SMALL ARMS CARTRIDGE RELOADER PRESS
United States Patent 3857319
A progressive loading small arms reloader press employing a motor driven pendulous mounted single throw crankshaft to push a pair of rams having a shell holder plate mounted on their top ends upwards. The shell holder plate is indexable with dies on a die carrying platform mounted on support posts attached to a base which journals the crankshaft and guides the rams. Each revolution of the crankshaft produces one loaded cartridge. Dies for metering powder and seating bullets are slidably mounted in the die platform so more time is available for powder charging and so the bullets can be fed without endangering the operator.
US Patent References:
Cartridge loading machine
Agnese - January 1963 - 3073208
Combination bullet press and ammunition reloader tool
Welch - September 1964 - 3150558
Shotgun shell reloader
Bachhuber - November 1964 - 3157086
Shotgun shell reloading machines
Lee - August 1967 - 3336829
APPARATUS FOR RECONDITIONING AND RELOADING SHOTGUN SHELLS
Ponsness - June 1969 - 3450000
Cartridge loading machine
Agnese - January 1963 - 3073208
Combination bullet press and ammunition reloader tool
Welch - September 1964 - 3150558
Shotgun shell reloader
Bachhuber - November 1964 - 3157086
Shotgun shell reloading machines
Lee - August 1967 - 3336829
APPARATUS FOR RECONDITIONING AND RELOADING SHOTGUN SHELLS
Ponsness - June 1969 - 3450000
Application Number:
05/364604
Publication Date:
12/31/1974
Filing Date:
05/29/1973
View Patent Images:
Export Citation:
Primary Class:
Other Classes:
86/36, 86/31
International Classes:
F42B33/00; F42B33/02
Field of Search:
86/23,24,25,27,28,29,31,32,33,43
US Patent References:
Primary Examiner:
Borchelt, Benjamin A.
Assistant Examiner:
Tudor H. J.
Claims:
1. In a small arms cartridge reloader press, a frame comprising a base, support posts extending upward from said base, and a die carrying platform mounted on said support posts, said die carrying platform having a number of die holding stations arranged thereon; a single throw crankshaft penduously mounted under said base, a first ram and a second ram operatively connected to the throw of said crankshaft and slidably guided in vertical guide sleeves attached to the bottom of said base, a support plate mounted on top of said rams, a shell holder plate rotatably riding on said support plate and centered by the first of said rams, an extension of said first ram extending through the center of said die platform, said shell holder plate having a number of shell holders thereon, said shell holder plate being indexable to align the shell holders with said die holding stations to form shell reloading stations, said second ram supporting the edge of said support plate; one of the reloading stations having means to meter powder to a primed case, and one station having means to seat a bullet in the case, said means for metering powder including a powder measure mounted above the die platform and operated by the first ram extension and a powder metering die vertically slidably mounted in the die carrier platform, said powder metering die having a secondary die vertically slidably contained therein, said secondary die having a powder funnel portion above a case receiving chamber, said powder funnel serving to extend the time in which powder can run ino the cartridge case, said bullet seating means including a bullet seating punch mounted above the die platform and a vertically slidable bullet seating die mounted in said platform.
Description:
This invention relates to small arms cartridge reloader presses of the progressive type which turn out one loaded round to each cycle of the press. The invention is an expansion of the single station press of my U.S. Pat. No. 3,150,558, which shows a single station press with a motor driven pendulous mounted single throw crankshaft.
No motor driven press of the rotary shell holder plate progressive loading type is presently known, and the presses which are known are limited to pistol shells which are relatively easy to reload. It is an object of this invention to provide a motor driven rotary shell holder plate reloader press which will reload rifle cartridges as well as pistol.
A great difficulty with progressive loading presses for rifle cartridge has been lack of time for metering powder charges and the danger involved in feeding bullets by hand in motorized presses. A novel method of feeding bullets and metering powder is used in this invention and is another major bullets and metering powder is used in this invention and is another major object of it.
