'Reloading' & 'Repurpose' Go Hand In Hand...

J

JeepHammer

Moderator
Reloaders are the most creative bunch I think I've ever seen!
Real 'DIY' bunch!
They build or repurpose their own benches to fit the application,
They find creative solutions to everything from tooling to storage,
They find ways to work around stuff that would stop a nuclear engineer!

My favorites are cat litter buckets, rectangle, for brass.
They stack, shelve well saving space over round buckets, have handles, hinged lids, and generally work really well.

Many of us use 'Turret' or 'Tool Head' presses so we can keep our dies/caliber changes set up and ready to go,
There are 'Fancy' ways to store these, but 'Tupper Ware' type containers work well, and for round turrets I've found cake icing containers with snap on lids work well and keep rust from attacking the dies.

I also used a simple hole saw on a piece of pine to make a shelf the turrets drop into.

Using a feeler gauge in the shell holder to 'Bump' a stubborn case shoulder back a smidge works great, without having to buy the expensive 'Precision' shell holder sets.
We have all had 'Those' cases that spring back a little too much, not enough of them to warrent resetting the dies,
Or 'Those' cases that were a little harder than the rest,
Feeler gauges solves the issue for a few bucks, and work on any common shell holder.

A simple $20 case gauge with a 'L' shaped piece of metal & a hose clamp turns your case gauge into a Cartridge Maximum Length gauge.

I burned up a bunch of 'Tumblers', finally got hold of a light duty cement mixer, put a light duty motor with real roller bearings on it, and it will do a couple hundred pounds of brass at a time and live for decades.
(Harbor Freight type mixer)

I know you guys have a thousand ideas that serve a particular purpose,
So post up your ideas!
 
One job I had was dealing with an Italian made motion picture lighting system and part of that was finding interchangeable or "better" parts available here. I use the same method/ideas for reloading. There are many, many tools and items that are not "dedicated" reloading tools but work just as well and sometimes better and less expensive...

One of my favorites is I use $10.00 countersinks to remove military primer crimps vs a $50.00 "primer pocket reamer". I've made tumbler drums out of 48 oz. protein powder jars. My Beer Nuts come in square plastic jars which work great for storing cast/lubed bullets. I have used liquid floor wax for lubing bullets (I once tumbled a bunch of 22 lr rounds and re lubed the bullets with Johnson's liquid floor wax, not floor cleaner. Also works on low velocity .38 wadcutters.). When a need arises, most of the time an "everyday" item/tool works as well as a "dedicated" reloading tool...:cool:
 
Can you post a picture of this - A simple $20 case gauge with a 'L' shaped piece of metal & a hose clamp turns your case gauge into a Cartridge Maximum Length gauge.
 
I'll play, here are a few.

This is almost all homemade stuff with parts gathered from many sources.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8tWaN5PrTY

Rifle rest from a jack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng39ce3Ii_w

Automatic brass sorter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFw7IcQUmgs

Auto cutter to convert .223 to 300blk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNXz97yWp2w

Device that will cull SPP 45 ACP from the press between sizing and priming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V7vSEAqkZw

A reloader that runs itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrFhnDQ-eUU
 
I repurposed some file holder rails, a block of wood and a small piece of metal to make this cutter jig. It allows me to cut the neck off 223 to 221 fireball brass reforms.

 
jmorris said:
I'll play, here are a few.

This is almost all homemade stuff with parts gathered from many sources.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8tWaN5PrTY

Rifle rest from a jack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng39ce3Ii_w

Automatic brass sorter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFw7IcQUmgs

Auto cutter to convert .223 to 300blk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNXz97yWp2w

Device that will cull SPP 45 ACP from the press between sizing and priming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V7vSEAqkZw

A reloader that runs itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrFhnDQ-eUU
Click to expand...
God damn dude!! Those are some insane devices!

Wanna let be borrow that Dillon???

I kid, I kid

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jmorris,
You've made some very neat and elaborate stuff.
The rifle rest made from a scissors jack is something most anyone could do, too.
Very cool.
Thanks for the idea.
Although real men shoot standing up. :)
 
^^^
Years go, a lady friend decided to shoot her husband's big game rifle.
She figured that getting some back support from a nearby tree was a good idea.
It wasn't. :o
 
Liquid laundry soap jugs.I cut a large window high,and opposite the handle.
Save the handle function.

Rinse all the soap out.It will discolor brass.

I made my bench tall.Shop stool tall,tall enough I can see the action without bending my neck down.

Up into the underside of the bench top,conveniently positioned either side of the press,I screwed the big bicycle hanging hooks.The vinyl covered ,lag screw things with the big J-hook.

I set them so the detergent jugs hang on them just in the right places to hold the "before" and then the "after" brass/ammo as I run them through.

Over a long haul,dropping my hands down to those jugs lessens fatigue.

Those jugs hold batches of brass,too.They marker real well,too. Like "30-06 new WW" or 30-06 fired,with a mark for each reloading.

Allowing knee space under the bench,I ran 2x10 or 2x12 shelves under the bench to set them on.Those are my bins.

They also make a good jug for shaking cases with lube.

If your media comes in a plastic bag,pop the pour nozzle doohickey out of the top,makes them wide mouth..
 
I do a lot of repurposing too, but nothing this neat. I repurpose lead, at least I used to, the berm at our old range was just a hill. Used to walk along that hill and pick up the bullets that would fall to the bottom. Could get ten pounds or so in a trip, if I was alone.

The most unusual repurposing was cigar cutters. I am always losing cigar cutters. So, I made punches. Took a bunch of steel brass. Ran my chamfer tool through it. Left me with a very sharp cutting edge. Better than a lot of purchase punches, because the other has a smooth, not particularly sharp edge, the steel case has a rougher, and sharper edge that saws through the caps.
 
Well this might not qualify as repurposing as intended in the OP but those heavy duty aluminum beer bottles (not beer/soda cans) can be repurposed for gas checks and in this case bin barriers.

IMG_0292_zpsjwezdsmw.jpg
 
a6f47fda931cb3357032f5eff65a581d.jpg


For those who haven't seen my bench.

So far, the only thing I've had to buy is hardware.

Still gonna top it and build a cabinet

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