What did you do at your reloading bench today?

[NHshtr]

Made up 25 rounds of .44 mag with 23.8 gr. of H110 topped by 240 gr. XTPs. This load shoots really well from the Henry carbine.
Also made up 30 rounds of .243 Win for the Henry Long Ranger. It seems to like Varget more than a traditional .243 powder like IMR4064. That load is 43.7 gn, Varget with 95 gr, Hornady SSTs.

[Rifletom]

Randy, got to doing yard work and stuff in my shop and plum missed out on 2400 at my LGS. Said he'll be getting more in next week.
He still has 1lb'ers of Unique left!! . But, I'm good there. I guess there is hope.

[Mr. Neutron]

This project wasn't so much "At The Reloading Bench" as it was on the bench in the barn.

I built a wet rotary tumbler. It worked pretty well on it's initial tryout of around 50-75 .380 ACP cases; it definitely has room to to do many more of these or other, bigger cases. Holds around a gallon of water.
I did so few because I wasn't quite sure of my case weight-to-steel pins ratio. I need to find a scale to weigh this stuff, and buy more S/S pin media........

IMG_0570.JPG (4.56 MiB) Viewed 1496 times

Oooops! I just noticed ya can't see much of the shiny "after" cases; mostly the "before" vibratory tumbled ones are visible. My bad. Hopefully, you get the idea...... I'll take another pic........

IMG_0571.JPG (6.83 MiB) Viewed 1496 times

Here's a video of my Hillbilly Engineering at it's best......

https://youtu.be/0b0CgNRYsCs


I did notice the motor got a bit warmish, despite 35 deg. outside temps, after spinning for about 2.5 hrs.. I'm wondering if anyone knows of a, say, 6" dia. aluminum fan blade set up that'll fit a 5/8" dia.shaft? I've seen these somewhere; need to look/SEARCH fer awhile, I guess......

[Mags]

https://youtu.be/0b0CgNRYsCs

Looks like you got it mostly figured out. The brass looks good.
Can't see the video though. It's set to private mode.

[Mr. Neutron]

Oh, crap....... Sorry about that....... For some reason, I *think*it won't go "Public" until tomorrow at 3 pm. Can't figure out how to change that......

In EDIT: I think I have it sorted now..... Maybe.......

[Mags]

Oh, crap....... Sorry about that....... For some reason, I *think*it won't go "Public" until tomorrow at 3 pm. Can't figure out how to change that......

In EDIT: I think I have it sorted now..... Maybe.......

It plays now. That is quite the machine. You should have filed for a patent before posting the video.

[The Happy Kaboomer]

12 ga and 410 unloaded on my skeet field this evening.

[Rifletom]

Tumbler looks fine to my eyes. Innovation at it's finest.

[Mr. Neutron]

Thanks, Rifletom!!!

The important thing to me is that it seems to work pretty well so far. That .380 brass came out lookin' like new inside & out. Anxious to try it out with the rifle stuff I reload for.

I do need to figure out a better "routine" or system for separating the pins from the cases. I have a tight mesh screen and screened colander, a 2 gal. bucket with a bunch of holes in the bottom for pins to drop thru (but cases don't) into a bigger 5 gal. bucket, my old deal I bought years ago for my dry tumbling media to drop thru while catching the cases, and stuff. It'll get resolved with more use, I reckon.......

I did discover that my old Machinist's magnetic base makes a good magnet for rounding up stray pins & such, so that helps some.

Like I said earlier, I'm just happy it works. I'll get the frame & base painted, and "refine" it a bit more as I go along.......

[Rifletom]

Went to my LGS yesterday to get 2400. GONE!! He does have three 8lb'ers of 2400 still and about 25 1lb'ers of Unique[surprisng!] Oh well.

[Vaquero]

Went to my LGS yesterday to get 2400. GONE!! He does have three 8lb'ers of 2400 still and about 25 1lb'ers of Unique[surprisng!] Oh well.

Just out of curiosity how much were the 8 lb'ers?

RP

[BigAl52]

Get an 8lber Tom and you will be set for a while. Probably cheaper by the LB that way.

[Rifletom]

Went to my LGS yesterday to get 2400. GONE!! He does have three 8lb'ers of 2400 still and about 25 1lb'ers of Unique[surprisng!] Oh well.

Just out of curiosity how much were the 8 lb'ers?

