What clever little things have you "invented or discovered" that you can share?

self filling bullet/case tray

I saw this neat idea on another forum and I thought I would share it with you.
It is a self feeding dog food bowl & they are under $10.

I like to use 3 pound pretzel tubs (the clear plastic ones) for storing my brass in. I have a tub for clean and a tub for dirty.

I picked up a Berry's Manufacturing tumbler at a garage sale, and it came with the Barry's media sifter (http://www.berrysmfg.com/83.php). I drilled a hole in the sifter so that it would slide down over the top of the tumbler. Now I dump out the tumbler into a bucket, put the sifter over the top of the tumbler, dump the media/brass into the sifter, and start the tumbler! It vibrates all of the media back into the tumbler and makes the cases dance around and empty themselves (the pistol cases, that is -- rifle cases still need to be dumped).

Best way to use Lee case lube. Mix with water/iso alcohol 1 to 5 ratio. Put in spray bottle atomizer. Squirt into ziplock freezer bag. Add empties, shake well to coat, roll the empties around in there. Pour empties on towel to dry. 20 minutes later you are ready to roll. You can lube up about 1000 empties in 8 minutes. They dry with tack free finish, and can be stored indefinitely without attracting lint, dirt, or anysuchthing.

Here's something to remember that i've told people in everyday life. 15 minutes of work stops hours of confusion. If you can not look at something you have and tell me exactly what's in it. or where something you need is at. Then why not take 15 minutes and straighten it up so you can.

To make a Chamber Length Gauge take a spare case, drill a hole as big as the caliber through the primer hole, then take a hack saw and cut aprox. 1/3 of the end of the neck off to make a "ring" that will fit around a bullet. take the case and seat a bullet to your COL into the cut down case. To use the case length gauage, place the ring around the bullet and push it onto the bullet so it will stay, then chamber the round. that ring will act as a stop when it is forced down the bullet by the end of your chamber. You can then measure from the base of the round to the ring and that is the length of your chamber. you then know how long you can let your brass grow until you have to trim it. The hole drilled through the back of the cartridge is so when you seat a bullet you can push a rod or somthing up through the back and force the bullet out of the case if you need to seat a new bullet. Dont rely on just one measurement, take several mesurements and average them. This method is just as accurate as the guages they sell at sinclair.

offroaddriver,
+1

Bob

Finally I can contribute to this great thread. For those of us that still have the older Lee Challenger Press you know what a pain it is to empty the spent primers from the trough that they fall into. Plastic wrap is the answer. Use a big enough piece so you can grab the ends and pull it out with all the primers in it. Then replace it with a new piece.

neat idea dtally! the lee reloader press i use has a hole in the frame in which most of the spent primers go into for later removal... you have to unbolt the press and get them.... i simply drilled a hole in the bench top in the center of where the press bolts and put the trash can under the hole to catch the primers when they fall through.... works good!

I used to struggle to get my thumb safety back into place on my 1911. I found that the safety lock plunger pin can be pushed into place with the plastic spray tube from my WD-40 spray can. The thumb safety then pops right into place, and the spray tube slides right out. Hope that helps somebody

For you shotshell loaders, specifically those special loads that you want to put shot buffer in:

It is hard to get the buffer down in the shot column, but take an old double blade electric knife and hold the back, non-cutting edge against the case (after shot is in it) and pour in the buffer. The vibration will cause the shot to swallow that buffer like water until it is full, then crimp. Works like a charm!

Not terribly clever, or even new, but today I put a large label on my W296 bottle saying "Magnum Primers Only!" I don't load it often enough to trust my aging memory, so better safe than sorry.

That's odd. I have several Lee dies and they screw into the same presses that RCBS, Hornady, Lyman dies do.

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This is what I have been Told by at least 3 People ( I do not have any Lee and would not Bad Mouth ) I could be Wrong ? The Power is If It Works for You Is all that Matters. ( should I retract what I said ? )

I am Wrong...Retracting....Thank You Kindly. Geo.Az

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Actually, Geo.Az, you are right when it comes to 50 BMG. The lee dies are 1 1/4, everyone else's dies are 1 1/2. This poses a problem when it comes to bullet pulling. It's some where around 100 bucks for a puller, so figure out how much you'd have to pull for it to be worth while.

It seems Car Knocker got confused and was thinking about their dies for smaller calibers that use the standard 7/8-14 dies.

Empty peanut butter jars are great for storage containers.

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Yes, they are -- and at least if your equipment is Blue or Red, you can usually buy jars that match One of the varieties from CostCo (nice big jars) has a lid in a red very similar to that of my Lee press, and silly as it sounds, I have been hoarding those jars; I'd like enough to keep in them batches of everything associated with reloading -- a nice matching set.

timothy

Duct tape can make a great patch for the crotch of your pants in a pinch......at the range

Oh and my uncle color coordinates his brass and lead etc. by using different colored lids from peanut butter jars, there are many colors out there, example for 9x19 he uses yellow lids and .38 super he uses green

For case storage I use the large (4-1/2" square by 6" high) bulk snack nut plastic containers from Sam's Club. The lid is over 4" in diameter, both easy to reach into and pour large rifle cases out without jamming, and the square containers stack nicely and are easy to label. I snack on a lot of nuts...very good prices, too!

