Winchester tong tool question

[mazo kid]

A while back, I saw a contact for a guy who was making repro de-capping/neck belling spuds for the tong tools. Darned if I can find it now; does anyone know about him? Sure would like to contact him. Thanks.

[Bent Ramrod]

I remember he used to sell them on E-Bay. You might check the ARTCA site; they're pretty current on replacement parts for old loading tools.

[mazo kid]

Thanks, will give that a try.

[cajun shooter]

The guy is on E-Bay and he sells them for about $50 IIRC. I have an original and that is what I paid for it. Depends on how bad you want it. Take care David

[mazo kid]

Thanks for the info. Guess I will try making my own before spending that kind of money. I made one for my Winchester 44-40 tool and it works great.

[Bent Ramrod]

All you really need is a piece of steel or aluminum rod of a diameter to fit into the shell mouth. Drill a hole in one end and Loc-Tite an RCBS decapping pin into it. Usually shells are plenty large enough to slide a boolit in after firing. You "feel" the flash hole over the decapping pin as you put the shell in the tool anyway; I can't imagine breaking one in a hand tool.

My "universal case mouth belling tool" is a dummy .50 BMG round. It will funnel out a surprising variety of shells.

[mazo kid]

Yeah, depriming is no problem, but I want to bell the neck enough to be able to set a Boolit in place.

[Landy]

I've seen the cartridge appropriate Lee Case Length Gauge (about $5) used as a substitute de-priming pin in the similar Ideal tools. I'd, beyond just dropping it in as I saw done, add a small copper or brass nut on the threads to protect both tools.

The Ideal tools flare case mouths with the end of the 'die.' Some Lee Loaders come with a small and very portable ($2) Flaring Tool. Two little tools to do the job of one, but very inexpensive and available little tools.