Who still loads in the "Dark Ages" as far as equipment?

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I still have a Lyman Truline Jr turret press on the bench, a Seaco powder measure, a pair of 510 scales with an oil dampened scale and Lyman M-5 in the wings. Three Lyman 55 powder measures and a brown Forester measure. Some Herters dies, early C&H and a couple others from the 70s.

Luddite here, I don't trust e-scales, I can't see if there is a problem and can't fix them.
 
Green single stage presses, 2 powder throws. Green beam scale, digital scale. Green hand brass trimmer. Mostly I have decided I'm to old to invest in expansive "time savers". Although the fairly recent windowed bullet seating die are nice.
 
204 AR said:
Those herters presses were beasts, and took a different shell holder than what is standard today iirc.
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They do and that is a problem finding shell holders today. There is one collet type aftermarket available but never did care for it.
I thought about getting a ram for a press which used RCBS shell holders, cut it off and boring hole in Herters ram to insert the stub, but never got around to it.
 
You can still get an adapter to use modern shell holders, C&H has the or did a month ago. I looked for another fellow on a different sight.
 
That really brings back some memories. I started reloading for my first center fire rifle, a 38-40 model 92 with a 310. 1951 IIRC, maybe 52.
 
sseeing as i didnt start reloading until well after the dark ages ended... other than my single stage press and my vibratory tumbler... i use relativly modern equipment and methods to reload. case feeders, progressive press, wet tumbling, powered trimming/deburring tools, chargemaster electronic scale, etc etc
 
Aside from the RCBS digital scale my wife got me about 7-8 years ago, all my reloading is done using the components of the RCBS Rockchucker kit I bought from Gander Mountain while I was in college. They had some kind of payment plan back then that worked for a starving college student. So, I suppose it's kind of old school at 30 years old.
 
I also have my RockChucker Kit. Nearly 30 years old and still going strong.
Do have a digital scale that I rarely use.
Wet tumble in a large FART.
Every time I think about upgrading to a progressive press..I think about all the reloading components I could buy with the money.
 
I still load in the dark ages , not worried about quantity , but quality . Slower works better for me . I have worked on many many pieces of mechanical equipment all my adult life cleanliness and inspection , during assembly is it for me .
 
hm1996 said:
Yep
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Boy I miss Herter's catalogs! I've got some Herter dies around and still have some Herter bullet' My Press is a Rock Chucker, scale is an RCBE 505, powder measure is RCBS and case trimmer RCBS. I don't know that RCBS is the holy grail of reloading tools but they have worked well for me over the years. I have RCBS dies, Lee dies, Hornady dies Redding dies, Herter dies and seems something else. have a Mec 600 Jr 28ga press and a Ponsness-Warren 16ga press and had a Texan FW years ago that I wish I still had! Used a Lee loader quite a while and the loads went bang and didn't blow up a gun. Started reloading with the Lee loader hand tool! Was called the Lee load all I think. Those lee and the Texan FW were to only press's I ever bought new!
 
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My press is a RCBS Rock Chucker, and a Thumlers Tumbler that I have owned since 1979
I have upgraded to 3 ChargeMasters, a Giraud power trimmer, and Giraud annealer.
 
im half and half
an og rock chucker for the heavy work
manual case trimmer
electric case prep center
electronic scales- Frankford and an older pact. both are within .01 of each other. i figure if 1 is way off, ive got an issue. got a manual scale for backup
digital calipers
 
I bought a Redding kit(Boss?) and a Redding thrower back a long time ago.
Just got lucky and found a new in the box RCBS rock chucker kit cheap never used.
Been in the box 15 years.
Now both my 12 and 15 year old can dig in at the same time, or two can speed stuff up a lot
working on the same cartridge.
Just bought a cheap digital scale to do faster measuring on.
Was nice to see all three scales agree with each other.
 
I use a single stage press made by the Hollywood Tool & Die Co. It was handed down to me in 1970, purchased in the early 50's.
 
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