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

Just two things associated with cleaning .223 brass -

1) Angled tweezers for a final scraping of the primer pockets before the wash.

2) a big box of Q-tips to swab the bottom of the cases after cleaning with the ultrasonic cleaner.

NeuseRvrRat said:

i never understood the die racks folks make. i much prefer to keep them in the boxes. they're clearly labeled. stack neatly on a shelf. no dust gathering on my dies and i'm able to close a little homemade desiccant pack in each box to help prevent rust.

Click to expand...

Hey I resemble that comment





Actually the next thing I'm going to make is some camo fabric covers for my die racks, and probably some for my press. Maybe sew a slot inside to hold a dessicant pack or two?

I keep my primers and powder in a 5 gal bucket with a can of damp-rid. Stays around 43% humidity, less than it ever gets with standard A/C

Homemade remedy



This makes a good stuck casing remover. Screw the die in upside down, drill and tap brass (1/4 20). Place a 1/2 to 3/4 bell housing reducer on top with bolt and washers and thread bolt into casing. Works great!

Primer pickup tray...

If this has been posted...

well, I'm not gonna read through 1200 threads, but...

I have a Dillon SDB that has the primer pickup tubes; as I'm sure other systems use a similar system.
I finally cut a nice piece of finished soft leather to match a 4x4 or so piece of aluminum and carefully rubber cemented it on, rough side down. It makes an excellent little pickup pad once you set the primers on there, hollow side down. They don't rattle or scatter, and the leather has just enough grab & give to let you push the pickup tube down on them to pick them up, and it's pretty easy to flip them, one at a time, on that kind of surface when you need to. Really works wonderfully.

O-rings and Dremel brushes

I load a lot of .38 Special using an RCBS Piggyback II rig. It's got a nice spent primer catch system, with a plastic tube leading down to a small jar with a hole punched in the metal lid. The rough edge on the punched hole is supposed to provide enough friction to hold the jar on the tube, but it doesn't work too well. About the third time mine fell off, I put the lid back on the tube, dug out a couple of O-rings that were a tight fit on the tube and slipped them on to back it up. It hasn't fallen off since.

I've also found that Sears sells a stainless steel Dremel brush very similar to the engine turning brushes that Brownell's sells [P/N 080-558-003WB]. Chucked in a Dremel tool set on low speed it takes about a half second to clean a primer pocket. I haven't had any problems yet with enlarged pockets, although I suppose you could manage that if you got carried away. Sears seems to be discontinuing these, so I'll probably try the Brownell's version next time I need one.

"About the third time mine fell off, I put the lid back on the tube, dug out a couple of O-rings that were a tight fit on the tube and slipped them on to back it up. It hasn't fallen off since."

Good fix. Yeah, the lid on the spent primer jar is a pain. I just got out the blue painter's tape and taped the lid to the drop tube. Works great.

zchaparral said:

View attachment 195802

This makes a good stuck casing remover. Screw the die in upside down, drill and tap brass (1/4 20). Place a 1/2 to 3/4 bell housing reducer on top with bolt and washers and thread bolt into casing. Works great!

Click to expand...

I've done something similar - but instead of drilling and tapping the brass I just use a self drilling screw with a hex head. A socket works as well if you don't have the plumbing reducer handy.

I set a big quartz clock directly behind the flame when annealing my rifle brass so a can watch the movement of the second hand out of the corner of my eye. Six seconds of swirl on the neck and they're glowing like new. A bit under-annealed, maybe, but better safe than sorry. And they end up with a VERY consistent neck tension.

bore guide

I made my own with a piece of 9/16 pvc pipe. I cut the forward 1.25 inches off of a 762x54 brass and glued it inside the pipe with the neck, shoulder and a small part of the case wall sticking out. At the rear end of the pvc I cut a small window in the pipe as a solvent port. It works in my MN and any 30 cal or 8mm rifle, bolt action of course.

Drop tube

I cut the head off a .223 brass and fitted it inside the white paper tube from a pants hanger, which also fits neatly into a red Lee powder funnel. Makes for a nice little drop tube for bulky powders in rifle cases.

I invented a way to make my wallet much thinner and lighter. I simply adopted the hobby of reloading.

Amazing how this hobby has a habit of doing that!

All in one brass trimming and debur station

Used thick aluminum plate to mount trimmer, primer pocket brushes and debur tools to make an all in one brass trimming and debur station on the cheap. Just cut drill and tap as needed.

The bolt pattern interchanges for my press also.





DIY Shooting Rest

shooting rest

Nice job,very cool idea
A couple of question
What did you use to cut/ mill slot in your bolt for your set screw.
Also how did you mount your plate on top of the bolt,and what size is the bolt
Again good idea

The bolt is a full thread stud. It is 1-1/4 and 8 TPI. You could probably find something comparable at fleabay or use a 1" threaded rod (aka all thread). Just used some bolts I had laying around to weld on the nut for easy adjusting. The center pipe and the threaded rod must be a close fit.

I milled the groove/flat in the threded rod on a milling machined with a 1/2" end mill and did it over the full length.

The top plate is aluminum and bolted to the full thread stud by a 1/4-20 Button head cap screw. Drilled and tapped on the lathe.

Made the feet adjusters on the lathe from round stock.

If you found the right parts and searched around I dont think youd have a problem doing this without a mill or lathe.

Thanks for the information
I think tomorrow I will try to scrounge up the stuff to make one.
Thanks for the idea

I just got one of the "27 LED" lights from harbor freight for free with one of their weekly mail out fliers.

http://m.harborfreight.com/27-led-p...arbor+freight+27+LED+light&a=results&MID=2500

It has a hook and magnet on the back. On a whim I stuck it to the side of my Lee Clasic Turret and it holds perfect and allows me a great place to inspect brass and illuminates my charging area with me Perfect Powder measure. Well worth free and I would probably even pay the ~$3-$4 for one if need be.

Only thing I can say I designed is the $28 Bullet Feeder for any progressive

Tips I have picked up over the years....

Buy once, cry once
You can never have enough components
ALWAYS remember to close the drain valve on a RCBS Chargemaster

^^ Cut a piece of cutting board, cut down a 30-30 below the shoulder, counter sunk the rim, used a tube that barely fit inside the 5/8 ID tube to adapt up to it.


had to actually lube the nipples to fit the hoses on

Might have to jiggle it once every few, or they WILL get stuck at the T. Have the same problem with just straight flexihose at the angles.

Nicely done

Cheap & Fast case trimming

Took my Lee hand case trimmer and mounted the trimmer in the drill press. Set the drill press on the slowest speed. Take the case holder and clamped a couple of vise grips to it. The vise grips make it easier on the fingers than tightening the case holder by hand. Makes trimming cases a lot faster than using my Trim Pro.

When disassembling an item with little parts that can go flying off into never, never (going to find them) land, place the item into one of those clear plastic garden leaf bags for taking things apart. Stops springs etc. from escaping!

Cut rings from bicycle tire tubes to hold mould halves together.

Make an adjustable front bag rest out of a “scissor” jack from a small car.

Trimmer base

This might be similar to others but I made an aluminum base long enough to allow for a one-handed operation of the lever and keeps my trimmer very mobile.

I don't know if someone has posted this one yet, probably.

I measure my die orientation to the press for setting my FL die for different actions, then I record each rifles measurement in a log book. This assures I get exactly the same head space every time I resize brass for a particular chamber. I do something similar for oal adjustment for various bullets and rifles. It doesn't matter really where the measurement is taken, as long as that's where I measure from every time, and that it's a spot that will produce consistent measurements every time.

GS