Old reloading tools

[LUBEDUDE]

In the late 60's Hollywood had a primer system that you had manually tap with your hand. I have shown it here before. It was really slick for the era. But can be difficult to get properly adjusted and running smoothly. Not so sure if worth the hassle.

[Bent Ramrod]

The primer tubes with the knurled tops should have a long thin coil spring running outside of them and a knob ended rod inside them which is displaced upward when the primers are stacked in the loading tube. This assembly then fits into a holder that looks like a loading die from the outside, complete with lock ring, which is set in one of the die stations on the turret. In use, the setup is swung around on the turret and lined up with the priming stake. The rod and tube are pushed down against the coil spring pressure until the tube contacts the cup in the priming stake and, hopefully, one primer is deposited therein via pressure on the rod. The coil spring raises the primer tube back into standby position. The shell holder, with shell, is swung around over the priming stake (if it isn't there already) and the lever raised to pull the shell down over the primer.

It's not the most straightforward priming setup in the world, but quality of materials and manufacture is better than a lot of the easily-battered primer tubes with squashed asymmetric mouths that one sees on the other press designs of the time. That spring loaded side arm that pushes into the slot in the ram would apparently damage the primer tube end if not carefully managed. On the Hollywood I have, the lips on the primer tube that hold and release the primer look to be well made, tempered and properly springy. Also, since the arrangement is straight up-and-down, no side pressures exist to mangle the lips.

[starmac]

Bent ramrod, that would be what I have, minus the holder that looks like a die. I would love to find that piece somewhere, even if I didn't actually use it.

[Kevin Rohrer]

In the late 60's Hollywood had a primer system that you had manually tap with your hand. I have shown it here before. It was really slick for the era. But can be difficult to get properly adjusted and running smoothly. Not so sure if worth the hassle.

Could you point me to the pic?

[LUBEDUDE]

Kevin- I'll try to remember. It wasn't the subject of the post. I mentioned it in passing as describing something else on the press. If I can't remember, I'll take some pics as soon as I get my stuff out of storage.

[Bent Ramrod]

Here's one of the primer feeders, disassembled. The "die" has the identification HOLLYWOOD GUN SHOP S AUTO PRIMER FEED on the clear strip between the knurled portions.

[starmac]

Thanks for the pictures, those dies are probably unattainable, but do you know if the same die is used for the large and small primer tubes. I guess I could measure the od of the tubes and answer that question myself. lol

I just got off the phone with Mark in anchorage, that makes the turret handles for these, and he ask if I knew where a picture of these were. lol

[thekidd76]

I love reading and seeing pics of these old presses. I'm not sure if the price is good, but if anyone wants to get into the vintage press game, here's one I just found with a set Buy It Now price...if someone buys it let me know, I would love to see it go to a good home. I don't think this one is THAT old, but who knows.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CH-Reloading...-/271301655602

[starmac]

Mark just called me back, and has my handles ready and shipping them today. He told me this morning that he had some already roughed in, but had to be finished.
It is nearly unheard of to get this kind of service anywhere, so I thought I would mention it here, he seems to be a great guy to deal with and is a member of this site too. lol

I don't know what all he makes, but he does some dillon things for you guys into the blue presses too.

[snowshooze]

Hi Brent;
Have you used this?
If so, could you get a shot of it set up?
What lives inside the die? I am wondering what the spring does too. Collet closure?
I am thinking it is a split collet which deposits one primer into the primer seater at which time you would Insert brass...downstroke and seat your primer. Then either continue primer seating, or turret over to the next operation.
Thanks,
Mark

[Bent Ramrod]

Snowshooze,

I've only used it to see how it works. My priming is mostly done with the RCBS or Lee hand priming systems.

Enclosed are shots of the setup, pushing the primer magazine down to the priming stake and a blurry closeup of the two elements close together.

The two primer tubes are both 0.305" outside diameter. The inside diameter of the tubes are correct to fit large and small primers and the pushrods are thinner and thicker in diameter to correspond to the diameters. The sidewalls of the tubes are, of course, thicker or thinner depending on the size of the holes. The tubes are crimped slightly at the bottoms, with three saw cuts to form a collet arrangement that allows one primer at a time to pop through, if the pressure on the push rod is correct.

