Brass Pipe Nail?

[boffosquid]

I picked up this .45-70 Govt cartridge at the range a few months ago and was struck by its straight sides - inspiration hit....
My son reloads for this caliber - I asked him to seat a copper jacketed bullet upside down in the cartridge mouth. Quite the heft, is balanced and works very well as a tamper. It is a pocketful to carry around .... :mrgreen:

 

[warren]

Removing powder and primer takes the excitement out of using a round.

 

[didimauw]

I'm told if you find a date nail that is stamped "00" it's from the year 1900, and people will pay big money for them.
We call those people "foamers" on the railroad.

 

[donjgiles]

I think, I am a Britwood foamer.
Don

 

[shayde]

Wait...am I the only one that uses my finger?

 

[sumusfumus]

Got a friend with a metal lathe, or do you have a hand drill? Chuck a bronze carriage-bolt, and fashion your own. Ace Hardware sells bronze carriage bolts that can be sanded, and polished up to make a nice, heavy tamper. Cut to length and sink the treaded end into a short section of drilled dowel, antler tip, exotic wood, a piece of bamboo, etc.
Sanding and some polishing can turn junk into a thing of beauty. Anyone with a metal-lathe/pen-lathe can turn scrap pieces of bar stock or wood, into a million different styles of tampers. Catalogs for pen turners are filled with all kinds of exotic woods to make pens..... Shape-wise, a tamper is sort of like a pen without a point. Same skills to make either.
Brass/Copper/Bronze (round) rods can be found on eBay, in hardware stores, and in any scrap yard, or machinist shops.

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

shayde, I think you are joined by those loggers who still smoke pipes.
I think I had a brass tamper once. It was a 2-1/2 inch stove bolt with a flat head, if I remember it rightly.