When a car guy gets into reloading.

mmb617 · Jan 10, 2020

I grew up in the classic muscle car era and have been into cars since I first got my driver's license in '67. I've had some nice cars, did a fair amount of bracket racing and spent countless hours in the garage, but that's kind of history now. I have my retired race car that I take to cruise-ins during the summer but I don't do much in the garage anymore.

I needed a new hobby and recently took up reloading. I really enjoy it but the wooden ball on the end of the handle on my Lee press made my hand sore after a few hundred pulls. I figured I could fix that and went through my parts pile. It's much better now, but I find myself making vroom-vroom noises while I'm loading.

https://flic.kr/p/2icBjGM https://www.flickr.com/photos/152213085@N06/

hotshot357 · Jan 10, 2020

Now that's cool!!!!All you need now is a poster of "Miss Hurst" to put on the wall!!!

Loyaljeeper · Jan 10, 2020

I used to do some work for a guy years ago that had a bad *** 1ton Dodge 4x4. He had a Hurst T handle on his shifter. I commented on it one day and he said it was the same knob that was on every manual transmission vehicle he had owned since he was a teen.

kraynky · Jan 11, 2020

Why that should be a factory option, a Special Edition Hurst press! Why nobody thought of doing that before has me scratching my head (or Ive got fleas) LOL!

Pretty darn cool.

4barrel · Jan 11, 2020

Hurst rent a shift. Did Linda Vaughn help you?

glowe · Jan 11, 2020

. . . . for all you youngsters out there, Linda was Miss Hurst many years ago.

Just another 22 shooter · Jan 11, 2020

mmb617 said:
It's much better now, but I find myself making vroom-vroom noises while I'm loading.

https://flic.kr/p/2icBjGM https://www.flickr.com/photos/152213085@N06/

That made may day. Was going to do some work on my reloading equipment today. Now I'll be "vroom vrooming" all day.

gwpercle · Jan 11, 2020

Awesome Fix !

Now if you can just get a 4 barrel and some flames on the press !

Gary
My daily driver is a 1968 Chevelle

hyena · Jan 11, 2020

Cool mod to your press lever. I like it. Honestly doesn't look as comfortable as the wooden ball on my Lee, because I can constantly shift my hand around on the ball to alter the grip. But your Hurst grip sure looks cool. Thanks for sharing.

mikld · Jan 11, 2020

Now you gotta paint the press Candy Apple Red and add some flames...

Roofuss · Jan 20, 2020

Pretty cool idea ! I'm an old car guy also { 55-57 Chevy's } and I use a RCBS rock crusher press. Might have to start looking at swap meets for a used Hurst "T" handle .

Racer X · Feb 9, 2020

I have a Hurst T handle as the handle on my beer bar.

SMSgt · Feb 9, 2020

Somewhere out there a '65 GTO is wondering how it ended up with a wooden Lee shift knob.

snowman · Feb 9, 2020

Roofuss said:
Pretty cool idea ! I'm an old car guy also { 55-57 Chevy's } and I use a RCBS rock crusher press. Might have to start looking at swap meets for a used Hurst "T" handle .

You're sure it's not a Muncie?

Regards,
Andy

Rule3 · Feb 9, 2020

I replaced mine with a Red (#3) pool ball, Slightly large in diameter than the factory Lee. The drill hole is an odd gauge, can't recall, not a standard drill size The rod is tapered.

I like the Hurst handle better though!

If you loosen the lock nut and shorten the length of the handle, It becomes a short throw shifter like a small sports car. (really)

You can then speed up for cartridges that do not require lots of leverage.

Qc Pistolero · Feb 9, 2020

Just being curious up here!How many rounds/hour when you shift it in 4th gear?

Turn4811 · Feb 9, 2020

Nice, but you need a progressive press. Four pulls for one round is wasted motion. One pull and one round with a 4 or 5 station press.

Rule3 · Feb 10, 2020

Turn4811 said:
Nice, but you need a progressive press. Four pulls for one round is wasted motion. One pull and one round with a 4 or 5 station press.

He "needs" one.? Maybe he is happy with what he has. Lots are.

rosewood · Feb 10, 2020

That wooden ball hurts my hand also, haven't upgraded it yet though, but you have given me some ideas.

Enlighten me on what kind of that die that is? I have never seen the shell holder on top of the Lee press before.

Thanks,

Rosewood

mmb617 · Feb 10, 2020

Rule3 said:
I replaced mine with a Red (#3) pool ball, Slightly large in diameter than the factory Lee. The drill hole is an odd gauge, can't recall, not a standard drill size The rod is tapered.

I like the Hurst handle better though!

If you loosen the lock nut and shorten the length of the handle, It becomes a short throw shifter like a small sports car. (really) You can then speed up for cartridges that do not require lots of leverage.

I'm not using the original Lee rod as I don't know what thread size it was. I had a length of 1/2" stock in the garage and threaded it with a standard 1/2-13 thread which the T-handle went right on to.

At first I was sliding the rod up and down depending on how much leverage I needed for each operation but I've settled on a position that works pretty well for everything so I leave it alone now.

Qc Pistolero said:
Just being curious up here!How many rounds/hour when you shift it in 4th gear?

When I was racing I had a stock T5 behind a 408 so I got in the habit of letting off the gas every shift as powershifting would trash the transmission real fast. It's the same with reloading. I'm more concerned with quality than speed.

Turn4811 said:
Nice, but you need a progressive press. Four pulls for one round is wasted motion. One pull and one round with a 4 or 5 station press.

Rule3 said:
He "needs" one.? Maybe he is happy with what he has. Lots are.

I'm quite content with my single stage. I'm retired and enjoy the process, and time's not a factor. I can reload faster than I can afford to keep supplies on hand.

rosewood said:
That wooden ball hurts my hand also, haven't upgraded it yet though, but you have given me some ideas.

Enlighten me on what kind of that die that is? I have never seen the shell holder on top of the Lee press before.

Thanks,

Rosewood

That's my primer on the press in the pic. I had one of the little hand primers that came with my set but there's no leverage with that thing and it made my hand hurt. This way I have more leverage than I'll ever need and it's effortless. Yes I have to load each primer individually but it goes a lot faster than you might think once you get in a groove.

When a car guy gets into reloading.

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