Garrison Joe, SASS #60708

No, for any BP gun I shoot, just squirt in PAM cleaner, wait 5 minutes, and then wet a patch with PAM and push it through. Just about done with barrels at that point. PAM is equal parts of hydrogen Peroxide, rubbing Alcohol and Murphys oil soap. P-A-M. It cuts through the fouling real quick, so no need to plug anything. And leaves barrel coated with a non-petroleum oil film. Good luck, GJ

Any part of round in chamber is easy to spot WHEN SOMEONE LOOKS. If no one looks at the line, and the first examination is at the unloading table, THEN YOU CALL WHAT IS SEEN THERE. It's really bad form to speculate on what could have happened at the line. Leads to all sorts of arguments and "confusion". Call what is seen, when it is seen. good luck, GJ

Captain - I'd think Ahlman's Guns would be a great place to start. Coyote Cap's family shop. AHLMAN'S GUNS 9525 W 230TH ST • MORRISTOWN, MN 55052 507-685-4243 good luck, GJ

By the time an open action long gun is carried to the unloading table, with muzzles held upwards, it's going to be a real rare situation that any part of round is in chamber. This then almost always gets called a Minor Safety penalty. Shooter can then just move on. If shooter has trained themselves to glance at the action of the gun as it is lowered and restaged, even that MSV can be avoided. The decisions about what the rules need to be to 1 - protect safety of shooter and posse 2 - make it easy to call from just a split second of observation were d

Once again, a strong reason to buy from Taylor's when getting a Uberti-made firearm. I know, doesn't help now. Press Uberti as hard as you can for a new cylinder. GJ

If magnet sticks to the sight, it's steel. Sure looks like MIM (sintered) steel, and not completely sintered by the factory. good luck, GJ

Shall we now all gather under the big tent of SASS and vote to toss out the words that doth offend someone? .... Whaddya mean there's no words left that we can use? GJ

Well, aluminum has an EXTREMELY low solubility in lead alloys at normal casting temperatures. And, I just reread all chapters of Robert Block's mini-book on metallurgy of lead alloys in Lyman Cast Bullet 5th edition, and he never even mentions aluminum in lead alloys other than showing the minuscule solubility level in a chart. Oh, I see you have been reading Lyman's 3rd edition from your latest post. I think some of the knowledge from the 1970's may have been replaced by a better solubility figures on aluminum now available. Anyway, the formation and collection of

Cool ideas, gentlemen!

Yep, the setup I was talking about was figuring out a solid thermocouple holder that can be removed quickly to clean the pot, and the programming of the PID controller. Overriding the RCBS pot temp control, as you state, is just a matter of turning it's factory thermostat dial to full-burn. GJ

Well, gotta disagree with you there, KR. Dendrites are simply the tree-shaped structure formed as regions of lead alloys that cool at the same time within a solidified bullet. Above the melting point of a lead melt, there are no dendrites. Dendrites in lead alloys are like icy slush in very cold water. Part of the liquid has crystalized into solid (ice) while cooling right at the freezing point, but some of the liquid has not yet frozen. I've never found anyone claim dendrites form in the pour spout of a lead furnace when it is being run warm enough to cast a completely melted

Sure looks like a MIM (sintered metal) base AND sight insert. I'd replace at least that broken insert with something more solid, like a short dovetailed bar stock sight from Marbles that should last (until the base breaks). Dovetail sights are "sized" by the length of the base flat of the dovetail, and the total height from the flat of the dovetail up to top of sight. So, if you can pull a pair of calipers or a micrometer out, and find those two dimensions, you can look for just the sight insert and replace it for maybe $15 or so. Brownells or Midway would be where I'd look

Those kind of leaks made me toss my Lee production pot and go to the RCBS ProMelt. Absolutely no regrets, and closer temperature control too. But if you want to stay with the Lee, use Jackalope's method above. That would hold mine drip free for perhaps 5 loads. Then, it would get a little debris in the spout and start dripping again. Good luck, GJ

Ponsness Warren. Great shotshell loaders, but expensive. I would not be interested in their cartridge loaders, when there are Dillons or Hornadys out there. good luck, GJ

I find that Pietta makes a better C&B and a better SAA currently than does Uberti. Closer to original designs. Better attention to oiling up guns before putting them on a boat to come to USA. Uberti should warranty-service that rusted cylinder on the Walker and replace it. Be aware if you are buying from Uberti USA or from a distributor (Taylors, Cimarron, etc). Warranty service needs to go through the distributor if that is where you/your gun store got the gun. Only recently has Uberti even had an official presence in the US, and I was not aware they had any ability other tha

Haven't seen anyone who has figured that out yet, and that includes a gunsmith or two who have done the conversions.

