A few tips and tricks from my reloading bench and smithing shop.

HRgx

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In the spirit of sharing rather than always taking (yes I take a tip from here every time I log in), I'd like to give some back. I'm not quite sure as to how to type text and follow it up with the elevant photo just yet. So I'll just type and load the photos afterward.

1. As we all age, so do our eyes. My loading bench consists of an RCBS Chargemaster which I use for large batch loading once I've found a suitable load. However, when developing a load, I still use my RCBS balance beam. Besides, it's a good means of checking that the Chargemaster isn't lying to me (it never has). Problem is with the balance beam is that I find myself squinting to view the mark on the balance beam. My solution is to use my android tablet's camera mounted in a little bracket that I widled from a piece of wood. This makes watching the marks to line up perfectly much easier. In fact, in the camera function, you can enable those lines that allow you to line up perfectly. You can also use your smart phone.

2. My primary loading press is a Lee turret press. My other one is a CH4 arbour press. I made up a quick and dirty cheap rack to hold my turrets with the dies that I most often use to store the turrets for easy access right on my bench.

3. Lee seating dies come with a knob to make seating adjustments quick and easy. Once you've figured out where the lands are in relation to the bullet ogive, it is easy to adjust the seating die to the desired depth using a dial indicator mounted on the press.

4. RCBS dies however do not feature such a knob. These use a slotted screw requiring a screw driver to adjust and have no means to use a dial indicator. No problem, I've turned some brass knobs to make use of the dial indicator.

5. Finally, one could not call themselves a true "Canuck" gunsmith if one didn't make use of a hockey puck as a smithing tool eh!. This hockey puck was actually thrown over the glass by a Colorado Avalanche player as I watched their practice skate before an upcoming game at the Calgary Saddledome. Anyhow, it makes a good means of drifting pins in or out of a firearm etc.

Tablet on Scale.jpgDie Rack.jpgDial on Lee.jpgDial on RCBS.jpgHockey puck1.jpgHockey puck2.jpg
 
I like that hocky puck idea. I have 2 or 3 hard rubber pucks around 3" in diameter that I was looking to do something with. Think I will make punch blocks out of them. Maybe give one away on here for Christmas.
 
All of these are great ideas. Silly me, even owning multiple indicators- never once thought about using them to adjust my dies.
 
All of these are great ideas. Silly me, even owning multiple indicators- never once thought about using them to adjust my dies.
So glad to have given you a tip that you may use. :)
 
If I can find my pictures of my 12gauge set up on my hydraulic mec it's set up to fill once a day and load 1,000 rounds while only filling primers 5 times and powder twice. My rig holds 75 plus pounds of shot and no weight added to the press. Had plans on adding an extra powder jug , but my pain stopped me.
 
I always wanted the micrometer competition seating dies for 308, and I never thought to use my tenth test indicator!!!
 
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