Old school shot shell reloading box

[chiefdave]

Ever buy something on impulse? This came from an estate sale in Mississippi many years ago. It was grouped together with a matching case for 2 side by side shotguns. I'm guessing that the tool on top of the powder tin is for decapping. Has been residing under the bed in a spare room for 20+ years.

 

[Green Frog]

Cool! Wouldn’t you love to know which random junk box got the rest of the tools and the components? I’ve got a real weakness for old reloading stuff, and if they’re in wooden boxes, I just go all gooey inside!

Froggie

 

[chiefdave]

Cool! Wouldn’t you love to know which random junk box got the rest of the tools and the components? I’ve got a real weakness for old reloading stuff, and if they’re in wooden boxes, I just go all gooey inside!

Froggie

I figured out the tool, it's a flash hole pick.

 

[DWalt]

At one time all my reloading tools could fit in a shoebox with some space remaining.

 

[venomballistics]

At one time all my reloading tools could fit in a shoebox with some space remaining.

yes ... the struggle was real

 

[6GUNSONLY]

That is way cool. I love wooden boxes, especially ones built for a purpose like that.

 

[27 Man]

At one time all my reloading tools could fit in a shoebox with some space remaining.

Those old Lee Loaders don’t take much space.

 

[max503]

Like this? Here's what got me started. 22 Hornet.

 

[DWalt]

Those old Lee Loaders don’t take much space.

I had three Lee Loaders (12 Ga, .45 ACP, and.44 Mag) and a Lyman 310 tong tool and die set (.45-70). I always enjoyed using the Lyman set. Still do on occasion. It also works well as a simple case depriming tool for many calibers.

 

[Skeet 028]

I started 22 Hornet with a Lyman tong tool and a small wooden box to hold dies etc in. Think that box came from an old Singer treadle sewing machine. When I started shotshell loading I had a box just like the one pictured. It was divided like that to hold sample sizes of filler and card wads so you could adj the reload on the first or 2nd shell. Once I got the wad column right you checked the sizes of the wads...put the wad boxes on the bench and built a few wad columns for your reloading. I usually built about 25 columns at a time. The sections were marked with the wad sizes...like .135 card B 3/8 fillerwad Overshot cards etc etc. I also had a couple of roll crimpers in the box...Plastic wads and shells sure made shotshell loading easier...and faster

 

[Skeet 028]

I still have a couple sizes of roll crimpers 2 shell ironers. 12 and 20 Lee shotshell loaders, a few Lee Target model Loading tools and about 6 Tong Tools and dies

 

[DWalt]

When I first started shotshell loading with the Lee, plastic cases were fairly new and paper cases were far more common than plastic. The Lee Loader worked much better for crimping paper cases than plastic cases. Many the evenings I spent sitting on the floor in front of the TV loading 12 gauge paper cases, usually Winchester or Federal. No trick to load at least two boxes per hour with the Lee once you got the rhythm going. At least plastic wad columns were widely available then. I never did use felt wad columns. That speeded things up.

The company I worked for at the time had an adequate but somewhat basic trap range for employee use, and at least twice a week I would go there and shoot a few rounds. That was the best thing about that particular job. At the time my only shotgun was a 1930s era 12 gauge Remington Model 11 semiauto. But it worked well enough for me. It also had a fairly crude 50 yard rifle and handgun range with a dirt berm backstop. Nothing to brag about, but it was at least someplace to shoot in peace anytime I wanted.