Share Your Tip Of The Day

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I drop my hot boolits into an old metal paint roller plan with a piece of towel in the bottom. Position it with the high side towards you and the boolits roll down hill into the deep part as you are casting.

I just stole this idea. Works great!

[detox]

Polish the inside of your bullet sizing dies for easier sizing and less bullet deformation. I roll paper masking tape around dowel rod then tape and roll a piece of 1000 grit tape around that. You will have to adjust to get slightly snug fit inside die. Then chuck dowel in drill and polish back and forth. Verylittle is needed to polish without going oversize. You can also use this method to enlarge Lee sizers using coarser sand paper such as 800 grit. Stop and resize your cast bullets as you enlarge to get the targeted size. Then polish using finer 1000-1200 grit paper. You can purchase these fine grit papers at most any autoparts store.

[millsa2]

Great tips on this forum.

[Vinne]

I just stole this idea. Works great!

I LIKE IT!!! Glad I stopped at this forum.

[dakotashooter2]

I didn't read through the whole thread to see if someone mentioned this but if you don't have the appropriate nose punch for your lyman sizer try using one of the seating stems from your loading dies. I know the RCBS (rifle) will fit.

[badbob454]

when smelting wheel weights throw a tablespoon of old candle wax on top and light it , stir (fold) the clips while burning , to coat them with the melted wax. most all the lead bead up and will fall off the clips , now while hot and burning scoop it out in a steel pan , i lose a lot less lead by doing this ... and use a long handle ,,

[nagantguy]

write everything down, everything, date, charge, bullet seating depth, primer used, velocity bullet weight, dies used, mold used type of alloy. when loading for multiple guns and cartridges you can not remember everything. a detailed journal is a must for consistency and accuracy but most important safety.

[myg30]

For those who are afraid to mar when tighten set screws. If the set screw is on a mold [spruce screw] you can clip a piece of copper wire to go between the set screw and the spruce screw. Keeps from flattening the threads. If on your loader, lubber or anything that uses a small set screw a thin piece of lead solder or similar will keep from marring the metal.
You can also stone or grind the cup point end of the set screw flat to keep from digging into the threads or what ever its holding if a light hold is ok.

Im several pages into this thread and some really great tips.

Mike

[Catshooter]

For those of us using wet pin media to clean our brass getting a magnet from an old computer hard drive is very helpful in containing the stray pins.


Cat

[BLTsandwedge]

More on nose punches for Lyman/RCBS- if you don't have the exact punch you need, take a thumbnail sized pinch of dacron and work a pea-sized ball of fairly soft bullet lube (Lee stick allox) into it- make a booger about the size of a .45 round ball (adjust according to the caliber you are working with). Stuff the booger into the nose punch and size a boolit. The booger will conform to the boolit nose- you'll have to adjust the sizing depth to accommodate the booger. After you size five or ten boolits, the booger will stay in place for a long time. And they're re-useable. I use a 'BLTbooger' when I've the correct nose punch because even the correct punch can ring the boolit. I've had no problems with off-center sizing- allignment seems to be self-adjusting as well.

[oakbowerybarnes]

Anyone else tried lubing cases for sizing with a tumbler jar? Mayo or PB jar with a wide mouth , three pieces of lube soaked cloth, and a handful of cases. Roll, shake, tumble the jar, then dump it out size those and repeat. Works well.

[Michael J. Spangler]

I use a large zip lock bag.
I throw a few hundred cases and and spray once or twice with dillon case lube. Shake it around and pour out the brass. All good to go.

[dudel]

I made some wood cleats on my bench that my Lee pot slides into. Keeps it from tipping over when bumped. Pot can be easily removed for storage.

[dudel]

The Lee Hardness Tester is a handy device; but a real pain to use. Holding the scope, and the boolit, getting everything aligned, and then trying to read the scale while everything is jumping around. Just not working for me. So with a few scraps of wood, I turn it into a small "microscope".

[dudel]

If you're OCD, then you like to know how many. How many cases, boolits, etc. You might have a fancy scale that will count, but Lee has a cheap solutions. I got their case colator and tubes. I then "calibrated" the tube for how many 45GAP, 9mm, 223, etc fit in each tube. You can do the same for handgun boolits (.223 rifle boolits are too small for the tubes). I then rest the tubes in a plastic collection bin and load up the case collator till the tubes are full. Gives me a quick count of brass or boolits. Lift the tubes, and they all spill out into the plastic container ready to be added to storage. When reloading, I like to pull out 100 pieces of brass (with 100 primers). That way, at the end, when I'm out of brass, I should be out of primers (ort there's a problem).

[dudel]

I like to keep my chrono set up and ready for use. The problem is dust/dirt/bugs can get into the sensor slot (DAMHIKT!). Simple solution is to put a strip of blue painter tape over the slots. The tape seals them, and comes off easy with out leaving residue. I also mark the start sensor with a green dot and the start lead with a green tie wrap. Same with the stop, but with red. This ensures that I connect it up correctly back at the bench.

[dudel]

Ok, not a boolit tip, but a shooting tip. I hate chasing brass. I'm also not thrilled with the strapon catch bags. I also like cheap. So I picked up two window screens a the local hardware store. I was going to hinge them at the top; but for simplicity (and in case it didn't work), I just taped the tops together. I put a towel on the bench, and open up the screens like a pup tent. I shoot from within the tent, and all my brass hits the screen, stays on the towel. Great for working up groups with the chrono. Hot brass does'nt stay on the screens long enough to burn them. When done, it folds up to about a 1/2 inch thick and weighs almost nothing.

[dudel]

Keeping the balance scale clean, protected from drafts, handy and at eye level was easily solved by just putting it in the cabinet over the loading bench.

[davegalesr]

I loved the idea of making a microscope stand for the Lee hardness tester - it is very difficult to hold steady and get a good measurement. I test hardness on the boolit nose since I use many tumble lube molds. This design lets me yest on even small cones with ease. The pocket clip can be used as an adjustment holder for the scope and the base allows me to slide a boolit around until it lines up with the scope scale. A 3/8 inch bore in the sliding base will accommodate 44 and 45 cal boolits and hold them upright. I can also use this to test my ingots for sorting.

[dudel]

I loved the idea of making a microscope stand for the Lee hardness tester - it is very difficult to hold steady and get a good measurement. I test hardness on the boolit nose since I use many tumble lube molds. This design lets me yest on even small cones with ease. The pocket clip can be used as an adjustment holder for the scope and the base allows me to slide a boolit around until it lines up with the scope scale. A 3/8 inch bore in the sliding base will accommodate 44 and 45 cal boolits and hold them upright. I can also use this to test my ingots for sorting.

Nice! I may need an update. I like the idea of testing on the nose. No more filing a flat spot.