cylinder loading press

[M. De Land]

This is what I cobbled together out of spare stuff around the shop for loading at matches after seeing a few around others were using.Granted it is heavy duty but it will load any and all of my .44 revolvers.A ball seat change and it will load any other caliber as well.

Mortice the upright fits into.
I learned you don't need a base pin spud all you have to do is hemisphere the bullet seating stem,make it of brass and it will find it's own center in the cylinder.Being made of brass there is no chance to harm a cylinder mouth. MD

 

[tiger13]

That is a great looking machine!

 

[ZUG]

Nice work -- I like it :v . So the cylinder does not rock as you load it ??

 

[Shoeless]

Very nice.....

 

[swathdiver]

That's really nice! Thanks for sharing!

 

Any chance you can do a video and show us this in action?

 

[M. De Land]

No, it stays put with your hand supporting it as the ball seat starts the ball.I think the rigidness of the two bearing ball seat stem that cant flex is the reason one does not need a spud.
The others I saw all had a spud that the base pin hole slipped over but all cylinders are not the dame diameter. It works fine without a spud and is thus universal.
The removable steel block under the lever arm is what limits depth so one can get the same pressure each time.A new block must be made for differing cylinder lengths seating depths. This one is used the most and seats the ball flush with chamber mouth on the ROA and is close enough for use on my 58 Pietta. MD

 

[M. De Land]

I've never tried before but I will and see if I can make it happen. MD

 

[George T.]

That is great work! I do this with a small arbor press that I bought for loading at the bench with wilson dies. With mine I seat the ball below flush after the pistol is assembled! My thought are that it saves wear and tare ob the revolvers loading parts! Geo. T.

 

[M. De Land]

 

[M. De Land]

I can't make it run on my puter can any of you? My son is trying to help me get it up but so far no video on my end.MD

 

[dubshooter]

Video worked for me. thanks for posting

 

[swathdiver]

I can't make it run on my puter can any of you? My son is trying to help me get it up but so far no video on my end.MD

Perfect! Thanks!

P.S. It's much better this way than if a professional did it. Why then there'd be commercials, an intro and needless rock music in the background. This gets right to the meat... err nuts and bolts of it!

 

[M. De Land]

Well good enough, I guess and old guy can learn new tricks after all. :wink: MD

 

[pargent]

:thumbsup: I got a loading press with each and every c&b revolver that I have, that way there are no mix ups with gear etc. when packing to go to the range.

 

[M. De Land]

I got to thinking tonight and what I will do instead of making new upper blocks for different seating depths is mill some different thickness base plates to notch onto the upright and under the shorter cylinders.
This makes way less hardware to carry around with the same press and a few change out items( ball seat and plates) to load all manor or cylinder.

 

You have to wonder how they ever got along without those things in the old days. Do they make a Josie Wales model? :haha:

 

[M. De Land]

They probably did have them or something very similar for target work although you wouldn't carry one in the field with you.MD

 

[rodwha]

Great video!
Thanks for posting.

 

[necchi]

I find your load specifics interesting.
15grns with a 451 bal.
While I have no reason to doubt this is your target load.
The ball diameter is indeed small and isn't "shaving" the lead ring as many suggest.
What kind of accuracy are you getting?

And, did it take some experimentation to get the arm stop set to your prefered amount of crush/seating depth, or did you select that at random?