Both holder "dies" are identical. They are bored straight through with enough clearance to slightly wiggle the primer tubes into position over the priming stakes. They have narrow shoulders towards the top for the springs to seat against, and the combination of the shoulder, the spring and the knurled nut on top allows the tubes to sit in the "dies" without falling through. The spring functions to raise the primer tube once a primer is deposited in the cup of the priming stake.

[starmac]

Thanks for those picks Bent Ramrod I have the tubes, springs, and the ramrods, but not the die. mark thinks he can build one.
Looking at your pic's it appears that the spring actually goes inside the die, is this correct?

[Pressman]

The first Redding powder scale from 1947. Nice design that does not work well in practice. It is too sensitive and the beam never stops moving, plus it is hard to zero. The check weights are in a cavity under the oval name tag.
Ken

Attachment 85030

[Bent Ramrod]

Pressman, I have a later Redding scale that still swings wildly and takes forever to weigh small powder charges with. The inventor of magnetic damping deserves some sort of prize from grateful reloaders everywhere.

Starmac, you should be able to make a primer tube holder by bushing an old 7/8" x 14 .38 Special length die and drilling a hole through the bushing. The spring sets down to a step or shoulder maybe 1/2" to 3/4" from the top of the die. Something on the order of a letter N or a 5/16" hole for the tube and a letter O for the step should do it. Measure your springs and tubes and find a convenient size to match. My Hollywood Universal needs a little wiggle room in order to move the tube directly onto the primer cup, so the hole sizes don't seem to be critical.

A lot of such specialty holders and even bullet swaging dies wind up mixed into random reloading dies and when nobody can figure out what they are, they get tossed. Really a shame.

[LUBEDUDE]

Bent Ramrod- My Hollywood primer system is just a tad different. My die has three ball bearings about a third the way up from the bottom evenly spaced 120 degrees apart. This provides the necessary friction along with an exposed outer spring to allow the primer tube to free float. Other than that, everything else is the same as yours.

Unfortunately no pics are available, everything is in storage.

[Pavogrande]

Attachment 85049Attachment 85050Attachment 85051Attachment 85052Attachment 85053

Got these in a large box lot I bought -- Made during WWII or soon after --

[starmac]

Pavogrande, I hate to sound plumb stupid, bbbut what exactly is that.

[Bent Ramrod]

Pavogrande has a set of Rock Chuck Bullet Swage Company bulletmaking dies. Do you have the punches for them? What is the caliber?

That was the first product made by Fred Huntington of Oroville, CA, so he and other bullet-starved wartime and postwar shooters could go on shooting their favorite varmints (in Fred's case, the Western Rock Chuck) despite a lack of commercial components.

In order to get the best use out of the dies without wrecking the customer's loading press and straining his arm, Huntington developed the O-frame, compound leverage press that is RCBS's standby. This made a great reloading press as well, so Fred started making reloading dies to go with it. By that time, he saw that he could go into mass-manufacturing of reloading equipment, with its more generous tolerances, or make bullet swaging dies on a one-off basis, and remain a small business perpetually behind in its orders. I doubt if he had to flip a coin to make that decision.

Today, RCBS Inc. makes everything for the reloader except bullet swaging dies and not a lot of people even know that RCBS stands for Rock Chuck Bullet Swage. Pavogrande, you have a very historic artifact there!

Lubedude, that setup sounds pretty sophisticated compared to mine. Maybe customers complained to Hollywood about the tubes sticking and they came up with the ball bearing solution.

[Pavogrande]

Sorry-- I got so involved trying to navigate the posting of the photos I forgot all the rest -

Yes, they are RCBS dies -- I have 22 cal and 25 cal sets.
Unfortunately the bottom punches were not with them -
The punches should be easy enough to turn out -- I expect they were originally rams with the proper diameter punch built in.
The dies are rather interesting, with a cannon breech thread -- they are marked - the red line - to fit one way. Apparently to assure alignment of upper and lower portions of the die. Off set bullets not being too useful.
While I got a few jackets and cores with them I have not tried to use them yet -

There was also two sets of hollywood swage dies in the box, 30 cal and 44 cal and a couple old Lyman shotshell tooling bits --

I bought the box for some 310 tooling and found all these other goodies --
Even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while --

PS - I believe they were designed to use spent 22rf cases - jackets not being available during the war --

[Pressman]

Pavogrande I have a 22 caliber punch and I think the shellholder it fits. I would have to do some digging. I do have a complete 30cal set.
Ken