Holy cow....I love that term.....and we handloaders love our thingys!

Years ago I labored a long time making ammo for a prairie dog hunt....thingys everywhere.....flashole deburrers, neck turners, primer pocker uniformers, concentricity gages, .001 adjustable seating dies, and I'm not sure I can remember them all.....somewhere II'm sure I had an auto butt wiper to keep the time away from the bench to a minimum.

Then It happened.....it was wednesday night July 3 and it was a (actually) 4-day weekend.....when a buddy called and said.....lets go to South Dakota shooting prairie dogs.....

Well, hell....I had so little time to reload but decided to do a "quick and dirty".....drop all the "thingy work" and just make ammo.....

By 10:00 PM that night we had enough for a four day shoot (about 3,500 rounds) and off we went...

The bottom line....we had a great shoot and I couldn't tell we ever shot better with all the "thingy" work.....

To this day I find little use for the above mentioned tools.....

Your mileage may vary.

quote:

about 3,500 rounds

How many did you actually use? I agree with you that a lot of the “thingys” are not needed most of the time but they are fun to play with from time to time. Most of the thingys I use are only used once in a case’s life.

quote:

Well, hell....I had so little time to reload but decided to do a "quick and dirty".....drop all the "thingy work" and just make ammo.....

I stopped doing all the "thingy work" years ago. I have never really saw enough difference in my groups to justify the extra steps. I would far more rather shoot than load. .

thingies, to me, include little things like calipers and scales.. one doesn't reload by merely crimping on the groove and using a lee scope, do they?

i am most concerned about overall length, charge, and primers

quote:

thingies, to me, include little things like calipers and scales

Those are not “Thingys” in my mind, they’re basic tools! In other words, essential.

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Originally posted by MickinColo:

quote:

about 3,500 rounds

How many did you actually use?

On a four day shoot we (two of us) usually shot that many times.....Roughly once every 90 seconds...each!

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Originally posted by vapodog:

quote:

Originally posted by MickinColo:

quote:

about 3,500 rounds

How many did you actually use?

On a four day shoot we (two of us) usually shot that many times.....Roughly once every 90 seconds...each!

Wow! That’s pretty cool. Sounds like you guys had fun.

I think jeffeosso stated his position on the subject quite will.

quote:

Originally posted by MickinColo:

quote:

thingies, to me, include little things like calipers and scales

Those are not “Thingys” in my mind, they’re basic tools! In other words, essential.

essentials to you, thingies to others.. and that's my point ...
oh, yeah, i HAVE reloaded with the handloader tools, and have had excellent results from them, too.. you know, lee loaders.. stay away from maximum, and it works fine

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:

quote:

Originally posted by MickinColo:

quote:

thingies, to me, include little things like calipers and scales

Those are not “Thingys” in my mind, they’re basic tools! In other words, essential.

essentials to you, thingies to others.. and that's my point ...
oh, yeah, i HAVE reloaded with the handloader tools, and have had excellent results from them, too.. you know, lee loaders.. stay away from maximum, and it works fine

I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth when it comes to reloading. I find it hard to figure out your point.

I am a Machinist/Moldmaker. I have collected over $25,000 in machinist hand tools over the last 25 years.
Some I feel I can't work without. Some though I wish I could get .50 or .30 cents on the dollar and I would sell fast!!!!

I have handloading gadgets that are the same, but I don't have 25K tied up in them.

I don't load to shoot...I load to shoot better and it is a hobby.

BY THE WAY!!! machinist (Thingys) for sale .50 to .30 cents on the dollar!!!!

Man, if I was going to reload 3500 of those itty bitty cases, I wouldn't use thingy's either! And I'm the Thingy King!

However when I'm sending 10 or 20 rounds from a 280AI (or 22-250, 6.5 rem mag, 30-06,300 win mag, 338RUM or 375 Ruger) down to 300 thru 600 yds every couple of weeks and I have all evening of those 2 weeks to get them ready..........bring out the thingy's!

quote:

thingies, to me, include little things like calipers and scales.. one doesn't reload by merely crimping on the groove and using a lee scope, do they?

i am most concerned about overall length, charge, and primers

Ok by that definition I still use thingys. However there are a lot of other ones I used years ago that I thought I needed that now collect dust.

quote:

Originally posted by woods:
Man, if I was going to reload 3500 of those itty bitty cases,

at a minimum there were 2500 .223 rounds and we normally took six .223 rifles to shoot them.

Shot one until it was hot and set it down and shoot another.

Clean the rifles at night....once a day.

It just worked fine.
Years ago we had no trouble finding prairie dog towns of 1,000 acres.....today I'm happy to find 20 acres of them...

