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

That IS clever!
Bronson7

1. Meguiar's Car Cleaner Wax (In the Red Bottle) is almost a dead even substitute for Dillon's Liquid Case cleaner. The Meguiar's has a very fine abrasive that will make brass shine. A capful is all you need per load. A lot cheaper and easier to get than specialized case cleaners.



2. The decapping stem from .303 British (RCBS dies) can be used for almost all the .30 caliber dies (30-40 Krag, 30-06, .308 etc...) when using cast bullets. The .303 stem comes in about .310 - .311 depending on die sets. If you have a KRAG or Springfield 03, 03A3 that has a larger groove diameter, the .303 stem will help you get a better bore fit. Simply swap the .303 stem for your .30 caliber stem to get the larger fit. Marking the stems with a permanent marker is also wise so you know which goes with which.

3. Your tumbler is also a handy device for cleaning things other than brass. I've cleaner many a rusty die set with a vibratory cleaner. Duct tape the tunnel if you're worried about die damage.

4. It's hard to beat plain old ATF fluid for rust prevention. As Ed Harris once said, it's the best cleaner, luber, preservative for about $2 per quart. I soak all my dies that are going to be exposed to humid conditions in ATF. They rarely rust.

5. Baking sheets are hard to beat when sizing/lubing vast quantities of cast bullets. Lubed sized bullets can be stored in a simple rack. The perfect rack I purchased years ago at an auction. An Airline food cart. The vertical stack, with the built in trays (with wheels on the bottom to boot!) is perfect for storing all your sized/lubed bullets.

6. A ~6oz.~ Tomato Paste can cleaned, dried, and open on one end filled with hot lead will cool into the perfect lead hammer head. Once cool, peel off the tin can (or cut with a dremel) and bore the center axis for a tapered handle. Toss or remelt with a new can when its been beaten to death. Small lead hammers are handy when casting bullets (for striking the sprue plate without damage).

7. I glue or epoxy pennies, nickels, or quarters to the base of my homemade brass powder dippers made from old brass cases. The added weight and wider base makes it much easier to set the dipper down and have it stay upright. The wider base may or may not affect the "dipping" motion. YMMV. Penny pinchers can use a washer for lower cost.

8. Home Depot, Lowe's and other big box hardware stores sell empty unlabeled metal paint cans that are perfect for storing small amounts of powder purchased in bulk (surplus powder). Simply add your own label. The wide mouth of the paint can also makes dipping from the can much easier.

9. It is virtually impossible to beat the standard USGI .30 Caliber ammo can for sheer utility and general usefulness in reloading, storage, and range duty. Larger cans hold more, but are heavier, take up more space, and generally cost more. If you're just starting off reloading and shooting, standardizing on the .30 can, and no other, will yield benefits long into the future. Use standard Avery Mailing lablels to mark the top and front end of can when stored. Very easy to find what you are looking for. For me, a white background on a label means empty brass, an OD background, loaded ammunition. Pick your own color scheme and standardization will yield immense benefits. Range transport with .30 cans is eminently easier with .30 cans in lieu of .50 cans.

10. Multiple reloading books are required. But your end result should be a 3 ring binder or similar, tabbed and indexed by the weapons you own and shoot. I tab mine by model & serial number. I use one 3 ring binder, with a tabbed section by each firearm. Each section, by firearm, shows what loads I have tried, which ones are successful, and which ones aren't. It's also a handy place to store cut outs of targets with good performing loads. The one binder is a handy reference when trying to load ammunition for a rifle you spent 6 months on load development, lost interest in, and "re-discovered" after 4 years of being in the back of the safe. You're going to want to know what works in that rifle, and that rifle only. So having a tabbed index for just that rifle is a very handy reference to have when you want to quickly assemble 100 or 200 rounds late Friday night to be ready for the range Saturday morning. Don't waste your time or effort by losing your data you spent hours developing. Store it in one place, in one binder, bright red works for me.

11. If you want to save money with a buddy and you live in a major metropolitan area, look in the Yellow Pages under "Abrasives Dealers" for a dealer selling 12/20 Sieve Crushed English Walnut. It's normally about $15 - $20 per 50lb bag. This is tumbling media. It's also what dealers rebag and sell you at gunshows for $5 a 1 gallon bag. Go bulk, it's cheaper. A 50lb. bag will last me 10 years or more.

