Pacific Gun Sight Perfection Press pat dated 1924

[maxreloader]

I just picked this up over the weekend and would love to get loading on it but I'm afraid I need some missing pieces of the puzzle... if anybody can point me in the right direction to find what accessories were originally available with this press it would be greatly appreciated. It is now the oldest press I own in my collection. :grin:
144992

[LUBEDUDE]

Very nice pick up Max!

[1_Ogre]

Nice find. If it were me, I'd start assembling it until it's apparant that something missing, then you can start the scavanger hunt. Don't have a clue if it's missing anything, but nice find anyway. I never have that kind of luck

[Bent Ramrod]

Maxreloader,

Wow, you hit the jackpot with that Perfection reloader! All I have is the press part with one sizing die, not even one of the square shell holders. I made a plate for mine that allows an RCBS shell holder to be held in place with a set screw, and a decapping rod so I can recap black powder cases.

The guy who should know how everything works is Pressman. He wrote an article a while back on the original Hueter Bros. Perfection Reloader, which Pacific bought the rights to and manufactured up to the advent of the C press.

The device in the upper right is, of course, an Ideal sizer/lubricator, of the same vintage as the Perfection loading press. You should be able to recognize any G, H or I die parts that go to it. You also have the little bench clamp, which is often missing. I can't look at the picture again while writing this post, so I'm not sure whether or not you have the wrench for the lube reservoir. You also have some stuff like a Wilson case gauge and some Tomlinson type shotgun bore cleaners which are not applicable to the press itself.

The square plates with the milled grooves in them are the shell holders for the Perfection. Unless they are marked as to caliber, the only thing to do is attach them to the base of the tool and see what slides into them without play, and lines up properly under the ram. The Perfection, as far as I know, only neck sized, so some of those short dies that fit into the ram should be neck sizer dies. Again, unless they are marked, the only way to identify them is see what you can do with whatever cases you have whose rims fit in the shell plates. The long dies may be seating dies; again, you'd have to see what fits. I've never seen such a profusion of components still attached to a Perfection before. You have a real piece of history there!

[maxreloader]

Thanks Lubedude!

s-3 this was PURE luck! I thank the Marlin firearms corporation for this pickup... I bought a Marlin camp 9 carbine back in the early-mid 90's and never took it out of the box until about a year ago and only then because I needed some items to trade-in for my 50 bmg. I take the camp 9 out of the box and the safety is stuck and wouldn't move a bit, even with a mallet. So I put the Marlin lower on the floor of my front hall near the front door to remind me to have it worked on. That was about 9 months ago. This past Friday I was getting sick of seeing the lower sitting on the floor and the missus lets not even go there... I hadn't been up north to the cabin at all this year so I figured i'd go and stop by the local gunsmith while there and drop it off and see what was wrong. On the way I called the smith and he told me he had a stroke 3 months ago and wasn't doing anything these days yet... and it was then that I asked him "do you have any older reloading equipment" and he replied "yes". It was already close to getting dark and setting up camp in the dark ain't no fun but I convinced the missus that we should stop by that night and not in the am... well when I got there he showed me a box with everything you see in the picture I posted and said "I just listed that stuff on ebay not even 5 minutes ago for $75" and I almost broke my wrist reaching into my pocket for the cash lol!!! he kept trying to make small-talk and I was about the rudest I have ever been insisting that he cancel the auction right away haha. I rounded out the $75 to $100 when he showed me some old reloading manuals... he was asking $5 apiece so I picked up a Speer #1, #3, #5, a Lyman bullet casting manual (circa 1960ish) and a lyman #39 manual. And now you have the full story!

Bent, I thank you immensely for the post you just made, now the press is starting to make sense... a lot of the pieces are marked "Pacific" but that is it... zero caliber marking whatsoever... I have my work cut out for me for sure! If there are any "double" pieces, you get dibs on them for free. I plan on going through it all completely next weekend and we will see what is there after dry-fitting some older brass [smilie=w:

[Bent Ramrod]

Maxreloader,

I notified the gang over at the ARTCA site of your find. Hopefully, Ken and the other real scholars will be along to figure out what you have. Me, I'm just an interested accumulator, but thanks for the offer.

I'da dove on that for $75 or $100, too. You also have an Ideal breech seater for maybe a .32-40 Scheutzen rifle, there at the bottom of your picture.

[Pressman]

I have searched my 'puter high and low for the Perfection article and I cannot find it. Another good reason I need a secretary.

I am not going to be able to add anything substantial to what has already been said, at least not without my notes. I have the perfection and the Hueter presses. But, I do not have any dies, both presses have bullet pullers installed. Without dies I cannot tell you what the dies even look like. But it would seen that there are several sizing or seating dies shown. Priming on the press??? Decapping??? It could be that the T tool is the decapper for the press. could be.

The Perfextion is a good press, well thought out. The design was for sale just two years then dropped in favor of the new reloading tool Pacific introduced in 1930/31. We know it as the modern C press.

Ken

[Bent Ramrod]

Sorry to have put you on the spot, Ken. I could swear I saw an article, with pictures, in one of the Journals. Maybe it was on the ARTCA site, with comments following, or maybe on one of the chain letter e-mails that get sent around to the membership. My recent move has put me into Scavenger Hunt mode, and I can't find my file of ARTCA Journals, or my Perfection tool, at this moment. My tool does have one of those short dies, with the knurling and the pin, that are below the shell plates in the picture. Mine is smooth inside, with a filleted entrance to the hole, which suggests a neck sizing die to me.

I think you are right about the T-shaped element being the decapper. My homemade decapping pin fits in my homemade base, with the pin pointing up. I put a shell upside down over the pin and seat the assembly in the base. A pull of the handle brings the ram down, pushing the shell down over the pin and ejecting the primer. I have to take my decapper out, remove the decapped shell and insert it into a new shell, but it looks like there is a pin on the T base of the decapping pin in the picture. That might allow the decapper can be fitted into one of the holes in the base and swung in and out from under the ram. That would speed the operation up a little.

Alternately, the decapping pin might be fitted into the ram, with those cups with holes in the center used to hold the shells for decapping, like the Lee hand decapper is used.

I recall that your bullet puller looked like that ring with the T handle in the lower center of the photo. Did you have that cylindrical thing with the square wings on it as well? I recall seeing it before, but can't for the life of me remember where.

Some of the contents of the white box might have something to do with the Perfection, but the die with the knurled lock ring looks modern.

Maxreloader, when you get the parts cleaned up and sorted, some close-up photos of the individual parts would be more than welcome.

[maxreloader]

Bent, would I PM you the photo's or post them? I wouldn't want to load up the thread with pics unless everybody (admins) are OK with that.

Ken, if you wanted me to ship you the parts minus the press for your inspection etc that would be fine also... just shoot me a PM with the address to ship it all to and I will ship a well-packed MFRB. No rush on getting it all back, I just picked up a Hollywood Senior that needs some love so that's my immediate project haha! Thanks to all that have helped on this!