DL-300 Refurb!

[W.R.Buchanan]

That came out nice!

Randy

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Looking good, keep up the work!

[Ole Joe Clarke]

Seagiant, that D/L is beautiful.

[seagiant]

Hi,
Thanks fellas, I see most people just paint the base and leave the lettering bot I wanted the fact that this was a DL, instead of a Pacific to stand out!

I took some more pics outside as the lighting in the first pics washed out the color a bit!

These loaders (DL-300) are so bulletproof tough, I would buy another, if I could find it at a decent price!

[W.R.Buchanan]

Greg: is that paint a Hammertone color? It kind of looks like it is in the light. The other pics definitely didn't do it justice.

Randy

[seagiant]

Greg: is that paint a Hammertone color? It kind of looks like it is in the light. The other pics definitely didn't do it justice.

Randy

Hi,
No Randy, it's just a "Industrial" branded Rustoleom I have here on the ship!

This loader was REALLY messed up, the worst I've ever dealt with and someone got their money out of it!

I'm going to guess a Trap or Skeet shooter in the 60's that slept under the Club House!!!

I need to still make a P/S bar along with a new pin and wheel, and the the parts for the P/S tubes.

As an observation I've never had a Shotshell Loader with this much use and neglect but even with all that I see no reason after the work on this that it can not go for 50 years more!!!

[DonMountain]

Hi,
Thanks fellas, I see most people just paint the base and leave the lettering bot I wanted the fact that this was a DL, instead of a Pacific to stand out!

I took some more pics outside as the lighting in the first pics washed out the color a bit!

These loaders (DL-300) are so bulletproof tough, I would buy another, if I could find it at a decent price!

What happen to the sizing die normally found on the left side outside of the turntable? I have a DL-350 that was the next advancement of the DL-300 and have been doing the initial resizing on another press so the shells don't remove the existing paint under that die. But I have thought about placing some thin plastic of some sort in that area to avoid loosing this original paint. When I bought the press a few years ago it didn't look like it had ever been used. Your thoughts would be appreciated about how to protect this paint under the sizing die.

[seagiant]

Hi Don,
That Pacific 350 is a nice loader!

I like the DL/Pacific-300, a little more because of the thick shellplate!

I don't have the resize die on this 300 because someone took it off before I obtained it!

I will try to get another or make a cap on the lathe to fill the hole.

I use a Lachmiller shell reconditioner and do not use the resizer anyway?

As far as how to fix your problem I think I have an answer even though I can not take credit.

I saw this on the Russian site and thought it was pretty neat and will use it on my other 300, when I refurb/paint it!!!


http://guns.allzip.org/topic/329/1167325.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FwSOfpEvY4

[DonMountain]

Hi Don,

I use a Lachmiller shell reconditioner and do not use the resizer anyway?

As far as how to fix your problem I think I have an answer even though I can not take credit.

I saw this on the Russian site and thought it was pretty neat and will use it on my other 300, when I refurb/paint it!!!


http://guns.allzip.org/topic/329/1167325.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FwSOfpEvY4

Looks like a nice brass insert there. I do have a mini-lathe that I could produce one on. But I like your other idea of just resizing the hulls on my single stage DL-150 that is well worn already and not bother with the resizing die on my DL-350. Although that makes me use two presses all the time rather than just putting them all through the one press like they are supposed to be. I assume for the brass insert the primer hole through the center would also have to be opened up through the press lower bar for clearance in installation. I would have to think hard about modifying the original design before I did that on a little used, almost brand new looking machine.

[seagiant]

Hi,
I'll be honest I had people tell me how much better it was to resize and punch out the old primer in a seperate operation.

I really didn't think it was that great an idea, until I took a chance and bought a Lachmiller model and tried it!

I won't reload any other way now and it also makes the reloading run a lot smoother and easier on a progressive press!!!

[W.R.Buchanan]

Greg: the added Monkey Motion of moving the sized hull to the carousel and then placing another under the sizer was way too much for me. Too many steps makes for mistakes.

