CENTRE FINDER

As engineers we calibrate our equipment regularly. It surprised us that we could not find any gauges to check the alignment of the lift ram with the die in reloading presses, so we made our own centre finder. This design has a spring-loaded plunger with a tapered tip. The centre finder is screwed into the press and the lift ram (with a shell holder installed) is raised up to the spring-loaded plunger. If the tapered tip goes into the shell holder without resistance, then all is good but if the tapered tip stops then something is out of alignment. That misalignment will affect the accuracy of the ammunition being built on that press.

When we tested our presses, one was misaligned. We thought something must have fallen heavily against the press at some point but whatever the cause the press was adjusted back into calibration.