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Up on a shelf in the back of the shop is this old shotshell press, I was up in that neck of the woods so thought I'd take a snap of it. Set up for 12 gauge, made in Japan, and -yes- that is a soldering iron sticking in the die. It heated up the center portion of the die to dry out the bases of paper shells if you held it down for a while.
Attachment 281253
The irons that I had were to re-melt/add wax to the old paper hulls.
Even the NEW Federal paper hulls use VERY little wax
Mike
Adding wax may well be the reason for the iron- I was more guessing than anything- never used that press. Lots of lost knowledge out there (well, lost on me anyway).
Thanks!
My understanding is the same as skeettx.
I’ve seen larger irons on the Herters model 72/73 and some Hollywoods. The larger iron shape and size was more along the lines of those hand held battery operated “massagers” popular with women.
We had a 12 gauge shell iron mounted next to our reloading press. Put the empty shell on it to heat and then rubbed it with paraffin.
I have a full set, 410-12 ga Hollywood non electric irons. They are basically a sized, smooth metal rod with a knurled handle. You set them on a hot plate or torch them briefly to recondition the paper/wax hulls.