Old School Reloading

[Bindlestiff]

No Mike, I have never seen one. I just ran across what I posted while surfing the internet. I would assume that after going to the expense and bother to file a patent that they would make a few?

[edgarspencer]

Originally Posted by John Farrell

You can get a drill press roll crimping device from Precision Reloading (800-223-0900). They also have a hull trimmer that goes with their D-Loader that will trim to 2 1/2" if you need that size.

Doesn't anyone make their own stuff anymore? I made this hull trimmer in an hour or two, it's fully adjustable, and the cut edge of my 2 1/2" hulls is cleaner than the NPE 2 3/4" I start with.

[wayne goerres]

Are those new paper hulls Edger and if so were do you buy them.

[Paul Harm]

Edger, can't tell how you're cutting the shell. Also, not everyone has the necessary equipment or knowledge to make something like you're showing. I just use the bandsaw with a piece of 1X4 clamped to the table for a guide or the old razor stuck in a wooden dowel.

[edgarspencer]

The wooden dowel is turned to the ID of the shell casing and clamped in place to set the length of the cut. Each shell is slid on, the arm is closed, so that a razor blade side cuts into it, and the shell is rotated. the cut is cleaner than the new case, prior to cutting, and this is why the rolled crimps are so nice as there is no ragged cardboard edge.

[Richard Flanders]

Nice trimmer Edgar. I started my reloading in the early 60's with one of these old reloading sets... most of which I still have. Somehow over the years I lost the powder/shot measure and the dowel portion of the primer punch/seater. I have various 12ga and 10ga parts left. As for the roll crimpers there are two kinds. One has a stamped brass head, the other is machined. I had MUCH better results with the machined crimping head back in the day. I still have them both upstairs and can post a pic if necessary but it's easy to tell the difference. You can easily leave marks on the rim if you bear down too hard while rolling a crimp. You just have to experiment and get used to it. You can make very nice reloads with these old tools. I think the primer issue is because "they just ain't made like they usta be". The primers I punch out of vintage paper shells are a lot stouter than what they make today. Perhaps that's why our vintage hammer guns have firing pins that put one hell of a dent in the primers. Which came first - the hvy springs and large firing pins or the thick primers?? Modern firing pins are nowhere near as large in diameter as they are in some vintage hammer guns. The punching pin on these old cast metal sets is generally rounded also and can easily dent modern primers if they go in hard, especially since they are hinged and do not push quite straight down as a primer starts to seat if I remember correctly. It's easier to get the primer mostly seated using the wad seating dowel and a hard wood or aluminum block as a base if you can do it without damaging the base wad in the process.

[Roundsworth]

From the beginning, brass shotshells used Berdan or No. 2 Boxer primers. These primers were made of brass or copper and were rounded, thus, the concave seating punch found on numerous antique priming tools. Paper shotshells used the No. 2 primer, which was also the standard large pistol primer, well into the 20th century. My shotshell reloading experience is slim. I deprimed and seated No. 209 primers in R-P 10 gauge hulls by hand. The amount of force required to perform these tasks was substantially greater than the force required to deprime and seat a large pistol primer (No. 2) in any metallic case. The majority of the tong type priming tools were designed for Berdan or Boxer primers and may not produce satisfactory results with modern battery cup shotshell primers. The removable wooden knob on an antique decapper/wad seater would probably split if used to deprime or seat No. 209 primers. Good Luck!

[Paul Harm]

Fooling around one day, I put a recess in the center of the flat end of the dowel meant for seating a primer - got the idea from the old " Lee " reloading tool. That, and the small pin sticking out of the dowel for depriming is small enough to push out just the center of a modern shotgun primer. You'll end up with what looks like a pistol or rifle primer on the bench. Makes me wonder if that's what shotgun primers are with a ring attached.

[John Farrell, Charter Member #33]

Paul - some years ago I was talking to one of the original members of a club I shot at and we got into a discussion about reloading costs. He talked about when he first started in the reloading game he used a hand loading tool for roll crimping his shells and a small pliers like tool that pierced and popped the primer cup out of a shotgun shell; and then re-primed with a pistol primer or maybe he meant a small rifle primer such as is used in a .22 Hornet. He said when the new complete primer as we now use arrived on the scene, it was easier, although costlier, to reload.

I got the decapper tool from Walter and had it around here for a long time but sold it at a gun show to a collector. I used it to decap some primers and it worked pretty slick but was time consuming to do 100 hulls. Plus, I never knew which primer to use in the reloaded hulls so never went further than doing what you described.

[Jeff K.]

The parker closer is shown in the Parker Story and also is in the Hardware catalog. I'll take a picture of the two variations when my camera battery recharges.