There's no place like home

I'm moving my blog from Serendipity to WordPress.

Mainly just to see if it's really better.

Unfortunately the script to import the old posts has messed up the IDs, so it's not easy for me to redirect users to the new blog.

So I'm going to leave this old blog up for a while now, but stop updating it.

All new content will be created here.

I will redirect /blog/ and the RSS feed (soon.)

You might want to update your bookmarks (if you care.)

I brought my Grandmothers old deer hunting rifle home this summer.



It's a Remington 721 in .270 Winchester from about 1949. The action and barrel are in pretty good shape, but the stock is kind of rough and the scope is an old Lyman Challenger 2515 and low powered.

So I decided to buy a new stock and scope and fix it up a bit!

Dave and I went to the range after work today. I brought my four wheel guns (how do they keep multiplying like that?)

Two black powder, one rim fire and one center fire.

I had just gotten a Pietta 1851 Colt "Navy" revolver in .44 caliber and I wanted to sight it in.



This was it's second range trip and I knew it was shooting high.

All the black powder rounds were a .454" round ball over a lubricated felt wad with about 25 grains of Goex FFFg black powder.

I loaded up 6 rounds, but one of the nipples is a little short so it didn't want to fire. I unscrewed it about half a turn and got it to go off after I shot this video.



We were shooting at 10 yards. It is shooting about 7" high and a little to the right.



Here's a closeup to show you the nice group that it shot. I was impressed.



I also brought along my Pietta 1858 Remington in .44 caliber and ran a bunch of rounds through it. I didn't take any photos of the Remington but there are some here in a couple of earlier articles.

I also bench rest shot 6 rounds through it. Here are the results. I'm pleased. (You can ignore the smaller holes, they are from the .22 revolver.)



I shot a bunch of rounds off hand through the Remington with passable results.



I put up a bigger target for the last six rounds and took my time shooting them.



I also brought along the H&R Hunter Model .22 revolver that I liberated from our cabin in Montana this summer. It's from circa 1926-1929 and it shows it's age. The action is a little loosey-goosey and the trigger is not very good. I bench rested 7 rounds through it and got about a 12" group.



It's kind of fun to shoot as long as you don't really expect to hit anything with it. Here is Dave firing off a round.



I also brought my Uberti Hombre 1873 SAA in .45 Colt and ran about 30 rounds through it just for fun. Dave put 10 through it too.



Dave brought one of his 9mm pistols too (forgot the other one at home) and put about 150 rounds through them while I ran about 36 rounds through my cap and ball revolvers. Fast to load they ain't.



All in all a fun afternoon at the range. I like to shoot black powder and I'll be replacing the front sight on the 1851 so it shoots to point of aim.

Lead melts around 600 degrees. My melting pot has a basic thermostat marked 1-10. It's nice to know how hot your lead is when casting, as it aids in consistency in bullet size.

The easy answer would be to buy a thermometer. But who wants to use the easy answer? I'm a nerd, I have to use the technical answer.

There are a few threads over on the CastBoolits forum about adding a PID controller (proportional–integral–derivative controller) to your melting pot. It's not expensive and it's a techie thing to do. How could I not?

I just had the following IM conversation with my 19 year old daughter:

Stef: Why did you order a box of lead?
Me: for making bullets!
Me: is it heavy?
Stef: very
Me: 65 lbs
Stef: lol
Me: did the mailman complain?
Stef: he had it sitting on his shoulder and didn't think I could carry it
Stef: pfft
Me: haha
Me: did you carry it?
Stef: yes
Stef: I put it on the piano bench
Me: that's my girl!
Stef: which promptly collapsed under the weight
Me: haha
Stef: it fell through the floor
Me: well, I wanted it in the basement anyway
Stef: I think it destroyed some of your workshop, too
Stef: hahaha
Me: lol

There I was, cruising along, building the fence for my new router table...

I was working off some plans I found on the internet but I needed to change some dimensions and the dust port needed to come out the other end, so I had scribbled some notes and flipped it in my mind.

I was gluing it together and using 18 gauge brads to hold it together. I got about 90% done and SHIT! I had put it together backwards (the way it was in the original plan) and I had made two pieces wrong.

There is no way that it's coming apart without destroying it. I'll have to make all but four pieces over. Instant Gumption Trap.

I put down my tools and called it a night. There was no way I was going to get any more done.

So the next step after casting boolits is to apply lube to them. There are several ways to do this. I decided to try pan lubing them.

Supposedly that's as simple as it sounds. You put the boolits in a pan and add some lube. Let's see how that worked out for me.

Here are 100 boolits in a round cake pan. 50 of each type that I cast the other day.



Do not use your wife's good cake pan for this. I bought a cheap one at the store for about $2.50.

I got 69 usable .45 cal 200 grain SWC and 23 usable .45 cal 255 grain SWC done before the on-call phone went off and I had to stop. It was 9:00 anyway.



They look awfully shiny to me. I have no idea what the hardness is either.

I just used the ingots I got from ebay. I suppose I should buy a hardness tester.

I think I need a sizer too, the bullets measure between .452 - .455.

I'll be trying another batch tomorrow night and maybe some more this weekend. Whee.

This is going to be very long, and picture heavy, so be warned.

This post is how I go from these raw materials:



to this finished product:



So, if you are interested, join me below the fold for our journey.

Time to dust off this blog.

Is this thing on?

I've been reloading my own ammunition for .45 ACP, .30-06 Springfield, .270 Winchester and now .45 Colt for a while.

I'm pretty happy with it, but my cheap bullet supplier - Missouri Bullet Company - is having problems. They are too successful and can't keep up with their orders.

So it's time to start casting my own. I can buy lead for around $1.17 a pound on eBay, and there are people on the CastBoolits forum selling it for $1.00 a pound. At that price my finished boolits will be about half the cost of Missouri Bullet.

I bought a bunch of casting stuff recently:

• A used Lyman 2 cavity mold #452374 - .45 Caliber 225 grain round nose - should work in my 1911 and my Single Action Army
  
• Lee Mold DC H&G 68 200 SWC - a .45 caliber 200 grain Semi-Wad Cutter - which is the style my 1911 likes.
  
• Lee Mold DC 452-252-SWC - a .45 caliber 252 grain Semi-Wad Cutter - should be a good bullet for my Single Action Army revolver.
  
• Lee Pro 4 20LB Bottom pour meting pot
  

Yesterday I bought 2 pounds of the 50/50 bullet lube and one pound of the Carnuba Red bullet lube from White Label Lube. I can't make my own for what they charge.

I'm planning on pan lubing my bullets and 2 pounds should last me for quite a while.

Just today I bought 50 pounds of lead on eBay for $58 shipped.

I hope it arrives by Saturday so I can cast some bullets up on Sunday!

It will be interesting to see what size the bullets come out of the molds at. I hope they are close to .452". Otherwise I'll have to buy a sizer (which I forgot when I bought the casting stuff.)