You guys may have this one but it works super for making card wads outta old milk or OJ cartons.Got it from Buffalo Arms and it cuts very fast,precise and clean.

Quite a gadget. But please straighten me out about milk cartons. Back in "the dark ages" (according to my hair) those milk cartons were waxed cardboard which was very good for card wads. But aren't today's milk cartons plastic coated cardboard? Even if they are plastic coated (which I'm not sure of) perhaps very little of the plasic would contact or end up on the inside of the bore. Anyway, with the thought of plastic on the milk cartons, I have avoided using that as a wad material. Another reason is that we don't drink very much milk these days...

Good question Mike read about that on other BP forums.I used a hair dryer to melt some and I'm positive it's food grade paraffin wax exactly like they coat veggies with prior to shipping,at least with the OJ product I'm buying.

Interesting thread. I'm very new to this genre, but I'll throw in that I like Redding Competition Seating Dies for straight walled cases, to help assure straight bullet seating. I have a set for the .45-70, and recently found it works fine for the .45-90 as well.

Flyboy, That sounds good. Maybe I'll try some OJ soon. For now I'm using plain single cardboard, like tablet backing.

Well don't mix them. The Minute Maid OJ and Lemonade cartons I punched are at .026" and the milk cartons run.020". "Consistancy is the last refuge of the unimaginitive" but it sure works good when BP loading. Magnum Man

I bought a set of those cheap hole punches from the 3$ bin at the parts store. One of those is just right for 44-45 cal wads, and I could really get a batch of wads made if my hammerin hand didn't give out.
I then bought one of the Cornell press mounted wad punches for the 44 2 1/4, and that's really working well.
I use the rubberized cork gasket material from NAPA for wads in the 44 patched loads. And am thinking the bags inside of cereal boxes might make good wad's for sammichin grease cookies.

A "Hempe" hollow steel punch for 1/2" recently found its way to my door for $4.95. The only marking on it is "1/2" so I don't even know where it is made but I do suspect it isn't in the US. However, it is punching cardboard and leather or felt for my .50 wads rather nicely. It needs a hammer for inspriation, of course, but I don't punch a large number at any one time. I can't complain about this tool and it was cheap enough.

My 'possibles' bag includes a ratchet wrench, with extension and socket, for removing the breech plug from my TC Omega.

No matter how tight that plug becomes, it's no match for the leverage of the wrench. The cheesy little plug remover thingy that TC provides just doesn't cut it.

Not really a "Gadget" but I made this box for my big 44 Cal.Dragoon pistol a few weeks ago from an old wood pallet,a belt,and an old rifle sling.

I love that box. The blanket idea is pretty cool but having the revolver strapped in like that is a great idea. What is it by the way? Looks like a small dragoon of sorts.

These are some of my gadgets

Capacity 165 cartridges. I have several of these now. This is the first and crudest.


Wet and dry patch dispenser, required 10 cartridges for score, timer, earplugs and a couple extra bullets in case I mess one up.


Line box for silhouette. 90 cartridge capacity and everything else I need.



At some matches, we have to move between firing points (800, 900,1000 yds) and we need carts or wagons. I built this cart which folds flat and slides into any car or truck. It also holds shooting box (I made a different box for this purpose), two rifles, cross sticks, spotting scope, tripod, tarp, shooting matt and cartridge box.

Nice set up you have there......the pistol is a big Uberti Dragoon

Huh. I didn't get the scale right at all. I had a .45 Uberti dragoon once, should have known better. If I still had it, I'd try for a whitetail with it.

Brent

Brent.

It would have been nice if you would have put a self propelled drive on that cart so if I ever had to pull it and mine through that swamp pit at Lodi I wouldn't have to stop and catch my breath so often.

Kurt, you need to get on that bike (and I don't mean a Harley) and start pedaling! Time to get in shape. Mother's Day Match is just around the corner (well maybe a couple corners. But hop to it!



I'm working on my off hand hard. This will be the year.

Pedal bike wont help, been doing that. It's a COPD thing.

