A trip back in time............

[Ben]

It was a simpler day when you could buy a near new 1903 Springfield for $20 and a 310 loading tool, cal. 30-06 complete for about the same. Problem was, some men had to work an entire month to save up enough $ to make the purchase.

I'm fortunate to own complete 310 hand tools in 38/357 Mag, 30-06, 8 X 57 mm, and 358 Winchester ( you don't know how long I looked for this set of 358 Winchester 310 dies ! ! ).

My 30-06 set has the cast bullet sizing dies for .310 and .311 in the set.

Before I was born in 1949, people were " loading out of a cigar box " with these tools. They work just as well today as they did back then.

Ben

 

[JWFilips]

Real Pieces of Nostalgia There Ben!

 

[Ben]

I wish they could talk, I've love to sit and listen to what they had to say.

 

[KHornet]

Ditto on the "wish they could talk". I started with a set in 222. I have complete sets of 222, 243, 38/357, 30-06, and 308, plus parts of other sets plus a couple of full length hammer in Lyman sizing dies. With the 222 and a Webster Scale (oil damper) for my 340 Sav. I spent one summer shooting woodchucks in western N.Y. The following year I was in Washington State, and took a pretty decent black tail buck with 55grainers in that rifle and ctgs loaded on the 310. It was legal in Washington then, don't know about now. Every now and then, I will pull one of the sets out and load a box just to maintain a sense of reality.

 

[Lost Dog]

Load all my rifles with a 310 and often, if it's just a box or two, my pistols as well. Use a 1903 mfg Ideal No.5 powder measure that's more accurate and dependable than any modern measures I've used and witness in use. And several sizing chambers get a work out as well sizing cast rounds.

To me, it's not just a nostalgia thing. By getting your hands around these tools and working them keeps my hands strong and chases arthritis out the door! Besides, I got a .3095" sizing chamber that will fit a 31141 just right and even with a mild dose of Red Dot will cluster tight at the century mark off pods and a steady hold in my '06. Naw.... 310 tools are great.

 

[Ben]

Every now and then, I will pull one of the sets out and load a box just to maintain a sense of reality.

Now I like that !

 

[Brad]

I use a Dillon.....

Why drive a Model T when I can drive a Mercedes?

I understand the nostalgia, it just happens to be before my time.

 

[Ben]

it just happens to be before my time.

You never bought any 19 cent gasoline did you Brad ?

 

[Lost Dog]

Brad, I don't use a 310 for nostalgic reasons. I choose to use them. Years ago RCBS came out with a progressive press called a Green Machine. Parts broke on it constantly. Second day and the sixth weld or brazing later I took a 4# maul to it and smashed it to pieces. It was taken to the curb for disposal.

I went back to my Spar-T turret press, the Spartan single stage, and my 310's. Lots more reliable. I began loading with a 310 in 1960 and my .30'06 dies and my .38Spl dies were there from the beginning. .45-70 joined a couple years later. No sir, it ain't nostalgia or any of that. No, I use what I know and trust. My old Spartan gear get a work out now and then with .44's and .38's though, so its not all 1960's here, well sorta.

But if you GAVE me a new fangled progressive press I'd sell it. Won't go near one ever again!

 

[Brad]

it just happens to be before my time.

You never bought any 19 cent gasoline did you Brad ?

Nope.
I can remember my dad bitching when it hit 60 cents!

I have never used a 310 tool. When I started reloading they were not exactly current? I first loaded a cartridge in 84 or so.
I can see the appeal from a portability standpoint. To load many rounds would be a nightmare to me.
Biggest difference at times between Khornet and myself is time vs money. He trades time to save money, I spend money to save time. Maybe after I retire I will have the time?

 

[KHornet]

Ben, I pumped Golden Esso Extra for 19 cents a gallon, before I enlisted. Regular was 17 cents, and oil was pumped out of a 55 gal drum into quart bottles with a spout. Washed the windows and headlights, checked the oil, and gave green stamps. 5 Bucks filled up a Buick or Caddy.
But then again I am an old codger!

 

[Ben]

Ben, I pumped Golden Esso Extra for 19 cents a gallon, before I enlisted. Regular was 17 cents, and oil was pumped out of a 55 gal drum into quart bottles with a spout. Washed the windows and headlights, checked the oil, and gave green stamps. 5 Bucks filled up a Buick or Caddy.
But then again I am an old codger!

WOW Paul........that brings back a lot of memories..............
Ben

 

[Ben]

When I was around 12 yrs. old, I can remember riding my bicycle down to our local drug store. They had a nice magazine rack with plenty of gun magazines.

Having no money, I would stand and thumb through the pages looking at the sales adds advertising new Springfield 1903 rifles for $29.95.

Might as well been 29 million $.
If you can't afford to buy a gun magazine, you certainly can't afford to buy a new Springfield rifle !

Just no fairness in this old world !

Ben

 

[Ben]

Years ago RCBS came out with a progressive press called a Green Machine

From everything I've read , the " Green machine " was a great press for someone that liked to load 5% of the time and stop and work, adjust, repair , and order parts for the thing the other 95% of their time.

Ben

 

[Lost Dog]

Remember well filling my motorcycle for a 50 cent piece and getting change back. 5 cent Beamens gum. 10 cent cokes in a bottle. And my loading kit that had an Ideal mould, handles, 310 tong tool and dies and I can't remember the exact price but $19 or so comes to mind. Fed that Springfield 1903A3 that was still in the cosmoline when me and my dad bought it at the feed store. I think we gave around $30 or so for it. My dad complained they were cheaper right after the war, but helped me with the cost as I didn't have it all.

 

[Lost Dog]

Oh Ben, don't get me started on that. I was a dealer/gunsmith then with a class 6 license as well. I loaded for many smaller PD's as well as my own. I bought the Green Machine for like $285 my cost to load buckets of .38Spl. But ended up just using my Spar-T turret press after that. I got out of the loading business when they wanted 9mm loaded.

 

[Tony]

My dad bought a Springfield 1903 A4 in the 60's, as new, through the DCM for something like $10 plus shipping. I can remember my freshman year in college when cigarettes were $2.99......a carton.

 

[quicksylver]

Might have already told you guys, but pack in the early to mid 60's I worked in a store that sold furniture and guns ( odd combination right?).

People where constantly bring in firearms they no longer had use for as they moved on Cape from up North.

We also had traveling sales men who would occasionally stop buy with guns they came across.

We had Winchesters off every caliber and model lined up in the rafters, most expensive , $50.00
We had nail kegs of bayonets , your choice $3.00, Nazi proofs on everything.

We had 55 gallon barrels of Argies, Swedes and Swiss Straight pulls , excellent to new , your choice $15-$20.

I remember one of those salesmen stopping by with a crate of 10 ,1903's on the back seat and a crate of 10 1903a3 in the trunk ,
your choice $30.00 all in as issued condition.

Then '68 came along.

Enough reminiscing, what I like about those old tools is that they allow you to "feel" the whole process of reloading a round.

Funny but for me a personal relationship is created with each round that is loaded with one.

 

[Ben]

For me , using my 310 tools is a trip back in time.
May not be important to some, but it is an experience for me.

Good story there Dan ! I enjoyed reading that one.

Ben

 

[KHornet]

A good thread! Thinking back about milsurps and pre 68 prices is enough to bring tears to my eyes!