Sam's has larger large-mouthed containers also, but they are round...wastes some space and get heavy when full of cases.

I fasten lables with two pieces of scotch tape rather than using commercial gummed labels...very secure and still easy to remove when needs change.

Since I don't have a garage, basement, or any real 'mancave' I had to figure out a way that I could reload in my bedroom. I had an old cofee table lying around the crawlspace that I converted into a reloading bench. Now I can do my reloading while watching tv and without even going downstairs. The old cofee table might fall apart one day but its already given me a solid year's worth of comfortable reloading.

When reloading rifle cartridges, I chuck the Lee case trimmer holder in a cordless drill. Use the piloted trimmer to trim, then, without letting the drill stop, chamfer the case mouth, then pick up a scotchbrite pad and buff the case a bit. Steel wool it if you want too. Takes 5 seconds a case for all your prep to be done.

Couple of Primer mods for Hornady LnL

I made this primer level indicator out of an inert .45 ACP bullet and a 1/8" steel rod. There is a spent primer that is epoxied to the other end. (The bullet is epoxied as well). When the bullet is sitting on the cap, the primers are completely out. I also put a couple of pieces of velcro to the primer sleve and the primer pickup tube to keep handy track of it.

Case Lube for Sizing

For full-length rifle cases I lay a row of cases on an un-inked rectangular stamp pad lightly lubed with gun oil, lay the flat of my hand on them, give a quick roll with my hand, and go to resizing...nary a stuck case.

For neck sizing only, I lightly jam the case mouth down on the same pad. Picks up just enough lube for the inside and outside sizing, but not enough to cause any powder problems.

The stamp pad is nice for the purpose because it is very thin and the snap lid protects the pad from contamination.

Shell Sorter

I purchased a shell sorter from shellsorter.com and really like it.

I tried it out for the first time last night at a club meeting. We have huge buckets of all kinds of mixed pistol and rifle shells. With a minimal amount of effort I was able to get over 300 9mm cases in less than 10 minutes.

It's not perfect, but what is? It does the job, I'm happy ... that's all that matters.

I've also found out that I can use the sorter trays to remove the media after I've tumbled them. Two uses for the price of one.

Neither I, my family, or friends (I think I have 1 or 2) work for or know anyone that works for shellsorter.com

A couple more ideas

The little LED flashlights being sold now in auto parts stores that have the flexible shaft to a single lamp ($3.50!) work great for bore lights, staring into cases, etc. I use it to look for internal case stretch rings, best thing I've found for that.
I use RCBS x-dies for my 25-06 that require trimming to less than standard minimum. I use the little Lee handheld trimmer with the case holder chucked into a drill. To trim shorter, I just ground off the end of the pin that goes through the flashhole to contact the shellholder base.
I've got an older 7mm/06 that I wanted to try the Lee factory crimp die on. Lee doesn't make that die, but a .280 Remington die works fine after grinding the end off .050 on a surface grinder. Although I'm not presently crimping the 25-06, I did the same thing to a Lee FCD to match those shorter x-die cases.

If you live in the boonies and get a case stuck in a die like I did, you can make a puller by drilling and tapping the primer hole out (after backing off or removing the expander ball) and using a combination of washers and sockets to stack over the case. if you have a drill stop use it to keep the drill from punching through and getting tangled up with the primer punch. Best use a fine thread socket head screw, tighten and tap lightly, tighten again. Worked for me.

I measure distance to lands by pinching a fired case neck enough to friction hold a bullet barely seated. Then gently close the action, extract & measure OAL several times and write it in my notebook. I don't want to put a stoney point in my barrel, it might scratch something up

A shotgun bore mop works great for cleaning bottleneck sizer/seater dies in medium sizes.

That's it for cleverness for now.
Tom

Shell Sorter No 2

CrankyCrash, I have found a shell sorter even faster than yours! It's called....Grandkids!

Only costs me praise and a ice cream cone...

TooTaxed, that's good for you.

Unfortunately, all my grandkids are either pre-teens or teenagers and the aliens transformed them into heathens.

They've also learned that shiny nickels and dimes aren't worth crap any more and that undying love and affection thing has worn off

Caution on Electronic Powder Dispensers

Don't assume your expensive electronic powder dispenser remains accurate for even one 20-round box of ammunition!

Just found out that my Lyman 1200 DPS should be re-zeroed after each five charges to make sure no drift has occurred.

Discovered this drift problem while weighing 100 bullets from a large batch of pulled military bullets in order to determine weight variance. After sorting about forty bullets noticed a momentary -0.4 flash on the readout between bullets. Re-zeroed, checked the last bullet weighed, and found out it weighed 0.4-gr heavier! Checked several of the already sorted bullets, found out almost all were off. Dumped tham all back in the bag, and this time re-zeroed every 15th bullet...found them drifted off up to -0.2 just before re-zeroing.

Finally found the answer in the very last sentence in the instruction booklet, the last item in the "Suggestions/Tips" section: "It is a good idea to press the CAL/ZERO button after every 5 powder drops to be sure no drift has occurred."

(My comments have been censored or they could not have been posted!)