What is this used for?

[barnetmill]

Thanks y'all for the quick responses. He never shot black powder. Nor, for that matter, did he ever tumble or otherwise clean his cases, other than wiping them off. I don't know that tumblers even existed for brass back then, and if the they did, he never had one. I have his old notes, and some read like "loaded 19 rounds of .38 Special". He was not a high volume reloader. He did have a couple of nails that he pounded one end flat then filed the edges and bottom to just fit a primer pocket. One large, one small. He was frugal that way. And they work. I just used the small one to clean the pocket on a .38 Special case.Attachment 322171

I just checked, a .38 Special dropped over the top has the mouth of the shell lining up with the black mark at the bottom of each peg, so, yeah, seating primers could be one of it's uses. He had a C press, and eventually a RCBS JR3. I have both. The C is out in the garage, with a couple of screw on shellholders. I know the JR3 has the priming arm, but I'm not sure when he got it. 60 years ago he may have had to do the hammer and mandrel primer seating method.

My first tumbler was identical to what would be used for polishing rocks.

[trapper444]

Ithink that it's a coustom made loading block

[cpaspr]

Good to hear that you found your answer.
I'm sure I am not alone when I say congratulations to you for having that piece of your father.
And I am also sure I am not alone in asking for you to post the picture you described!

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

Not unless I blur the faces, since my siblings are in the picture as well.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Thank you all. I think George is probably right. He did shoot NRA expert at some point, and he did have .38 Specials at the time, so in hindsight the Expert rating was probably from shooting Bullseye matches with one of them. I don't know what bullet he was shooting, but I also have a .22 shell brazed onto a bent piece of coat hanger. That scoop holds exactly 3.0 grains of Bullseye powder, and deep in the recesses of my memory I knew that before I even checked it.

I think it's great that you have a few DIY items from your Dad's 38 spl hand loading.
That porcupine block is maybe the most special.

[gwpercle]

My first tumbler was identical to what would be used for polishing rocks.

I was polishing rocks with my Thumler's Tumbler model B long before I started polishing brass cases with it . Just emptied out the rock polishing media and put crushed Walnut Shell Polishing media in it and polished brass !
Works like a charm ... I'm still using that 50 year old thing !
Gary

[JSnover]

Can't say what that particular device was made for, but I am building something similar for spray lubing my cases.

Best idea yet! The other answers; any of them could be right but any of those functions would work just as well by turning the cases base-up in a typical loading block.

[barnetmill]

Best idea yet! The other answers; any of them could be right but any of those functions would work just as well by turning the cases base-up in a typical loading block.

I would just use screws sticking out of the block. Easier to make.

[frkelly74]

I made a similar " tool" once. I had finish nails driven in to a board and used it to hold brass cases to totally anneal 40 S&W brass so I could swedge them down to make 41 cal jackets out of them. Still have some of those bullets but not the tool.

[Electrod47]

Did your dad also flyfish? or tie fly's? May have used to keep his floss and tensil spools organized..

PS: If he were still with us, I'd bet Major George C. Nonte would have known what that is.

[RogerDat]

It is nice to know I'm not the only one to dump a load of powder into a case without a primer. Picking up the case and watching the powder dribble out is... as humbling as it is annoying. A humbling reminder that I can make a mistake, so I need to remember to be very attentive and careful. Annoying because I have to clean up that wasted powder which has managed to go everywhere.

[barnetmill]

It is nice to know I'm not the only one to dump a load of powder into a case without a primer. Picking up the case and watching the powder dribble out is... as humbling as it is annoying. A humbling reminder that I can make a mistake, so I need to remember to be very attentive and careful. Annoying because I have to clean up that wasted powder which has managed to go everywhere.

What about backwards seated primers. I seem to think that I have done it. I have put them in sideways and crushed them. I even had one that sizzled after being crushed.

[cpaspr]

I don't recall backwards seating them, but the Lee Handpresses (old style-round) I have used would frequently insert a primer crooked. I eventually learned to partially raise the primer to just below the bottom of the shell before inserting the shell in to the holder, then raise the primer the rest of the way into the shell.