I did realise that shotgun cartridge reloading hear in the UK was not as popular as it is on your side of the pond, but until now I had not realised how unpopular it really was.
Last week end I visited a very large car boot sale here in Cheshire in fact there was a bewildering number of cars and hundreds of potential customers. After passing about ten cars I came to a car where the owner had placed a tarpaulin on the ground covered with all sorts of unwanted bits and pieces he hopefully wanted to sell. Now lying in the midst of them all was a vintage W.J Bowman 12 Bore re-loading press from the 1960s 70s which I recognised instantly because at that time I wanted one desperately but could never afford the purchase price, giving it a quick look over it seemed to be complete but not having a use for such a thing these days I passed it by. After a couple of hours and with a bag full of bargain purchases I passed the tarpaulin again on my way home and very surprisingly the press was still there. Then came my mind games do I or dont I want it, well there is no harm in asking the price is there? Not wishing to appear too interested I started a general conversation about some of the items he had for sale eventually getting around to the press. That thing! He said that he had found it in his late farther in laws home and did not have any idea what it was though he was hoping to sell it, as yet surprisingly no one had taken any interest. I asked how much he wanted for it, his reply was a surprise. You are the first person to show any interest in the thing and I have no want to load it back in the car and take it home, now I have been here for four hours and in all this time I have not had a drink so If you could fetch me a cup of Coffee you can have the thing. An offer I could not refuse so he had his Coffee and of course I had one also so the cartridge press cost just 3 being the cost of two cups.
A couple of accessories where missing which took me all of half an hour to make but now the big question is what am I going to do with it? Because I have no intention of reloading cartridges, I just saved it from being disposed of probably at a refuse depot all because It was something I lusted after as a young man. Age is no barrier for doing foolish things, is it?