Reloading in the good old days???

[abunaitoo]

I looked around the web, but couldn't find much.
I'm assuming home reloading was done as soon as the metallic cartridge came out.
I'm wondering what kind of tools the first reloaders used???
Antone have a link to pictures????
How it was done???
Maybe a living history buff who does it, with period tools???
I'm sure they didn't have any Rock Chuckers way back then.

[M-Tecs]

Some Frankford Arsenal Reloading Kits here.

https://trapdoorcollector.com/reloadingkits.html

[Electrod47]

Next time "Valdez is Coming" shows up on TV tune in, with Burt Lancaster. He's kinda doing the set up from that time. When he said the words "My own load", reloading in the field. I was hooked. I had to do that also. 1971. Also, in the original "Unforgiven" movie with Burt and my hero Audie Murphy He and Doug McClure are casting bullets during an Indian fight.

[farmbif]

belding and mull made reloading tools going way back in the good ole days. and ideal got into it in 1884.
https://www.reloadingtool.com/ideal-no-4-reloading-tool- im always on the lookout for these old gems

[M-Tecs]

Good book on the subject
https://www.csharpsarms.com/product/reloading-tools/

More pics

http://www.cartridgecollectors.org/?page=antique-reloading-tools

https://www.reloadingtool.com/winchester-reloading-tools

https://www.ima-usa.com/products/original-u-s-winchester-model-1882-44-40-reloading-tool-bullet-mold-set-with-decapping-pin?variant=31675382890565

marlinman93 has some really nice period tools.

[45workhorse]

I would have to put one of the boxed sets on display in my house!
IF I had one!!!!!
I would have to load a few rounds with it also!!!

Neat stuff!

[Wolfdog91]

Hop to the 3min mark

https://youtu.be/ik06rn2R0HY

[Winger Ed.]

Quigly (Down Under) had to stop by the local General Store to get supplies 'to make his reloads' in the movie.

Just a guess, but I figure it was historically correct for the time period.

[M-Tecs]

What I find even more interesting are some of the historical accounts of the methods the Indians used. Reloading primers using match heads was common.

[pworley1]

The first Ideal catalogs are very interesting and informative.

[Sasquatch-1]

I think it was a Brian Keith movie where he was teaching somebody how to shoot. Every time the guy shot, he would dump his brass on the ground and Brian Keith's character would tell him to pick it up so it could be reloaded. I can't remember if they actually showed the reloading.

[JRLesan]

Hugh O'Brien sitting at a table out in the street reloading pistol cartridges...

[ascast]

I think it was a Brian Keith movie where he was teaching somebody how to shoot. Every time the guy shot, he would dump his brass on the ground and Brian Keith's character would tell him to pick it up so it could be reloaded. I can't remember if they actually showed the reloading.

Steve McQueen was in that. He also had/used a combo gun of shot and rifle. Nevada Smith. Out in the West in the 1890's, Max Sand begins a quest to hunt down a trio of gunslingers who murdered his parents, as he's seeking vengeance.

[Thumbcocker]

In "Lives of a Bengal Lancer" the Afghans are casting boolits and scooping black powder into cartridge cases. In "The Unforgiven" Burt Lancaster and his characters family melt lead soldiers into boolits while being attacked by the Comanche.

[ascast]

I was watching an early Zane Grey last night with Noah Berry Sr. Time was about 1875-80. He was casting bullets with a '94 model Winchester mold. Also seemed to be weighing charges with something.

I caution you most strongly - DO NOT get an active interest in this stuff. There are boat loads of it out there, mostly affordable. None of it will do a better job than what is on your bench now. You can easily wind up with a 100 of more presses and stuff.
All your shooting buddies who should be impressed will say stuff like " scrap run today" or " going to the dump" or "why don't you scrap this junk and get a decent car?"
Ask me how I know this...

[Kestrel4k]

Hop to the 3min mark [...]
I really enjoyed that video immensely, thanks for posting it. :-)

[abunaitoo]

Any idea when the first home press came out???
I have seen those "nut cracker" all in one reloaders.
Would the Lee "tap, tap" be something that would have been used way back then???

[M-Tecs]

Would the Lee "tap, tap" be something that would have been used way back then???

That would be the Frankford Arsenal Reloading Kits.50-70 Reloading Set I listed in post #2.

[country gent]

You need to remember in that time travel was mostly horseback or horse drawn wagon. So weight and size limited what they could carry. Buffalo and market hunters were more concerned with the hides and meat and hauling what paid.