Further objects of the invention will be brought out in the following specification.
In the drawings, which form part of the specification, FIG. 1 shows a front view of the press,
FIG. 2 shows the crankshaft,
FIG. 3 shows the shell holder plate,
FIGS. 4 and 5 shows the shell holders and plate in cross section,
FIG. 6 shows a detail of the shell holder, and
FIG. 7 shows the bullet and powder loading dies.
The reloader press uses a motor driven pendulous mounted single throw crankshaft to push a pair of rams 4 and 5 upward, as shown in FIG. 1, except that the motor driving mechanism is not shown. The hard portion of the work involved in the reloading is done on this up stroke, the only operation really performed on the downstroke being the priming of the case, described below. The pendulous mounting of the crankshaft is shown in FIG. 2, the driven power shaft 18 and the power shaft 21 being journalled in the lower ends of links 10 which are suspended on pins 12 at their upper ends so links 10 are free to swing backwards through an arc as shown so the crankshaft can rotate. The pins 12 are fitted in crosswise holes in the support lugs 11 attached to base 1 which forms part of the press frame. The pendulous mounting of the crankshaft is described and claimed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,150,558.
Those who are familiar with the action of crankshafts know that the sliding member travels about 60 percent of its stroke from top dead center down to 90° and travels the remaining 40 percent from 90° down to bottom dead center, the sliding member in reloader presses being the shell carrying ram. The crank arms thereby have more favorable leverage angles on the crankpin and have nearly twice as much distance in which to move the crankpin and ram as in top dead center operation which is widely used in manually operated reloader presses. The pendulous mounting of the crankshaft serves to change the bottom dead center action of a rigid mounted crankshaft to upward movement of the ram and cartridge, thereby giving nearly twice the leverage and twice the time for metering powder, both very important considerations.
The frame of the press is comprised of the base 1 which is generally flat and has a portion adapted to mounting on a bench. Two support posts 2 extend upward from base 1, and are securely attached thereto. A die carrying platform 3 is mounted on top of support posts 2 and provides a mounting place for the various dies needed to reload a cartridge, as well as for powder measure 31. Die carrying platform 3 has one die holding station for each reloading operation needed to reload one cartridge with each revolution of the crankshaft. First ram 4 and second ram 5 are slidably journalled in guide sleeve 6 for ram 4 and guide sleeve 7 for ram 5. Guide sleeves 6 and 7 are attached to the underside of base 1 and have parallel bores which are at right angles to base 1. The die carrying platform 3 is also at right angles to the guide sleeve bores so the bores of the various dies will be axially aligned with the rams 4 and 5. The dies, annularly arranged about the die carrying platform 3, are equally spaced from the center of first ram 4.
