I'm such a sucker for nostalgia

[ageingstudent]

So I'm taking a safety class for my job and the instructor and I start talking guns and reloading during a break. The class is at his house, because that's what you do in a smaller town lol. He mentions that his father-in-law had a few old reloading tools that his wife wants to get rid of--free if I want them--okay...

He comes out after lunch with a pristine 16 gauge Lee Loader missing nothing and a really nice and well cared for old set of steel .357 RCBS dies.

I probably should have taken them free but nostalgia got the better of me, especially since they were his Father-in-laws. I looked them up in several places on line and together they might have gone for anywhere from 70 to 110 bucks. I made him take 80 bucks. It appears they were made around 1960.

I'm a sentimental sucker

I actually have a 16 gauge and several .357 so it isn't like they aren't useful to me. Still a sucker.

Plus I didn't want the safety guy to get peeved at me later. Angry safety guy = poor work environment. Just saying.

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[Certaindeaf]

Nice! I've been looking for one a them loaders in 12 gauge for quite a while.

 

[ageingstudent]

I noticed that the Lee set is made by Lee Custom Engineering also, instead of Lee Precision. That's the old company. I can't remember when Dick Lee started the new company I'll have to look that up.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Nice find!!!! I like old stuff to take up room on top of my cabinets in the shop.

 

[P7M13]

Good to see you again on the forum.

 

[ageingstudent]

Nice find!!!! I like old stuff to take up room on top of my cabinets in the shop.

Well like I said I'll actually use the 16 ga loader and probably the seating and crimp dies in the .357 set. That steel .357 sizing die is probably going to collect some dust though.

 

[ageingstudent]

Good to see you again on the forum.

And you also! You're livin' large I hope?

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

That is awesome!
Back before he passed, I had a really cool client that reloaded. He'd give me a box of fresh loaded .45acp from time to time. I miss that guy.

 

[ageingstudent]

That is awesome!
Back before he passed, I had a really cool client that reloaded. He'd give me a box of fresh loaded .45acp from time to time. I miss that guy.

Back when Tri-County GC was mostly a broken down trap and skeet club some older fellas got me started. They gave me a bunch of empty hulls to reload so I could afford to shoot with them on Thursdays since I was a poor kid. Never forgot that kindness. Thus the sucker for nostalgia was born. The old-timers out there were a great bunch of guys.

 

[jbett98]

When I go to estate sales, I always look for a tool that was well used and cared for by the late owner. Sometimes it's a wrench or hammer, but my favorite was a very old garden hoe made in England with the blade worn down to a sliver and the handle smoothed down to a spindle where the 96 year old owners hands held on to it.

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Back when Tri-County GC was mostly a broken down trap and skeet club some older fellas got me started. They gave me a bunch of empty hulls to reload so I could afford to shoot with them on Thursdays since I was a poor kid. Never forgot that kindness. Thus the sucker for nostalgia was born. The old-timers out there were a great bunch of guys.

Seems to always be the case
Thats why this hobby is great, kind folks every which way.

 

[Throckmorton]

I started my reloading 'career' with a Lee 16 gauge set like that.Mine was a bit newer and from the 'newer' Lee Precision,..about 1959 I believe. Made very good ammo.