A new "what are you doing in the loading room today" thread

[WarEagleEd]

I fiddled with my Redding T-7 turret press, which I have yet to use. I ran through the primer seater plug replacement process. I also had to remove a little surface rust, which surprised me, since it has been sitting in the garage, which gets pretty hot in the Summer and cooks off any moisture in there, or so I thought.

[DukeInFlorida]

Talk about nostalgia.....

Had a fellow from a few towns south of me walk into one of the local reloading supply shops, and ask about if they knew anyone who could help him with some display brass. He is a wheelchair bound vet, and has great family pride in his entire family's involvement with the military. His grandfather was a paratrooper, and was dropped behind German lines in some small French village while D-Day was happening in Normandy.

He had arranged a trip with a tour group to Normandy, and while on the beach there, happened to see a vintage 50 BMG case in the sand. He picked it up, and the head stamp is '42! So, it was fired/dropped while the troops were attacking the Germans. He quickly found another, and brought them home. He's hoping to make a couple of display cases, featuring the cases, one for his uncle, and one for his own wall. He wants the cartridges intact, including re-placing the original primers. The cases are crimped in the 120 degree pattern, which will be tricky also.


He needed someone to resize the brass, and insert vintage bullets, to make dummy rounds. Word got back to me, and I'm delighted to assist. I have a Lee Classic Cast 50 BMG reloading set. He's gotten the brass to me, and it's pretty rough, as you might imagine, from 50+ years in the salty sands at Normandy. However, I think I caan make it work. The trick will be to get the brass resized without sticking in the die. He had tumbled them in walnut shell, and I see some evidence of some steel wool. However, the insides of the cases are bright fuzzy green. That will certainly play a role. So, I just put them in my SS pin tumbling system. That will make the insides bright and shiny brass. That will eliminate any sticking of the brass in the sizing die. I'll let that run for a few hours and check on it.

Gotta get an Inline Fabrication mounting plate. The last time I had this press out and working was 7+ years ago when I lived in Maine. I had mounted it with bolts to my old reloading bench. The new bench, here in Florida, has an IF base plate, so I can swap out my Dillon 550b, RCBS Rockchucker, and Lymn 450 Lubricizer. Don't wanna make any new holes in the bench top, so the adapter plate makes the most sense.

A 50 BMG rifle is on my wish list, as soon as I get this cancer behind me. So, maybe it's time to get my butt in gear, get healthy, so I can make use of this press for production ammo. I already have 300+ newer pcs of brass from a Gov't Auction a while back. I also have the Lee press for doing all the fabrication operations. Also, I have powder, primers, and some commercial jacketed bullets. I also have a Group Buy mold from cast Boolits which casts 830 grain Linotype 50 BMG boolits, and the gas check tools (FreeChex) to make the gas checks. Some Carnauba Red lube, and it's ready to go.

In the meantime, I have this project to work on for a proud vet. Happy to assist!