IllinoisCoyoteHunter
02-25-2023, 02:13 PM
I was lucky enough this morning to have Nick Nielsen graciously open his doors and invite me in for a tour of his shop in Labadie, MO. I’m not going to go into great detail about what I saw, but I have a feeling Nick may post some pictures and videos in the near future. From their high speed swage machines spitting out thousands of slugs per hour, to their packaging machine ensuring the customer normally gets an extra couple slugs per box, I was extremely impressed at the overall efficiency of the operation. In addition to the high speed swage machines, Nicks got a small army of Corbin Hydro Presses kicking out slugs. The lead wire extruder is a beast, handling 20# billets like butter. They way the wire is handled from extrusion, to weighing, and then onto spooling is an amazing process. Oh yeah, almost forgot about the billet casting machine. It makes the Lee 20# pot look like a thimble. They make it look easy. Then it was onto the American Casting Equipment portion of the shop. I got to see their fully automated casting machine run. Until today I had never seen one run in person. I could definitely get used to having one in the garage lol. Their automatic sizer is impressive too, but you’d almost have to have an automatic casting machine to keep it fed. It’s pretty slick. And the really cool part about both companies is that the employees are mainly family. Nick, his sons, and daughter-in-law comprise the workforce. There is one additional local that works there if I remember correctly. It was pretty cool to see family working together. Everything was very streamlined. Hopefully Nick can get his Vendor Sponsorship on the site as he’s got some really cool ideas and products in the works for bullet swagers. Nick, being a shooter himself, wants to make his products affordable for everyone. Thanks again Nick for letting me check out your shop!