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Posts posted by Garrison Joe, SASS #60708
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Round balls for cap and ball NEED to be cast from pure lead. Not range pickup (unless it's a .22 rimfire only range). No tin, either, just run the pot hot (about 750-775 F on a thermometer).
Range lead is great for standard cowboy bullets, though. Add 4 ounces of tin to every 10 pounds of melted and cleaned range scrap and it will make Brinell 10 hardness slugs that shoot perfect.
good luck, GJ
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15 hours ago, Dapper Dave said:
Everything IS going to kill you -
If you really believe that someone is not capable of navigating life's hazards, you need to get them into protective care!
But in lead casting, trust and follow the same practices that work for experienced casters and in the lead industrial operations.
Yeah, at one time I was in the secondary lead recovery industry, developing new ways to recycle car batteries. It's not for DIY operators.IMHO GJ
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The producer selling non-sized or non-lubed slugs is providing that service to the 20% of folks who may want a non-standard size, a non-standard lube, or any more, may want to powder coat with their own plastic compound. It's not surprising there is no discount for a plain bullet - almost all the caster's cost is in the metal, the labor to run machines, and the cost to transport finished product. Not in a sizing or lubing step on automated equipment.
good luck, GJ
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They stop to fix a malfunction. Does it matter?
If they handle the gun in an unsafe manner, yep. Loaded or not, declared malfunctioning or not. Safe gun handling is required.
good luck, GJ
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As already stated, do NOT try to use car batteries for your scrap lead source! NEVER! It's not really the sulfuric acid in the battery, it's the calcium metal that replaces antimony in the plates and connectors!
49 minutes ago, Nickle said:Car Batteries are full of lead but I would think you would have to neutralize the acid
The dross from modern car batteries is a WW I gas attack waiting to happen if gets moist! And anyway, casting a calcium contaminated batch takes another 100 deg F of pot temp to cast bullets without defects and wrinkles.
good luck, GJ
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3 hours ago, Dapper Dave said:
92% lead, 6% antimony, 2& tin. That's the old Lyman #2.
Nope, the original Lyman #2 alloy was 5% antimony, 5% tin. That is pretty hard (Brinell 15), but also VERY expensive to make now due to the high cost of tin.
The Hardball alloy is 6% antimony and 2% tin. About as hard (16 Brinel), but had been cheaper to make - due to less tin in it.
For cowboy shooting, where chamber pressures rarely exceed 15,000 PSI and velocities are around 800 FPS, a half-hardball, half pure lead bullet is plenty hard enough to prevent leading and shoot accurately, at about 12 Brinell Hardness.
good luck, GJ
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Cold blue is NOT a great way to blue a complete frame on a pistol. Very hard to get a uniform deep long-lasting blue. A gunsmith can polish and hot-salt blue that revolver frame and probably the screws to match for about $150 or so. If you don't care for Pietta CCH, you probably would not care for a home DIY cold blue either.
good luck, GJ
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Statistically much more likely for the splat to have been deflected down toward the ground with some speed, and as it traveled down, the splat turned over and struck a stand foot or upright, producing the second impact surface.
Firing a pistol or rifle, one bullet splat will almost always be on the ground before you even get the hammer recocked.
good luck, GJ
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I'd call Dillon and tell them about the problem. Bet they will (FOR FREE) send at least a new bar and slider/screw assembly. You try to lock it in place until ready to make each adjustment won't be worth it. None of my 3 Dillon measures drift like that.
A possible cause for the drift might be that the adjusting bar in the slide has started to stick out somewhere and it drags a little as the slide operates. Seen that on other brands of measure bars where there is a mismatch between housing and the bar surfaces.....
good luck, GJ
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Ummm, here's the 1911 power factor specified in the latest WB Shooter's Handbook version 17.5 (Jan 2025)....... Unless another version has come out in the last hour....
from page 31:
QuotePower Factor for the 1911 Pistol
The minimum standard for center-fire smokeless ammunition used for the 1911 Pistol in all Wild Bunch Action Shooting competitions is not less than the minimum power factor of 150.And there still is a minimum PF for rifle, but it is set at the Cowboy power factor level of 60.
good luck, GJ
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That experience reinforces my experience. I chrono my loads and I've had them chronoed at national and world matches. 4.7 grains of WST with my soft cast 200 grain TC bullets in my Colt 1911 from 1974 makes, every time, 168 PF. Any two 1911's seem to vary a lot, up to 5 PF units for no discernible reason, with exactly the same load. A WB shooter needs to chronograph their own .45 auto loads to be sure, or instead of trying to load to the 150 PF minimum, instead load to about 165 as a goal!
Remember, I wrote:
7 hours ago, Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 said:(depending upon the barrel and bullet size)
good luck, GJ
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1 hour ago, Randy Saint Eagle, SASS # 64903 said:
don't know if it will make power factor for Wild Bunch but I shot 4.3gr WST behind a 200gr SWC
That would be about a 135 PF load - great for Bullseye shooting, as you wrote. But not enough steam for Wild Bunch. For WB, usually (depending upon the barrel and bullet size) 4.6 grains of WST is about the lowest you want to start with. GJ
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Closest well-known Cowboy smiths to you seem be:
Pioneer Gunworks in Springfield OR
Run-n-Iron Customizing in Bertrand NE
Griner Gunworks, Bloomfield NM
All three have web sites which will give you contact info and show samples of what they do. All three are great on cowboy guns!
good luck, GJ
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IME, Guns that don't shoot the H&G #68 need to have gunsmith work on the feed ramp and and chamber entry and extractor tuning. I find that most lead bullets have at least OCCASIONAL feed hiccups in guns that fail to feed a cast #68 SWC design properly seated.