[M-Tecs]

The 45 3 1/4" that we call the 45-120 did not exist during this time period. The 45 2 7/8" today known as the 45-110 did. The claim is it could be loaded with 120 grains of BP and this is what he used.
https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/scientific-buffalo-hunter/247855#:~:text=For%20alternate%20rifles%20-%20an%20absolute%20necessity%20in,hunt%C2%ADers%20 ran%20out%20of%20cartridges%20in%20the%20field.

Reasoning logically that guns are of primary importance to a professional hunter, Frank bought the best rifles obtainable. His precious scope sight he had fitted to a .45-120-550 Sharps, weighing 16 pounds and sighted in to hit the bullseye at 200 yards. For alternate rifles - an absolute necessity in those days of black powder ammunition and excessive fouling of barrels - he selected a .40-70 and a .40-90 Sharps. Wisely, he spent $225 for a complete reloading outfit. Thousands of hides were lost when hunt*ers ran out of cartridges in the field. Frank didn't intend to lose a single skin playing the fool that way.

More details here https://shilohrifle.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2028

[zardoz]

I believe there is a scene in a movie from 1956 called "The Last Hunt", where the two main characters are reloading their buffalo cartridges around a campfire. I'll have to dig that out of my collection, and review to get back forgotten details.

Stewart Granger and Robert Taylor play the buffalo hunters. 1883 South Dakota is the setting.

Tiny spoiler: The very last scene in that movie is a bit like the last scene in "The Shining". :O

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

In front of the fireplace, long before brass cartridges, your woman pours the alloy while you are barefoot.

http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu127/JonB_in_Glencoe/Lyman%20CBHB1%20back%20cover_zpslbwkqpxw.jpg (http://s640.photobucket.com/user/JonB_in_Glencoe/media/Lyman%20CBHB1%20back%20cover_zpslbwkqpxw.jpg.html)

[perotter]

Any idea when the first home press came out???
I have seen those "nut cracker" all in one reloaders.
Would the Lee "tap, tap" be something that would have been used way back then???

One of my great-grandpa's reloading setup for metalic shotgun shells was like the Lee. More or less.

One of my great uncles had it and showed it to me once when I was about 8 or 9 years old.

[abunaitoo]

In all my years reloading, I've never used a Lee Loader.
Just never got around to doing it.

[Bent Ramrod]

The first presses were probably those made in-house and used at Springfield Armory and other military installations. Later the Ideal Mfg. Co. came out with similar presses. They are big, heavy, complicated and rare; almost exclusively set up for the military cartridges of the day. Generally used by National Guard and Army units. 1890s time frame.

The earliest home-use press tool I have is a Pacific “Perfection” reloader, originally made by the Hueter Bros. I think it came out before WWI, and was offered through the Roaring 20s. Pacific marketed it until they came up with their C press design and 7/8” x 14 tpi dies in the early 30s, which obsoleted most of the oddball loading tools.

Belding & Mull had a couple designs for a horizontal “press” starting in the 20s that lasted a remarkably long time on the market. The Yankee Specialty Corp. also had a couple small press designs in the same period that didn’t last so long.

The ARTCA Site is the best place to go for answers on antique reloading tool questions. Some of the old stuff is discussed on the Vintage forum of this site as well.

[M-Tecs]

https://www.blackpowdercartridge.com/ideal-shotshell-reloading-toolss

https://www.magzter.com/stories/Sports/The-Black-Powder-Cartridge-News/Ideal-Shotshell-Reloading-Tools

https://loaddata.com/Article/LoadDevelopment/The-History-of-Handloading-Not-Just-a-Fad-Anymore/448

http://castpics.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IDEAL-BULLET-MOULDS_-THE-BARLOW-AND-MARLIN-YEARS-1884-1915.pdf

http://castpics.net/wp/lyman-ideal-310-die-code-chart/

https://www.handloadermagazine.com/lyman-140-years-of-history#:~:text=Ideal%20Manufacturing%20was%20form ed%20in%201884%20by%20John,Connecticut%2C%2020%20m iles%20from%20Lyman%20Factory%20circa%201934.

https://antiquereloadingtools.com/

[atr]

I'm not sure how you define "good old days", but mine were when I was in my teens living close to the American River in Northern California. I hunted and fished and my reloading was 30-06, 12 gauge and .303 British. For the most part the reloading tools came from Herters, RCBS, OHAUS and Lyman. I still have all that original equipment, and I am still reloading.
IF there was ever a time in my life where I could say I walked free and easy on this earth, that was the time.

