Home Made Cylinder Loader

[SHIPCHIEF]

Over the course of the forums here, there and at the Firing Line, discussion of building a cylinder loader has come up. Members have contributed enough ideas that I finally took action.
I work best in metal, so sorry, no Oak. Also, I made it for my 1851 .44, not my 2nd model Dragoon. Sorry, I only have one Dragoon so far.
I made it as small as I could, as other builders had pointed out that the ones they made weren't very portable.
Today I made a stepped aluminum washer to prevent damage to the ratchet on the back of the cylinder.

[Fat Jimbo]

Shipchief,
Really nice. The part that holds the handle mechanism to the upright steel member doesn't look homeade. What is that part from? If you don't mind sharing.
FJ

[SHIPCHIEF]

Sure FJ;
I got it from Grainger, It's called a Toggle Clamp Straight Line.
Grainger Part # 3CXR9
It's says DE-STA-CO on the handle and 603 on the frame.
It's rated to 600 pounds, so it's strong and has leverage.
I used 2" channel steel, 6.5" upright, and 4" base.The Arbor pin is a 7/16" bolt with the threaded portion cut off. It passes up thru a hole in the base and the head is welded to the underside.
The toggle clamp bolt holes are too wide for bolts with nuts, I had to tap the holes for 1/4-20.
The plunger is internal treaded 5/16" NC. The picture shows a bolt threaded into it. That bolt was chucked up in a hand drill and the spinning head was ground round against a bench grinder until it fit the chamber for my 1851 .44.
It's kind of rustic looking? (or should I say rusty....the steel was a rusty piece of scrap I found in the yard)
It didn't take long to make.
Scott

[wulf]

One that will drop powder, set the ball on top of the chamber, ram it down and put the cap on the other end. And do it indexed. 6 pulls = loaded cylinder.

[NCWanderer]

[IMG][/IMG]

Here's mine. I made it with some help from dimensions sent to me by stlm1 on .org. It works quiet well, but a little large to be transported around. I lile shipchief's and no doubt sometime in the future I'll be ordering me a toggle clamp from Grainger.

Question for shipchief:
I also work better with metal but my supplies are limited, so do you think oak would work as well?

[madcratebuilder]

SHIPCHIEF, that is one heavy duty loader. Very similar toggle clamp that the triple P uses. Nice weld btw.

NCW, I love the horseshoe! Do you have different cylinder stands for different size cylinders?

wulf, someone here or at .org made a loader with six plungers on it. It might have been Strawhat, I can't remember. You had to manually charge powder, lube and ball then a single stroke and all six loaded.

[BlackNet]

A few 'upgrades' if you will. The loading rod head and the cylinder center pin, put threads on them and make it so you can use different sizes. Also put the cylinder center plate so it can be moved, that way when you are dealing with multiple revolvers it will work with all of them. You really just need 2 size bushings for that.



Here is my loading stand. I bought it from powder inc and they have them made by some company where they are at.

Ed

[NCWanderer]

That horse shoe is something I copied from stlm1 's (on .org) design. He also helped with the dimensions.
No, I don't have different loaders for different cylinders. Since I only have my Remy right now this one works fine, but if I ever get a Walker.....well I think I can shorten the ram enough to accommodate the Walkers cylinder. If not, I guess I'll start over from scratch. BTW I like Shipchiefs design, mainly because it is so compact. It would be easier to transport to the range and back.

[SHIPCHIEF]

NCWanderer;
I considered wood, but I don't have any good wood around the house, I would have to go buy something.
Oak is great looking and strong, but I'm not sure how a fastened or glued joint would hold up under the stress of use, or if it would warp over time.
I might make an Oak base so the steel base doesn't scratch the table.
Oh, with some green felt on the bottom.

[Fat Jimbo]

Sure FJ;
I got it from Grainger, It's called a Toggle Clamp Straight Line.
Grainger Part # 3CXR9
It's says DE-STA-CO on the handle and 603 on the frame.