RP

$266 for the 8lb'ers, 36 a lb/2400. Unique is $35 a lb. No 8lb bottles.

[Rifletom]

Get an 8lber Tom and you will be set for a while. Probably cheaper by the LB that way.

I'm sitting on 5+ pounds of 2400. Don't think I could use up an 8lb jug in my life. But, I know what you mean.

[Hatchdog]

Thanks, Rifletom!!!

The important thing to me is that it seems to work pretty well so far. That .380 brass came out lookin' like new inside & out. Anxious to try it out with the rifle stuff I reload for.

I do need to figure out a better "routine" or system for separating the pins from the cases. I have a tight mesh screen and screened colander, a 2 gal. bucket with a bunch of holes in the bottom for pins to drop thru (but cases don't) into a bigger 5 gal. bucket, my old deal I bought years ago for my dry tumbling media to drop thru while catching the cases, and stuff. It'll get resolved with more use, I reckon.......

I did discover that my old Machinist's magnetic base makes a good magnet for rounding up stray pins & such, so that helps some.

Like I said earlier, I'm just happy it works. I'll get the frame & base painted, and "refine" it a bit more as I go along.......

I ordered a double mesh strainer (colander?) from Amazon that I use along with a single mesh strainer. This gets most of the pins but a few do slip thru. I pour my tumbler off into a basin in the laundry room and when I do I place a magnet near the drain to capture the few pins that get thru. Then I use the magnet which is mounted to a telescoping handle to gather up any other pins left in the basin.

Your set up is fantastic, a nice mix of engineering and manufacturing. Hope you get the cooling issue worked out.

[Hatchdog]

Yesterday I sized, deburred/chamfered and primed 100 300 Blackout cases. I’m getting ready to do a test with three different bullets each with three different powders. I’m loading four different charges with each powder so that’s going to be a lot of shooting. Oh darn.

[Mr. Neutron]

Your set up is fantastic, a nice mix of engineering and manufacturing. Hope you get the cooling issue worked out.

Well it IS a mix of stuff I had layin' around, primarily the motor, the lumber, some of the bearings, some of the electrical, and miscellaneous bits of hardware. The 1/2" 1018 steel shafts came from onlinemetals.com. The heater hose to cover the shafts, a few bearings, pulleys, & belt were either hardware store stuff or from ebay/Amazon.

There are definitely cheaper ways to go, like using a 3 gallon bucket and whatever for a motor, or an old treadmill and it's speed control to power it, and use the treadmill rollers for the shafts. I just never seem to have the good luck of having someone give me a treadmill with a broken belt, or have the other needed bits laying around.

How long do most of y'all wet tumble? Reason I ask is that as I've said, the motor got pretty warm (well, hot...... unlike me...... ) after 2.5 hours of use on a mid 30s to low 40s day a coupla days ago. I wonder if I maybe didn't have it spinning too long. I checked it for heat after an hour and it was just slightly warm; not hot at all. But at the 2.5 hr. point when I shut it off, it was very warm; couldn't hold my hand on it for more than a coupla seconds. I'm just kinda thinkin' it might be a problem after outside temps come up later in the year. I have a big box fan I can use, so maybe that'll help a bit. It's being used on the rest of my .380 brass now, but the outside temps are in the upper 20s. Not exactly "Grass Skirt and Coconuts" weather for Jimmie..... I'm gonna give the brass a look after an hour, or an hour and a half and see how it looks, and check if the motor is warm.

[Hatchdog]

My tumbler is out in the garage and I usually start it and let it run for several hours. Probably more than needed. Of course it has a very small motor designed for this unit and it does get warm in the summer but never hot.

[Mr. Neutron]

Okay, I think I figured out the "Hot Motor" issue. The thing is really well sealed, with no holes for air to move in or out thru. The tag on it has a section that says "TIME RATING: 1 HR". I'm guessin', since it's sealed up pretty good posiibly to not allow dust/grinding particulates in, that this motor was originally made to used for, say, something like a bench grinder that doesn't see long continuous running times. I know it worked perfect as a disc sander, which is why I bought it and how I used it before now. Use it for a few minutes to sand on something, then turn it off. It never had a chance to get hot that way.

Talked to buddy of mine, and may have a line on another more suitable motor. For now, I can just run it for 45 min. or so, then let it sit and cool for a while......

[Vaquero]

I have some 25-20's rolling around with some pins.
Then I plan on loading some later.

RP