A cheaper way of doing things!!!

[Smokin4590]

Here we go again!!!
Drop tubes- Yes they work! No you dont have to spend $89.00 for one!
Make your own! Old curtain rods found at the thrift stores work well and cost less than $2.00. Find one that is round and is 30 inches or a little longer. Cut it to 30 inches. Your funnel can be found at most hardware stores or auto shops for less than a buck! Insert the funnel in one end of the rod and you can glue it into place or tape it, your choice? To keep the powder from jumping out of the case when you dump the powder, you can use a cork that is about an inch in diameter or less. Drill a hole in the cork that is close to the outside diameter of your rod and slip it over the end flush with the botton of the tube, you can also glue this on if desired? for a mount for the bench you can use a peice of 1 by 2 thats a foot long, drill a hole thats about the same diameter as the rod, done right you should have a tight fit so you can adjust it if needed or just glue it in place. A 30 inch drop tube will give you a few more grains in the case than a 22 inch one will! The finished product might not look pretty but that 85 dollars you save could buy those new die sets you've been looking at!!
Wad punches- one word- Expensive!!! Use one of your cartridge cases for a punch! Deprime case and resize it, Use your deburring tool to sharpen outer side of case. Lay your wad material down on a piece of scrap wood and use a small hamer and tap the end of the case with it. Makes a clean cut plus your wads will be perfect for your cases! I've been using the same case for over 4 years now with no problems, although you will need to run the deburring tool over the edges every now and then to keep the edge!
I posted this on here to help the few (I know your out there!) who are fortunate enough to own a BP rifle but cant afford the high priced goodies that are on the market to make it work! There are ways to make it work, cheaply, and shoot with the best of them for a fraction of the cost!!
Keep it simple!! It shoots better that way!

A man and his rifle become one

[Aladin]

Wad cutting.

I use a belted mag case [cutoff below the shoulder] spun with a Lee case trimmer shellholder in a hand drill. Sharpen with the deburring tool-- this is how i cut oversized wads of around 465-470. Cut 4-5, insert one prong of the needle nose pliers and push them around-- grab with the nose.

Unless-- does anyone sell harder wads that fit tight in a case? Cutting a hundred isn't a bad job, but I'd buy them cut if I knew where...

[KING]

ALADIN...I buy all of my stuff fer BPCR from BUFFALO ARMS CO...ITS WWW.BUFFALOARMS.COM....IF THAT HELPS YA..THE .45 DIA FIT VRY WELL IN THE CASE..NICE TIGHT FIT..THE .50'S DO THE SAME...I HAVE A LOT OF PROBLEMS TRYING TO MAKE THAT KINDA STUFF CAUSE I KINDA SCREW IT UP WHEN I TRY..U ALSO CAN GET A LEATHER PUNCH FROM YER HANDY DANDY LEATHER STORE  THAT WORKS REAL WELL ALSO..U CAN BUY WADS THAT ARE VEGETABLE TYPE...20 BUCKS/1000..OR poly..16/1000 OR WOOL FELT ONES FER 30/1000..ID RATHER SPEND MY TIME RELOADING AND SHOOTING THAT ATTEMPTING TO MAKE MY COMPONANTS...BUT..AFTER READING THE ABOVE I WILL PROBABLY TRY.....KING :-D

[ButlerFord45]

I'm getting fat on food-for-thought this morning; BUT,  two pieces of 1" by3 or 4", dont need to be more than 8-10" screwed together, one flat and horizontal for the base, the other screwed to it vertically for the upright portion. Two screw eyes screwed into the edge of the upright piece
an old aluminium arrow shaft with an O ring around it through the screw eyes a small funnel epoxied to the arrow shaft and you have the high dollar drop tube.



Butler Ford

[Lead pot]

Hi all.I use a 4'- 1/4"id copper pipe with a 3/8 x 5/8 od sweat reducer,and I found a nice brass funnel I soldered on the top end.Heck that is as good as you can buy.Lp.

[Charlie Detroit]

suggest Cu tubing, it's cheap and easy to find, when someone took the words right outta my mouth, dirty, unsanitary habit that it is...
If you take the same sharpened case mentioned above, drill a nice CENTERED hole in the head (use the flash hole as a guide) and install a bolt and nut, with however many lockwashers you think you need, you can run that puppy in a drill press. Use a piece of wood for a backer, and you can cut wads all day, pretty fast, too. If you leave out the lockwashers, you MAY have some trouble with slippage, but you can disassemble the unit and use the hole to push out the wads when they fill the case.

[twohands]

:? just to satisfy my curiosity...  where did you 'find' a brass funnel?  i have been fabricating my brass stuff.  good ol'fashion brass goodies (like small funnels) are scarce

[TexasMac]

My drop tube is a piece of thinwall brass tubing purchased at a hobby shop (for model cars and trains, etc.).  It is stiffer and thinner walled than copper tubing and I believe works better.  I made a brass funnel quite easily from a piece of brass shim stock.  Rolled it into the shape of a funnel just like one would make a paper funnel.  Soldered the overlapping seam.  Cut off the top and bottom with a standard pair of sizzors, flaired out the bottom till it just fit the inside of the tube and soldered it in place.  Works great.

Wayne

[Lead pot]

I found my funnel at Gander Mountain.It has a 1/4" thread at the end so I just swaged out the copper tube a little and soldered it to the tube.The flaired end is about 2".Lp.