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

Primer Pocket Reamer

RCBS makes a primer pocket expander for military brass to remove the crimp from .223 and .308. It is the best thing and less than $10, when I bought it. I use it with my rock chucker press. One pull and done, no muss, no fuss. With the leverage of the RC it is easy and I don't have to worry about hitting a burr and twisting the case, etc.

can you link that Coz?

Swager

I thought I put the link in already but don't see it in the forum so just in case here it is again. It cost more than I remember but I have had mine for years. Anyway will worth it if you use a lot of military brass.
Coz

http://shop.rcbs.com/Products/Case-Preparation/Accessories/Primer-Pocket-Swager-Combo-2.aspx

Thanks. Not sure if this drill and bit technique I'm using is the best idea..

Necessity is the mother of invention. Laziness is the father. I'm too lazy to bend over and pick up my brass, so I built this:



Made from PVC pipe. The square part does not have the corners glued, so that it can be taken apart. I slotted the ends slightly so they insert and remove easier. Also, I ran some small bungee cord inside the pipe so it folds up easily, and more importantly, unfolds with the correct ends together so it is quick to reassemble.

The netting is called "cargo netting" at the local fabric shop (thanks to my wife for finding that). Held to the pipe by tie-wraps every 6" or so. I let the netting drop down in the bottom to catch and hold the brass, and also have an apron that I can lift up onto the shooting bench.

Here it is folded for transport:



It does a good job catching brass, except for my SKS which launches casings straight up into low earth orbit.

Probably been done before, seemed kinda obvious to me. For determining the max COL for a given projectile and chamber, the "push method" is often used. I decided to modify a casing for this purpose. I used a Dremel tool with a cutoff disc to cut slots in the casing, every 90 degrees. This allows the bullet to slide easier when the casing is pushed into the chamber.

I found this works best if you start with a fired casing, not resized. After cutting the slots, run it through a crimp die with the bullet in place, to help push the brass back into contact with the bullet and smooth out any deformities from the cutting process. I also chucked it up in a drill press and held a small file to the casing to smooth everything out.

Toprudder my back stop is almost an exact copy of yours. I made mine a couple of years ago and use it with my pistols and AR-15. One thing I didn't do it put in the slight slant in the back stop as you did and mine does not fold up as small as yours. I think your back stop design is better than mine so I am going to add that feature. Thanks for the pics. Very nice.

gizmos

I made a primer catcher by cutting the bottom of a 1 gallon plastic bottle to fit around the front of the press, held in place with some sort of elastic band. Hair elastics like the Goody brand seem to work better and last longer than rubber bands for this, and holding small cardboard boxes of ammo closed.

For color coding bullet tips, drill holes in a piece of wood so the suitable length of bullet is exposed. Spray paint.

I use an iPad app for making business cards to create tags for my brass lots in process so I can keep track of what has been done to them. card says:

Cleaned
Reamed
Lubed
Sized
Lube off
Trimmed

So I put check marks after each process as it might be weeks or months before I can get back to them.

Toprudder that's a great idea.

I just find spent unsized cases that are expanded enough to accept the bullet by hand and keep them just for "push tests". I have about 8-10 on my bench.

Another goodie for the never-ending thread, wish I had a photo: instead of using my bolt to push a case into the chamber to measure OAL, I pushed it in with a finger and pressed on the primer pocket hard with a cleaning rod to firmly seat the bullet. But instead of trying to remove the case (and seated bullet) with the bolt and risking some bumps that might throw off the measurement, I simply pulled on some heavy fishing line that I threaded through the flash hole, knotted to a small bead inside the case. Perfect! Very repeatable, and probably works for autoloaders too ( be sure to use a fire-formed case).

Bump this awesome thread. Read through all 49 pages. Wealth of knowledge there. On my bench that I share with my wife, I drilled & put 4 3/8" T nuts. I can unbolt the plywood & press quickly. My powder charger I used a 1/2" standoff plate with a 7" nipple with 2,1/2" electrical locknuts. It works well I think. Never mind the shady couch, had I known it was blended leather I wouldn't have bought it.

TBJK, I have the same Harbor Freight bench. I mount my presses like you, except I use carriage bolts through the bench dog holes, with fender washers and wing nuts underneath. I've thought about T-nuts as this would be easier to swap things out, but I don't have to reconfigure my bench very often.

"I would be interested in something which was as good as the STP but not as hard to clean up."

There is a product called "Fluid film". It's lanolin and quite thick. Cut it with alcohol solvent (not rubbing alcohol). Cut it until it's a light yellow color, put it in a spray bottle, cases go in a gallon zip loc bag. A few sprays and jiggle the bag and size and decap.

toprudder... on your "adjustable" cartridge... you can also thread the primer pocket and put a machine screw in there. Makes it easier to just turn the screw until the bullet contacts the rifling.

When you think about it, that's just like one of Hornady's chamber gauges.

