410 overshot card punch factory

The tool consists of two components including a punch, and die. Starting with the punch, it’s made from hardened tool steel designed to maintain a sharp cutting edge. If you’re the kind of reloader who loads tens of thousands of shells, you’ll be pleased to know the tip has been bored out and extra material left in place so that it can be re-sharpened easily should the need arise. The base of the punch is designed to fit a Lee Precision, single stage press, however it should fit any brand with sufficient clearance that’s compatible with Lee shell holders.

To install this tool, the operator begins by slotting the punch into place and raising the ram. This step helps ensure everything’s lined up well when installing the die, to avoid damaging the cutting edge during operation.

The operator begins by lowering the ram part way until the punch is just below the feed port on the die, but still inside the base of the die.  All reloading presses have a bit of play in the shell holder, so the safest way to protect the cutting edge is to simply feed the punch into the die part way before engaging the cutting edge on material.

Next, the user simply slides the material to be punched into the feed port and begins operating the press as normal.  As filler wads are punched, they will be pushed out the top of the die where they can be collected.  If the operator’s intention is to produce a great many filler wads in one sitting, it is advisable to place a container (a margarine container works well) with a hole cut in the bottom on top of the die, allowing them to stack up inside and avoid making a mess.

Originally designed this unit to punch corrugated cardboard, so that seems like a good place to begin.  The punch works quite well with standard corrugated cardboard boxes I’ve cut into strips.  It’s a fast, simple process that yields nice, concentric disks.  Cardboard works great for buck and birdshot as it’s dense enough to take up slack, but flexible enough to compress during loading.  This is critical to obtaining a professional looking crimp with even the trickiest loads.

Next up is craft foam.  It’s not really my first choice due to it not being biodegradable, but I know some folks really like it, so I have confirmed the punch will work with it.  As with the cardboard and cork, it punches very easily, although the edges aren’t quite as smooth as the denser materials.

Finally we have plastic blister packaging.  Although not biodegradable, I really like having a transparent option on hand when I need something as an overshot card.  Once again it cuts smoothly, and easily.  The material demonstrated above is  actually plastic from grocery store salad containers if you can believe it, however thicker packaging not only punches well, it crimps even better.

The finished filler wads measure 0.345″, the same internal diameter as a standard 410G shot cup, and an equally excellent size for use as overshot cards.  With a good supply of these on hand, it’s no trouble at all to customize my shot columns by placing them above or below my shot or slugs.  Likewise, if I’ve got a difficult load to crimp like low-volume birdshot or roundball slugs, adding one to the top as an overshot card makes things a snap.

Since my 12G wad and filler wad punches went into production last year, I’ve received well over a hundred inquiries from folks interested in additional gauges. Without a doubt the two most often requested are 20G and .410 bore. With that in mind, I’ve been hard at work designing, prototyping, and testing four new punches to produce full-sized wads, as well as filler wads and overshot cards for both of these.

Beginning with the Filler Wad punches, these produce discs measuring 0.345″ and 0.530″, suitable for use in .410 and 20G shells respectively. These can be used either as filler wads to customize shot columns, or overshot cards for obtaining tight crimps.

Moving on to the wad punches; these will create full-sized .410 and 20G wads that can be used in place of a conventional plastic shotshell wads. These are ideal for anyone looking to load biodegradable, black powder, or brass hulls– or who just want to be able to produce their own components.

As of the publication date of this article, the 20G and .410 punches are $70USD each, plus $15USD for tracking shipping anywhere in North America. Alternatively, international shipping is also available upon request.

Not sure if anyone would be interested or not, but a while ago I got sick of being told my LGS was out of "specialty" shotgun components (non-resin wads, filler wads, cushion wads, overshot cards) so I decided to make a press-mounted tool to produce my own.

I"ve had a lot of inquiries about similar tools for 20G and .410; I doubt there"d be enough demand for me to make something in those, however if you know of anything similar please let me know so I can refer folks.