Way Cool! Bullet Puller, bullet ejector

Oh, man, you guys are

Here I thought I had a gimmick or two, scanned through here, you guys have me beat (and have saved me some money next time I get case cleaning supplies).

Ever wonder what to do with those extra .38 hollow base wadcutters when you reload? Or ever want some really cheap hollow points?

I loaded up a bunch of 148 grain hollow base wadcutters backwards (I suppose that makes them hollow point wadcutters) and they fly backwards just as well as they do forwards, at least in my limited testing. I haven't done any gelatin testing, but my guess is that for informal pest control, they should have really good expansion on anything the size of a groundhog or bigger.

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to share!

Texasflyboy

6. A ~6oz.~ Tomato Paste can cleaned, dried, and open on one end filled with hot lead will cool into the perfect lead hammer head. Once cool, peel off the tin can (or cut with a dremel) and bore the center axis for a tapered handle. Toss or remelt with a new can when its been beaten to death. Small lead hammers are handy when casting bullets (for striking the sprue plate without damage).

7. I glue or epoxy pennies, nickels, or quarters to the base of my homemade brass powder dippers made from old brass cases. The added weight and wider base makes it much easier to set the dipper down and have it stay upright. The wider base may or may not affect the "dipping" motion. YMMV. Penny pinchers can use a washer for lower cost.

Click to expand...

I flipped over the powder trickler and poured hot lead in it.
Now it doesn't fall over.
Actually, I pulled the stem, filled it with lead bullets, and put the torch on it.

Loading blocks

I have been reloading for 20 years now, and never bought or made a loading block.

I use styrofoam trays known as "Vacutainers", made by Becton-Dickinson : they are 6" x 7" x 1" and contain 100 "blind" holes. They're made for laboratories and meant to hold test tubes.
Unfortunately the holes are too deep for some pistol cases (.32 ACP,.380 ACP, 9mm, but OK for .45 ACP) but excellent for all revolver cases (.32 long up to .45 Colt).

My elder brother is an MD, and gets these trays for free from the clinical laboratories he sends his samples to for testing and/or medical and pharamaceutical suppliers.
Every year or so he gives me a crateful (30 or so) (unused of course).
Although they're made from styrofoam, they last surprisingly well, are very stable and , well, just "neat".

Lee trimmer idea - pic heavy! 56k NSFV (Not Safe For Viewing)

My loading bench, such as it is


Brass shavings in the left, trimmed, chamfered, and deburred to the right, ready for priming


Finally figured out how to save my right hand from cramping


Trimming a .308 case (not actually turning in the pic)


Mechanics gloves really help with the shavings and grip here


Cry Havoc!

Cry Havoc!,
Very well done. I appreciate the step-by-step photos. It's so much easier for a "slow guy" like me to visualize the process with clear well defined photos. GOOD JOB!!

Oh, and WELCOME to the Forum. Keep that camera handy!

Bob

Thanks! I can't afford a lathe-type trimmer, much less something like a Giraud. So I had to come up with a way to do it on the cheap. I still haven't figured out why some of the brass spins out of the case holder on the drill. Once I DID figure out that cleaning the lube off REALLY well helps a lot, things went smoother and faster. The pliers are there for those occasional spinners.
There have been so many great ideas here I was glad I found something I could contribute that may be helpful to someone.

Cry Havoc!

Does any company make a chamfer/deburring tool that does both at the same time? I've seen quite a few that have one or the other on each end, but not one that does both simultaneously. I'm thinking of C-clamping it to my bench like the trimmer and then I could just move from one to the other fairly quickly.

Thanks,
Cry Havoc!

Cry Havoc, I don't know of any. It is easy to chamfer/debur too much, which can leave a knife-edge sharp case mouth and not leave much strength to grab the bullet for a crimp. All you have to do is remove just the sharp edge left from trimming, which only takes one quick light turn of the tool.

RCBS makes a trimmer head that also champfers & deburrs in one fell stroke.
http://shop.rcbs.com/WebConnect/Mai...24&route=C13J036N024&tabNumber=0&beginIndex=0

Not cheap though, and caliber specific!

rcmodel

Mesh bags

Rather than buy your mesh bags from Lyman and others for a high price, just save your onion or small tangerine bags and use them. One onion or tangerine bag will make two "regular" bags at zero cost. And...they last just as long or longer as the specialty bags.

