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Thread: What homemade tool are you using (pictures)

  1. #61
    Boolit Buddy
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    Lightbulb Reloading Tools I have made

    Ok here are some items I made. I still have some more around here somewhere. Been doing this for a few years and have built tools as I needed them.
    Ok Lets see if this works. Not sure why the pics turn on their side? Maybe a default on the camera. Ok figured it out, always take pic with phone in Horz position. Sorry.
    #1 Shot shell holder for reloading empty cardboard boxes
    #4 Expanding bushing/powder bushing for 44 mag die
    #5 and #6 Push through sizing dies
    #7 Decapper.
    #8 Holding block for my lee magnifier lens
    #10 Primer pocket de-crimping tool
    #11 Tension brace for balancing spring on my powder dispenser
    #12 Vise in vise mounting set up
    #13 and #14 European shot shell swage for loose or EU primers.
    #15 Grip block for roll crimping shot shells
    #16 12 ga roll crimp gripper for 12 ga shorty shells
    #17 12 ga hull trimmer
    #18 Luber-sizer dies with inserts
    #19 Trim sizers for shorty's Roll crimp stoppers
    #20 Plastic square washers for Lee turret press
    #21 Gun vise all wood.
    #22 complete 410 shotgun loading kit.
    #23 portable vise set up

  2. #62
    Boolit Buddy Landy88's Avatar
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    Nice and prolific work Polymath.
    The first purpose of the Second Amendment is too often overlooked, fostering a liberty of mind and action necessary in the people of a free republic.


    “Ironically, the only gun control in 19th century England was the policy forbidding police to have arms while on duty.”
    ~ Don B. Kates, Jr.

  3. #63
    Banned
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    As I read these posts, I feel like a kid who asks his mom if he can "go play at his friends house" lol.
    I guess this forum is the next best thing.

  4. #64
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chill Wills View Post
    I make what is basically "M" dies to replace the factory expander in any custom size wanted for friends or whoever.
    It is a hobby that makes me a little shooting money.
    Just got one of these from Chill Wills. It's Bee-you-tee-full. A well made expander folks. Worth the $$.

  5. #65
    Boolit Buddy
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    I'm sure someone already thought of this but my MP 360-640L mold sprue cutter had a gap allowing pour spillover. Adjustment wouldn't correct this so I removed the roll pin and installed a 1/4-28 pan head screw and lock screw. Very little down force is required...but my bullets are casting 100% again!

    Still would like to buy another 360-640L as a back-up (hint).
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails MPmoldMOD.jpg  

  6. #66
    Boolit Master
    Scrounge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by uscra112 View Post
    Shhhhh. We won't tell 'em that we start with McMaster #98957A407 9/16-18 allthread. Makes it look too easy.
    that stuff's expensive when you buy 1' or less lengths. You're trying to fool us!

    Bill

  7. #67
    Boolit Buddy Capn Jack's Avatar
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    I had problems with my seating tool deforming hollow point bullets, so I made a tool that
    pushed them down from the inside. I used a threaded rod that I profiled in my drill press.


    Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by Capn Jack; 10-15-2021 at 01:07 PM. Reason: corrections

  8. #68
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    RogerDat's Avatar
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    I don't have a picture handy, or a video but I bought a nice stainless cake decorating wheel to anneal bullets. It has concentric ring lines in it which line up with a deep dish round cake pan. The cake pan has 4 little - marks that define the center of the pan set wide enough for largest brass I anneal to fit in the center of the marks.

    Cake pan with water in it goes on cake decorating stand which spins (get one with decent bearings) I just set brass case in water to keep head from overheating and point torch at neck while spinning the cake stand top at the tempo that gives me a good anneal color. Then knock case over into water and set the next case in the middle of the pan. Can easily anneal 20 - 25 cases before I need to pick them from the water.

    I have a mark on the cake decorating table at 4 equally spaced points, like compass points, this is so I can see that a mark has made a full revolution.

    Won't say it would work well for high production but on the other hand it isn't very taxing and is something I can set up and do in the winter or for a couple of evenings to prep a batch of brass to have on hand for later loading. This is just a slightly improved version of setting brass in a pan of water to prevent overheating the head end when annealing the neck. I found it a bit easier than turning the cake pan on a table or trying to get the neck evenly heated by moving the torch around.

    I also use a torch that is mounted on a larger 1# camping propane bottle, more stable when I set it down, but a bit more weight to hold up. Have considered buying a torch on a hose and mounting it or making a torch stand so I don't have to hold the torch.

    I don't recall the exact make & model of cake stand but it was like this one, maybe a bit cheaper, down around $20 as I recall. Or price may have gone up since then. It has been awhile.

    https://www.amazon.com/Kootek-Alumin...dp/B07Z7XMQP4/
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

    Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat

  9. #69
    Boolit Buddy Capn Jack's Avatar
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    I needed a .459 sizer for the bullets I cast for my .458S and not having a piece of threaded stock to start with, I thought, why not brace the die from the bottom. I turned and bored a piece of material to size on my lathe, then I held it in place with an "O"ring around the top. I seat my gas checks, then push the bullets up from the bottom.
    Click image for larger version. 

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  10. #70
    Boolit Grand Master uscra112's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scrounge View Post
    that stuff's expensive when you buy 1' or less lengths. You're trying to fool us!

    Bill
    Buy several. Shipping will eat you up otherwise. It's worth it to get expanders that are correct, instead of Lymaan's approximations. I'd made at least a dozen before I switched over to making inserts for the Lee die body. I liked the fact that I can grip the round allthread in my collet chuck and finish and cut off the part in one setup, with just one tool, but I admit that most home shops won't have one. ( I could just as well do that with hex stock if I had a hex collet the right size.) And even the hex stock ain't cheap. The 9/16 12L14 round I use for the Lee inserts is expensive too, because shipping costs so much, but then I can make so many tools other than expanders from it that I don't mind. A price I pay for being retired out in the boonies.
    Last edited by uscra112; 10-16-2021 at 06:27 PM.
    Cognitive Dissident

  11. #71
    Boolit Master

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    Polymath,
    Please tell me how you made the primer pocket de-crimping tool.
    "We take a thousand moments for granted thinking there will be a thousand more to come. Each day, each breath, each beat of your heart is a gift. Live with love & joy, tomorrow is not promised to anyone......"

    unknown

  12. #72
    Boolit Master
    Daekar's Avatar
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    I don't have anything NEARLY as impressive as all of that stuff, but I did make a stir stick for molten alloy. Big nail + twine + polyurethane dip. So far so good, and doesn't seem to mind getting hot!
    I'm a big fan of data-driven decisions. You want to make me smile, show me a spreadsheet! Extra points for graphs and best-fit predictive equations.

  13. #73
    Boolit Grand Master uscra112's Avatar
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    Time to revive this trick: Simple case kicker for my RCBS Junior, made from an old hacksaw blade. Bonus: magnets on the press body store frequently used shellholders.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails DSCN2004.JPG   DSCN2002.JPG  
    Cognitive Dissident

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check