Old reloading tools

[Pavogrande]

Ken -- regarding the punch -- I did not occur to me right away that it fit in the shellholder. I have one that is built into the ram and got fixated on that method --
I do have some of the punches for other die sets, Herter and sas, that fit the shellholder. --

[Pressman]

Remember the shellholder is the one that fits the pre-A and A model RCBS presses. It won't fit anything else.

Judging from the pictures I have seen there are several different versions of the swaging dies differing mainly in how they fit the shellholder. I have yet to find any factory pictures of the swaging dies. Or a good copy of the instructions.
Ken

[Pressman]

I was having an old tool conversation with an elderly gentleman this week when he sent me this picture of a press that has seen some real use. This is a man who is an engineer and fusses over precise, correct machining. He likes presses with near zero movement in the ram and alignment error. After miles of use this old Pacific is still as good as it was when new. Yes, I said miles. Figure the distance the ram has traveled up and down over those 15 years.
Ken

"This is the press that was used in the test lab at Olin for 15+ years, 2 shifts 355 days a year.(10 day shutdown)
It is Ni-hard (Paxmite) about 2% nickel, unknown manganese, very low graphite.
With the ram out the bore is very shiney, ram dia is .873 = or minus .0002, bore is .8755 + or minus .0003.
True ram stroke 3.25. Very smooth, no drag or "spots"."


Attachment 85529

[LUBEDUDE]

Very impressive.

[StuBach]

Thought I might try to revive this thread as I love seeing the old and the odd in this hobby.

Today I realized how useful a really old tool can be. When I inherited my grandpa's reloading tools I came across this old Belding and Mull powder measure which works via inserting a small adjustable brass tube into the base and cranking the handle. Perfect charge is then left in the tube. When I found it originally I thought, wow this is cool but completely unusable to me, boy was I wrong.

In working on some test loads, I was measuring out charges one at a time on the scale using my trickler (eg a modified 44 casing). Needed to get incremental charges of .1 grains and wanted ten of each. After a while of this I remembered the old tool and decided to try it out. Once dialed in it cut my time significantly.

Anyone have any history on these? Love to hear any pros/cons to use and any info on when they were being produced and used.

[maxreloader]

Stu these are still being made today and the parts are all readily available from the Mfg in PA. If you google you can easily find them, they are great measures.

[StuBach]

Thanks for the heads up. I knew the measure bars were still available but didn't realize they were still making the reservoir system too. Thanks for the heads up, though now I'm tempted to order one of the newer micrometer adjustment throws to really make life easy when developing new charges. Maybe wife will let me order once I get some more done on the house.

[pcmacd]

Thought I might try to revive this thread as I love seeing the old and the odd in this hobby.

Today I realized how useful a really old tool can be. When I inherited my grandpa's reloading tools I came across this old Belding and Mull powder measure which works via inserting a small adjustable brass tube into the base and cranking the handle. Perfect charge is then left in the tube. When I found it originally I thought, wow this is cool but completely unusable to me, boy was I wrong.

In working on some test loads, I was measuring out charges one at a time on the scale using my trickler (eg a modified 44 casing). Needed to get incremental charges of .1 grains and wanted ten of each. After a while of this I remembered the old tool and decided to try it out. Once dialed in it cut my time significantly.

Anyone have any history on these? Love to hear any pros/cons to use and any info on when they were being produced and used.

Whoa! Is that a PW 300b in the background? Awesome. I still have one, NIB that I've had for several years, no time to get to it.

[StuBach]

Whoa! Is that a PW 300b in the background? Awesome. I still have one, NIB that I've had for several years, no time to get to it.

Wow good eye. It is a PW but it's the original 800. Still has the original tubular shot and powder system. They are great machines if a bit finicky.

Highly recommend getting your out and used. They take a little getting used to but once you have the cycle down and a good rhythm they are great.


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