Cabine Tree Dual Purpose Tester quick review
Based on recommendations received on this board and my need for both a lead hardness tester as well as a run out testing device, I ordered the Cabine Tree Dual Purpose Tester.
I received it today and found it to be an interesting piece. The base is solid machined steel, with two large machined steel rings welded to the base to hold parts of the hardness tester. There are holes drilled with brass set screws in multiple locations to hold and lock the various arms that hold both the dial indicator as well as another arm to measure case mouth thickness and runout. There is a brass pin for the hardness tester I haven't yet determined it's purpose yet, but I haven't used the hardness tester portion yet.
I have used the runout portion of the device. The cartridge V-block is machined from some type of slick plastic and has two steel pins installed underneath to allow for mounting of the V-block to the base. The pins allow the base to be positioned in two different positions to accommodate various sized cartridges. At the bottom of the V, there are holes drilled along the length of the V for a brass pin to be placed to help handle various length cartridges. The dial indicator is mounted on an upside down L-shaped rod threaded at the bottom of the L an dis mounted via a couple of nuts, two washers and a lock washer. There are two locator holes to mount the V-block rods in.
After mounting up and adjusting the cartridge runout measuring section, I measured five cartridges I randomly selected from a batch of 1500 .223 cartridges I'd recently made and posted photos of in my post on my RCBS Pro 2000 progressive.
The cartridges were made of Lake City brass, sized & trimmed using a Dillon resizing die and a Dillon 1200 trimmer on my Pro 2000, then swaged on a Dillon 600 swager. Cartridges were reloaded using Wolf small rifle magnum primers, WC 846 powder and 55 grain Privi Partisan bulk bullets loaded on my progressive using a Dillon powder through measure, a Redding Competition bullet seating die set for maximum allowable M16 magazine cartridge length and a Lee Factory Crimp die set for a light crimp. I was anxious to see how my selection of components, reloading dies and process fared from a concentricity standpoint.
After setup, the brass pin I mentioned above that sized in the bottom of the V-block proved ideal to butt up against and help one hold the cartridge in place while rotating it for the measurement. The dial indicator, an MHC model with a large, easily read by old eyes, dial moved smoothly along the bullets and the slick plastic of the V-block was easy to rotate the cartridges in, making for an easy device to use overall. My only knock is I would like to have the dial face leaning back more to make it easier to read without scrunching down. I think most runout measures devices suffer this flaw though, except for a couple of the most expensive models I researched before buying this one.
My five cartridges I pulled randomly all measured +/- .002" and I'm very pleased. I'll have to pull a larger batch of cartridges to confirm the sample, but I'm thinking this is very good bullet run-out for a batch of bulk bullets using milsurp brass with minimal processing and most of that processing done on a progressive press and as automated as possible.
I have examined the lead hardness testing portion and can attest it's very very well made and durable. This device should provide years of high quality measurements and should easily outlast me. The only concern I have is how long the plastic V-block will last if one is heavy handed. I'm very light handed, so I think it will easily outlast me if I take care of it. My plastic V-block is black and I do wish it was white. The black is non reflective and my old eyes have a bit of a hard time seeing it.
I think if you have to get a combo tool and want to measure lead hardness and cartridge concentricity, but aren't going to be shooting bench rest, this is an ideal setup to get. Here is a pic of me measuring runout:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/IMAG0501.jpg
The L-shaped blued steel pin mounted at the left end is used when one wants to measure case mouth thickness. You simply move it to the mounting hole to the right of my hand with the other brass screw in it. It then fits into the mouth of the cartridge to support the cartridge tip while rolling the cartridge while taking a measurement. It is too thick for small cartridges like the .223, but could easily be modified to fit or other L-shaped supports could be made easily to fit smaller cartridges. The one included has an outer diameter of 0.250" and is more suitable to fit the mouth of .308" or .45" (or larger) cartridge cases.
You can also see the brass pin I mentioned earlier in this post. The case butts up against this pin in the V-block. This pin allows one to slip the case under the gauge roller tip, set the cartridge back against the pin for a solid horizontal axle alignment and focus on rolling the cartridge in the V-block to take runout measurements. A simple and effective device.
In the next week or so I am going to be smelting some buckets of wheel weights and some other printer press type. I will use the lead hardness tester at that time, take pics and report them back to this thread.
I want to thank those that recommended it to me.
Cabin Tree Dual Purpose Tester quick review
Cross reference chart posted below;
