Heart Attack Info AND – Dillon Primer Cup Wheel Modification

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Jeffm004

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I’m putting this in reloading instead of the general area because that is about all I peruse. The Mods can move it if necessary.

I put the following on Facebook today and share it here as my public service / contribution to the forum. I don’t really know a lot about reloading, unfortunately I now know a little bit about having a heart attack. I left the personal notes as well, the important part starts further below:
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If you have not heard I am home recovering from a heart attack at age 54. Just when I was hoping green bananas were no longer a long term investment, I have another challenge.

Thank you to again for the many visitors, prayers, calls and support I have already received. I have a lot of great people as friends.

I had had all the really good tests showing I was slick as a whistle in 2009. Today I have 4 blockages. One stent at the ER, one untreatable and two that may require a trip to the Cleveland Clinic even for a stent. My abdominal mesh would be problematic if 1/1000 something blew and they had to crack me.

If all goes well my guess is CC in a month or two, depending on how I recover in the interim. For now I am stuck at home for as much as a month. I’ll be trying to shrink that if possible but I may be stuck.

Apologies again to those that did not get the word and showed up to an empty house for Guns and Gambling. It will be rescheduled.

Here are some things worth knowing:

If you have a heart attack, don’t drive, the ambulance will get you fast tracked and stuff running in parallel, like the code team in route and prepped. If you walk in, or are carried in, you are ambulatory and all that has not happened yet. Still, asking me my SSN on arrival was not well received by my wife. God bless her, she does not suffer stupid well.

They had me stented in 35 minutes, you can’t beat that anywhere. The doc that did me went wrist instead of groin. That takes top end care as well. Don’t expect that.

There is a new 3 minute test “heartsaver” that for $150 will tell you where you are. New and not yet covered by insurance, I had one scheduled but not performed. Get one. The survival rate for heart attacks remains at best, poor. You are not too young.

No one knows where an aspirin is. Get a key-chain pill bottle for a couple.

Extra credit if you shave your chest.

As for now, better every day, enjoy yours.

_________________

I’ll be a more active forum surfer for a while, the hunting side as well maybe. Not a big forum guy, I have been on for hours since being told to “Sit. Stay.” Thanks to you if you were part of building this.

All and I mean all my brass has been loaded over the winter. Two clean guns have been detailed despite the 5 lb. lift limit. I’ll probably fuss with a couple more today.

In order to make this reloading related I will add my one Dillon 550 modification. The wheel on the primer cup holding the primers on my machine would at times slip in and catch on the side of the primer tube housing as the cup went forward. I could never tell if it was the rod being bent/out of place or what really caused it. It was rare intermittent and thus even harder to fault isolate. My solution was to cut a .22 case to length and slide it over the primer cup wheel pin. It fits nicely and keeps the wheel out from the primer tube housing just a millimeter or less as the primer cup moves forward. I have only run this a couple 1000 rounds but have seen no adverse effects to wear or anything else. YMMV.

I did leave 100 .270 rounds tumbling with 51 grns of Varget for a few days while in the hospital. I don’t think that will impact the bang much but I may crono against some less tumbled out of curiosity.

Have a great day.
 
JEFF; I hear you. Had mine in mid-Jan. this year and still not up to par. Thought I was just having severe heartburn for months (started around Thanksgiving) and wouldn't let up. No pain in arm or legs; just increasing bouts of shortness of breath, indigestion, and growing chest pain. Finally, on Jan. 14, I got up out of the chair and promptly passed out from the pain. I remember looking at the clock as I got up, and when I came to, 12 minutes had passed. Called my next door neighbor to drive me to the nearest hosp. 20miles away.
They took me right in to the ER and a few minutes later a Doctor told me I was having a heart attack. Straight to the "MOTHER" facility of that hosp. (40 mi.) by amb. and the same procedure as yours. [Right wrist intro and stent-LAD.] Two big clots taken care of, and two more they're monitoring scaring the hell out of me. Doc said in Jan. heart was at only 40% because of waiting so long, and that I was having some mini-attacks during the last few months. Scary. Eight long days in hosp. were enough for me. Mega clot-busters and LASIX are nothing to look forward to each day.
The one thing which bothers me most is that I still get winded when loading and have to take a break too often. Have an appt, the 23rd. Hopefully, Doc will have some good news.
Wishing you a speedy recovery.
WILL.
 
Glad you guys both got through the heart surgery alright. I'll echo what Jeff said about calling 911. An ambulance costs money, but people brought in by ambulance go to the head of the line in the ER, and because the EMT's have called in your basic information on the way, they are ready for you when you arrive. Everything moves way faster.

The social security number privacy is another good point, and one that's recently been going mainstream. Atlanta consumer advocate Clark Howard currently recommends not giving social security numbers to medical practices and facilities of any kind anymore. He says over 50% of all stolen SS numbers are hacked from medical industry databases now, as happened with Anthem last year. Anthem was my own insurer at the time, so my info got out in their hack, so this is no abstraction to me.

Jeff, on the 550B mod, you can get the exact part terminology from page 5 of the 550B manual. I think that makes it a little easier for someone still familiarizing themselves with the press to follow.

Assuming I followed you correctly, you are using part of a .22 rimfire case as a washer to force the primer slide roller to stand out from the primer slide body, guaranteeing it has clearance from the primer housing as it passes that.

