Reloading.......Without Reloading Tools?

[cloakndagger]

Got a new set of mouths to feed last week, a uberti in 45LC. Though I have a set of dies coming and I have components in hand, but now I'm wondering, were I not to have dies, presses, heck even a 310 or Lee loader, and no welder to make a press or hand tool, just a hammer and pliers and braising rods, would there be any way to make my reloads? Ive seen de primers and priming tools made of pliers and punches.. what about sizing, seating, and crimping?

[I'll Make Mine]

Shoot low pressure loads (including full power black powder) and there's no need to resize, at least not every loading. You can use a 3/32" or 1/16" pin punch, or suitable music wire drilled into a larger rod, as a decapper, a dowel that fits the case to reprime (on a hard, flat surface, just lightly drive the case down over the primer); you'll need a small hammer or mallet to drive the pin and dowel. Once that's done, an old cartridge case (.22 LR, .32 ACP, or whatever fits) trimmed to throw the charge size you want, soldered to a piece of wire for a handle, makes a nice powder scoop (use fast powders and light loads), and you can thumb seat round balls in the as-fired case to be held in place with a light stab crimp (small screwdriver and that mallet, three places into the equator of the ball), or use the mallet and a dowel to drive it in if it shaves on the case mouth. For .45, you'd want a .455 to .460 ball; if the ball is too big for the case, you can also push it through the (suitably supported and lubricated) cylinder chambers to size it. A wax dip makes a good case seal and bullet lube for this level of load.

The resulting "gallery loads" are perfectly suitable for cans, bottles, and even small game once you find a load level that's accurate.

[cloakndagger]

What about for loads appropriate for larger fare? Main reason I got started on this is my curiosity as to supply of ammunition in the american west. There were boomtowns and wagon trains (and freight lines and trains eventualy) but if you were on the high range on s cattle drive, or an outlaw on the lam, where would your ammunition come from?

[3006guns]

I'm going by memory from an article I read eons ago.......probably back in the mid sixties. It seems a hunter engaged the services of a native eskimo guide while in Alaska and during the week that he was there, the eskimo went out after camp meat. The hunter tagged along once, noting that the guide was carrying a well worn Winchester '94 and commenting that "the damn thing was probably left over from the gold rush....."

After a time, some game pops up (don't remember what) and the guide ups with the Winny, pulling the hammer back and BANG......the game drops. He immediately sits down on a log and carefully jacks the empty out into his hand. He set the rifle to one side and produces a nail out of his pocket, and using his sheath knife for a hammer drives out the primer. At this point the hunter is fascinated. The guide pulls a small pill bottle out of his pocket that contains perhaps 10-12 primers, selects one and proceeds to seat it using a wooden dowel inside the case, bopping the end with his knife handle while the case head is against the log. He then produces a small container of powder (not identified) and carefully.......no funnel......fills the case. He then strikes the excess off the top with the knife blade and pulls a bullet from his pocket. Said bullet is shoved into the neck and then the case is turned sideways on the log so the back of the knife blade can be used to smack two or three spots on the neck......crude spot crimping. He then inserts the round into the magazine and jacks it into the chamber, then lowers the hammer. Good to go.

The hunter asked him "How many times have you done that?" The guide replies that he really can't remember, but his grandfather showed him the process.

At the close of the hunt, the hunter bought this guy three brand new boxes of .30-30.

[cloakndagger]

I'm going on a hunch he was using black powder, thats very interesting... wish I could find trail boss localy (ease of handling/working up a load) I'd run out and grab some and experiment..

[I'll Make Mine]

What about for loads appropriate for larger fare?

Shoot black powder, and you can do the same thing with pretty nearly any case and lead bullet; you'll need sizing only on rare occasions if ever (for revolvers and bolt rifles, using the cases in a single gun, at least; lever and more so semi-auto are pickier on case size and chambers vary from one firearm to the next even with the same cartridge, manufacturer, and year of production). In .45 Long Colt, for instance, you can load this way with a full case load of black powder even with a "full size" lead boolit, and further likely reuse cases twenty times or more (though it's a good idea to clean the cases immediately after firing to avoid corrosion).

Beyond that, one could improvise neck sizing by drilling and reaming or lapping a hole in a steel plate, correctly sized to give the desired neck tension, use the previously mentioned methods to decap and recap, still measure powder with a dipper, flare with a center punch, seat the bullet with a dowel drilled to fit the nose, and take out the crimp with the improvised neck sizing die. Given a means to weigh the powder charge when making the powder dipper, one could reload for decades without ever having "proper" equipment except for a boolit mold.

[Jon]

A decent bullet mold is the hard part. A bolt or lever action rifle would be pretty forgiving of the reloading process. Most of the old cartridges were developed for BP or close to it, so you could get away with it for low power loads.

[cloakndagger]

Well I tried it in my 45LC, but the stab crimp didnt allow enough pressure to burn the charge completely. still, downrange is less than a comfortable position fo me.