Yeah buddy!!! Buy your ball powder by the keg and your bulk bullets by the 5K or more. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that compares to being set up on a hill with Pdogs as far as you can see. And everyone of them is jumping up and down yelling, "shoot me next, shoot me next". If you don't show some discipline, you can trash a barrel in a day.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
Years ago we had no trouble finding prairie dog towns of 1,000 acres..

I've got one of these but I'm not telling where it is!!!

quote:

I'm not telling where it is!!!

I'll make it worth your time.....

well you know some guys just like playing with their thingys

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
Holy cow....I love that term.....and we handloaders love our thingys! ...

I happen to know the extremely fine gentleman who coined the term "Thingys" and I feel sure he would say "Thank You!"

However, as in a lot of things relating to Reloading, the definition occasionally gets skewed to randomly include or disclude items at the users discretion.

The real definition of a Reloading Thingy is - A totally unnecessary device which costs $$$money$$$ and gains nothing of real intrinsic VALUE for the Reloader. Basically, they are totally worthless for a Reloader with common sense.

The Super Thingys(or Thingies as the case may be) can give headaches quite similar to Wine Coolers, except faster, stronger and longer lasting. And their best trait is they never provide repeatable measurements.

That said, for those who LUV'UM, I'm all for - them - using Thingys(or Thingies).

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:

quote:

thingies, to me, include little things like calipers and scales.. one doesn't reload by merely crimping on the groove and using a lee scope, do they?

i am most concerned about overall length, charge, and primers

Ok by that definition I still use thingys. However there are a lot of other ones I used years ago that I thought I needed that now collect dust.

my biggest trap for a thingie is my digital powder thrower and scale .. yes, I really like them for doing bigbore work .. BUT, dang, you have to spend 30 mins from setup to throw ...

i like digital calipers, too .. but, seriously, the oal gauge works just fine, if you are loading spec ammo

I've still got dummies made up for the 257 roberts i did about 20 years ago .. and works great to set my dies

I believe most reloading “thingies” are a waste of money. The popularity of them is due to advertising created behavior. It is hard to believe the number of items and habits in our society that were created solely by advertising. The diamond engagement ring is one. No such behavior existed until DeBeers made it part of our culture through movies and advertisements.

I am certain that some thingies are of use to the bench rest crowd, but few carry bench rest rifles into the field. The greatest source of shooting error in a hand held rifle is the human error.

There are two thingies I do use, and those are chamber headspace gages and cartridges headspace gages. Brass can only expand so much before it ruptures and I want to ensure, through measurement, that my chambers are between the go and no go. Once I have established that my rifles gage correctly I want to make sure that my ammunition gages correctly.


I just don't see how anyone can set up their sizing dies so that the brass is sized between these two ledges, unless they use a gage.





I want ammunition that will function in all of my rifles of same caliber. 99% of my ammunition is shot in Highpower rifle competitions, function is critical to a good score. I do not want to be wresting the bolt down in rapid fire, as that messes up my cadence, and I don’t want to be wresting the bolt up, due to a stuck case. I don’t want ammunition malfunctions. Malfunctions cause alibis, alibis cost points, drop points and you lose. It is just that simple.

Another very good reason for gaging is safety. I found that conventional wisdom on Garands is all bunk. Conventional wisdom is that only high primers cause slamfires. This is totally incorrect. Garands have slamfired and continue to slamfire with military ammunition. I found to my misfortune that Garands will slamfire on sensitive primers and they will slamfire out of battery with sensitive primers on rounds that are too long, or too fat. For a Garand or M1a it is safety critical to size the case below the chamber dimensions.

That is why I small base size my gas gun rounds and I use cartridge headspace gages to verify that the rounds are sized to gage minimum.

Gene Barnett, the service rifle barrel maker, made me reamer cut cartridge gages. These are cut from barrel stubs using his chamber reamer. This gage is therefore a dimensionally correct rifle chamber. I use Wilson gages, but these are only dimensionally correct between the shoulder and the base. It is possible to size a case with a standard full length sizing die and yet have the case too fat to enter the chamber. It took some searching through my range pickup brass to find cases that would meet this critieria, but it did not take too long. In the following pictures are two cases that were fired in some huge chamber. Probably a military chamber.

These are fat unsized military cases. one will drop in the Wilson gage, the other is obviously so fat that it won’t drop in the reamer cut gage.





