Anyone mount a boolit sizer upside down?

[Bashby]

Ran across this idea on NOEs forum.268082

I think it would be awkward sizing on the upstroke, and the person who made that setup had to add a weight to the handle. I’ve been using a Lyman press that has a handle that can be configured backwards. If I dedicated it to sizing boolits it would give me an excuse to upgrade to a more respectable press.268083

Edit: sorry, my press pic is 90 deg out of wack for some reason.

[Conditor22]

yes
https://i.imgur.com/cyWf3Mv.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/kFed2xH.jpg

[Bashby]

yes
https://i.imgur.com/cyWf3Mv.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/kFed2xH.jpg

Well that looks a lot more complicated than what I was thinking about doing. Care to give a brief summary of what all that stuff on the right side does?

[Walter Laich]

Mine is upside down.

you get used to up stroke for sizing.

built a little ramp so I can drop the bullets in and they end up nose first in sizing die. do by hand and still can get a bunch done in a short time.

here is link to one. Mine is a bit steeper https://youtu.be/BJOkb3RxrZE

[OS OK]

hahahaaa...here we go again!
This was a very fun subject as we all went our separate directions to make an 'upside down sizing press' and as our projects developed & we all helped each other along the way. This was a real kick in the pants!
I'd say the 'upside down press' started right here on this site...whatever you can think of, I would imagine has been done to some extent.

Take your choice of how you want to approach it...here's a little something I attempted...

Holy Cow! Has it been this long ago?

FINAL MODS to the UPSIDE DOWN SIZING PRESS PROJECT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bhSQvM4xtQ


https://i.imgur.com/yS14Qiy.jpg

[mrbigsteel]

What's old is new, again. :)

[kevin c]

Many do it, since dropping the bullet into the die is a lot faster than placing it on the punch. I did it too, using exactly the same press, but sizing on the upstroke lacks the mechanical advantage of pulling down with gravity assisted muscle.

I'm not taking anything away from the clever designs folks have come up with using upside down mounts, including some neat linkages to size on the downstroke, but I think my new Lee APP is an inexpensive and efficient tool that sizes on the downstroke easily. Time will tell if it will be durable, but the first four thousand bullets went fine with no issues, and Lee claims to have done a million cycle test that their press sailed through with flying colors.

[GregLaROCHE]

The advantage I see is you don’t need anything special to catch the sized boolit. I use an NOE sizer with the inverted container that came with the only Lee sizer I have. If not the boolits often pop out and I have to be quick to grab them before they hit the floor.

[Bashby]

I ran across a link to those Lee inline presses that some of you have used for this project for $25 (factory seconds with buggered up paint). I’m thinking about getting one of those as a slight upgrade to my Lyman in-line then using the Lyman as an upside down boolit sizing press, since it has the reversible handle.
How are the Lee inline presses? As of right now I don’t do any precise reloading, just 9mm and working on 300 blackout. Probably get a progressive or turret one day, but for $25.... Watcha think?

[smithnframe]

Kinda stupid imo!

[Lloyd Smale]

i use one of the cheap lee hand press i made a mount for on the bench upside down with a piece of hose down to a coffee can. Its much faster that way then right side up.

[Lloyd Smale]

The advantage I see is you don’t need anything special to catch the sized boolit. I use an NOE sizer with the inverted container that came with the only Lee sizer I have. If not the boolits often pop out and I have to be quick to grab them before they hit the floor.

the real advantage is your dropping a bullet into the die instead of trying to guide it up into it. makes it much faster.

[Lloyd Smale]

Kinda stupid imo!

any reason you feel that way?????????????

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Many years ago (2012) I made a batch of "up-side-down" bracket-mounts for the Lee classic cast single stage press, using some scrap plate steel that I got at a jobsite for just pennies. The Lee classic, besides having the handle switch from Left to Right, it also allows for 360º adjustment, making it the most conducive to using for normal reloading uses, then with little fanfare to mount it up-siide-down, for boolit sizing.

I couldn't find any photos (lost a hard drive from that timeframe and the whole Photobucket fiasco), but Google had this archived for me. It shows the press mounted right side-up, but is easily mounted upside-down on the same bracket.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcS3uCFy7FYjTNngFIAVUiXisnkSIjZ iIO7IQQ&usqp=CAU

[bedbugbilly]

Hmmmmmm Keemosabie . . . . put your moccasins on backwards and you can walk in opposite direction.

[pastera]

Given the cost of a Lee APP, I don't see the utility in modifying a press to still work in an awkward manner (pull up to size)

If you adjust the feeder fingers, the APP can size as fast as you can pull the lever or feed it. With a nose down bullet feeder the speed is only limited by how long your arm holds up.

[OS OK]

There's still hope for them that can't seem to wrap their minds around this upside down concept of 'speedier sizing' ...

you can drop a spring around the push post that is about 3/16" give or take, taller than the post, then drop a cast into the spring & the spring will do the guiding for you as you grab another cast to place next.

You can put a rubber band around the red plastic catcher so it won't push off and spill all the fresh sized casts to the floor...


https://i.imgur.com/OZRDUSx.jpg?1

[Czech_too]

Using an early Pacific 'C' press, which sized on the up-stroke268103

[fredj338]

Ran across this idea on NOEs forum.268082

I think it would be awkward sizing on the upstroke, and the person who made that setup had to add a weight to the handle. I’ve been using a Lyman press that has a handle that can be configured backwards. If I dedicated it to sizing boolits it would give me an excuse to upgrade to a more respectable press.268083

Edit: sorry, my press pic is 90 deg out of wack for some reason.

That is my setup right there, sort of. I mounted my cheap Lee C to a chunk of 2x12 & clamp that to the bench. I just put a box under it raised up on a little pedestal. Though I did just get a Lee APP to try, see if that is any better.

[Bashby]

Thought I’d give an update. Got a Lee single stage press for $25, factory second with buggered up paint. I am using this for my reloading press now, and my old Lyman is mounted upside down for boolit sizing. I’ve done a few small batches over the last couple weeks but tonight was the first time I ran a big batch. Around 620 boolits took a little over a half hour.270010

[Conditor22]

Well that looks a lot more complicated than what I was thinking about doing. Care to give a brief summary of what all that stuff on the right side does?

This is a semi-auto boolit sizer. every time I pul the handle it sizes a boolit and drops a new boolit. I never got past the prototype stage because the prototype got the job done. I can't guess how many tens of thousands of boolits I've run through it (handgun only I never made an adaptor for shorter rifle boolits)