Reloading Gear - New equipment that improves the reloading process.

How to turn your 4 stage press into a 5 stage press

• First, remove the auto indexing rod that passes through the center of the press. You now have a manually indexed press.
• Next, remove the powder drop. That becomes the location of the new station.
• Replace the belling die with a Lee "powder through the die" belling die
• Attach a Lee Auto Disk powder dropper to the belling die. You've now combined 2 functions (belling and loading powder) into one station
• Insert a lock die in the station formerly occupied by the powder dropper. A lock die prevents you from fully raising the press when either too much or too little powder is present in the case.

Advantages:

1. Can now add a lockout die to enhance safety
2. The Lee Auto Disk is triggered by the case moving within the die. If there is no case, no powder is dropped. This is much better than having to detach and reattach the powder bar everytime you need to skip dropping powder.
3. Eliminates unscrewing the index bar when changing calibers. The fewer the steps, the better.
4. The Lee Auto Disk has proven very consistant in the amount of powder dropped. It is not fully adjustable. Instead, it has a set of disks (see image below), each with different pre-sized openings. You select a cavity that gives you the load, or close to the load, you are after. While you may not be able to get the exact charge desired, the charge you do get will be consistant. Lee sells a double disk kit and a micro disk. The Double disk allows stacking 2 disks, resulting in more unique combinations (and larger loads) than a single disk allows. The micro disk, which has smaller cavities than the normal disks, allows loading some of the 'tweener loads - volumes not obtainable with the normal sized cavities.

   

   At around $30, the Lee Auto Disk is a steal.

5. A chart is provided with the Auto Disk that gives a multiplier for most of the available powders. That multiplier is multipled by the number of grains you are looking for. The result is the volume (in CCs) that that amount of powder will occupy. You simply look for a cavity of that size, or one close enough. This speeds up setting the powder charge. No more trial and error weighing out charges as you adjust the powder measure.
6. Manual indexing, while theoretically slower than auto indexing, works much better (and can be just as fast, if not faster). The auto indexing never seemed to work correctly (never quite rotated to the correct point). Also, the automatic advancement, then rapid stop of the shell plate often caused powder to leap out of the just filled case. Manual indexing allows control of the rotation speed, is much simpler, and allows me to redo stages (if a primer didn't seat, or some other action was unsuccessful)

Disadvantages:

1. When changing calibers, the lock die has to be re-setup for the new caliber (buying a lock die for each caliber would solve this)
2. The Lee Auto Disk is flimsy. While it seems to be sturdy enough, RCBS's over engineering has spoiled me.
3. Requires you buy Lee "powder through the die" belling dies. Luckily, Lee sells just that die, and for only $7!
4. Changing calibers requires remounting the Auto Disk on the new caliber's belling die. (buying additional Auto Disks would solve this)

Next step, get a RCBS Pro press, perform the same modification, and use the 6th stage for a Lee Factory Crimp die! That would give the perfect press (well, OK, a 7 stage where the first stage is a lube die would REALLY be perfect!)

Tired of spearing primers to load the primer tube? Let this do it for you!

You can load 100 primers into a primer tube in around 5 seconds! This thing rocks. The clear plastic square is a primer flipper. Dump in 100 primers and shake it until all primers are correctly aligned. Then, pull the trigger on the blue vibration unit, and the primers vibrate into the tube. As an added bonus, the unit includes primer tubes (one large, one small) that can hold up to 100 primers (as opposed to RCBS's tubes that only hold 50 primers)

Lee Factory Crimp Dies

These dies are indispensable. I bought a new progressive press with one more station specifically so I can use this die. What they do is:

1. Apply a factory crimp to the round. This crimp is considered better than the seating die's crimp
2. More importantly, it resizes the case following the bullet seating. Often times, seating the bullet results in a bulged case. This die eliminates the bulge. It ensures that your reload will fit your pistol's chamber.

Typically, I load the heaviest bullets for each caliber. Before using this die, I had problems chambering them. No more!

RCBS Universal Priming Tool

Works great! I use it to load my .223 rounds. Load up the primer flipper, shake until all primers are face down, put on the lid, and start priming. What makes this one better than the others is the fact that is uses no shell holder. Instead, it h

Tumbler Timer

Often times I'd go to the basement and discover that I'd forgotten to turn off my tumbler. I tried using a vacation appliance timer, but that still had the problem of repeating programs - meaning it would run 4 hours per day until I remembered to disconnect the timer. Someone answered my Google Groups question about possible solutions with this doozy:

Go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy a spring loaded timer (like those used in bathrooms), a plastic wire box, and a 6' length of extention cord. Cut the cord in half, attaching one end to the timer's input, and one to its output. Plug the tumbler into one end and plug the other into the wall. The timer model pictured allows times between 2 and 12 hours. Once off, it stays off until you manually reset the timer!

Total cost - under $25.