Time to make the donuts....

[WayneShaw]

Instead of a tomato stake, I turned part of an extremely fire cracked
284 barrel into a replacement ram. Left it a bit on the rough side to
hold the grease better. I'm in no rush, just tinkering with some ideas.

I'm fixin' to do the same thing.

 

[steve210]

Al, I've shot a lot of moly coated bullets over the years still do in some of my guns. I've never seen it do anything other than extend cleaning intervals. I still use it mainly on the 6mm stuff as they seem to need cleaning more.

 

[Infrequent Shooter]

Here is what I have been working on. I really need to get them finished.
Joe

impressive

 

[LVLAaron]

Y'all should start a separate thread for building presses.

 

[WSnyder]

I did the moly thing for quite some time. Used a fair number of Berger 6mm coated because that was convenient BR wise. Everything else I did via a NECO kit and a Sidewinder tumbler at home. After about a decade or so I was tired of the extra work and time spent coating bullets and one day just up and quit. I don’t miss anything about it at all.

 

[geo.ulrich]

George, didn't Rich Griffin make Ron's bullets?

for awhile Ron shot about everyones

 

[AlNyhus]

Since I'll be making both .925" and 1.00" jacket length bullets on the Robinett die, I wanted and easy way to come back to the die adjustments for each length. With the .925's set up, another lock ring was run down on top of the adjuster lock ring and locked into place. Then, the die was backed up and adjusted for the 1.00" jackets. Once that was done, the distance between the lock rings was verified with feeler gauges. I have gone back and forth with these adjustments and they repeat each time.

Randy made this easy for my pea brain by using six flats on the bronze ejector cap and 14 tpi threads. 1 divided by 14 is .071. So each 'flat' is roughly .012 (.0118). One full turn (6 flats) gives .071 of change. With .075" difference in jacket length, six flats puts you right in the ball park. After a little tweaking, the feeler gauge shows .068"...so the math works out.

Everyone has their own way of doing this. If you've got a bullet previously made in a particular die, it's super easy to hit the adjustment, obviously. There seems to a lot of interest in bullet making by new people so this may be helpful to those starting out or thinking about getting into it.

For what it's worth....

 

[Mulligan]

Since I'll be making both .925" and 1.00" jacket length bullets on the Robinett die, I wanted and easy way to come back to the die adjustments for each length. With the .925's set up, another lock ring was run down on top of the adjuster lock ring and locked into place. Then, the die was backed up and adjusted for the 1.00" jackets. Once that was done, the distance between the lock rings was verified with feeler gauges. I have gone back and forth with these adjustments and they repeat each time.

Randy made this easy for my pea brain by using six flats on the bronze ejector cap and 14 tpi threads. 1 divided by 14 is .071. So each 'flat' is roughly .012 (.0118). One full turn (6 flats) gives .071 of change. With .075" difference in jacket length, six flats puts you right in the ball park. After a little tweaking, the feeler gauge shows .068"...so the math works out.

Everyone has their own way of doing this. If you've got a bullet previously made in a particular die, it's super easy to hit the adjustment, obviously. There seems to a lot of interest in bullet making by new people so this may be helpful to those starting out or thinking about getting into it.

For what it's worth....

One thing of note,
I did this some time ago and it ended up biting me. Make double sure all of your die lock rings are GROUND FLAT!
Do not assume a die lock ring from whichever company is flat.
Kind Regards
CW

 

[AlNyhus]

One thing of note,
I did this some time ago and it ended up biting me. Make double sure all of your die lock rings are GROUND FLAT!
Do not assume a die lock ring from whichever company is flat.
Kind Regards
CW

You can't see it in the pics but there are rubber 'o' rings on the bottom of the die lock ring and between the die bushing and the press. When going back the .925 setting, I back the upper lock ring up so there's no contact between it and the adjustment lock ring.

Totally agree on lock rings...some are truly evil things!

 

[c2a4r3l]

I’m new to bullet making with in the last 4 months. So I have a lot to learn.
I noticed my point up die worked lose. I only hand tighten it.
Does anyone torque the lock ring down to a certain inch pounds or to certain ft pounds ?

Or does the oring keep the die from moving if hand tight ?

 

[David Conder]

try a wrench they work great just bump in to place see if that works for you you have to adjust for the bump

 

[liseo]

I don't know if it's the ideal solution, but it solved the problem of it coming loose.

 

[tom]

Just a bump as David posted is all I do

 

[liseo]

With the greater difficulty in obtaining some jackets for 284" caliber, is it possible to draw down the 30" to 284" caliber and maintain the quality?
Has anyone used this recurse?

 

[JoeDuke]

A couple of weeks ago Al showed where he bushed the pin on his press handle and gave me inspiration to bush both pins on mine. Will see how it works tomorrow I suspect.

 

[jackieschmidt]

A couple of weeks ago Al showed where he bushed the pin on his press handle and gave me inspiration to bush both pins on mine. Will see how it works tomorrow I suspect. View attachment 1642381

What did you use for bushing material.?

 

[JoeDuke]

Jackie, The bushings are Hillman sleeve bearings off of amazon. They are 1/2” od and 3/8” id. The top ones are straight sleeves and there are 3 1” bearings jb welded in. The bottom ones are flanged and machined down to the proper length.

 

[AlNyhus]

Looking forward to your results, Joe. I left the ram pin unbushed for the time being. I think...but don't know...that it likes a bit of looseness for self centering. With the ram pin bushed, the pin fit in the ram should still allow this. -Al

 

[JoeDuke]

Looking forward to your results, Joe. I left the ram pin unbushed for the time being. I think...but don't know...that it likes a bit of looseness for self centering. With the ram pin bushed, the pin fit in the ram should still allow this. -Al

Yes, the shoulder bolt does still have a bit of clearance in the ram. Since the pin failed in mine, I just decided to do both.

 

[AlNyhus]

Fine tuning the ergonomics by raising the press 4". That and a stool with more adjustment is like a paid vacation.