[perotter]

In all my years reloading, I've never used a Lee Loader.
Just never got around to doing it.

When I was 11 my pa bought me a new .410 shotgun and it came with a Lee Loader, a pound of 2400, a couple of boxes of wads, 100 primers and 25 lbs of shot I kwikly became a reloader with it.
My pa wasn't going to buy all the shotgun shells a farm boy could go thru.

That same Lee Loader is what I use for .410 55 years latter.

[john.k]

Most reloading was done with the pliers type tools from Ideal and Winchester.

[GregLaROCHE]

I would say reloading started with muskets or pistols. The first cartridges were paper and loaded into the first breech loaders, and then ignited with a needle shoved in from behind. They were needle guns. The most famous were the French Chassepots.

[Gewehr-Guy]

I have and still use one of the old Heuter tools as mentioned by Bent Ramrod. It is designed like a small arbor press. I had to make an assortment of small neck sizing dies to screw into the ram, also some neck expanding plugs. Also made some straight line bullet seaters,but need to lengthen the pipe on the tool to get enough height to use the seaters. Had to improvise on it's tooling , because I could never find any picture of what came with the press.

I am going to give it to one son, so he can help with loading all the ammo he shoots at our CBA matches. It will be a good old tool for him to learn the basics of hand loading on, as he lives in a small apartment, and cant mount a real press, or bang away with the Lee Loaders.

[geezer56]

I used the Lee whack a mole to load a 6.5x55 Swede that I bought for $39 out of a barrel in the local five and dime when I was a kid. I picked out the best looking bore and then searched through the barrel of guns to find the correct bolt. Store clerk just put the bolt in the next gun, they had no idea that they were fitted or what headspace was. That rifle would shoot tiny groups with my home assembled ammo. I traded it away when I left for college. Like an idiot.

[elmacgyver0]

Actually, we are living in the "Good old days".
Think about it, would you like to give up what we have now for what they had 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago.

[john.k]

Back in the 1950s and 60,there wasnt the spare cash for most people ...the idea of having a whole machine shop in your basement was reserved for the rich eccentric inventor and the ocassional doctor who made model steam engines.

[curdog007]

Look up a some of the cased Alexander Henry single shot and double-barrelled Black Powder Express rifles if you want to see some nice loading tools.

[WRideout]

I'm not sure how you define "good old days", but mine were when I was in my teens living close to the American River in Northern California. I hunted and fished and my reloading was 30-06, 12 gauge and .303 British. For the most part the reloading tools came from Herters, RCBS, OHAUS and Lyman. I still have all that original equipment, and I am still reloading.
IF there was ever a time in my life where I could say I walked free and easy on this earth, that was the time.

I spent four years in college at Chico State, not real close to the American River, but in the same region. I spent days at a time in the Sierra foothills and on the Sacramento River, fishing and hunting (when I should have been studying.) After I graduated, I had to leave for employment, but still miss that place. For a young man, it was heaven on earth.

Wayne

[Alferd Packer]

Lyman sold reloading tools as well as bullet casting moulds.Old catalogs from 1800s available from Cornell books.

[Jungle Dave]

Look up a some of the cased Alexander Henry single shot and double-barrelled Black Powder Express rifles if you want to see some nice loading tools.

You beat me to it. I was going to say the same thing. The various tools and gadgets in the cases from all the English makers were works of art themselves.

[Jungle Dave]

Actually, we are living in the "Good old days".
Think about it, would you like to give up what we have now for what they had 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago.

In a heartbeat. While I do enjoy the fast shipping of Amazon without having to read "6 to 8 weeks" on a paper order form, and being able to speak to others as we are doing now, I remember days that were much simpler. Even the Sun seemed a different color then. I could go to the store and get a box of .30-30's and make every single shot count. The entire atmosphere was better and time seemed to go slower.

[abunaitoo]

I would say reloading started with muskets or pistols. The first cartridges were paper and loaded into the first breech loaders, and then ignited with a needle shoved in from behind. They were needle guns. The most famous were the French Chassepots.

I shoot my Cheesepot.
So much fun.
Not all that hard to make the rounds.

[firefly1957]

I collect and use some of the old reloading tools for rifle, pistol and shotgun . Ideal predated Lyman with tong tools and there is roll crimpers for shot shells that are sold in antique stores for not to much .