Shipchief,
Thanks for sharing the information. Looks like I'm off to the scrap pile to see what I can come up with, and a trip to the Grainger catalog. Looks like a really nice compact design that would fit in my range bag.
FJ

[SHIPCHIEF]

Thanks for all the compliments, suggestions and challenges
My next one...will hopefully incorporate some of them.
I didn't want to do any milling machine work so an adjustable base was out, although the triple P uses a flip over and or indexing base plate with the different arbor radius' and arbor pins or bushings to suit all the available revolver cylinders. That does take a bit more thinking.

[Fat Jimbo]

I finally finished my cylinder loader. It works for both my Colt and Remmie clones. I got my inspiration from Shipchief and several others on this site, so lets just call it a THR Community Loader Design. You will notice some ideas from several other designs. I couldn't have done it without all you guys and gals. Thanks for all of your previous posts. I used oak because I can't weld to save my life. I'm not real talented with wood either so don't look to close. The arbor is from a 7/16" ramrod end threaded for 8x32. I ran a 8x32 screw up through the sliding base. The second picture shows the colt arbor removed and the steel spacer that sits on the screw for the remmie arbor. All of the hardware except for the toggle clamp from Grainger, came from my local Ace Hardware.

[SHIPCHIEF]

I Love it!
Especially the storage box that adds strength at the same time.

[Fat Jimbo]

Thanks Shipchief. I thought you maybe left the forum. I haven't seen any posts from you in awhile. I have a new project that I'm going to post here soon, just as soon as I try it out at the range. In a normal winter that would have happened by now. I don't like the frozen fingers fumbling with caps routine. Can't wait till spring.
FJ
P.S. Thanks for that toggle clamp idea and the idea for the plunger ramrod. Works great.

[72coupe]

Jimbo haven't you heard? The global warmers just declared this the warmest January on record.

No...seriously!

[Fat Jimbo]

Hey Coupe,
The global warmers huh? Warmest January on record? Maybe I could get them to hold my target with their warm fingers while I try out my new Colt 60. I know I'm not in my 20's or 40's anymore. I don't pretend to try to tough it out anymore. Man it's been cold this winter. I think even Iowa Park wasn't exactly the tropics this year. Think Spring.....

[72coupe]

Jimbo we had the coldest average December, January & February on record. We had a record amount of snow fall for a season already.

Then they say this is the hottest winter. It must be really hot in the Southern hemisphere.

[Omnivore]

Your next task is to make a Progressive loader

Make it as a new caliber convesion for the Dillon Square Deal B or etc.? And another one that makes finished combustible envelope cartridges with each pull of the lever.

[madcratebuilder]

Pretty slick loader you built jimbo, I like the adjustable arbor.

[Fat Jimbo]

Thanks for the comments guys. I like the idea of the progressive loader, maybe I can try to make a machine to shoot the darn gun for me while I'm at it. Hey 72coupe, it's suppose to get up to 50 degrees today.. Yahoo! Maybe my wish for Spring worked. I heard that it's so warm up at the pole that their going to send all of the polar bears down here to the lower 48 to cool down. http://www.thehighroad.us/images/smilies/wink.gif

I have got an accessory for the loader that I will try to post here tonight. It's a quicker way to charge the cylinders with powder. Nothing fancy it just works and saves time on the range.

Hey Omnivore (moderator) is there a reason that I have been on my 14th post for the last six or seven posts. Doesn't really matter to me but just curious.

[Omnivore]

FJ; That's curious. I sent a note to oleg. As of now you're indicating 15 posts, but that's still a problem.

[Omnivore]

Fat J; If you were posting in the for sale area, those aren't counted.

[Fat Jimbo]

Omnivore,
Nope. I've only posted in a few different sections in the Blackpowder Shooting section. No worries. It doesn't bother me, I'm not trying to set any post records as you can see. I was just curious. I noticed a few other people's like Shipchiefs that also had several posts in a row but the same count. Thanks for your response. FJ