Old School Reloading

[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!