I don't know if anybody has mentioned it before -- use a mixture of Murphy's Oil Soap and water for lubing cast bullets prior to sizing in a Lee push-through sizing die. Its cheap and not too messy.

4. It's hard to beat plain old ATF fluid for rust prevention. As Ed Harris once said, it's the best cleaner, luber, preservative for about $2 per quart. I soak all my dies that are going to be exposed to humid conditions in ATF. They rarely rust.

Click to expand...

Is that Ed Harris the actor, or is there some famous reloader by the name?

Context?

I think that's the Ed who invented the "Ed's Red" mixture of ATF and a dozen other household chemicals. Devotees use it as a cleaner, lubricant and preservative for their guns. Often, someone mentions Ed's Red on a forum and a storm of pro and con erupts.

I sincerely doubt the inventor and actor are the same guy. But who knows, everyone needs a hobby.

I believe Ed Harris is a long time reloader, bullet caster, and gun writer. He really knows his stuff and has done most everything with cast bullet reloading. I have heard he retired from full time writing but I am not sure. he is on the Cast Bullet Association forum all the time and his answers are extremely informative.

Load database

If anyone wants it (as is, limited support...), I just created a database that tracks my various load work ups and range reports.

So, it will let you create a record with all the details of a load. Then, there is a 2nd table that lets you put in Range Reports. The database then calculates stuff like the # of times you've shot that load and the average group size, etc.

Built using FileMaker Pro on a Macintosh, but works on PC as well. You wold need to have FileMaker to use this.

Picture attached with a sample print out.

Yes. I am a geek.

WNC Seabee,
Very nice gesture!! Thank you. I like geeks that reload!

Bob

I found a thread in another forum that said to cycle the powder measure ten times before starting each day. It is supposed to eliminate settled denser powder at the bottom of the hopper tube. On my Pro2000 with the micrometer measure I found it too easy to disturb the setting, so I added this to the linkage;

The knob is a standard 1" diameter plastic knob with a 5/16-18 tapped insert available at MSC and elsewhere. I made an adapter that replaced the nut on the sliding pin, it's 7/16 diameter 303 stainless with a 5/16" wrench flat milled on it. The hole that replaced the nut is 10-32.

As mentioned elsewhere I found that the powder shakes out of short cases as the detent ball snaps into the hole at stations 4 & 5 using the auto feed attachment. I replaced the original detent spring with one much shorter and smaller wire, problem solved. I want to come up with an adaptation that allows external adjustment of the height of the spring so it can be adjusted with more snap if I need it for longer cases, but so far I can't see any reason to as it indexes fine. Next time I go to the hardware store I'll buy a series of springs, it only takes a few minutes to change them out.

Darrel Davis - re. sticky lube

I have used several many lubes for differing things.
Midway sells a ground mica powder for lubing shell case mouths, even have a little box with assorted upright brushes in it for assisting with the application. Dry powder prolly doesn't even need cleaning.

Graphite powder might work as well.

And then there is Teflon powder, slicker than you can imagine.

Have you tried the spray arosol lubes? I don't make wildcats but do 8mm Mauser, 30-06, 30-30, Several pistol cartridges. I think it was by Lyman, in a green can. Could go out and check if you are interested. It works very well.

In Your Service:
First Big Foot

Not anything special, just for my conveinence.
Routed a piece of walnut to fit the base of my 5-0-5 scale & trickler so they stay in the same positions to each other & are easily moved around on the bench without disturbing them.
The trickler spout is simply rotated over the pan, or rotated out of the way to remove or replace the pan.

Hud

The pictures or post are no longer here, but someone had made a few stands for extra Dillon primer systems. They simply removed the whole priming system and replaced it with another of different size. Does anyone remember who that was?

Here's a link to Mr. Enos' site....go down a ways on the thread and you will see a picture of a home-made primer assembly stand.
http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=584&st=125
Bob

I use Coffee Cans (Plastic Cans)
Hold 500rds 148gr wadcutters
Great For Clean Brass Storage Before Reloading Stackable etc

Thanks VonFatman! That is exactly the post I was looking for. For some reason, I thought it was originally posted here.