Now, is it worth having a gun that is 100% reliable with SWC? To me, yes, since I like the ability to shoot something that is about the most accurate PAPER TARGET load available IF I ever want to.
But, I don't shoot those SWCs in big Wild Bunch matches. I save mine for practice. GJ
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Clay Dot is my favorites for light .38 spl cowboy loads in cold weather or hot. Bet is would be fine in .38 Short Colt too. GJ
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Correct length for any SWC in the 1911 is to have to top of the highest bullet band JUST 0.010" to 0.050" above the mouth of the case. Due to very tight throats in 1911 barrels. There were several designs which copied the H&G 200 grainer, so adjust to leave just that sliver of lead above the case mouth. More than a sliver out of the case, and you will get rounds that don't chamber the last 1/8" of slide travel. But if you don't seat at least to the level of the case mouth, you have a "hanging sharp edge" of the case to catch on during feeding.
They will work fine loaded as spec'd, unless they are cast REAL hard, in which case expect some leading in the barrel. Use a high quality lube!
I load any 200 grain bullet with 4.6 grains of WST. Clean and very reliable in cold weather.
And, no, they won't throw splatter back any more than any other design.
good luck, GJ
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They have an age check mechanism as the entry point on the site - perhaps that chokes on your IP address, especially if you have a VPN running to disguise your IP.. Their web site seems not very polished and is incompletely built out - so they may need some time to spin up to commercial level service.
good luck, GJ
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A usual starting point is to run an OAL of 1.500" - it usually works in most factory Uberti toggle link guns. By modifying the cartridge return ramp on the front of the carrier, usually the gun can run down to as short as about 1.420"
I see no need to buy the more expensive .357 brass! Used .38 spl brass is usually pretty easy to find.
All 73s that I have had to load for would run 1.500" OAL and a 125 grain bullet.
good luck, GJ
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Gun and Trophy has a good reputation, and I use them. Search for that by the name I just stated. Used to rely on a gun rider on my home insurance. Found many folks got a poor settlement from big insurance companies. One thing I especially like about G&T is full coverage on any guns while you are traveling!
Anything to know? Check references with other gun owners!
G&T does not require photos or serials for under $75K of covered valuation.
good luck, GJ
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Did you have an Out Of Battery discharge? Where gun fired with action partially open or while being closed (usually at speed)? Or some other event which put enough force into the action to bend a part? Usually accompanied by a strong thump that you feel in your lever hand when it tries to provide the locking action which the UNLOCKED toggle cannot since it has not gotten to "straight in-line links".
If so, the LEVER was probably what was bent. Bending the lifter arm (which is pretty stout) with normal use is unusual. So, you manually bent the lifter arm to get carrier back to "in time", but that fixed half the problem (just the rise of the carrier). The lever being bent reduces some of it's rearward travel length (where the lever is pinned to the back of the bolt). So now you have the bolt not retracting far enough, even though carrier rises well.
A bent lever can be reshaped (bent) back to factory, especially if you have an unbent lever to use as a pattern. (Or a new one bought - perhaps a hardened one from Cowboys and Indian store.) If you don't, then the best thing would be to let a good cowboy gunsmith have at it. Get the lever "back into shape", then go back and set the lifter arm movement to be correct. This is what is called Correcting the Timing of a toggle link gun. Both motions - bolt forward and back and the carrier rising and lowering - have to be coordinated (timed) so there is no collision between parts and yet also proper amount of travel of bolt and carrier. You worked on only half of the timing, I would guess.
good luck, GJ
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54 minutes ago, Shawnee Hills said:
Perhaps I missed something but, from what I observed, it was all of those things.
Then what were folks posting complaints about crashes for? A lot seemed to be directed at the payment processing software, which often gives shooting matches BIG headaches. If the Land Run web site was not the right place to register, then a big note on the LR web site with a link to the right web address to use would have been very preventative.
good luck, GJ
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I'd use Titegroup. It is pretty similar, available in the market like PP is, and definitely was initially designed as a handgun powder.
I use Perfect Pattern all the time as my main 12 gauge shotgun powder. Since I can't get Red Dot or Clay Dot.
good luck, GJ
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Glad things mostly worked after the initial rush.!
But, a successful registration is not a SPECIAL event. It would have been SPECIAL if the site and the form and the instructions all had been distributed well, described well and executed well the first day. A success story from a couple of shooters who registered (especially if they registered after the big rush) is not really news. It is what all customers SHOULD expect from a major event. good luck, GJ
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Keeping the shell grooves clean in the edge of the Dillon shell plate is very important to my success loading .45 auto on my 550. (.45 Colt cases I seem to have little problem with.)
I never shoot 9 mm, so I don't have experience to assist you on that.
Second cause is just failing to push a case fully into position at the deprimer/size (#1) station.
And the same station's shell support plate attachment screws (underneath and hard to get to) I have started blue "Loktite"ing in place, since those seem to loosen up without that Henkel solution after about 3-4K rounds loaded.
good luck, GJ
Stoeger coach gun
in SASS Wire
Posted
North Carolina - Three Cut, James Club III, Norwood, NC (981) 474-3218 You betcha. GJ