Pulled out my old Texan shot shell reloader to figure out what it would take to get usable again. Turns out, not much. Usable as is, but would like to replace a powder tube and find long term solution to the wad guide fingers.
Back in the day (early 1970's), as I remember it, the hierarchy of shot shell reloaders, as far as quality was concerned, was 1
acific; 2: Texan, 2: Mec. If Lee or Lyman made one, I wasn't aware of it. Dad bought me a Texan, single state, which I still have. Texan, however, is no more. So when parts are needed, you gotta get creative.
Anyway, back to the wad guide fingers. The parts manual shows this to be a one piece part. Guide fingers mounted inside a hard plastic cup that gets inserted into a bracket. Looks like this was glued in and is one piece. I cannot get it apart.
The "universal" replacement for wad guide fingers is just a plastic insert. But inserted into what? For anyone familiar with Pacific or others, did they come with a similar cup with a cap that screwed on and off? Wondering if one of those could be had if it would replace my one piece unit so I can use these replacement fingers?
The other "problem" area I have is with the powder and shot tubes. Both were made of a soft and flexible poly tube of some sort, and were glued in. The powder tube cracked and left a fragment of tube still glued to the casting behind when it did. That can be turned upside down and can still be used, but both shot and powder tubes will need to be glued back. I remember using it once when the shot tube fell out while still full of shot. That is not something you want to do twice.
Problem with the tubes is it has a 2" ID and 2 1/8" OD. Replacement tubes are either 2" or 2 1/4" OD. I have the 2" and may just double up on the bottom (2nd lamination of 1/16" tube makes it 2 1/8" OD). Not sure how to glue that in place, but may use silicone or even a two part epoxy?
Other than those two issues, reloader is still 100% usable. And even have the primers, wads, shot and some 50 year old powder.......which I would prefer to replace with fresh.
Back in the day (early 1970's), as I remember it, the hierarchy of shot shell reloaders, as far as quality was concerned, was 1
acific; 2: Texan, 2: Mec. If Lee or Lyman made one, I wasn't aware of it. Dad bought me a Texan, single state, which I still have. Texan, however, is no more. So when parts are needed, you gotta get creative. Anyway, back to the wad guide fingers. The parts manual shows this to be a one piece part. Guide fingers mounted inside a hard plastic cup that gets inserted into a bracket. Looks like this was glued in and is one piece. I cannot get it apart.
The "universal" replacement for wad guide fingers is just a plastic insert. But inserted into what? For anyone familiar with Pacific or others, did they come with a similar cup with a cap that screwed on and off? Wondering if one of those could be had if it would replace my one piece unit so I can use these replacement fingers?
The other "problem" area I have is with the powder and shot tubes. Both were made of a soft and flexible poly tube of some sort, and were glued in. The powder tube cracked and left a fragment of tube still glued to the casting behind when it did. That can be turned upside down and can still be used, but both shot and powder tubes will need to be glued back. I remember using it once when the shot tube fell out while still full of shot. That is not something you want to do twice.
Problem with the tubes is it has a 2" ID and 2 1/8" OD. Replacement tubes are either 2" or 2 1/4" OD. I have the 2" and may just double up on the bottom (2nd lamination of 1/16" tube makes it 2 1/8" OD). Not sure how to glue that in place, but may use silicone or even a two part epoxy?
Other than those two issues, reloader is still 100% usable. And even have the primers, wads, shot and some 50 year old powder.......which I would prefer to replace with fresh.