Here is one case full length resized using a standard Lee sizing die. While it will drop in the Wilson gage to gage minimum, it will not drop into the reamer cut chamber gage. This little bit of an interference fit is sufficient to cause an out of battery slamfire in a Garand. My second out of battery Garand slamfire, with Federal primers, with pockets reamed to depth, with full length resized cases, were just like this: a little too fat/long. After that slamfire I gaged the remaining 30-06 ammunition. It gaged similiar to this in a reamer cut 30-06 gage. If it had been sized correctly it might have slamfired in battery. Instead the ammunition blew off the back of the receiver.



The other fat case, sized in a small base die, just dropped in the reamer cut gage.



Again, this is why I small base size everything I can , and why I use gages to verify what is going on.

This 20 shots prone slow fire target was shot by our current State Champion in a 100 yard reduced Highpower match. If you are unfamiliar, you shoot single shot, iron sights, prone with a sling. I asked him last match, what he did to his brass. He replied that he simpled loaded it and shot it. His excellent group sizes are in part due to something that thingy buyers do not do. He practices. He practices during the week, he shoots every weekend, he practices, practices, practices.

(I can assure you that he knows how much he sets his case shoulders back)

Shooting is so much a skill based sport, and yet advertisers would make you believe that shooters can compensate for lack of shooting skills by buying expensive equipment. It is simply not true.



However, I do believe in a couple of thingies for function and safety.

I used to do the thingy thing...
However, in my advaced stage of geriatrictness, I quit doin' the thingy thing.
I go straight to the KISS principle, and if it don't meet KISS, I don't do it.
My guns shoot too.
End of Sermon..

Ted Thorn ;

quote:

I don't load to shoot...I load to shoot better and it is a hobby.

How did that ole song go ; What were once vices became habits ,or what once were habits have now

become vices !.

I'm of the same school shooting was once a habit ,then it became a vice !.

If a thingy helps improve either accuracy or safety , then I'm a thingy guy !.

However if it's someone Else's idea of a neat little gadget and doesn't benefit my two main priority's

well then it's someone Else's gadget and not mine !.

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
well you know some guys just like playing with their thingys

When I shoot prairie dogs, I aim for their "thingies"....(as opposed to "Thingys".

It makes them fly high in the air and do multiple summersaults in route!

I use them all... But I do the steps in large batches… so all I need to do is load.

actually my main concern is that when i pull the trigger the round goes bang if i miss that way i can always blame it on the reloaded ammo

speaking of thingies, i just ordered the upgrade for QL for win7

quote:

i just ordered the upgrade for QL for win7

You mean my XP QL won't work on my wifes new Windows 7 laptop?

$15 upgrade .. i have mine working on win7 RCs since august, but you know, its just 15 bucks ....

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
speaking of thingies, i just ordered the upgrade

I'd be real careful who I told that I just ordered an upgrade for my "Thingy".....

Hey SlamFire

Thingy Porn! Love it!

Maybe we can overload HC!


















Had enough yet, HC?

I think we have a new thingy champ

I'll post mine later.

actually it won't take long.....I have none!

I saw that box of store bought Winchesters. Are you so busy playing with your thingie(s) that you don't have time to reload? "D

That should give the Lying Hotsh#t a heart attack!!!! He does get fired up with someone disagrees with him and perhaps this goes back to a bad childhood experience, who knows????

Be gentle with the old man, we need him for his hilarious posts of all of his OPINIONS!!!! I particularly love the way he will challenge other posters but quietly slinks off when called out for his lies.

WOW! What are some of those Thingies? or Thingy's. Back to the subject WOW. I used to spend a lot of time making sure everything was perfect. Then I bought 1000 rounds of 223 surplus bras that was prepped, 8 pounds of surplus powder with a recommended load for the brass. I tried it and it turned out to be one the best shooting reloads I had for that .223 rifle. Thingies don't get near the attention they used to. Just set the powder measure up on the press under the seating die, dump the powder straight into the case and seat the bullet. I do check the weight a couple of times. Those loads will stay right at an honest inch for as big a group as you want to shoot. Or as many PD's as will stand up. DW

I have plug gage envy.

i'd post a picture of my thingy, but i don't want to cause any jealous reactions

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
i'd post a picture of my thingy, but i don't want to cause any jealous reactions

That's ok. Most of the time I use magnification when I play with my Thingy.

muck

quote:

Originally posted by dwheels:
...I bought 1000 ... surplus bras that was prepped, 8 pounds of ...load ...I tried it and it turned out...Thingies don't get near the attention they used to. ...

Really?!?!?!

quote:

By the esteAmed Thingy King(sackotomatoes):
Had enough yet, HC?

You left out your Rubber Doughnut Thingy. I believe it is either for goofing up a barrels Harmonics or messin' with the "Doughnut Eaters", by tossing it into their Radar Car.