My Winter Project is done (VERY pic heavy)

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ShawnT

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At my club we have a small range house at the outdoor range and we can leave things on the bar that we would like to get rid of and think someone else might like to have it, but the deal is that if no one takes it in a couple weeks you remove it. One day this past fall I saw a large box that someone wrote "Free Antique" on it. I could not tell what it is as the lighting was pretty dim inside so took the box outside to the picnic table to look at it. I almost dropped it due to the unexpected weight of the box. :shock: When I got it out of the box I saw a Reloading machine that I personally never saw or heard of. The more I looked it over it seemed to have almost everything there but it did not work so smooth. Looked like it was stored in a basement. It is set up for .38 special and loaded wadcutters (One was in the box). I decided that since I had nothing planned for a winter project this year this would be something I might try restoring. I spent some time trying to figure out how this gem worked before tearing it down. I did some searches online and did not find a lot of info but did find some. This Phelps Reloading machine is a copy of a Star Reloading machine. Apparently someone from Star Machine started his own company in NJ to make these for a while. This might have been made back in the 50's from what I saw. This one seemed to have 2 upgrades from what I gather, one is the case feeder and the other is the automatic Indexer. So far the only things that seemed to be missing was the Large primer set up, the Plastic tube to drop the empty brass, and there was only one charge bar (for 2.7gn Bullseye). I finished up the powder reservoir and the primer tubes today. Got some ideas for some charge bars but I don't own a 38spl so not sure if i will ever actually load with it. Sorry for the messy bench in the pics.

Have any of you seen or have any experience with a Phelps Reloading machine? Got any info?

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I started cleaning up the head a little just prior to dismantling it.
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As of today! :D Just wish I could find a way to reproduce the sticker. I taped it over for painting the blue and it was a tad fragile. :(

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Now maybe I might have to get a .38spl just so I can use it? :roll: :lol:
 
I have never heard of that one? You sure did an AWESOME Job restoring it!!! :yeah:
 
Amazing restoration ShawnT. Your messy bench looks just like mine, maybe a little better. Oh by the way, 38s shoot just fine out of 357 mag revolvers. It might be a little costly to get set up to load the 38s, unless your planning on shooting several hundred.

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Thanks guys. This one was a fun one. It came out better than I thought it would. Forgot to mention it but the powder reservoir is actually glass! :shock: I had to make a new cap and gasket for the drop funnels in the bottom, there are 2 separate steel parts in the bottom of it that form the funnel to the charge bar. They were both rusty and just ever so slightly pitted but cleaned up good. The rubber tubing for the gasket was very deteriorated and could not find tubing thin like it so made it from flat rubber sheeting from a hardware store.

This is a very odd machine to me. It drops the spent primers and the loaded rounds into the bottom base. There is a lever in the base driven by the post that has that knife like plate on it to seat the primer. That took a bit of tweeking to get back into adjustment. That knife like plate operates the empty brass feeder. The clear tubing for the brass is from McMaster Carr, but had to buy 6' of it as that was the minimum for that size. :d'oh!:


I saw a picture online of a base with drawers to catch the spent primers and loaded rounds. This summer when I am back home in Ohio at the farm, I'll scrounge up some oak or walnut from Dad's stash to make one. He has a lot of wood working tools to make that easier. I'll post a pic of the base I plan to make this afternoon when I get home.
 
Here is a pic of the box/stand that I saw online. I am planning to make one of them this summer. Just looks too cool not to. That is not my press. The guy that posted this pic had a couple of them and the box was mounted on a pedestal type stand. I copied this pic as it showed the best detail. The drawer on the left has the loaded rounds that dropped through the base. The drawer on the right has spent primers in the front don't remember what the back of it held.

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herschel conyers said:
Amazing restoration ShawnT. Your messy bench looks just like mine, maybe a little better. Oh by the way, 38s shoot just fine out of 357 mag revolvers. It might be a little costly to get set up to load the 38s, unless your planning on shooting several hundred.

Sent from my ME301T using Tapatalk
Thanks Herschel. I have had a couple 357 mag's. 38s are good for target practice over full mag loads for sure. Don't have either gun right now though. This is already set up for 38spl so just need the brass, powder primers and bullets, If I decide to. Of course a gun would be handy to shoot them in. :wink: :lol:
 
Thanks Mike. I love to have projects like these for the winter to keep me occupied when I can't do much outside. Had lots of bad days here so far this winter. I try to never get in a rush and if I start to get the slightest bit frustrated I just stop and start another day, otherwise might really mess things up. This was interesting since I had not even heard of Phelps or Star before. Shame you can't get other dies and charge bars for it since it is actually a really nice press.
 
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