Ritchie said:

For color coding bullet tips, drill holes in a piece of wood so the suitable length of bullet is exposed. Spray paint.

Click to expand...

This is perfect. I was wondering how I would accomplish this. Thanks! It seems so simple now!

RainDodger said:

toprudder... on your "adjustable" cartridge... you can also thread the primer pocket and put a machine screw in there. Makes it easier to just turn the screw until the bullet contacts the rifling.

When you think about it, that's just like one of Hornady's chamber gauges.

Click to expand...

Hadn't thought of that. I think I will add that. Thanks!

Quickdraw McGraw said:

I had the same problem with my RCBS trickler Hairy I poured molten lead in mine. Now mine doesn't tip over any more!

Click to expand...

To weigh down a plastic piece without resorting to hot lead I use plaster of paris and for added weight slip a few sinkers in for added weight.

Many GREAT hints and gimmicks. Learned a lot.
One thing has me confused, On post#254 This doesn't seem to work with any of my pistols. Pushing on the slide only seems to lock the slide up. If you push on the slide with the entire weapon on the block the slid cant move back because the dust cover hits the block. The dust cover is part of the frame and as such is solid. The only way I found it to work is to hang the frame over the edge of the block so it is free to move. Am I overthinking this?
My pistols are PT1911 P32, m&P,9C, Taurus Millenium 9MM

deadeye dick said:

Many GREAT hints and gimmicks. Learned a lot.
One thing has me confused, On post#254 This doesn't seem to work with any of my pistols. Pushing on the slide only seems to lock the slide up. If you push on the slide with the entire weapon on the block the slid cant move back because the dust cover hits the block. The dust cover is part of the frame and as such is solid. The only way I found it to work is to hang the frame over the edge of the block so it is free to move. Am I overthinking this?
My pistols are PT1911 P32, m&P,9C, Taurus Millenium 9MM

Click to expand...

Since you drilled out relief cuts for the barrel and the guide rod, it seems you also have to also relieve the block for the frame (dust cover) where it hits. Or, as you observed, have that part of the frame off the edge of the block.

It seems to me that the designer of the block intended only to move the slide back far enough to free up the slide. If he wanted to operate the slide through its full cycle, there would have to be something done about the frame, as you have discovered.

Good luck

Lost Sheep

Lost Sheep, I comprende,
I was shooting off my rear deck today as I usually do. The deck is 12 ft. wide and 15 ft. long and surrounded on three sides by the house. Half of the ejected cases hit the Caldwell catcher and the rest wind up on the deck when using the bench. Off hand they are all on the deck. I usually do my back excercises by manually picking them up. Than I had a brain fart, Went out and bought a small tipup dust pan and broom. A real back saver. Also good on the range as I don't have to touch the ground. Thought I'd throw that in.

improved primer catcher RC IV

3D printing allows testing designs without molding costs. I designed one that fits in place of the RCBS unit and funnels spent primer chunks into a tube for collection or recycling. Now have lefthand and righthand versions and several different colors (including green!) Version on Thingiverse is an early design.

I have backstop barrels that I shoot into on my range. They are 30-something gallon plastic barrels that I stuff with rolled up 5" fire house. I roll the hose as tight as I can and stack 3 rolls which comes up just shy of the top. My father gets the barrels for free from his job and I get the failed hose after they hose test at my job. I haven't been able to send anything through it yet. The best candidate I've tested is 300wm. Penetrates half or less.

Another interesting thing is that the fiber filled hose barely damages a lot of the bullets. I've always wanted to test them but I've taken bullets out that look brand new except for the rifling marks.

Joea132 said:

I have backstop barrels that I shoot into on my range. They are 30-something gallon plastic barrels that I stuff with rolled up 5" fire house. I roll the hose as tight as I can and stack 3 rolls which comes up just shy of the top. My father gets the barrels for free from his job and I get the failed hose after they hose test at my job. I haven't been able to send anything through it yet. The best candidate I've tested is 300wm. Penetrates half or less.

Another interesting thing is that the fiber filled hose barely damages a lot of the bullets. I've always wanted to test them but I've taken bullets out that look brand new except for the rifling marks.

Click to expand...

I understand (for those who do not have access to retired fire hoses) that shredded tires will perform very well.

Lost Sheep

I'm not sure if this has been posted before, but this flashed to me today. I like to check powder drops occasionally during a run. In the past, I would drop the charge and dump powder in the scale pan which was zeroed out on the scale. Then I either used a funnel to put the powder back in the case or emptied the powder in the reservoir and dropped another charge to finish the round. I use a Lee 4-hole turret press and load for pistols.

Today, I suddenly figured I could size and prime the case, put it on the scale and hit "tare", back in the press to drop the charge in the case, then put it back on the scale to read the charge weight. I then just put the case back in the press and completed the cartridge. Saved a lot of time, encouraging me to check more often.