Loading Tool HELP. please?

[georgerkahn]

I purchased a Winchester-made reloading tool to complement the 1912-made Marlin rifle I recently acquired. While I can see that it sizes and seats bullets; seats primers; and has a lifter to remove an assembled round -- I'm thinking (many times a dangerous operation for me...) there must be a separate gizmo (technical term) missing to decap the fired round. Unless, perhaps, the reloader was expected to use, say, a punch and/or nail struck with a hammer?
Albeit I plan to load/shoot a few of my cast Lyman 257420 bullets in some old Western cases using one of my presses of much more recent manufacture, I'd really love to -- just for kicks & giggles -- try loading some with this tool.
I'm hoping one (or more) of you saged, knowledgeable, good looking persons might have some familiarity with this device, to let me know exactly what is missing? (A photo surely will be helpful here, if it's just not a nail )
Thanks VERY much!
geo

[Outpost75]

Decapping rod was a separate, loose piece which was inserted into the die body. Often missing, not hard to improvise. 1/16" needle bearing pressed into short length of 1/4" brass rod which will drop through an unsized case mouth, of length and shape which will align in the bullet seater die and protrude just enough to decap first before sizing the case!

[georgerkahn]

Decapping rod was a separate, loose piece which was inserted into the die body. Often missing, not hard to improvise. 1/16" needle bearing pressed into short length of 1/4" brass rod which will drop through an unsized case mouth, of length and shape which will align in the bullet seater die and protrude just enough to decap first before sizing the case!

Thank you, kind sir! I reckoned something was/is missing! I do not have any needle bearings, but if I visualize correctly the gizmo you described, I'm thinking I can turn a "body" from some brass rodding I have (it's now 3/8" diameter) in my Unimat Lathe, inserting the end of a broken numbered drill in to impact/extract the primer in the bottom rod end. My thought is to make the rod/tool extra long, to by "trial" shorten as necessary to be able to use the tool like a pair of pliers to pop out the spent primer.

I thought there might be another piece...

THANKS AGAIN!
geo

[Green Frog]

Sounds like you're on the right path. If you want some ideas of what the originals looked like, they show up fairly regularly on fleabay, but the people selling them seem to be inordinately proud of them. I've seen a couple of styles, but I believe the one that would have been original to your loader would have been a simple cylindrical rod with a slightly rounded "bullet end" and a pin retained by a tiny setscrew at the "primer end". As friend Outpost75 suggested, you can shrink fit a piece of drill rod for the primer punch if you wish... it would be easier. The later decapping rods from Ideal were a little more complex, with the "bullet end" tapered to a near point and with a sort of collar that served to iron out the case mouth a bit and give it some flare.

Froggie

[georgerkahn]

Thank you, too, GreenFrog. I first looked for an answer to my query vis on-line auction sites -- nogo; I learned there IS a book on the market re Antique Loading Tools, however, but do not really feel a need to spend the time/money in the hopes a photo of the part I need may be in it.
Which brings up a question/request? IF anyone has one of the parts I need -- any chance a photo might be taken of it and perhaps posted? I think I got the general idea of what I need first center-drill rod end and then turn to fit into the .25-20 case neck. But, the "sizing angle" never occurred to me... should, instead of a smooth cylinder shape, should I make mine a few thousandths undersize, with a "ball"-shape near opposite end to properly expand (e.g., 0.258") the case?
geo

[Bent Ramrod]

I make my substitutes for missing decapping rods from whatever steel or aluminum scrap is available, drill the end and solder or glue in a decapping pin from the spares I have for 7/8”x14 decapping dies.

I make them long, and shorten and round the ends until I can close the handles fully, yet still pop out the spent primer.

A slight taper at the body length (1.330”-0.065”) of the shell is needed, since the tong tool does crimp the shells on the boolit, but it doesn’t need to be an extreme flare, just a straightening out. If all you use is the tong tool, there is no full-length or neck sizing, just seating and crimping.

There is no boolit sizer on that tool. Winchester moulds cast to the nominal groove diameter of Winchester barrels in the caliber.

The set I use is for a revolver and a Low-Wall in .38-40. I full-length resize and decap/expand the cases (the revolver chambers blow the case shoulders forward, so I can’t chamber them in the rifle) but seat and crimp the boolits in the Winchester tong tool. It does a very good job; even with smokeless loads that don’t support the boolit. It seats to exactly the right depth and the crimps are very uniform.

The handles are more comfortable to use than the Ideal tool handles, at least for me.

[Pressman]

George, this should give you an idea, it's for a 32 WCF. There is a little "ring" at the bottom that serves to put a slight flair in the case mouth.

Ken

[georgerkahn]

Thank you, thank you! Bion, another fellow on site asked for/sent a similar to my "real" email -- couldn't get posting a photo here to work... and it is similar, but does not appear to have the "make like a Lyman 'M' die" flair. The photo sent looks very much like what I envisioned I'll be turning on my Unimat. BUT -- I like yours -- with the case expanding flair, tons better! Here's the photo I received:Thanks again!!!
geo

[jason367]

Nice old reloading tool....

[omgb]

I have the same tool. It does have the decapper rod...mine is 32-20 and that is exactly how the rod looks. . BTW, if you need actual 25-20 dies, PM me. I have a set taking up room.

[georgerkahn]

I have the same tool. It does have the decapper rod...mine is 32-20 and that is exactly how the rod looks. . BTW, if you need actual 25-20 dies, PM me. I have a set taking up room.

I'd love to contact you, but apparently you've exceeded the cap on number of messages. Hence, you'll need to delete some of your in-box before I -- or perhaps any other member -- might PM you.
geo

[omgb]

I emptied my boxes so we are good to go now

[Hootmix]

georgerkan, i have a Ideal tool w/ bullet on the end, for the 40-60 win. had to make de-priming rod w/ bevel to flair the case neck, heck it crimps better than my 3-die sets, what's not to like.

coffee's ready,, Hootmix.