"Double Pour Dumpster" ......holds .850 Lb. Melt, and with the blocks pictured (Leeth 550 "Gordon") moves about 1200 Gr. of alloy in one pour.



"Open" ( ram retracted)



...and closed" Closed" ( ram extended) Breech seater built out of a small welder's clamp, drops into any Sharps '74 Block Mortise and and seats a .45-83 540 in a 45-70 chamber



Blowgun Drop tube, '03 Springfield Mag Spring retains cartridge



'nother shot of that"Double Pour Dumpster"



Priming tool from hell,....just all cobbled up, and right where it needs to be, in terms of 'development'



C. is a .45 cal powder compression die made up from scrap, and a $5.00 Flea Market Starret Micrometer. RETURNABLE , and repeatable

[img]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b115/robbinmyers/45dies3.jpg[/img]

Items I have made include wiping rods, chamber swabs, wind flags, cross sticks, and bore guides. My only claim to fame (notoriety? ) is when my bore guides were mentioned in a Single Shot Exchange article.

I've sold a few items, but they are produced one at a time, labor intensive, and I can't make minimum wage on them, so I occasionally make something for somebody who will appreciate them. My stuff isn't all that unique or special, but it is as good or better than competitive products, if only because they are well thought out and and range proven, and I won't compromise on quality. I get a chuckle when somebody says "Ya gotta get Brand X because that's what all the top shooters use". Well known doesn't always mean the best.

Paul








[img]http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m88/Paul39/IMG_0002-1.jpg[/img]

I havent done much lately as far as building gadgets except a set of case forming/sizing dies and a base swage die for my new .44-100 st.

I'm jealous. My BP range box is an orange Home Depot Homer box

I have a couple of line/range boxes I am fond of. The line boxes sold on shiloh's web , made by Bryan Youngberg are great they hold alot of ammo and extra stuff.
I also got ahold of one of Woody's (Richard Wood ) line boxes for the bptr target games, the tip out in front holds 14 rounds, 4 for sighters and ten for score. There's also room in the box to carry wiping patches, etc.

What a bunch of show offs!! ..and neat gizmos

I was thinking the same... and being jealous because my gadgets usually involve duct tape or hose clamps and look nothing like the quality items posted above!

Seriously, a very nice thread!

John

Building gadgets is half the fun! Good excuse to buy some tools, learn a few new tricks too. Highly recommended.

And if you can do some gadget building then you have something to swap with guys that do the stuff you can't, and vise versa.

I'm not particularly adept at building small stuff, but I did get an inspiration at a gunshow last year. A guy was selling loading blocks made of pine for like 5$ each, and they hold 60 rounds. So I picked up 2 for the 44-77 and 2 for the 45-70. Then I built boxes out of some scrap plywood that would just hold the two trays. So now we can carry 120 rounds each plus our line boxes and not have ammo boxes scattered all about the camper.

I will build something before I buy it if I feel like doing it, but seems like when I build something it's either too big or too heavy.
Last rifle I build was a Hawken. I used a 1 1/8" barrel 36" long, fine shooter but too heavy for a carry rifle or shooting it off hand during a shoot.




Next I madeI a set of boxes and made one to big. Coulden't pick it up when I loaded it with spare bullets and powder.

Nice Hawken. I have one under construction (has been for a while).

For most of my rifles, I have done some part of the build. Usually the finish and bluing. But here is the first one where I just bought some parts and made my own, like your Hawken.

Much as I admire craftsmanship, and the aesthetic appeal of wood, I have a couple of problems with it.

1) I lack the skill and equipment to do good woodwork.

2) It's heavy.

In this case I combined the convenience, light weight, and relative cheapness of plastic, with functional wooden cartridge blocks for my paper patched .45-70 rounds. For me it provides the best of both worlds.

MTM makes cartridge carriers, .30 shown here, that have sturdy double latches. Trust me on this, you do not want your carefully assembled ammo spilling all over God knows where, and at the worst possible time. Then I made blocks that fit into the plastic carrier, and a piece of dense foam holds the bullets in place. Shallow loaded paper patched target rounds require especially careful handling.

