Winchester 1894 Reloading Tool use and Info??

[Black River Smith]

I acquired one of these tools in 30/30 at a good price and in very good internal condition.  I think, I figured out, just how it should work but it does not have a primer punch-out pin, so not completely functionable.  Will be making one -- once I OR if I can figure out the proper lengths for complete sizing plus de-priming but short of crimping.

I believe this was the first or second fully resizing tool Winchester offered.  Maybe second because of the 1891 'screw bar tool' (proper name don't you know).

So after general cleaning, I tried to drop a sized 30/30 (RCBS resizer) and a brand new Winchester piece of brass into the sizing/loading/crimping chamber.  New brass stopped about 1/4" from bottoming in/on mouth of the chamber(this seems excessive even taking the crimp into consideration); resized was out even further.  Then I tried to fully seat a piece of brass to check the crimp and what would happen overall.  When I got the nearly frozen stuck chamber separated from the upper handle the brass was scratched at the base and definitely re-resized.

So, where resizing dimensions smaller back a hundred years ago from present times OR what am I seeing?  The chamber is not dented or altered.

Anyone else play or use one of these to reload rounds?

Any comments or insight will be appreciated.

[mtmarfield]

      Greetings!

   I have four or five of the Winchester 1894 Reloading tools; none of them had the factory decapping rod with them, but they're easy enough to fabricate.
   At the top of the Die, there's a tapered nipple; that gently flares your case neck for starting the bullet. Lubricate the case. Once you've primed your case, and dropped your powder charge, start your bullet into the neck of the case, and carefully insert the assembled cartridge into the body of the Die. Screw the Die into the Reloading Tool as far as it will go without force. Press the Reloading Tool Lever, and screw the Die deeper into the Tool; press the Lever again and screw the Die in further, repeating the above until the Die is screwed fully into the Tool. To eject the loaded round, pull the Lever, and unscrew the Die; the loaded cartridge should fall out. I've assembled .45-70 Govt. cartridges using the Winchester 1894 Tool. I've seen printed instructions, but I'm at a loss where; perhaps in a circa 1890s "Shooting and Fishing"...

                    MTM