As stated above the crankshaft is suspended on links 10 which are pivotably attached by pins 12 through holes in link 10 upper ends, pins 12 being fitted through crosswise holes in lugs 11 attached to the underside of base 1. The power shafts 18 and 21 of the crankshaft are therefore free to swing pendulum fashion back and forward beneath base 1 on the ends of links 10. Cranks arms 19 are attached to power shafts 18 and 21 and extend at right angles thereto. The crankpin 20 spans the distance between crankarms 19 and is attached to them to form a rigid crankshaft. Crankpin 20 is journalled in the lower ends of rams 4 and 5 and since the rams 4 and 5 ends are guided in a vertical plane the crankpin 20 is free to move only vertically with rams 4 and 5. So when power shaft 18 is turned rams 4 and 5 move vertically up and down in their guide sleeves 6 and 7. Since no hard work is performed at any point except top dead center of the crankshaft cycle the system works very well. The crankshaft is rotated by sprocket 17 attached to power shaft 18. Sprocket 17 is turned through meshing engagement with a roller chain 16 which also meshes with driving sprocket 15 and is endless, forming a loop around sprockets 15 and 17. Sprocket 15 is driven by shaft 13 which is rotatably journalled in lug 14 on the underside of base 1 and on the end of pin 12 which is supported by lugs 11. Since shaft 13 and pins 12 are axially aligned the roller chain 16 is held to an even tension throughout the pendulous swing of the crankshaft, through the whole revolution thereof. Shaft 13 is driven by an electric motor not shown and V belts and pulleys, not shown, in well known manner. V pulleys and V belt drive are preferable to gear head motor drive because the ratios between the electric motor and the crankshaft can be readily varied to suit the cartridge being reloaded. Pistol cartridges can be reloaded quite rapidly because little time is required for powder metering. About 35 turns of the electric motor to one turn of the crankshaft gives about one cycle every 1.2 seconds, or 3,000 rounds per hour. Tests of the press have shown that at 17 turns of the electric motor to one turn of the crankshaft the press will resize .30-06 cases full length without lubrication and with little effort, said dry sizing of cases being considered as a very severe test of manually operated reloader presses. For reloading rifle cartridges the cycle of operation must take about 3 seconds, or at a rate of about 1,200 rounds per hour, otherwise the powder doesn't have time to run into the shell.
The first ram 4 has an extension 32 on the upper end which is journalled in a bore in die platform 3. This bore 35 is aligned with the bore of guide sleeve 6 so ram 4 and extension 32 slide in a straight line. Extension 32 serves to help support shell holder plate 36, and shell holder plate 36 support plate 8, both of which are centered by ram 4, and are held on ram 4 on the down stroke by nut 24. The second ram 5 supports the edge of support plate 8 and is secured thereto by nut 23 on the top end of ram 5.
In FIG. 3, which is a top view of shell holder plate 36, it can be seen that shell holder plate 36 is also supported around its rim by the ring 9, which retains the shells 22 in the shell holders 37, so the shells remain in alignment so they will enter the dies above on the upstroke. Ring 9 is machined to closely embrace the shell holders 37, which themselves are well known and industry standardized, except they are machined away on the front edge, as shown in FIG. 4, so the rim of the case rides under a lip on ring 9. Shell holders 37 are shown in side view cross section in FIG. 4 and in front view cross section in FIG. 5. It can be seen that the rim of the shell is supported almost all the way around. This assures that the rim of the shell will not pull off when it is extracted from the resizing die, which takes considerable force, and that the shells will be aligned with the dies mounted in die platform 3.
As stated above the die carrying platform 3 is mounted on support posts 2. The various dies screw into threaded holes in the platform 3, said dies being of standardized design and readily available everywhere. A standard die set for rifle cartridges has two dies, a resizing - decapping die and a bullet seating die wherein the bullet is balanced on top of the charged case while the case is raised into the die by hand. As soon as the bullet enters the case it cannot escape, and is well aligned with the case mouth when seating takes place. In pistol cases the mouth of the case must be expanded to receive the bullet without shaving or jamming, and an extra die is needed to crimp the case mouth into the bullet side to prevent recoil dislodging. Thus the standard rifle resizing die is used in the press of this invention, and the resizer, belling, and crimping dies of pistol sets are used. There remains powder charging, which is not ordinarily done in a die at all, the case simply being held under a powder measure until the powder runs in, and the bullet seating which cannot be done in conventional manner because of danger to the fingers.