Looking at my 550B, the primer slide operating rod acts as a spring that already forces the roller out as far as the snap ring on the slide roller pin allows. At the top of the rod, the operating rod bracket (#13887 in the page 5 drawing) is turned slightly counterclockwise from square (looking from the top), that that's far enough that the top of the operating rod on my press is actually in contact with the press frame. If yours is not, you could simply loosen the screw on that bracket and rotate it slightly counterclockwise until the rod is in that position. If that doesn't force the roller out, then I think your operating rod is probably bent.
 
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Question and message for Will-j and Jeffm004 and perhaps others: Are your doctors aware of your shooting activities and did they have any comments? Here is the story behind the question: Arrived at the range one day and on the rifles for sale rack was a Winchester Model 70 in .375 H&H caliber which was exactly what I was looking for. The rifle looked brand new and had a price tag of $135 (yes, this was some years back). The rangemaster explained that the owner previously had a .300 H&H, also had a heart condition (or previous heart attack) and his doctor advised him to give up shooting high powered rifles, that the recoil could kill him. He then sold the .300 and bought the .375. After the 3rd shot from the bench with the .375 he collapsed with a fatal heart attack. His widow then had his rifles up for sale. I purchased the .375 and still have it.
 
Heart Attack/Shooting

CONDOR: I haven't fired anything other than my H-barrel 10-22 since mid-Dec. Was shooting somewhat regular 'til then with everything up to .338 Win. Mag. working up loads, but the chest pains started getting worse so I just kept going with the .22 RF.. As I said earlier, I assumed it was just bad indigestion since there were no other indicators of H A. Hence the car ride to the hosp.
Doc said " Classic symptoms don't always appear." Lesson learned!
Will ask Doc on Thur. if shooting will be permitted. While in the hosp., I asked how long I would have to be on this crap-load of meds he has me on and he said about a year or so. [I could have done without the "Or So"]
Even as it is, I WILL be testing loads for the SAV. 112FV in .223. Hardly any recoil to speak of. Also a REM.700 SYN. in .243 w/40 & 50gr Nos. BTs @2000FPS+/- just to keep on top of things. Bought a piece of property 5 min. from here to shoot to my heart's content. (No pun intended). Can drive right on up to the bench, so no totin' anything heavy. Next-door neighbor and his wife
(hunting partners; And she's a nurse too) will be down there also. They're like family... She's like (a mother hen).
Well; Gotta get my meds and rest up for tomorrow. You all have a good night.....What's left of it.
WILL
 
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I have been told not to shoot. I'll ask why tomorrow. Looking like they will crack me, with one stent, worst of both. The "or so" reaches out past two years with stents, shorter with bypass.
 
what caused the blockages so quick? high cholesterol left unchecked? not trying to be sarcastic, but are you noticeably over weight? I'm glad you are still with us.
 
Will:
Thanks for the reply. I would guess that the doc will say to stay away from the .338 (if you even want to bring that one up), but that the lighter calibers are all right. The .338s are fairly close to the .375s in recoil. So good recovery and hopefully "or so" doesn't mean an additional year or two.
 
Jeffm004:
Also thanks for the reply. Has the doc told you not to shoot or have you yet to ask him? Or is it the "why" part of the question yet to be answered? Wishing good recovery and hoping you can continue with the lighter calibers.
 
Nope. Full scan in 2009. Clear. Blood check moderate risk 220 cholesterol, weeks ago. 190 lb, 5'10". Could lose 10-15 lb. I had another problem that left me in the hospital 9 months. Might have contributed. Might not.
 
Hang in there man, dont be depressed. Thats a hard pillbto swallow when your rehabing like all the older folks in the class.

Two stents, three heart attacks....at 46. Last July, my cardiologist told me I was like a race horse.....picked up them dang cigarettes again...no excuse for that one, and Im positive another heart attack will cold turkey that addiction..


All these years later, I have shot many times with no detriment to my condition, I work hard everyday, (new construction-multi-family housing and commercial, plumber), I won't deny myself the rifle shooting and hunting....dont deny yourself...keep stiff upper lip, and never sweat the small stuff man.
 
The why not to shoot is because the doc does not want your stent to move or be dis-logged until the surrounding muscles have had a chance to attach and heal . After my triple by-pass 19 years ago, I was told not to drive and not to go fishing, hell I have been fishing all my life till then, that's like telling someone not to take in air. Well I found out the hard way after three casts that the muscles across the sternum were only attached with 5 staples. Pain wakes you up real fast.

Take the time off and recover, I went back to work after two weeks and found I needed another 4 weeks off.

Stay safe and hopefully in good heath.
Jim
 
Blockage

JERRY: Doc said 4 blood clots broke loose. Two large and two smaller ones. They took care of the two large ones when they did the stent and are keeping tabs on the two smaller ones. Said too much strain on the ticker if they tried to get all four. Lab tests showed high cholesterol levels. Clot busters working on the cholesterol problem. Diet sucks. Used to fried, greasy Latin-Cuban food.
Doc will advise tomorrow.
WILL
 
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Again, glad everyone's OK, but the thread has gone completely off any kind of handloading subject matter, so I'm going to close it. If someone gets some technical information on why folks who've had heart attacks should not shoot, that's still firearms related, but should be put into in a thread in the General Forum, I think. I can speculate that heavy recoil can cause momentary pressures that impact valves, but I'm just talking off the top of my head and don't really know. If it turns out to be something like that, then shooting .22's should be OK and is good for basics discipline anyway (assuming the ammo is available again in your area).
 
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