th bench made for reloading, and I had learned quite a bit from previous mistakes. The bench is now so sturdy that my house creeks when I resize 223.

Having no floor braces makes sweeping the floor a breeze too -- and with little ones crawling around, lead shavings or wayward primers on the floor is a big no-no.