The various loading stations which are comprised of one shellholder 37 aligned with each reloading die and one with powder measure 31, are lettered in FIG. 3, A being the station where loading of empty cases and unloading of reloaded cartridges 22 is done, a gap in ring 9 being provided for this loading and unloading. Other than the gap shown, ring 9 is anchored solidly to support plate 8 so the shells 22 are well supported and guided, shell holder plate 36 being freely rotatable inside ring 9, with the spring 39 loading ball 38 so said ball 38 engages the detents 40 for positive indexing of plate 36 at each loading station. The station B is the resizing decapping station which requires considerable force be applied to the shell, so the second ram 5 supports the adjacent edge of the shell holder plate 36 through support plate 8 and ring 9. Loading station C is located between stations B and D and is the priming station. An extra detent 40 is supplied at each shell holder to index shell holder plate 36 for station C, where insertion of a new primer takes place from the bottom, primer punch 41 entering hole 42, which extends through support plate 8 and shell holder 37, to seat the new primer in the shell 22 primer pocket. Loading station D is the case belling station for pistol cartridges and ordinarily is not used for rifle cartridges, the exception being for straight walled rifle cartridges such as .45-70, or for special case neck preparation for lead alloy bullets. Station E is for loading powder and will be described below along with station F, the bullet seating station, since they both require special dies. Station G is the bullet crimping station used for pistol cartridges and rifle cartridges where bullet dislodgment is a problem. As stated above the loaded cartridges are removed from the press at station A, through the gap in ring 9. The shell holder plate 36 is indexed from station to station by grasping the cartridge cases 22, the detent ball 38 between shell holder plate 36 and support plate 8 holding the shell holder plate 36 in position while the shells 22 are being worked on.
The press is adapted to load both rifle and pistol cartridges without adjusting the press itself through construction of the dies, as those skilled in the art will readily understand. That is the die cavity is machined to receive the cartridge case, rifle or pistol, up to within 1/8 inch of the head end. The shell holders 37 are industry standardized to receive 1/8 inch of the head. When the die is screwed into the die carrying platform 3 until die and shellholder 37 come together when rams 4 and 5 are at the top of their stroke the press is properly adjusted.
The special bullet seating die 44 shown in FIG. 7 is necessary because it would be dangerous or impossible to feed bullets by hand. Also the powder metering die assembly is necessary so the powder will have time to run into the case.
The bullet seating die has a close fitting chamber reamed to the dimensions of the cartridge case inside die shell 44. The bullet seating punch 30 is mounted on bracket 29 which is firmly attached to die platform 3, and is axially aligned with die 44 so it enters from the top end. The die 44 is spring loaded by spring 51 so die 44 is resiliently urged toward the bottom position, where it will normally reside unless pushed upward by a cartridge case. The balls 46 are fitted into holes in the wall of die 44, in a location that is normally housed in the die hole in die platform 3. The holes are not quite drilled through so the balls 46 cannot pass through the walls of die 44, but do protrude far enough to obstruct passage of a bullet through the die 44. When the die 44 is pushed upward by a cartridge case the balls 46 are pushed free of the bore by bullet 45 as soon as said balls 46 clear the die hole in die platform 3. Balls 46 are retained in their holes from the outside by staking. When the cartridge case 22 forces the die 44 up far enough the bullet 45 clears balls 46 and drops down onto the mouth of the cartridge case, and is forced into said mouth when the punch 30 contacts the nose of bullet 45 as the case is raised further, punch 30 being adjustable up and down by threads on its upper part engaging threads in bracket 29 so the bullet is seated to the desired depth as the shell carrier plate 36 reaches its top dead center position. When the bullet 45 has been fully seated the shell holder 37 moves downward, the die 44 following along because of the spring 51 loading.
