LE Wilson at Shooting Stuff

LE Wilson at Shooting Stuff

LE Wilson Inc. is a family owned business in the USA, making fine quality Wilson Tools and Gauges. Sam Wilson, the founder, was an accomplished marksman and multiple champion in various disciplines in the 1930s. He was unable to locate the tools and gauges to satisfy his own reloading needs, so Sam made his own.

Thanks to people like Sam Wilson, we don’t need to make our own. Thanks to Shooting Stuff, you can easily access Wilson Tools and Gauges in South Africa, as well other fine, useful reloading equipment.

Wilson’s case trimming lathe is one of the most accurate trimming tools I have used. The calibre-specific case holder ensures perfect alignment of the cartridge case to the cutter, for square consistent trimming every time. This lathe also allows reaming of the primer pocket, if necessary, to ensure consistent primer seating. The range of inside neck reamers removes any build-up of doughnuts at the neck-shoulder junction, something especially prevalent when necking up a case – such as 223 Rem to 6x45mm. Those shooting flat-based bullets, popular with benchrest shooters, are likely to appreciate the ability to uniformly chamfer the inside of the trimmed cartridge-case neck. Enhanced over many years, the Wilson case trimming lathe is available with or without a micrometre adjustment, and a dedicated model is available for 50-cal.

Wilson’s gauges are probably the items I use most for my rifle loads. Once I understood that the rifle case gauge is meant to assist setting up your sizing die, not for checking ammo like Dillon’s gauges are, it made a huge difference to the consistency of my reloads. To measure is to know, and the case gauge depth micrometre – paired with a case gauge of the appropriate calibre – gives consistent measurements every time. Now I know just what my headspace is of each rifle, how much to bump the shoulder back, and even what the end result is of all my loaded cartridges. I was surprised how much of an effect there can be on headspace from something innocuous like an expander mandrel!

Yes, LE Wilson makes expander mandrels too. I have made these a regular part of my reloading process, ensuring consistently round necks at all stages. Currently available only in one size per calibre, watch our for an incremental range of these expander mandrels coming soon. More options give you more control.

Wilson has long offered their famous neck sizing dies and bullet seaters, used with an arbor press. Unlike a regular reloading press, the dies do not screw into the arbor press, as the press only applies a ‘squashing force’ in one direction. The neck-sizing dies operate with interchangeable bushings, allowing you to achieve just the right neck tension for your needs. The bullet seater is just that – it perfectly seats bullets into the cartridge case, and is available with a micrometre seating depth adjustment, or without. The micrometre adjustment is a little more expensive, but so much easier to use.

The FLD is a recent addition to the Wilson dies. Like their neck-sizing die, the Wilson full-length die also uses bushings for achieving the desired neck tension. Unlike their neck-sizing die, the Wilson FLD screws into a regular reloading press so that the essential force to withdraw the case from the sizing die can be applied. Consistency is the name of the game, and a quality full length die like this sizes the body of the case just enough to chamber reliably every time. As described earlier, Wilson’s case gauges make it easy to properly set the shoulder bump for consistent reliability while minimising wear on your cases, thus prolonging their life.

Shooting lots of ammo from a semi-auto rifle, maybe a few? Try the LE Wilson Minimum Dimension Gauge. This gauge is an ammo-checker, so if your properly ‘designed’ ammo fits into this gauge it will chamber into your rifle. Note: this gauge does not check bullet interference with the lands – that’s an entirely different process!

Shooting Stuff keeps stock of the most popular tools and gauges in the most popular calibres. Our regular order cycle allows us to get any item or part from LE Wilson, within a reasonable period of time.

Try some of the fine equipment available from LE Wilson. You might be surprised just how useful this stuff is. I was, and now I use it all the time.

Jonathan