Modifying a 19s shell plate?

[Indiana shooter]

There are a lot of do-it-yourselfers here so I'd thought I'd ask this question.

Quite a few years ago my lovely wife bought me a Lee Loadmaster press with a kit to load all of my service calibers. Up till then I did all of my loading on a single stage press. Each kit came with a set of 3 pc dies and a shell plate.
That was the long way of saying that I have 2 shell plates for 9mm and .40 S&W. (19S shell plate)

I have recently purchased a 10mm and had the assumption that I had all I needed to start loading for it. Well, I don't. I need a 19L shell plate so it will accommodate the LPP, and as luck would have it, that plate is no longer in production.

Beings that I am a tinkerer I'm wondering if anyone has modified the 19S shell plate to accommodate the LPP? If so, how did you go about doing so? I attempted to take a rat tail file to my spare, but it just rounded the teeth of the file. Apparently, the shell plate is made of pretty hard steel

[country gent]

The plates are hard and your not going to be removing a lot of material. What tools do you have at hand to work with.
A carbide drill in the size needed should cut this but you will want a good drill press or better a mill. Its to much to lap out. Its going to take carbide to cut it or a good annealing and this may warp the shell holder.Heating it to dull red on a piece of steel or fire brick then letting it cool slowly may soften it to where it can be worked easier.
Where are you in Indiana?

[Indiana shooter]

I'm not in IN anymore, I've moved across the river to KY. I did live in Clarksville for about 12 years.

I have access to a mill at work, I called the lead maintenance guy to see if we have any bits that would work on hardened steel. He said that he doesn't think we have any carbide bits, but he will check in the morning.

At home I just have the basic hand tools but nothing like a drill press, mill, lathe, or anything like that.

I did think about annealing it so I could work with it, but I'm concerned about it becoming too soft. Then if I reharden it, my only way to temper it would be to "blue back" it. Which is a crap shoot for an amateur like myself. My only experience with this is when I'm making fishing baits. I'll anneal the hook eye so I can bend it out, then quench it, then blue back it so it won't shatter when I bend it back.

[Indiana shooter]

I just spoke with our lead maintenance tech here at work. We do not have any carbide bits for the mill, everything we have that is small enough are general purposes.

[country gent]

Okay a small pencil grinder will work to open up the holes by hand you will need the grinder (80,000 rpm) and several small grinding wheels. This will be done by hand so care is required.
You can anneal it and reharden then draw back temper by soaking in your lead pot. But the chance of warping is there.
Or buy the carbide drill you need and drill it out.This is a job for the mill at work not a hand drill.

To temper it back in your lead pot, fill the pot with lead and the shell holder ( put a wire handle on the shell holder) and heat to 750-800* and let the shell holder soak for a couple hours. Then take out and let cool slowly sitting on top of pot out of the lead. I would spot anneal with a torch just at the holes heat to red hot at each hole then hold for a few mins and let cool slowly. Heat till the holes edge is a dull red then hold there playing the torch on and off the surface. to hold here. Annealing can be tricky and may take a couple trys.

[Indiana shooter]

I didn't think about anneal in the lead pot! That's a good idea.

[ranger391xt]

There is a 19L on ebay right now for $49.99 with free shipping.

Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk

[Walter Laich]

https://www.amazon.com/LEE-PRECISION.../dp/B00162UO2A $56!!!

[Walter Laich]

out of country source
https://tecmagex.com/en/lee-load-mas...10mm-auto.html

[Bill M]

I've been thinking of the same thing for the 6PP I have. It uses the same primer punch for large or small primers, and I loaded 45acp small primers with the "large" primer shellplate, so it should also work 9-10-40 and 357sig!

[M-Tecs]

I didn't think about anneal in the lead pot! That's a good idea.

The lead pot doesn't get hot enough to anneal steel. Country gents explanation is correct. Annealing steel requires about 1500 degrees depending on alloy. Tempering is about 1/2 that or less depending on required hardness.

That being said, most likely the shell holder will be case hardened or nitrided. That will be a problem unless you have the ability to nitride or case harden.

[country gent]

If he works thru the hole with the dremil tool and small mounted point the top and bottom will remain hard just the case inside the hole will be removed that should be a low wear area

[Indiana shooter]

So I was able to open the holes enough with a few grinding bits on my dremil. High speed with light contact seemed to be the best course of action.

Based on my measurements off of the #2L plate, I need to open each side up about 0.020" and the back up 0.040". I went ahead and ordered a #19L off Ebay, but the one I modified seems to work decently well. Every now and then a primer will get turned sideways, about 2 out of every 50. I loaded 100 rounds up last night. Because of the 4 priming issues, I numbered the holes on the shell plate to see if it is occurring in the same location. If so, I may need to open it up a bit more, or check for a bur that I could've missed.

[country gent]

They may all be to size but working freehand they may not be centered as good as they need to be Ink the priming post and if any marks show in the holes remove them. this is the slow fine work on this project. Im betting they just touch on the primer post lightly.

But Im glad you have it going now.