The powder metering die 47 is also spring loaded on the outside to resiliently urge it toward the down position, and is also free to slide up and down in the die hole in die platform 3. The secondary die 48 inside outer die 47 is free to slide up and down inside outer die 47, being resiliently urged to the down position by spring 53 which bears on a rim on the lower end of secondary die 48 and on a sholder toward the top of the bore of outer die 47. Secondary die 48 has a powder funnel shaped into its top portion, and a case chamber reamed into the bottom portion of its bore, funnel and chamber being concentric and smoothly blended so the powder does not hang up on the case mouth nor escape around the side walls and neck of the case. In operation the case 22 enters secondary die 48 and pushes it upward in the bore of outer die 47 until spring 53 is compressed enough to overcome the resilience of spring 52 and outer die 47 is started upward. When the secondary die 48 has reached its top position, carried there by shell holder plate 36, the powder measure 31 dumps a measured charge into the funnel portion of die 48 and the powder runs into case 22 which is securely chambered in the chamber of die 48. The powder measure 31 handle 33 is operated by the first ram extension 32. Powder meaure is of well known type and is available everywhere Powder continues to meter into case 22 as the inner die 48 is held against case 22 by springs 52 and 53 down to a point where the lower end of outer die 47 will just clear case 22 mouth when shell holder plate 36 is indexed to the next station. Small bore large capacity cartridge cases require a special vibration means, not shown, to assure metering of the powder.
The press as shown in FIG. 1 is started by turning the handle 54. Turning handle engages automatic jaw clutch 50, described in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,150,558. When the jaw clutch 50 is engaged the crankshaft revolves one revolution at which point the jaw clutch automatically disengages and the crankshaft stops. An overload clutch, not shown, is needed in the motor driving mechanism, not shown, to shut off the press in case of a jam. The press is readily adaptable to use of automatic bullet and case handling devices which make the press fully automatic in operation, not shown.
A fairly large number of cartridges are presently popular with American shooters, the relative popularity of the case generally determining how much it is reloaded. About 20 cartridges of greatest popularity are based on the .30-06 size case head, with two more head sizes being very popular. Among pistol cartridges the .38 Special is the most popular head size and is the most reloaded of any rifle or pistol cartridge. From this it can be seen that only a few sets of shell holders will suffice for most reloading, and that changing from one cartridge to another will often require only changing of dies and resetting of the powder measure.
No motor driven press of the rotary shell holder plate progressive loading type is presently known, and the presses which are known are limited to pistol shells which are relatively easy to reload. It is an object of this invention to provide a motor driven rotary shell holder plate reloader press which will reload rifle cartridges as well as pistol.
A great difficulty with progressive loading presses for rifle cartridge has been lack of time for metering powder charges and the danger involved in feeding bullets by hand in motorized presses. A novel method of feeding bullets and metering powder is used in this invention and is another major bullets and metering powder is used in this invention and is another major object of it.
Further objects of the invention will be brought out in the following specification.
In the drawings, which form part of the specification, FIG. 1 shows a front view of the press,
FIG. 2 shows the crankshaft,
FIG. 3 shows the shell holder plate,
FIGS. 4 and 5 shows the shell holders and plate in cross section,
FIG. 6 shows a detail of the shell holder, and
FIG. 7 shows the bullet and powder loading dies.
The reloader press uses a motor driven pendulous mounted single throw crankshaft to push a pair of rams 4 and 5 upward, as shown in FIG. 1, except that the motor driving mechanism is not shown. The hard portion of the work involved in the reloading is done on this up stroke, the only operation really performed on the downstroke being the priming of the case, described below. The pendulous mounting of the crankshaft is shown in FIG. 2, the driven power shaft 18 and the power shaft 21 being journalled in the lower ends of links 10 which are suspended on pins 12 at their upper ends so links 10 are free to swing backwards through an arc as shown so the crankshaft can rotate. The pins 12 are fitted in crosswise holes in the support lugs 11 attached to base 1 which forms part of the press frame. The pendulous mounting of the crankshaft is described and claimed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,150,558.
Those who are familiar with the action of crankshafts know that the sliding member travels about 60 percent of its stroke from top dead center down to 90° and travels the remaining 40 percent from 90° down to bottom dead center, the sliding member in reloader presses being the shell carrying ram. The crank arms thereby have more favorable leverage angles on the crankpin and have nearly twice as much distance in which to move the crankpin and ram as in top dead center operation which is widely used in manually operated reloader presses. The pendulous mounting of the crankshaft serves to change the bottom dead center action of a rigid mounted crankshaft to upward movement of the ram and cartridge, thereby giving nearly twice the leverage and twice the time for metering powder, both very important considerations.
