bhp9
05-02-2008, 02:58 PM
Although all of us at one time or another have probably due to expediency or just plain desperation to get the job done quickly have often cut corners and not used the proper tool for the job, often resulting in creating more problems than the original problem gave us. But there are those of us that are just too cheap for our own good. Here are a few examples.
A friend being to cheap to buy a lubricator warming plate to soften up hard rifle lube in his lubricator sizer got a really bright idea that attaching the lubricator to a metal plate and putting his wife’s cloths iron on it would be cheaper than buying a $30 dollar plate. Result was he cooked out the seals in his lubricator. Not learning any lesson from this cockeyed idea he used it again after paying out the kazoo-zoo for new seals. He then scorched his workbench table, which if not caught in time would have resulted in burning down his house. Of course he also burned up his wife’s iron. Pure Genius, eh what? Luckily for his wife after 35 years of marriage she finally had the good sense to get rid of this genius.
This same yoyo used a nail punch instead of the proper Lyman “M” die to bell rifle case for cast bullet loading that resulted in varying neck tensions which produced less than stellar accuracy. Considering how little a Lyman “M” die cost it not only made no sense but his nail punch routine resulted in so much lost time that he could have spent many more hours at the range in stead of slaving away in his deep, dark, damp basement.
So what do you do if you have a really odd ball caliber that no Lyman “M” die is made for (like the .30 Mauser pistol round)? Lee now makes a case expanding tool that does work but does not work as well as the Lyman “M” die but it is much better than using a nail punch if you cannot get a Lyman “M” die for your odd-ball caliber.
Ditto for this guy when I came to buying a collect type bullet puller. His solution was to use a pair of pliers for just about every job. He of course ruined all of the bullets pulled which would have paid many times over for the cost of the collect die. He also used the same pliers (to cheap to buy the proper wrench) for adjusting his loading dies which of course tore off all the knurling on his locking rings.
Of course he was too cheap to buy a spotting scope too which resulted in so much lost time at the range he spent more time running back and forth to the targets than he ever spent actually shooting.
Other pieces of equipment he was too cheap to buy was the proper tools for just about any job. He did not even have a small table vise to hold the parts that needed worked on and fixed.
He once thought I had absolutely lost my mind when I paid $12 bucks for a heavy duty wrench that I used on my loading table. He of course would have used his pliers.
He thought that I had really lost it when he found out that I have on average an extra duplicate set of loading dies for most the calibers I reload for. This might seem excessive but if something goes wrong such as a jammed case in a die or a broken or bent de-capping rod or busted de-capping pin (yes I usually try to have spare pins on hand but often run out of them) and you are pressed for time to get to the range an extra set of dies lets you go right on loading to finish the job. Later you can repair the original set of dies. Dies also wear out eventually and having an extra set is good insurance. I have often picked up extra sets at gun shows for as little as $5 dollars. The stupidity would have been far higher not to buy them as they could have been re-sold the same day for double the price if one decided he no longer needed them some day.
Another Darwin special once got the bright Idea that he would buy a stock blank and inlet it himself. Being to damn cheap to buy the proper inletting tools he got a real brain storm. He figured that all he had to do was heat the bottom of the rifle action with a torch and burn the action right into the stock. He burned everything all right, he cooked the rifle action and warped it and caught the stock blank on fire. Pure genius as he ruined both pieces of equipment in one operation.
And how about bullet molds. You can often find these also at gun shows and at bargain basement prices as most people are just to lazy to go to all the work of casting their own bullets and bullet molds are slow movers at gun shows.
Buying a spare mold in a very commonly used caliber, say ,45acp, is very good insurance as often molds are often discontinued (my favorite made by Lyman was discontinued a number of years ago which was an 185 grain semi-was cutter with single grease groove) and having a spare insures that you will still be able to cast your favorite type of bullet if something would ever happen to your original bullet mold. By the way when molds are discontinued you will double your money if you ever sell your spare mold. Also getting a custom mold made is sometimes very expensive. I regret not getting a .25acp lead bullet mold when Lyman made them years ago as no one I know of makes such a mold, unless you go to a custom shop.
Buy a good set of gun-smithing screw drivers as well as they will prevent you from screwing up the screw heads which always result in a firearm or bullet mold that is worth way less with damaged screw heads.
Buy a rifle cradle that lets frees up both your hands so you can clean or repair your rifle or mount a scope on it without damaging it.
Another Item I have found indispensable is a Pabst recoil shield that is worn in front of the shoulder. It can be bought in varying thicknesses and is made of padded leather that makes shooting rifles a much more pleasant experience than being belted and getting black and blue shoulders. When shooting steel butt plate military rifles this is a must.
Another item is a crimp remover as made by Forester. It’s a chamfering tool that was designed for removing the crimp from military cases (not to be confused with similar tools that remove burs from the cartridge case mouth, the cutting angle is different on those tools). It works much better than the swaging tools that are on the market and the Forster tool also puts a nice bevel on the pocket which guides the primer into the case without pinching and damaging it. And no you cannot take out to much brass when using it as the primer will not fall out, I have deliberately taken out excess brass by plunging it in to deeply to see if the primer would fall out and they never have, this is assuming that the pocket is still tight and not overly expanded which makes the case scrap no matter what type of crimp removal tool you use.
It goes without saying you should have a stuck case remover as sooner or later everyone may eventually stick a case in a die.
