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

[Decoy80]

I'm always open to new ideas that could be made by myself and also be a better thing.
That said I have racked my brain trying to recall the man's name who told me to try this for frozen rusty bolts,screws,and tool's. I take no credit myself as I am unable to give my own knowledge of this to him. Where he learned I am blissfully ignorant of.
Acetone 50%
Transmission fluid 50%
These don't seem to want to be together but a good shaking in a clear plastic bottle will work.
On the chance it was better than anything else I have ever used I just mixed about a half pint to try.
I'm pleased to say it's just almost too good to be true. I was amazed by how well it works.
I have used more than a few products over the year's. Many of the names of products have slipped my mind too. Not to brag but over the year's in my work I have been in almost any type of facility you can think of in many of the 48 States that employ Field Construction Boilermakers. I used whatever was provided and/or I could commandeer on site. Cleanest job Nuclear power plants
Dirtiest job Steel Mill's and the rest are in between. I just told this so you folks,taking the high road can understand why I am going to say. This I truly is just hands down is simply the best thing I've seen. Try it yourselves and you can form your own opinion. If someone else has put this out there I am not trying to top their post and seek no credit myself. Hopefully it's a help to someone else as it has been to me.
Thanks and if this is out of order may it be swiftly removed from the thread.

 

[goldpelican]

I think I've found a great storage item for my reloading - I have two of them.

Milwaukee Jobsite Organiser - contains 10 removable bins (8 square, 2 large rectangular) that can be rearranged or removed for use. I use one for various primed brass sorted by headstamp, and another for various reloading items I want to keep together. The large rectangular bins are large enough for my Lee Pro Auto Disk to be stored in one. I've swapped bins around so one is all small bins (12 square), and the other contains the larger bins and some small ones.

Removable bins are perfect for pulling out some "work in progress" brass, bullets etc to have on the bench while prepping or loading, and quickly put away.

Very secure latches (not lockable, but they're never going to pop open), and on the side are tabs that allow you to optionally lock stacked ones together - so if you have two or three, you can latch them together so they won't topple (designed for transporting I guess).



Bought mine at Home Depot.

 

[otisrush]

This isn't an "invention" - but it's made my life easier.

I do the early stages of my case prep in somewhat-big batches. It's not until I get them into the "ready to prime" state do I start counting them out in exact numbers to coincide with the sizes of my ammo boxes.

I bought some 2qt plastic storage containers with screw-on lids at a dollar store. And I marked the levels for various numbers of cases. So with a very quick glance I can see what volumes I have in different states of prep and know when I need start cleaning dirty brass.

 

[pert near]

Primer Pocket Cleaners for a Lifetime on the Cheap!

Please forgive me if this has already been posted. This thread is soooo looong & I don't remember seeing it. Hope this helps someone.

You can buy a foot of vinyl coated cable for about $1. Snip it off in 1" lengths & using a razor knife skin-off about 1/8" to make a great primer pocket cleaner. Put it on a handle or chuck it in a drill. When you wear it out, snipe it off again & start over. Pictures should be self explanatory.

 

[splattergun]

I use copper wire the same way. I had access to steel wire, but was concerned the steel might eventually enlarge the primer pocket. Using copper I don't have that concern and it cleans the pocket perfectly. Might be an invalid concern, but my mind is at peace. IN this regard, anyway...

 

[DRAINSMITH]

Hornady case feeder improvement. This is not my idea but I improved on it.With a cable holder and a small piece of poly tube, it will keep cases from jamming and will put them in the proper position.

Now I replaced the bolt that holds the cable clamp with a bullet wiper from the bullet collator. It doesn't help on pistol cases but it will knock off the brass that will sit on top of the brass for rifle brass.

 

[TheGerman]

I just have my primer catchers, pegboard die holders, 1911 vise block/stand and am working on a 3D printed bullet feeder now . Love the possibilities 3D printers open...

 

[pert near]

Nice "TheGerman" engineering!

 

[Browngirlsdad]

This is something I have figured out recently with loading 223: place your case gauge on a hard surface and drop in a resized case. If you hear the brass tink off the hard surface, it needs trimmed. If it doesn't it is less than max overall length and can be loaded again without trimming. By sorting them like this I can save a lot of time vs my old way of just run them all through the trimmer.

This works great for my plinking ammo where long range accuracy isn't what I am going for. I would definitely trim all to match for accuracy.

 

[tcoz]

I used to check brass fir trimming with a case gage until i found that it was faster to set my calipers .002 under max length and quickly run each case through. If it slips through, it doesnt need trimming. You can set the calipers anywhere between min and max length depending on your needs.

 

[Taroman]

I store the loaded turrets for my Lee Classic Cast in the round Lee boxes.
Using a label maker, label the box with the data for my favorite load (s) for that caliber.

 

[grandpawj]

pert near, I like your primer pocket cleaner. Makes me wanna say, "Now, why didn't I think of that?" What size cable, 1/8 inch?

 

[pert near]

pert near, I like your primer pocket cleaner. Makes me wanna say, "Now, why didn't I think of that?" What size cable, 1/8 inch?

My micrometer measures the cable to be .196" Not sure what the cable designation really is but seems to be 3/16".

Hope that helps.

