(which is kinda trippy for those of you who know me from when I was shooting benchrest...)
...and I thought I'd relate a little of what has gone into it...
You can't buy 20mm Vulcan dies at Midway... Or at least I didn't see any... And a Rockchucker is gonna be a Rockchoker...
So...
The press is a hydraulic pump-operated two-way ram.
Since we're loading "dummies" to make our bottle openers, we went with the field expedient method, and rigged a plate on the bottom to hold the dies.
The plate is pretty simple - several holes to screw mount to the bottom plate of the press, and a larger hole in the middle. The dies are fairly simple, and have a rim on one end that stays under the plate.
The downward-facing ram has a turned piece of tool steel, with the shellholder keyway cut into it. Just enough slop to allow for clearance for mildly out of spec stuff.
We're neck sizing only. Why? This press doesn't have the stroke to FL resize, and the neck works for us. This die is only about 1" high. We're using Imperial Die Wax for lube.
The seating die is turned to approximately bullet-profile, and pretty fully supports the steel projectile. We've got the piece on the table "floating" instead of firmly screwed down become some of the brass is just "bananna'd enough to be interesting.
I have no idea how much pressure is required, but it is fairly high.
...and I thought I'd relate a little of what has gone into it...
You can't buy 20mm Vulcan dies at Midway... Or at least I didn't see any... And a Rockchucker is gonna be a Rockchoker...
So...
The press is a hydraulic pump-operated two-way ram.
Since we're loading "dummies" to make our bottle openers, we went with the field expedient method, and rigged a plate on the bottom to hold the dies.
The plate is pretty simple - several holes to screw mount to the bottom plate of the press, and a larger hole in the middle. The dies are fairly simple, and have a rim on one end that stays under the plate.
The downward-facing ram has a turned piece of tool steel, with the shellholder keyway cut into it. Just enough slop to allow for clearance for mildly out of spec stuff.
We're neck sizing only. Why? This press doesn't have the stroke to FL resize, and the neck works for us. This die is only about 1" high. We're using Imperial Die Wax for lube.
The seating die is turned to approximately bullet-profile, and pretty fully supports the steel projectile. We've got the piece on the table "floating" instead of firmly screwed down become some of the brass is just "bananna'd enough to be interesting.
I have no idea how much pressure is required, but it is fairly high.