The frame of the press is comprised of the base 1 which is generally flat and has a portion adapted to mounting on a bench. Two support posts 2 extend upward from base 1, and are securely attached thereto. A die carrying platform 3 is mounted on top of support posts 2 and provides a mounting place for the various dies needed to reload a cartridge, as well as for powder measure 31. Die carrying platform 3 has one die holding station for each reloading operation needed to reload one cartridge with each revolution of the crankshaft. First ram 4 and second ram 5 are slidably journalled in guide sleeve 6 for ram 4 and guide sleeve 7 for ram 5. Guide sleeves 6 and 7 are attached to the underside of base 1 and have parallel bores which are at right angles to base 1. The die carrying platform 3 is also at right angles to the guide sleeve bores so the bores of the various dies will be axially aligned with the rams 4 and 5. The dies, annularly arranged about the die carrying platform 3, are equally spaced from the center of first ram 4.
As stated above the crankshaft is suspended on links 10 which are pivotably attached by pins 12 through holes in link 10 upper ends, pins 12 being fitted through crosswise holes in lugs 11 attached to the underside of base 1. The power shafts 18 and 21 of the crankshaft are therefore free to swing pendulum fashion back and forward beneath base 1 on the ends of links 10. Cranks arms 19 are attached to power shafts 18 and 21 and extend at right angles thereto. The crankpin 20 spans the distance between crankarms 19 and is attached to them to form a rigid crankshaft. Crankpin 20 is journalled in the lower ends of rams 4 and 5 and since the rams 4 and 5 ends are guided in a vertical plane the crankpin 20 is free to move only vertically with rams 4 and 5. So when power shaft 18 is turned rams 4 and 5 move vertically up and down in their guide sleeves 6 and 7. Since no hard work is performed at any point except top dead center of the crankshaft cycle the system works very well. The crankshaft is rotated by sprocket 17 attached to power shaft 18. Sprocket 17 is turned through meshing engagement with a roller chain 16 which also meshes with driving sprocket 15 and is endless, forming a loop around sprockets 15 and 17. Sprocket 15 is driven by shaft 13 which is rotatably journalled in lug 14 on the underside of base 1 and on the end of pin 12 which is supported by lugs 11. Since shaft 13 and pins 12 are axially aligned the roller chain 16 is held to an even tension throughout the pendulous swing of the crankshaft, through the whole revolution thereof. Shaft 13 is driven by an electric motor not shown and V belts and pulleys, not shown, in well known manner. V pulleys and V belt drive are preferable to gear head motor drive because the ratios between the electric motor and the crankshaft can be readily varied to suit the cartridge being reloaded. Pistol cartridges can be reloaded quite rapidly because little time is required for powder metering. About 35 turns of the electric motor to one turn of the crankshaft gives about one cycle every 1.2 seconds, or 3,000 rounds per hour. Tests of the press have shown that at 17 turns of the electric motor to one turn of the crankshaft the press will resize .30-06 cases full length without lubrication and with little effort, said dry sizing of cases being considered as a very severe test of manually operated reloader presses. For reloading rifle cartridges the cycle of operation must take about 3 seconds, or at a rate of about 1,200 rounds per hour, otherwise the powder doesn't have time to run into the shell.
The first ram 4 has an extension 32 on the upper end which is journalled in a bore in die platform 3. This bore 35 is aligned with the bore of guide sleeve 6 so ram 4 and extension 32 slide in a straight line. Extension 32 serves to help support shell holder plate 36, and shell holder plate 36 support plate 8, both of which are centered by ram 4, and are held on ram 4 on the down stroke by nut 24. The second ram 5 supports the edge of support plate 8 and is secured thereto by nut 23 on the top end of ram 5.
