Hi all, I just picked up an Ideal 45 Gov loading tool on Ebay. What are the 3 stations used for? It has the bullet mold on the front, but it looks like it was used as a hammer. It doesn't have a sprue plate, but I should be able to drill and tap out the screw hole and make a new plate. Is the long piece that comes out of the handle for seating the bullet or case sizeing? Does the next one seat primers? It looks like the last one is for sizeing the bullets? It looks like there is an extractor for the first station, but it is all rusted up. I've got it soaking with some WD-40. The mold blocks look like they might be out of alignment from being used as a hammer. Maybe I can hammer them back straight? I'll try that after casting to see if the bands line up.

lar45: You've got a classic item there, whatever its shape. The Ideal No. 5 Armory tool, the No. 6 and the No. 6 Adjustable were all made for the .45-70, and usually stamped ".45 GOV'T.". The No. 5 had a muzzle resizing die and re-cappimng station outboard of the hinge, and a fixed bullet seating/crimping station and bullet sizing station inboard. Yours, with the mould outboard, is a No. 6, with the seat/crimp station nearest the hinge, the priming station next, and a bullet sizing station with long plunger third. The basic No. 6 had a solid seat/crimp die built-in, while the No. 6 adjustable had a screw-in die, adjustable for crimp, and some had the "double-adjustable" feature, with adjustable (and interchangeable, for different nose profiles) bullet seating screw. There was no provision in these for partial or full-length case sizing, which was done, if needed, in a separate die, using a vise or a mallet. These tools were normally shipped boxed, with a little de-capping billet that dropped into the seat/crimp chamber, and a dip measure for a standard BP powder charge, but these are usually missing. Go the the Antique Reloading Tool Collectors Ass'n. Homepage at www.antiquereloadingtools.org and click "Ideal" in the list at left, then scroll through the many variations of the old Ideal tong tools, focussing on the No. 5 and No. 6 versions for further details.

I have a somewhat beat-up No. 6 in .44 Evans with the fixed seat/crimp chamber and no "extras", the mould is a bit battered but makes bullets that will load, seat and chamber in my 26-shot "Evans Sporting Rifle" ("The rifle that you load all week, and shoot on Sunday"; but that's another story). You can probably "beat" yours into reasonably usable shape, given your demonstrated mechanical skills, without detracting from any collector value, and the decapping punch and charge cup would be "duck soup" to make if you feel you need them. Oh yes, the truncated conical tip on the seat/crimp chamber (or the seating screw, if separate) serves to flare the case mouth a bit for starting cast bullets - and what else would you be using here?!? Have fun! floodgate

Thanks, that helps abunch. Mine is definately not in that good of shape. I made a sprue plate yesterday and drilled and tapped the block to put it on. I cast some slugs and the flash is terrible. I used some side cuts to trim the flash off and the bullets went through the sizer fine with some lube. The bands don't line up on the two halves so it will get a little hammer treatment. There was a good pic of the decapping tool. I'm sure I can whip one of those up to go with it. I'll spend some time on it and see if I can make some ammo that shoots. If not I'll hang it on a peg on the wall.