In conclusion good tools will last you a lifetime, junk tools only waste your money as they soon break or wear out prematurely and having no tools at all for the job is the height of folly.
I would appreciate hearing from others in regards to tools they have used that now they could not live without.
A friend being to cheap to buy a lubricator warming plate to soften up hard rifle lube in his lubricator sizer got a really bright idea that attaching the lubricator to a metal plate and putting his wife’s cloths iron on it would be cheaper than buying a $30 dollar plate. Result was he cooked out the seals in his lubricator. Not learning any lesson from this cockeyed idea he used it again after paying out the kazoo-zoo for new seals. He then scorched his workbench table, which if not caught in time would have resulted in burning down his house. Of course he also burned up his wife’s iron. Pure Genius, eh what? Luckily for his wife after 35 years of marriage she finally had the good sense to get rid of this genius.
This same yoyo used a nail punch instead of the proper Lyman “M” die to bell rifle case for cast bullet loading that resulted in varying neck tensions which produced less than stellar accuracy. Considering how little a Lyman “M” die cost it not only made no sense but his nail punch routine resulted in so much lost time that he could have spent many more hours at the range in stead of slaving away in his deep, dark, damp basement.
So what do you do if you have a really odd ball caliber that no Lyman “M” die is made for (like the .30 Mauser pistol round)? Lee now makes a case expanding tool that does work but does not work as well as the Lyman “M” die but it is much better than using a nail punch if you cannot get a Lyman “M” die for your odd-ball caliber.
Ditto for this guy when I came to buying a collect type bullet puller. His solution was to use a pair of pliers for just about every job. He of course ruined all of the bullets pulled which would have paid many times over for the cost of the collect die. He also used the same pliers (to cheap to buy the proper wrench) for adjusting his loading dies which of course tore off all the knurling on his locking rings.
Of course he was too cheap to buy a spotting scope too which resulted in so much lost time at the range he spent more time running back and forth to the targets than he ever spent actually shooting.
Other pieces of equipment he was too cheap to buy was the proper tools for just about any job. He did not even have a small table vise to hold the parts that needed worked on and fixed.
He once thought I had absolutely lost my mind when I paid $12 bucks for a heavy duty wrench that I used on my loading table. He of course would have used his pliers.
He thought that I had really lost it when he found out that I have on average an extra duplicate set of loading dies for most the calibers I reload for. This might seem excessive but if something goes wrong such as a jammed case in a die or a broken or bent de-capping rod or busted de-capping pin (yes I usually try to have spare pins on hand but often run out of them) and you are pressed for time to get to the range an extra set of dies lets you go right on loading to finish the job. Later you can repair the original set of dies. Dies also wear out eventually and having an extra set is good insurance. I have often picked up extra sets at gun shows for as little as $5 dollars. The stupidity would have been far higher not to buy them as they could have been re-sold the same day for double the price if one decided he no longer needed them some day.
Another Darwin special once got the bright Idea that he would buy a stock blank and inlet it himself. Being to damn cheap to buy the proper inletting tools he got a real brain storm. He figured that all he had to do was heat the bottom of the rifle action with a torch and burn the action right into the stock. He burned everything all right, he cooked the rifle action and warped it and caught the stock blank on fire. Pure genius as he ruined both pieces of equipment in one operation.
And how about bullet molds. You can often find these also at gun shows and at bargain basement prices as most people are just to lazy to go to all the work of casting their own bullets and bullet molds are slow movers at gun shows.
Buying a spare mold in a very commonly used caliber, say ,45acp, is very good insurance as often molds are often discontinued (my favorite made by Lyman was discontinued a number of years ago which was an 185 grain semi-was cutter with single grease groove) and having a spare insures that you will still be able to cast your favorite type of bullet if something would ever happen to your original bullet mold. By the way when molds are discontinued you will double your money if you ever sell your spare mold. Also getting a custom mold made is sometimes very expensive. I regret not getting a .25acp lead bullet mold when Lyman made them years ago as no one I know of makes such a mold, unless you go to a custom shop.
Buy a good set of gun-smithing screw drivers as well as they will prevent you from screwing up the screw heads which always result in a firearm or bullet mold that is worth way less with damaged screw heads.
Buy a rifle cradle that lets frees up both your hands so you can clean or repair your rifle or mount a scope on it without damaging it.
Another Item I have found indispensable is a Pabst recoil shield that is worn in front of the shoulder. It can be bought in varying thicknesses and is made of padded leather that makes shooting rifles a much more pleasant experience than being belted and getting black and blue shoulders. When shooting steel butt plate military rifles this is a must.
Another item is a crimp remover as made by Forester. It’s a chamfering tool that was designed for removing the crimp from military cases (not to be confused with similar tools that remove burs from the cartridge case mouth, the cutting angle is different on those tools). It works much better than the swaging tools that are on the market and the Forster tool also puts a nice bevel on the pocket which guides the primer into the case without pinching and damaging it. And no you cannot take out to much brass when using it as the primer will not fall out, I have deliberately taken out excess brass by plunging it in to deeply to see if the primer would fall out and they never have, this is assuming that the pocket is still tight and not overly expanded which makes the case scrap no matter what type of crimp removal tool you use.
It goes without saying you should have a stuck case remover as sooner or later everyone may eventually stick a case in a die.
In conclusion good tools will last you a lifetime, junk tools only waste your money as they soon break or wear out prematurely and having no tools at all for the job is the height of folly.
I would appreciate hearing from others in regards to tools they have used that now they could not live without.