In FIG. 3, which is a top view of shell holder plate 36, it can be seen that shell holder plate 36 is also supported around its rim by the ring 9, which retains the shells 22 in the shell holders 37, so the shells remain in alignment so they will enter the dies above on the upstroke. Ring 9 is machined to closely embrace the shell holders 37, which themselves are well known and industry standardized, except they are machined away on the front edge, as shown in FIG. 4, so the rim of the case rides under a lip on ring 9. Shell holders 37 are shown in side view cross section in FIG. 4 and in front view cross section in FIG. 5. It can be seen that the rim of the shell is supported almost all the way around. This assures that the rim of the shell will not pull off when it is extracted from the resizing die, which takes considerable force, and that the shells will be aligned with the dies mounted in die platform 3.
As stated above the die carrying platform 3 is mounted on support posts 2. The various dies screw into threaded holes in the platform 3, said dies being of standardized design and readily available everywhere. A standard die set for rifle cartridges has two dies, a resizing - decapping die and a bullet seating die wherein the bullet is balanced on top of the charged case while the case is raised into the die by hand. As soon as the bullet enters the case it cannot escape, and is well aligned with the case mouth when seating takes place. In pistol cases the mouth of the case must be expanded to receive the bullet without shaving or jamming, and an extra die is needed to crimp the case mouth into the bullet side to prevent recoil dislodging. Thus the standard rifle resizing die is used in the press of this invention, and the resizer, belling, and crimping dies of pistol sets are used. There remains powder charging, which is not ordinarily done in a die at all, the case simply being held under a powder measure until the powder runs in, and the bullet seating which cannot be done in conventional manner because of danger to the fingers.
The various loading stations which are comprised of one shellholder 37 aligned with each reloading die and one with powder measure 31, are lettered in FIG. 3, A being the station where loading of empty cases and unloading of reloaded cartridges 22 is done, a gap in ring 9 being provided for this loading and unloading. Other than the gap shown, ring 9 is anchored solidly to support plate 8 so the shells 22 are well supported and guided, shell holder plate 36 being freely rotatable inside ring 9, with the spring 39 loading ball 38 so said ball 38 engages the detents 40 for positive indexing of plate 36 at each loading station. The station B is the resizing decapping station which requires considerable force be applied to the shell, so the second ram 5 supports the adjacent edge of the shell holder plate 36 through support plate 8 and ring 9. Loading station C is located between stations B and D and is the priming station. An extra detent 40 is supplied at each shell holder to index shell holder plate 36 for station C, where insertion of a new primer takes place from the bottom, primer punch 41 entering hole 42, which extends through support plate 8 and shell holder 37, to seat the new primer in the shell 22 primer pocket. Loading station D is the case belling station for pistol cartridges and ordinarily is not used for rifle cartridges, the exception being for straight walled rifle cartridges such as .45-70, or for special case neck preparation for lead alloy bullets. Station E is for loading powder and will be described below along with station F, the bullet seating station, since they both require special dies. Station G is the bullet crimping station used for pistol cartridges and rifle cartridges where bullet dislodgment is a problem. As stated above the loaded cartridges are removed from the press at station A, through the gap in ring 9. The shell holder plate 36 is indexed from station to station by grasping the cartridge cases 22, the detent ball 38 between shell holder plate 36 and support plate 8 holding the shell holder plate 36 in position while the shells 22 are being worked on.
The press is adapted to load both rifle and pistol cartridges without adjusting the press itself through construction of the dies, as those skilled in the art will readily understand. That is the die cavity is machined to receive the cartridge case, rifle or pistol, up to within 1/8 inch of the head end. The shell holders 37 are industry standardized to receive 1/8 inch of the head. When the die is screwed into the die carrying platform 3 until die and shellholder 37 come together when rams 4 and 5 are at the top of their stroke the press is properly adjusted.