 

[pert near]

I've built a few AR lowers. The thing that drives me crazy is hammering in all the roll pins while trying to prevent scratches & not breaking anything. You have to be especially careful with the trigger guard pin because if you don't support things properly, hammering can break an "ear" off & ruin the whole lower. I received a pair of pliers in a kit last Xmas that were pretty neat even though I didn't really need another pair of pliers laying around. These were Kobalt brand & came from Lowe's. I imagine other people make 'em too. The interesting thing is the jaws move horizontally, squarely & have padded covers to cover the jaws. I took one pad off to push the roll pin straight in with just a firm squeeze. As far as I’m concerned, handiest AR roll pin tool yet! Just FWIW…

 

[wbbh]

I've built a few AR lowers. The thing that drives me crazy is hammering in all the roll pins while trying to prevent scratches & not breaking anything. You have to be especially careful with the trigger guard pin because if you don't support things properly, hammering can break an "ear" off & ruin the whole lower. I received a pair of pliers in a kit last Xmas that were pretty neat even though I didn't really need another pair of pliers laying around. These were Kobalt brand & came from Lowe's. I imagine other people make 'em too. The interesting thing is the jaws move horizontally, squarely & have padded covers to cover the jaws. I took one pad off to push the roll pin straight in with just a firm squeeze. As far as I’m concerned, handiest AR roll pin tool yet! Just FWIW…
/QUOTE]

Great idea, I use a set of water pump (Channel Lock) pliers to press them in, but this looks better. This is especially handy for pinning AR gas tubes into the gas block. The curves of the block make it hard to hold as you drive the pin.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Hmmm...

I found a specific set of roll pin extraction and insertion tools for Winchester electrical connecters at work, so this last posting reminded me of them. They're in the form of specialized "pliers". The extractor tool has a "knockout" pin in the jaws...you position the connectot thumbscrew in the jaws, align the roll pin with the knockout pin, gently squeeze the pliers, and it pushes the roll pin right out.

So, I googled "roll pin extractor" to see if there are any other pin extractor tools which aren't designed to be used with a hammer and found this for about $11:

https://www.amazon.com/E-Z-Red-PPT13-Pin-Remover/dp/B00BI2M7H8

Then there's this roll pin pusher kit for AR-15's that I found for $45:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1...ies-ar-15-10-piece-roll-pin-installation-tool

Maybe these, or something similar, would work on various firearms.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

My micrometer measures the cable to be .196" Not sure what the cable designation really is but seems to be 3/16".

Hope that helps.

3/16 wire rope will measure .188. Sounds like someone suckered you in to buyin some 5mm.

 

[Andrew Leigh]

Copper cable is normally designated by the square area due to its current carrying capacity, or in the US by the American Wire Gauge awg number rather than by outside diameter. Perhaps the poster would be kind enough to quote the awg of the cable he bought. Sounds like either 5 or 6 awg.

 

[tgtmaster]

I installed a magnet on the back of my Hornady AP press to hold my screwdriver and hex wrenches. The magnet is available at Ace Hardware or Amazon. A 1/4" x 1/2" long bolt holds it securely in the pre-drilled/tapped holes on the backside of the press. I can not think of any inherent risk from having a magnet in the reloading area. As for my bench, it was a long-time goal to build something nice for our bonus room to enjoy reloading in the cool indoors.

 

[Holderofthehorns]

Nice adjustable lockable bench.

I figured out you can fold a 3x5 card in half and it will fit in the far end of the bullet drop bins.
Works for Red and Blue.

 

[lightman]

I can't find my last post but I think my Wife gave me an inexpensive label laker for Christmas since I made that post. Its really nice for labeling ammo in plastic boxes or ammo cans.

 

[drband]

Bought cheap 4” LED strips @ Walmart to replace the one gone bad on my Hornady LNL LED press light.

A little soldering and I’m done!
Packet comes with 2 4” strips for $6.00 so now I even have a spare!

 

[doubleh]

I don't reload a great deal anymore and use a single stage RCBS press for what reloading I do. It tends to spit a spent primer past the catcher tray now and then. I cut a piece out of a clear plastic jar, made a couple of clips out of thin aluminum and slip it over the edge of the tray when de-priming. Haven't had to pick up spent primers out of the floor since. After having rotator cuff surgery I made a longer, more comfortable to use handle for the press. It's just a threaded piece of steel rod and I bored out a piece of oak dowel to epoxy on the rod and rounded the end. A few coats of min-wax poly varnish gave it a nice finish. The longer leverage really made a difference in how long it takes my repaired shoulder to start complaining.

It's not something you make but I use a magic marker to label my plastic ammo boxes. It stays on real well and if you change that load it wipes right off with rubbing alcohol unlike having to peel off a stubborn label..

 

[Nature Boy]

A couple of small things that I find useful.

The 1/4 tsp is handy for subtracting when you go over your target load. The flat end makes it easy to scoop just a few kernels to get to your desired weight


I really like these full adhesive post-it-notes. They stick better and longer and I use them as labels for loaded ammo, to ID my brass lots and show what powder is in my hopper

 

[dgod]

WOW, NB we use the same type of notes.. Very Useful, and economic too. I use Tweezers to remove small amounts of powder for over trickles...