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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?
I started cleaning up the head a little just prior to dismantling it.
As of today! 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.
Now maybe I might have to get a .38spl just so I can use it? :lol:
Have any of you seen or have any experience with a Phelps Reloading machine? Got any info?
I started cleaning up the head a little just prior to dismantling it.
As of today! 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.
Now maybe I might have to get a .38spl just so I can use it? :lol: