BP compressor

[bobv]

Seeing that I'm getting back into BP with my 45-70 and deceided to get a compressor made by one of my shooting buddies who happens to be a machinist :mrgreen: Anyway yesterday I bought a 7/8-14 bolt ,he cut off the head and turned down the end to about .447...works fine, easy to aligne the plug in the case seeing it's visible and not in a die and it cost me under $5, it scews directly into my press like a ordinary die, here's a pic
Bob
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/DSC04748.JPG

[Johnch]

Nice and simple
I like it

John

[Lead Fred]

I bought the fancier enclosed one from Buffalo Arms. They both seem to do the same job. Only you have $13 more bucks in your pocket.

[garandsrus]

bobv,

I tried to make the same thing for a 45-70 but had trouble with the die in that I could not get the plug high enough so that I was able to cam the press with the die in place. In other words, the compression piece extended too low and I was not able to raise it far enough to work. The plug needed to be above the threads, which wasn't possible with this design.

I may need to look and see how long I made the compression plug.

John

[bobv]

The reason why I made my own , besides that it's cheap, is that I have a friend who just bought the one from Buffalo Arms and he has a hell of a time getting the case and the plug centred, without damaging the case mouth, seeing that you can't see the case inside of the die. Beeing mounted on the press you can guide the case so the plug entres the case straight . You can also screw it up or down to right height. I tried it of my Lyman press and on a small Lee press ( see pic) and it semms OK , if it turns out to be too long I will shorten it
Bob
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/DSC04750.JPG

[wills]

Any chance your friend might go into production on those?

[Hubertus]

I second that very smart question...

Hubertus

[bobv]

Well, we are kind of far from Texas and Germany but you realize that anyone with a lathe can made these in about 5-10 minutes.As I mentioned all you need to do is buy a 7/8-14 bolt ,we used a 4 inch long because that all I could find fast, cut off the head ,turn the unthreaded part to 1 1/4 long by .447 inch diameter to make the plug...easy . fast and cheap under $5. We are making one for my friend who is frustrated with his Buffalo Arms compressor, he will have it tomorrow :smile:
Bob

[deltaenterprizes]

I can make those and will take payment in WW or lead or cash!

[garandsrus]

bobv,

Are you able to completely lower the press handle while using this? If not, how are you controlling the amount of compression?

Your picture looks similar to what I made. The press stroke is 3 to 4 inches, while it looks like you only want to raise the shell about an inch to 1.5", which is the problem.

Wills - You can have the one I made. Send me a PM with your address. It isn't doing me any good.

John

[giz189]

The reason why I made my own , besides that it's cheap, is that I have a friend who just bought the one from Buffalo Arms and he has a hell of a time getting the case and the plug centred, without damaging the case mouth, seeing that you can't see the case inside of the die. Beeing mounted on the press you can guide the case so the plug entres the case straight . You can also screw it up or down to right height. I tried it of my Lyman press and on a small Lee press ( see pic) and it semms OK , if it turns out to be too long I will shorten it
Bob
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/DSC04750.JPG I usually bell my cases before I get to powder compression and don't have any trouble with messing up case mouth because of not centering. But that is a good looking compressor.

[Lead Fred]

[QUThe reason why I made my own , besides that it's cheap, is that I have a friend who just bought the one from Buffalo Arms and he has a hell of a time getting the case and the plug centred, without damaging the case mouth[/QUOTE]

pssst, bell the case first. The ram goes right in after that.

[bobv]

John, I realize that the pin might be too long and I might have to cut down a bit as I haven't really tried it out yet, I will test it later this week . I'm also looking at setting up a dial gauge ,some way so I can check the compression, from the moment the plug touches the powder I would take a reading and compress an other .100/.200/.300...my machinist has some good ideas. BTW, I'm not tring to imply that this is better than the one from Buffalo Arms, it's just an other way of looking at it and it keeps my busy:wink:
Bob