$10 will still buy you alot these days.

[W.R.Buchanan]

So anyway I was slogging thru one of my buddies gunshops the other day and as I was just about to leave I notice this old box of stuff laying on the floor with a $10 tag on it.

I looked in and saw a Lee Load All and a few other items so I bought the box. everything was either coated in dirt or rusted up and nothing looked all that good, but I recognized that all of it was salvageable and just needed some TLC

Along with the Lee press was a Herter's collet style bullet puller with a 6mm collet. I have no use for this but what the hey. It took me about 15 minutes to wire brush all of the rust off it hit it with cold blue, and then saturate it with Frog Lube and now it resides in my loading die drawer along with the other bullet pullers I have.

Next was the Load All. I have previously not had a whole lot of respect for these tools however after finding that it was complete I spent an hour cleaning it up and then tried it out reloading a few shotshells. It actually works pretty well and does everything that any of my more expensive loading machines do. I have to download the instructions for the thing. I had thought that it was missing the cover for the shot/powder hopper but I found out that the bushing box which had all of the various bushings in it, in fact is the top to the hopper so it is a complete machine and worth way more in itself than the $10 I paid for the whole mess.

Next was a Herter's Powder measure. It was in pretty ratty shape but after wire brushing the paint and rust off and buffing all of the piece parts it will be a good tool. I also took the liberty of filing off some of the more offensive casting flash on the body of the measure. I found some Black Crackle finish paint last night and will paint the cast iron body today. I made the mistake of trying to buff the powder hopper which was yellow and had a bunch of scratches on it but only made it look worse so I will probably buy a piece of Lexan tubing from McMaster-Carr and make a new hopper and lid for it.

I'll have about $10 and 2 hours in it when done but it will effectively be new.

Last was a Herter's balance scale. Didn't get lucky on that one. It is missing the beam and all I got was the base and the pan and hanger. maybe parts for someone.

Point here is that for $10 I got close to $150 worth of stuff.

Just remember guys,,, Reloading equipment seldom gets worn out. It usually just gets dirty from sitting around in someone's garage in a box with $10 marked on the side.

Randy

Attachment 91296Attachment 91297Attachment 91298

[jmort]

"It actually works pretty well and does everything that any of my more expensive loading machines do."

I like the Load All, but I use it for hull prep and crimping. I got one for free and another for $15.00. I do buckshot and slugs. As for the balance, that is quite a ROI for $10.00

[seagiant]

Hi,
I'd like to see the powder measure when it's done!

[W.R.Buchanan]

I'll get a pic up as soon as I figure out what to do with the hopper.

I got some Black Crackle Finish paint for it and will shoot it later today. Secret to getting black crackle to be consistent is to preheat the parts. then dust on the first coat and then pile on the second.

Rotating the part under the heat lamp for the first few minutes helps also. Find yourself a small 8-10" lazy susan to sit parts on so you can spin them while you paint.

Randy

[seagiant]

Hi Randy,
Is the hopper 2" OD?

[Springfield]

Is the Herter's pan the same as an old Redding pan? I have a scale without a pan so maybe I could buy that from you if it is the right size.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I got the tube in today and it measures 1.990 on the OD.. It will work just fine for this application. I got two 1 foot long pieces, and I am going to leave this one 1 foot long. Kind of like if you were reloading a bunch of large cartridges that took 125 gr of powder you'd want a large reservoir.

I will also have to make a cap and will probably make that out of a piece of aluminum or delrin.

Springfield: I weighed my Redding pan and wire and it was 136.5 gr. The Herter's pan and wire was 411 gr.!

So I don't think it will work for you. The scale wouldn't zero out.

Randy

[OnceFired]

That IS a nice find. I've been prowling CraigsList in my area, to no avail. I'm going to have to hit the garage & estate sales.

[WILCO]

Hi,
I'd like to see the powder measure when it's done!

Me too!

[hpdrifter]

So anyway I was slogging thru one of my buddies gunshops the other day and as I was just about to leave I notice this old box of stuff laying on the floor with a $10 tag on it.

I looked in and saw a Lee Load All and a few other items so I bought the box. everything was either coated in dirt or rusted up and nothing looked all that good, but I recognized that all of it was salvageable and just needed some TLC

Along with the Lee press was a Herter's collet style bullet puller with a 6mm collet. I have no use for this but what the hey. It took me about 15 minutes to wire brush all of the rust off it hit it with cold blue, and then saturate it with Frog Lube and now it resides in my loading die drawer along with the other bullet pullers I have.

