I think there's something wrong with me

[dbarnhart]

I am a certifiable tool junky. Part of any new hobby for me has been the pleasure of the acquisition of cool new tools.

Yet, here I am with:
- a used Lee pot that cost me $5
- making Recluse-Lube (no cool sizer-lubricator tool needed)

I find myself taking a great deal of satisfaction from making high-quality boolits on the cheap. Putting aside the cost of the Accurate mold, I think I've got less than a hundred bucks tied up in equipment.

I must be sick.

[canyon-ghost]

Don't just sit there, buy something.

Lol.

[dbarnhart]

OK. I think I'll buy a ladle from RayinNH

[462]

A "certifiable tool junkie" with only three boolit related tools? Why, you're not even close. Heck, you should be buying equipment for calibers you don't own.

You need to spend a few hours in the Swappin' & Sellin" sub-forum.

[dbarnhart]

I've a few more tools that that:

- hot plate ($16)
- Thermometer ($5 from the same guy who sold me the pot)
- misc spoons, post & pans from the dollar store.

But still, it's odd. I've got a Hornady LnL-AP, a Dillon case trimmer, Dillon super swage, two tumblers and an ultrasonic cleaner etc etc. Yet for casting I seem to be taking the minimalist route.

[nicholst55]

Just wait, you'll get afflicted/addicted and end up with many more molds and other doodads that you just can't live without!

I'm a tool junkie, and I used to work for a tool company! I acquired a whole bunch of neat stuff while I worked for them. But honey, I got such a great deal on it/them!

[Dirtdgger]

When I first visited here I had a melt pot for making crappie jigs. A couple months reading post in here and it started I need this I need that now I need more space in my loading room for casting stuff.does it ever end.


Fare well and keep your powder dry.

[Doble Troble]

What's "Recluse-Lube"?

[Dirtdgger]

Look over in bullet lube. There's a sticky at top of page .tumble lube , made easy

[chboats]

That's the trouble with place, it is full of "I need"s and "got to have"s. It can drive a man to drinking or at least hording more lead.

Carl

[Bullet Caster]

Dang. My lead supply just dried up today! Now back to looking... BC

[mpmarty]

Tools? I dunno, I guess a Dillon 550B and five other single stage presses are tools. Three smelting pots, two turkey fryer burners, three ingot molds and vice grip pliers to act as handles for them, screwdriver to adjust the flow from my bottom pour pot a lead filled hardwood tire thumper from my truck driving days, eleven different die sets, seven different rifle FC dies three sets of shell holders, two vibrating case cleaners, 36' X 24' shop for a reloading room and about twenty lineal feet of reloading bench. Ayup, we got tools.

[olafhardt]

A minamalist can get hooked too. There are a lot of useful, cheap small things out there and a lot of decent guns for not much money. I am currently working on loads for a sackfull of 32 pistols I got for 120$ or less apiece. I am using gravy ladles. slotted spoons, chicken feed (flux), sticks, candles, WWS, LLA, MOLDS, SIZING DIES, BUCKSHOT the list is endless........... I love it.

[geargnasher]

I don't know what you're talking about.......

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Gear

[runfiverun]

wow lifting pictures from the home and casting magazine you should be ashamed.

2 dillon 550's, two ponsess warrens,4 rock chuckers,a C&H swage tool,3 mec's, a pacific 366,an older pacific c press,a lee c press,three stars,two lee pots, a master caster,and a magma pot plus caster frame if needed.
38 feet of bench space for casting and reloading, plus another 4 foot area for annealing and lube making.
i have stuff stacked in/on every shelf,drawer,and cabinet. [i have a 6' chest freezer full of lead shotshell wads] and an 8' wide x 6' tall shelf full of steel shot wads.
plus other stuff down in the basement, stored in what used to be the garage.
just need some more powder, a little more lead, and some small primers, and i'm set [well maybe a couple of molds,,,and some sizer dies,,,i could use some lead shot,,,and a little bit of brass, and a couple of scopes .
then i should be good to go.

[41 mag fan]

then i should be good to go.

Fooled yourself into thinking that yet??
I've tried to and it doesn't work

Just about the time I think I'm set, I realize I need this dumaflatchie to go with this dumaflatchie, to complete the dumaflatchie I'm using. It's a viscious cycle.

[dbarnhart]

Dang. My lead supply just dried up today! Now back to looking... BC

I'm not flush with lead like some of you guys but I've got about 100 pounds in the garage, another 50 pounds on the way from Bullshop, and my client the metal recycler has promised me all I can carry for 60 cents per pound.

Time to cruise the yard sales for pewter though.

[MikeS]

Well, I only have 6 reloading presses, and 2 luberisizers. Of those, only 2 presses was bought new, a Lee reloader C press, and a really crappy Smart Reloader press. The rest of the presses are used Lyman turret presses (2 Tru-line Jr. and an All American), and a Decker handheld press. The luberisizers are a Lyman 45, and a Magma made Star. Since getting the Star I keep telling myself that I still need the Lyman, but I've yet to use it since I got the Star! I also have a bunch of moulds! I have several brass 4 cavity moulds, along with some high quality aluminum ones (NOE, NEI, Accurate, Mountain) and some not so high quality aluminum ones (Lee), as well as some iron moulds of 2,4, & 8 cavity capacity.

I wonder what it says about me that I won't think twice about spending $160.00 on a custom 4 cavity brass mould, but have trouble spending that kind of money on a reloading press? I think the most I spent on a reloading press was for my Lyman All American, and it was under $100.00 IIRC. When I bought the Decker press, I had no need of a hand held press, but it's just got such interesting engineering in it that I had to have one!

That's the same reason I bought the Lyman turret presses, I think they're engineered amazingly for their age. While I like the tru-line jr. presses, and even have one setup with an aftermarket turret that uses 7/8-14 dies, the AA just has more mechanical advantage to it, and I like that it's not hanging off the edge of my bench, so it distributes the torque of using it over the bench top better (or at least I think it does, either way, that's my story & I'm sticking to it). The AA press had another thing I needed to fix, the handle doesn't have a positive stop when pulling the handle, there's nothing stopping it from going past the top of the ram's travel, and start going down again! The simple solution to the problem was found with a small 1/4" diameter x 1.2" long magnet. I stick it to the bottom collar that holds the turret, and it acts like a positive stop for the upward travel of the ram. I want to get another magnet that's 3/16" in diameter and see if that will work, as with the 1/4" one it stops the ram's travel so low that I had to adjust my reloading dies much lower down, almost to the upper limit of threads on some of my dies! Also, I would get 2 of them, and place one on the front of the collar, and one on the back to even out the pressure better. Well, I again ended up making a much longer post than I planned to, so thanks for reading it all!

[Wayne Smith]

I still don't have a bottom pour pot and today cast maybe 100+ 200+gr Miha 45's out of a 4 cavity brass mold in about half an hour. I still use a ladle and probably always will - it's just too convienient. I have my original RCBS Jr3, (only press bought new) a Hollywood Sr., a Bair Brown Bair, a TrueLine Jr that I just used to load some 44-40's, and a Huntington Hand press for reloading presses. One Lyman and one RCBS lubesizers, and I haven't stopped to count the molds lately. About 36 sets of dies, and one swaging die that I use in the Hollywood Sr. I purposely chose to invest in molds and forgo the bottom pour pot and I still do so.