Best lead ingot sizes are those that will fit in a commercial casting furnace, as well shipping well. "Muffins" fit the RCBS, Lyman and Lee furnaces fine, but any bigger size would not. An ingot that fills even a small FRB would make the consumer have to cut up the ingot before they can add it to a pot. And slicing fairly soft lead with a saw is not simple (the teeth gum up). I've seen a couple of lead suppliers who have a rectangular mold to cast 8 ingots that just fit into a small FRB. That works real well. good luck, GJ

Usually: barrel set back and new chamber cut for .45 auto case (which means the barrel's cut for mag tube hanger may have to be recut, and mag tube shortened to match barrel length) (and making two cuts in breech end of barrel for extractor hook and the cartridge support tab) new lifter (often from the Smith Shop) fitted (because the round is so short, two rounds jam into the lifter at same time) new extractor can sometimes be needed to better grab the rimless case Remember that you normally don't get any shorter lever stroke than a .45 Colt rifle wi

I no longer add any car wax to my lizard litter, as I would (rarely) get clumps of wax and media in my cases, even when I usually remembered to let the wax run for a few minutes before adding cases. So, now it's just the lizard litter and a dryer sheet (used) and a cap of paint thinner (maybe a tablespoon). Run vibratory bowl for 30 minutes. Brass gets as clean as I need, and even a little shiny. good luck, and good enough for me, and no waiting for wax to spread out, GJ

And, not that it probably matters, but in revolvers especially it will give lower velocities. good luck, GJ

Clamps are part of the wiring. They are usually soft. Battery posts and plates and grids and interconnect bars - all now are Calcium hardened lead since it works better in acid. Folks should not use parts from auto batteries. Clamps are fine. Good luck, GJ

Zinc bullets have been around for years for specialized target shooting (and really did not catch on for other uses - they don't expand much at all and are pretty worthless for hunting due to hardness and low density of the slugs). Zinc bullets shot on a range where pards are trying to reclaim and recycle lead are just as bad for the resulting alloy as adding zinc wheel weights because you didn't sort the scrap weights carefully. Let's really try to keep zinc bullets out of cowboy shooting areas. They are ILLEGAL to use in cowboy shooting per the rules. And they make

Mostly the future price of SKBs will depend on the future of cowboy shooting. If you devote effort to supporting and growing the sport, then the future value of the guns needed will likely continue to increase. Now, what do you need in the way of a 2027 World Series winner or a Dow Jones 2032 projection? Perhaps I can set the time machine that far forward...... Good luck, GJ

The most precise test is an X-Ray Fluorescence analysis. The equipment costs $10,000 and needs a trained and certified X-ray operator who can run the equipment without exposing themselves or others to x-ray energy. Will give you a content of many of the alloy and contamination components of that lead alloy. Even tests stainless steel, tool steel, brass, etc. Needs a chunk of lead with a clean flat surface the size of a quarter or larger. As Springfield Slim has talked about above, there are folks on-line who will test a chunk for a small fee. Bigger scrap dealers have a tester on-si

Zinc is pretty bad in bullet lead. It makes the alloy hard to cast unless you realize zinc is in there, clogs up bottom pour pots and does not fill out mold cavities. A temporary solution is to turn the temperature up another 100 deg F or so. Bullets will be frosted and hard - up to 30 Brinnell. Tough trying to size them after casting. Better solution - keep the zinc out! Or toss out the pot contents when you discover it's contaminated. Yeah, it's that bad. Every scrap melter should have a bottle of muriatic acid around, and learn to watch for zinc wheel weight