Next was the Load All. I have previously not had a whole lot of respect for these tools however after finding that it was complete I spent an hour cleaning it up and then tried it out reloading a few shotshells. It actually works pretty well and does everything that any of my more expensive loading machines do. I have to download the instructions for the thing. I had thought that it was missing the cover for the shot/powder hopper but I found out that the bushing box which had all of the various bushings in it, in fact is the top to the hopper so it is a complete machine and worth way more in itself than the $10 I paid for the whole mess.

Next was a Herter's Powder measure. It was in pretty ratty shape but after wire brushing the paint and rust off and buffing all of the piece parts it will be a good tool. I also took the liberty of filing off some of the more offensive casting flash on the body of the measure. I found some Black Crackle finish paint last night and will paint the cast iron body today. I made the mistake of trying to buff the powder hopper which was yellow and had a bunch of scratches on it but only made it look worse so I will probably buy a piece of Lexan tubing from McMaster-Carr and make a new hopper and lid for it.

I'll have about $10 and 2 hours in it when done but it will effectively be new.

Last was a Herter's balance scale. Didn't get lucky on that one. It is missing the beam and all I got was the base and the pan and hanger. maybe parts for someone.

Point here is that for $10 I got close to $150 worth of stuff.

Just remember guys,,, Reloading equipment seldom gets worn out. It usually just gets dirty from sitting around in someone's garage in a box with $10 marked on the side.

Randy

Attachment 91296Attachment 91297Attachment 91298

you might measure the tube and see if replacement parts for some other make will interchange.

I found that Redding measure tubes will fit my old Texan Reloader pretty good.

Midway sells replacement parts.

Edit: Guess I should have read the rest of the thread, see you already have remedy. Ooooops

[W.R.Buchanan]

Well It's back together; It is a bit weird because the way it has to go together makes it a left handed affair. Still when you release the handle the barrel returns to the fill position with a resounding clunk which no doubt does wonders for settling stick powders.

When I replaced the hopper the 2" Lexan/poly carbonate tube fit perfectly and I drilled one screw hole then tapped thru the hole so that the plastic was threaded as well and then repeated the process for the other hole.

I made a lid for it out of aluminum, I have a bunch of 2" dia. pucks that I have had laying around for the last 25 years, they get used occasionally for this and that. Everything eventually gets used for some project.

All of the previously Black Oxided parts got wire brushed to remove any rust and then reblued with BC cold blue and then saturated with Frog Lube. All of the plated parts got buffed on the felt fuzz wheel, and then saturated with Frog Lube.

The Frog lube stops all surface finish deterioration, you guys should try it on everything! it is great stuff.

Here's some pics of the redo. It came out nice.

Randy

[seagiant]

Hi,
Darn Randy! You do nice work! You nailed that one,I had to go back and look at the before pic! Yea,I trust you...but!

Hmmm...Left handed huh?

[Bullshop Junior]

I really like the Lee load all presses. I wish I could find one for 10 bucks lol

[merlin101]

I really like the Lee load all presses. I wish I could find one for 10 bucks lol

I just found one on here for $20 and I'm happy.

Left handed?????

[John Allen]

The lee load all was my first press.

[seagiant]

Hi,
Hey!!! Where's the knurling????

[tward]

Nice job! They look great! Tim

[W.R.Buchanan]

The weird thing about that PM is that when the thing is assembled so that the writing on the barrel is horizontal the thing is set up left handed. Just like you see it.

If you swap it around the writing is at a stupid angle and looks bad.

If you reverse the handle so it is opposite the charge tube it is almost balanced and the thing doesn't work right. There is 4 ways you can assemble it. This one is the only one that looks and works right,,, errr left.

Knurling ain't gonna happen on this one. There just isn't enough to get ahold of to use my Knurling tool. If the blank would have been 2 1/8 or 1/4" then I could have fluted it but as it sits, it is, what it is.

Randy

[Doc_Stihl]

One of my favorite past times is rescuing a "box of junk".

[seagiant]

Hi,
Just playing Randy! Super job, and maybe one day it will be used by a young reloader, instead of sitting in a landfill!!!