Home made powder cop die ...

[Digger]

Beginning loading for my .308 and reading about the powder cop dies out there got me thinking after reading of a incident in the factory rifles forum with input from Kwiedner's concept ....
Went out to the mancave and sat there looking at my setup and pondered.
Have a lee classic turret with the two Rcbs sizer and seater dies and a lee power thru rifle for the powder dump , double disc set and a lyman sizer m-die .

I size and prime by batch so my final steps are : neck size(m-die) ,powder drop , powder check and seat boolit.

I had a older Redding three die set for 38 special laying around and looked carefully at the sizer , decapper die.
Removed the center punch and had my basic set up to work with from there .
Went down to the proverbial Ace hardware and wandered around in the bolt and nut selection for a while and came up with ..... a 5/16 female brass flare for compression fit of 1/4 inch tubing.
the threads were a little loose but snugged up at the end .
looked some more and found that a 2 inch long screw post , the aluminum screw shaft that is used on big binders of paper work such as big thick manuals ,,, slipped thru just a little sloppy ...

Came home and went to work grinding the little end screw of the screw post down to just slip inside of the .308 case and ..... Bingo !
It all works !!
Will not be highly accurate but excellent visible cue to go by ....
At the end of my down stroke , I let the handle drop so to speak and vibrate the machine ever so lightly and when the screw post is caught on the edge of the casing when it comes up ... "bink !" it drops every time in to the casing and shows me the level with a side ways glance .
Just put this together today so I marked the level with a black felt tip for now but it sure makes me feel much more positive about the process over all with out having to look down inside each time , trying to see with enough light ....check out the link.
http://s1301.beta.photobucket.com/us...ger83/library/

[Four Fingers of Death]

If it was Facebook, I'd be hitting the like button!

[blikseme300]

Nice work! This is one of the reasons I like hanging out here, to see and share our hobby.

I was victim to a kaboom recently and it has made me ratchet up my attention to detail during loading. Check and check again is the mantra.

[kweidner]

Thank digger for this one. My idea was a bit more crude. He took the concept and put it onto action. Nice work!

[44Vaquero]

Nice job, very clever! I think you could also use a "door hinge pin" as the indicator as well.

[Digger]

Thank you gentlemen , it will definitely be a part of the process from now on ....
All my pistol rounds I can see into the top and confirm .. but the rifle was a different situation altogether and now feel a little more confident in the procedure.
Enjoy all the casting and hand loading just as much as the pulling of the trigger like a lot of us ....
digger

[gwozdz]

I'll have to look into this. Thanks

[Digger]

Thought I would bump this up for those of us on a budget .....

[Digger]

It worked !
not paying attention to how my lee powder dispenser was in position ...
It pivots from one side to the other for on and off positions and with time ., can get loose with out adjustment .
Thru several loads , all of a sudden the indicator did not pop up..
Looked closer and with the dispenser getting loose , it had pivoted almost closed on its own cutting off the supply.
that was a first for me and teaching me as I was becoming complacent at the moment.
Dismantled the dispenser and gave the screw another quarter turn or so to tighten and we are good.
OOPS !

[MrWolf]

Could you repost the pics? I tried the original link but would not work.

[6bg6ga]

Could you repost the pics? I tried the original link but would not work.

Couldn't get it to work either.

[Digger]

Apologize ..... thread is to old to maintain pics ..
will take some more here.

[Mr_Sheesh]

https://s1301.photobucket.com/user/d...?sort=3&page=1 works. Nice!

[MrWolf]

Thank you sir. The pictures really help understanding. Thanks again.

[onelight]

Great idea ! Thanks for posting it.

[Digger]

https://s1301.photobucket.com/user/d...?sort=3&page=1 works. Nice!

Thank you so much for for the pic access ...
Been trying to add a some current pictures here in this thread and for some reason will not let me upload.

[dbosman]

After we got a 3D printer, one of my first prints was a powder cop die body. A long machine screw or bolt and a nut finishes it off. Check your local library or senior center for a maker space. They can help you. The file and picture is here. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2946304

[Kenstone]

Could you repost the pics? I tried the original link but would not work.

THIS ^^^

[Digger]

THIS ^^^

try this: link
https://imgur.com/user/digger4

I used the little aluminum bolt for being so light ...

[Digger]

After we got a 3D printer, one of my first prints was a powder cop die body. A long machine screw or bolt and a nut finishes it off. Check your local library or senior center for a maker space. They can help you. The file and picture is here. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2946304

Very nice work ...