I started sizing and depriming on my DL266 and then running the open hulls thru the 366 to prime and load them. That way all you are doing for each pull of the handle is placing a new hull in the carousel and a wad in the Wad Guide.

This continued until I got the Lachmiller tool and it is slightly faster than the single stage press so I use it now instead.

I do this same process of breaking down cartridges IE; size/deprime then clean, as a separate operation on my Rifle Brass as well.

Then you are starting the actual loading process with clean prepped brass. It just makes more sense to do it that way and my ammo turns out consistently way above average.

With your DL300 I see no reason at all the use that left station. In fact I'd remove the die and punch just so I wasn't tempted to do it.

Much easier to just drop in a primer and hull and wad and pull the handle.

Randy

[seagiant]

Hi Randy,
Yes I have to agree, not having to deal with a hull "outside" of the carriage to resize it makes everything run smoother!

Never thought about removing the resize die completely?

Maybe that is what happened to the missing die on this DL-300 I have here???

[DonMountain]

Greg: the added Monkey Motion of moving the sized hull to the carousel. . .

I started sizing and depriming on my DL266 and then running the open hulls thru the 366 to prime and load them.

This continued until I got the Lachmiller tool and it is slightly faster than the single stage press so I use it now instead.

Much easier to just drop in a primer and hull and wad and pull the handle.

Randy

I almost bought one of those Lachmiller tools from eBay awhile back for the same reason. But decided not to spend the money. I should have bought it I guess to ease the resizing on all my old DL/Bair presses. Its too bad that resizing die (about 1" in diameter) won't screw into the head of my RCBS AmmoMaster press. I think it takes 1.25" or 1.125" diameter dies and I would probably need a custom turned bushing to make it work.

[seagiant]

Hi,
Well....There are plenty of Lachmillers if you look for one.

Just try to make sure the one you buy is complete and ready to go.

Mine LOOKS like the devil but works fantastic!

Need to redo it like Randy did his!

[DonMountain]

Hi,
Well....There are plenty of Lachmillers if you look for one.

Just try to make sure the one you buy is complete and ready to go.

Mine LOOKS like the devil but works fantastic!

Need to redo it like Randy did his!

So, where do you find all of these Lachmiller resizers? I have seen a couple on eBay in years past. But now it seems like everything on eBay brings a premium price if it is associated with reloading in any way.

[seagiant]

Hi,
I bought mine on e-bay!

You might ask in the want to buy.

Ask over at Shotgun World, just have to get the word out!

I put a "looking for" in my signature line here on Cast Boolits, has got me a few things at a fair price!

Remember RCBS also made a copy of the Lachmiller!

[r1kk1]

Wow seagiant you do good work no matter what the governor says!

WOW!!!!

r1kk1

[seagiant]

Hi r1kk1.
This one was a BEAR!!! Thanks!

[W.R.Buchanan]

I think I got my Lachmiller tool off Ebay or maybe www.trapshooters.com RCBS has many of the parts for these tools as their rendition of the tool was essentially the same as the Lachmiller. RCBS bought a lot of Lachmiller's stuff when he retired.

My tool wouldn't eject the hulls after they were sized. I talked to a guy at RCBS who was familiar with the tool and he suggested a new ejector spring,,, Which fixed the problem. I had also broken my collet and they had some of those as well. I still need to make a funnel for the base plate so the collet has something to hit in order to release the hull from the collet.

When you finally get the hang of these tools you can break down 100 hulls in about 5 minutes. That's where they come into their own little niche. I can get close to that using my 266's sizer and de-primer, by the Lachmiller is faster in the end.

In any event preprocessing your brass or hulls is definitely where it is at. You make better ammo and have more fun doing it.

Here's a before and after pics of mine and one close up. The paint came out very nice on this project.

Randy

[seagiant]

Hi,
Randy I can't help but wonder what you would charge someone to refurb or rebuild a reloading tool like the Lachmiller Conditioner or the DL-300???

I know I've got hours and hours on that 300!

Don't get me wrong I enjoy it, and have much more to do on it, hours more on the lathe with the P/S adapters and caps and a new P/S bar including new pin and wheel!!!

I mean some things just can't be bought I guess???