17 loading Advice-lack of numble fingers...

[Double D]

One thing I have encountered working with this 17 Hornet is my 68 year old fat arthritic fingers. I have the devil of a time picking up and placing 17 cal bullets to seat in the case.

I tried tweezers, both metal and plastic-metal with rubber padded jaws might work if could find some.

Anybody have suggestions.

[l h jenkins]

my fingers are even older and ham sized. I figured out that rcbs competition seater is the way to go. it has a side window you drop that pesky little sucker in and it lines it up. I load all my 17 cal. and 20 and 22 cal. bullets with the rcbs. read up on them it may help you.

[BobG]

Had the same problem. Got a Vickerman seating die. All solved.

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Those little bitty bullets can sure be a PITA! For seating, I use a RCBS "Compitition Seater Die". Built with a side window that lets you drop the bullet in the slide and that in turn keeps the bullet centered in the case neck. That way you don't end up smashing your fingers while trying to keep the bullet straight.
Not sure if the Comp die comes in 17 caliber or not. What I do is pick up used die sets, swap internals till it's set up the way I like it. Got them in anything from 30 caliber all the way down to 17 and a bunch in between.

[ray h]

DD, I've been using for years a very shallow bowl, it'll easily hold a 100 bullets. It's very easy to reach in and slide a bullet up the side to pick up. Much easier than reaching in a box. I mainly use the Wilson straight line seater or sometime a Vickerman seating die. Another thing, don't change around how you pick up bullets and handle dies etc. I found what procedure worked for me and use the same technique for every round. With my shallow bowl I can reach in with my right hand, my fingers automatic flip the bullet right end up without even looking. I just loaded nearly 3000 rounds. Dropping powder and seating bullet with the Wilson die I averaged around a 100 per hour. Any change up in procedure will mess up your timing. I was throwing 296, Enforcer and 1680 so they metered great needing only a few checks.

[Oleman]

Originally Posted by Double D

One thing I have encountered working with this 17 Hornet is my 68 year old fat arthritic fingers. I have the devil of a time picking up and placing 17 cal bullets to seat in the case.

I tried tweezers, both metal and plastic-metal with rubber padded jaws might work if could find some.

Anybody have suggestions.

Don't get a 14 caliber.

[Double D]

Originally Posted by Oleman

Don't get a 14 caliber.

Ahahahaha! Nope!

Thanks guys for the other ideas.

RCBS, price-choke! Wonder if my doctor will prescribe it and medicare pays.

Will the Vickerman work in a Dillon Machine? Once I get the loads developed I want to bulk load.

[Chickenthief]

So i sat there with a cold brew and had a brainfart, you know the expression: Hold my beer and watch this.

A pair of tweezers and a "bead" i made on the lathe in a jiffy.




And then i thought to myself, how does it actually pick up a bullet and a trip to the belt sander later this:




DoubleD if it is something you can use or if anyone has product improvements then by all means speak up.

PS. See next post for the rest of the pics!

[Chickenthief]

[GLWenzl]

I do what Ray does except that I just use a plastic box that hooks into the bracket on the edge of my bench. Always have it full of bullets and don't have any issues grabbing bullets. I also use a Hornady seating die, the sliding sleeve holds (and aligns) the bullet. The tiny 17 grain Vmax probably the worst but the nice BT makes it really nice to load.

That said sometimes my hand does cramp up or hurt from the arthritis (with any sized bullet).