The special bullet seating die 44 shown in FIG. 7 is necessary because it would be dangerous or impossible to feed bullets by hand. Also the powder metering die assembly is necessary so the powder will have time to run into the case.
The bullet seating die has a close fitting chamber reamed to the dimensions of the cartridge case inside die shell 44. The bullet seating punch 30 is mounted on bracket 29 which is firmly attached to die platform 3, and is axially aligned with die 44 so it enters from the top end. The die 44 is spring loaded by spring 51 so die 44 is resiliently urged toward the bottom position, where it will normally reside unless pushed upward by a cartridge case. The balls 46 are fitted into holes in the wall of die 44, in a location that is normally housed in the die hole in die platform 3. The holes are not quite drilled through so the balls 46 cannot pass through the walls of die 44, but do protrude far enough to obstruct passage of a bullet through the die 44. When the die 44 is pushed upward by a cartridge case the balls 46 are pushed free of the bore by bullet 45 as soon as said balls 46 clear the die hole in die platform 3. Balls 46 are retained in their holes from the outside by staking. When the cartridge case 22 forces the die 44 up far enough the bullet 45 clears balls 46 and drops down onto the mouth of the cartridge case, and is forced into said mouth when the punch 30 contacts the nose of bullet 45 as the case is raised further, punch 30 being adjustable up and down by threads on its upper part engaging threads in bracket 29 so the bullet is seated to the desired depth as the shell carrier plate 36 reaches its top dead center position. When the bullet 45 has been fully seated the shell holder 37 moves downward, the die 44 following along because of the spring 51 loading.
The powder metering die 47 is also spring loaded on the outside to resiliently urge it toward the down position, and is also free to slide up and down in the die hole in die platform 3. The secondary die 48 inside outer die 47 is free to slide up and down inside outer die 47, being resiliently urged to the down position by spring 53 which bears on a rim on the lower end of secondary die 48 and on a sholder toward the top of the bore of outer die 47. Secondary die 48 has a powder funnel shaped into its top portion, and a case chamber reamed into the bottom portion of its bore, funnel and chamber being concentric and smoothly blended so the powder does not hang up on the case mouth nor escape around the side walls and neck of the case. In operation the case 22 enters secondary die 48 and pushes it upward in the bore of outer die 47 until spring 53 is compressed enough to overcome the resilience of spring 52 and outer die 47 is started upward. When the secondary die 48 has reached its top position, carried there by shell holder plate 36, the powder measure 31 dumps a measured charge into the funnel portion of die 48 and the powder runs into case 22 which is securely chambered in the chamber of die 48. The powder measure 31 handle 33 is operated by the first ram extension 32. Powder meaure is of well known type and is available everywhere Powder continues to meter into case 22 as the inner die 48 is held against case 22 by springs 52 and 53 down to a point where the lower end of outer die 47 will just clear case 22 mouth when shell holder plate 36 is indexed to the next station. Small bore large capacity cartridge cases require a special vibration means, not shown, to assure metering of the powder.
The press as shown in FIG. 1 is started by turning the handle 54. Turning handle engages automatic jaw clutch 50, described in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,150,558. When the jaw clutch 50 is engaged the crankshaft revolves one revolution at which point the jaw clutch automatically disengages and the crankshaft stops. An overload clutch, not shown, is needed in the motor driving mechanism, not shown, to shut off the press in case of a jam. The press is readily adaptable to use of automatic bullet and case handling devices which make the press fully automatic in operation, not shown.
A fairly large number of cartridges are presently popular with American shooters, the relative popularity of the case generally determining how much it is reloaded. About 20 cartridges of greatest popularity are based on the .30-06 size case head, with two more head sizes being very popular. Among pistol cartridges the .38 Special is the most popular head size and is the most reloaded of any rifle or pistol cartridge. From this it can be seen that only a few sets of shell holders will suffice for most reloading, and that changing from one cartridge to another will often require only changing of dies and resetting of the powder measure.