Anyhow, just another item that works well for me.

Paul

Paul, you have as much skill as anyone, not to mention practice always improves one's skill set. Equipment is an other issue but can be dealt with in several ways.

The weight part, however, I think is over estimated. If you can build a wood box to suit your gear - you can do in one box what takes others several plastic boxes of unadjustable size to do the same. Even my maple box is not that heavy, and it holds as many rounds as your plastic box. It also holds everything from my spotting scope, patches, pigs, scope stand, notebooks, glasses and assorted other gear. I don't know what it weighs but not that much and the ergonomics of the box makes it much easier to hold than most other boxes with skinny handles that are far too small and poorly shaped.

I was going to put a guitar strap on it but found that was unnecessary. Even for the long treks up and down the Raton line and up and down our local range's stairs and hill side.

I figured you'd respond thusly, Brent.

I should also mention that's I'm short on patience, and a bit lazy, though selectively so.

Paul

Yup. We all got that.

One day, I'm going to figure out how to rebarrel. It will take a lathe, the space for it (hardest part) and retirement for the time to learn to use it. Then I'll almost be set. Almost.

Great stuff fellas except now I gotta build me an ammo box!

Brent.
That rifle started as an early model but was changed as I went along. I bought the barrel, plug, lock and trigger the rest I made. The butplate I formed from scrap gas pipe. The trigger guard was a bear to weld up and file down and bend it to shape. The stock started from a sugar maple hunk of wood I dug out of a pile of wood at the sawmill that has very nice tiger striping but the acid finish I used in time darkened it quite a bit but it still shows through in the sun light. The stock started as a full stock, but that changed when I was hogging out the barrel channel with a skill saw but a sneeze changed it to a halve stock. This is the last one I build and it started back in the 80's and the barrel is still not browned.
The caliber is a 58.
Two friends just had a Vincent build, beautiful rifles, and it sparked me to maybe starting a new 30 year project to make one in a .36 or .40 flint and use a rice barrel for this project.

I had the same issue with staining my maple flinter stock with acid. Got way too dark. Then I build my wife a .50 cal and used the same bottle of stain and it came out a beautiful red/brown - just perfect. Seems like the wood makes a big difference yet both were some form of hard maple.

The new one will be a pistol grip Hawken, and light in .54 caliber for killing stuff.

Speaking of which, this morning I found that I drew my Wyoming Elk Tag for this fall. That will be a bpcr hunt though. Not a muzzleloader. It will be a long slow summer getting ready. I need to get started soon!

Congrats on the tag Brent. Did you draw a general or for a specific area?

General.

Hey great!!

I might head back to Colorado if I can still take the 10,000 ft altitude. You can get a tag over the counter there

Good deal. If you don't already have a place picked to go, let me know via pm I found a couple of spots last fall that should work out for somebody ready willing and able to burn some shoe leather.

Thanks, but my normal partner with the elevation issues is sitting out, so that opens up the high elevations for me and my Wyoming connection. We will be up high somewhere Northish of Dubois more than likely.

Sounds like a good time.
I need to remember to get my bison list app in and need to decide right quick if I'm going to try for moose and sheep permits. Think whats left of our elk camp are going to try for permits in the Bear Lodge and make a combo elk/whitetail hunt out of it if we draw, but we've got till the end of May to work those details out.

I didn't make this, but a gun crank I used to shoot BPCR with made it for me. Not sure where he got the design or if he dreamed it up himself, but it works great and will work for any 45 cal straight wall brass up to a bit over 3" long. Not as purty as the boxes presented prior to this post, nor is it "PC" (if that's even important).

DECAPPER for field use . . .

That decapper looks good to me. I've seen others like it. I made a decapper out of pliers that is much much uglier and for sure, not as reliable or functional as yours. It was for a .25-20 SS and it was a bear to use. I should make a photo of it but I don't know if i want to own up to it.

Well Nick it sho ain't Pope but will still do the job!