Pre-WWII Reloading Press

[Multifaceted]

Hey folks, we just got back from northwest Pennsylvania visiting my wife's extended family, and her grandfather who was a veritable jack-of-all-trades happened to pull this from his collection to show me.

Now, I don't know shit from Shinola about reloading, but I thought this was pretty interesting. This is a Jordan Multiple Reloading Press from that my wife's grandfather helped learn to machine and assemble (and reload) in Brookeville, PA just before the war. It's all precision machined with a sliding block or anvil that has 6 cylinders that can be interchanged with different dies and their respective counterpart in the turret below. It can even accommodate up to two sets of dies for rifle cartridge reloading.

It's currently set up for .38 Special and the manual states that for pistol reloading it can only hold one caliber set of dies, punches, sleeves, etc. because the lubricator is needed to lube or swedge the bullets before seating. I'm not sure if that's still required by today's standards. Anyway, below are some pictures of the press. Not sure how common or unique these are, but I found it to be rather interesting.

By the way, I've got an original brochure, copies of the instruction manual, and an old photo of the machine shop where these were made and used to reload before the war. If anyone's interested, I'll post them too. Enjoy!

 

[BlackBart]

Amazing condition but looks like a longer process than a hand held Lee loader!

 

[Multifaceted]

I wouldn't know the difference! Yeah, aside from the cast iron base paint chipping, the steel was in great condition. This was said to have been used quite often too.

 

[BlackBart]

I wouldn't know the difference! Yeah, aside from the cast iron base paint chipping, the steel was in great condition. This was said to have used quite often too.

Must have been in a dry area.... NOT in a garage, in the house itself.

 

[Multifaceted]

Yes, their partially finished basement, I believe is from where he brought it.

 

[Pinecone]

Very cool

 

[Winterborn]

Pretty awesome piece of history. Looks like it works great!

If it does have a lube die, you can go straight from a fresh cast boolit to a loaded shell all on the same press! Pretty neat.

 

[DocAitch]

That is a fantastic piece if equipment. I suspect that the retail on one of those built these days would run >>$1000.
It belongs in a museum.
DocAitch

 

[tdt91]

There are people that collect old presses, may be worth something to someone.

 

[Multifaceted]

Her grandfather was telling me that their niche was that they'd have the buyer send them a spent casing and they'd custom fit some dies based off of the expansion from the casing, that way there'd be negligible loss of gas when the re-sizing die was used. That was an option if I recall, but they did offer commercial spec die sets. It was said that after the war started, the company received a large order from the Canadian military for these presses and die sets.

I'm glad some of you have taken an interest as have I, and thank you. I told her grandfather that I knew some collectors and reloading enthusiasts (unbeknownst to him, it is this online community) and I asked to take pictures. The old man was just thrilled to hear that and gave me the brochures, copies of instructions, and an old picture of the machine shop to "show to the men". This guy is a wealth of knowledge and back in the day could (and did) machine guns from billet steel, as well as rebuild old cars and other endless projects. I figured if this thread got enough attention, I'd compile some of the comment posts to send back with the copies he lent me.

Thanks again for looking.

 

[Pinecone]

Please post the pictures of the shop and other info.

BTW, there are some specialty die companies around with will still custom make dies based on a fired case. They were a trend setter.

 

[Multifaceted]

I'll post the old shop photo and link the documents for online PDF viewing as soon as I get home from work today.

 

[Multifaceted]

As requested, here is the machine/reloading shop photo (which I believe was taken around 1935) and the original brochure. The instruction manual copies are printed on legal length paper, so I can't use my home scanner. I'll post them later.

Happy New Year, MDS Reloaders!

 

[gregaarms]

That is one awesome piece of history!!

I would love to have that in my collection but I think docAitch is right...It belongs in a museum.

Multifaceted, thanks for posting the pics and story! That's just way too cool!

 

[brucaru]

It looks more like a piece of art. Simply Beautiful. Thanks for posting

 

[Mooseman]

Cool history. Thanks for sharing.

 

[BlackBart]

18 bucks brand new.... that was a serious chunk of change back then. OK, you win, I'll give you 18..... Paypal OK?

 

[J Beard]

Man that thing is SWEET!
Prices make you want to cry

 

[Pinecone]

18 bucks brand new.... that was a serious chunk of change back then. OK, you win, I'll give you 18..... Paypal OK?

I just looked it up, in 1935 the average per capita income for the US was $474 PER YEAR.

2012, that is $42,693

So the press alone cost 3.8% of an average annual income. Or in terms of today's income $1,621.

The dies would be $450 for a set of pistol dies.

 

[Multifaceted]

Wholly cow, that is pretty damned expensive! These were made in a very small town, even still today Brookeville is a small town. I'm doubtful that the average shooter heretofore could have afforded one.

I guess that's the price one pays for a precision machined piece of equipment. The efficient manufacturing coupled with the simplification of modern methods must have rendered something like this obsolete. Still cool though, obviously it was built to last.