I found that the most time consuming part of swaging large amounts of crimped brass was from reaching into my bin, picking out a piece of brass, and correctly orienting it to slide onto the pin of the swager. After looking over at my press I realized I already had what I needed to speed things up. After a few trials, I came up with this.
What clever little things have you "invented or discovered" that you can share?
- Thread starter James THR
- Start date
I found that the most time consuming part of swaging large amounts of crimped brass was from reaching into my bin, picking out a piece of brass, and correctly orienting it to slide onto the pin of the swager. After looking over at my press I realized I already had what I needed to speed things up. After a few trials, I came up with this.
Jbird45
Member
For those of you out there that shoot .30-06 and .45 Colt, if you save the little black plastic trays that come with the 50 round .45 boxes the tray perfectly holds a .30-06 shell at the base with no wobble. It is perfect if you use a bench mounted powder measure and a funnel and is way more compact than those fancy loading trays. Might fit other rounds too that used the 06 as a parent case.
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anothernewb
Member
lordpaxman
Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2011
- Messages
- 2,431
I’ve been using the FA Vibra-Prime (FAVP?) for a while now and realized I was holding it like I would strong hand only. I lightened up the grip A LOT and it now vibrates a lot more... duh... and seems to work a bit better.
forty_caliber
Member
I've been squirreling away brass and other components in whatever I can find...boxes, coffee cans, etc. The boxes go bad pretty quick with the humidity in this area and pretty soon I have a jumbled mess on my hands. I've always liked the Akro-Mills storage bins for this kind of thing but never really pursued it. The bins come in many sizes and colors. I found an inexpensive way to store them by using slotted steel DIN Rail to hang them on. A big plus is that I can just grab a bin off the wall and go. Time for me to get it all organized.
.40
.40
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pert near
Member
I've never been accused of over-tightening things, but when I was in a hurry last night to trim some cases to load & shoot today, I ended up jackin' for half-hour with a stuck screw in my case trimmer. The allen head hole was rounded-out. I tried a few things & finally drilled it out some & luckily I had an EZ-Out that fit the small hole. I went to the local hardware store today & bought a couple of screws to fit. I made sure they were long enough to grab with pliers in case such a calamity should ever happen again. I wanted a cap-head but the SS button head was all they had - good enough!
wbbh
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- Apr 30, 2016
- Messages
- 234
Get yourself some Wera Allen head drivers, they fit better. Wera's Hex-Plus design helps to keep the screw head intact with narrow contact surfaces. I had the same problem with a TrimIt II trimmer that uses three different sized Allen screws that all need to be adjusted. I replaced all the soft setscrews with better screws from Fastenall.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007ICWFX8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
RetiredUSNChief
Member
There might be a specific tool for this, but yours worked great, I can see!
When I was in the Navy, I had to do an alignment on a flow detector. I needed to vent the detector...but the vent plug in the top was rounded out (allen head).
It was looking like we needed to replace the vent plug assembly, since we couldn't get the vent plug out...but the catch was to install the new vent plug assembly, the technical manual said you had to install it with the detector positioned upside down. (This kept the O-ring on the vent plug assembly while installing.)
Unfortunately the detector weighed 90 pounds, which wasn't a problem itself, except it was WAY inaccessable for that kind of lifting/manipulating. (Not to mention the QA involved in remaking the piping joints.)
Told my Chief I had an idea...got the next size up allen head tool, carefully filed down each side to a taper until it would just fit into the rounded out allen head vent plug. Tapped it in with a small hammer until it was snug...then popped it loose with a wrench, easy-peasy!
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lordpaxman
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- Jun 4, 2011
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On my Hornady LNL, I have the case feeder and for 9mm sometime the cases seem to tip a bit over the retainer spring. I've envisioned milling a deeper slot or extending where the spring exits but as a quick fix, I sprayed the plate with WD-40 Specialist Dry Lube and they slip into the shell plate a bit easier!
Legionnaire
Contributing Member
So last night while I was setting bullet depth by trial and error for the millionth time, I said to myself, "Self, this should be an exercise in applied math. How far do I need to turn this seater stem to move it X thousandths?" A simple enough task if one knows the thread pitch of the seater. So after a little research, I put together the attached quick reference table sized to display on my phone screen. Feedback welcome, especially if you see any errors!
pert near
Member
Thanks for this - I wish I could press the "Like" key twice! I'm taping this inside my reloading cabinet door!
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Legionnaire
Contributing Member
Goneshoot'n
Member
Woah. Mind blown. Right after smacking my forehead for not thinking of this, I went on Amazon and ordered one. Works perfect. Here's another setup that also works:
Wis-Harpo
Member
I have a MEC Grabber shotgun reloading press. When there is a spill of lead shot, sometimes a pellet or 2 falls into the metal shell sizing fingers . Luckily I have a dental pick to lift the shot out. If I miss a pellet, the sizing fingers will flatten the shot, and the press will not work. I then use a flash light, and the thin flat tip of the pick to scrape the flat shot out. The main use for the dental pick used to be cleaning hard to reach areas in my shotguns.
JFrank
Member
To check for ?
JFrank
Member
consistent seating force, it started as a gag but it actually works quite well
JFrank
Member
As Mr. Guffey would say he has many gages to measure neck tension but none measure in tensions. This is a health-o- meter , I told him that I seat to a consistent 12 health’s
J
J
For those using or interested in purchasing a Sinclair Bullet Sorting Stand with Dial Indicator, I had noticed that any slight movement of the placement of the base comparator could make the readings vary on the dial indicator. To eliminate any change in the placement of the comparator I superglued a LE Wilson die base onto the marble stand and it works perfectly with no slop for the comparator base to fit in.
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JFrank
Member
^^^^^
Excellent
Excellent
HEAVY METAL 1
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- Joined
- Jan 18, 2005
- Messages
- 417
I just discovered that a book light that I do not use makes an excellent bore light.
