Firearm Forums - Arms Locker banner

Morning all!

2K views 51 replies 5 participants last post by  John in AR 
#1 ·
Back from a match and 5 days in the land of no Wi Fi. First day we shot long range, while I did better than last year, I'm still not spending enough time shooting past 150 yards these day. The next 3 days we shot main match, had 9 good stages and 3 that I wasn't so happy with. When the gun smoke cleared, in overall time I beat my wife by 3.5 seconds. Now that is cutting it close. So what new here?
 
#37 ·
Personally, I felt the same way initially about the M73, I don't know maybe the different style/configuration. I got over it real soon as I realized that it was faster shooting than the M92 and I no longer have to worry about "stovepipes", which have caused me a number of problems throughout the years. Now it feels like poetry in motion. In 5 years I have had only 1 problem which was with the side plate coming loose earlier this year, this winter I'll try a bit of Blue Locktite to sort that problem out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigEd
#38 ·
The Uberti came back today and all I can say is 'holy wow'. I'm not usually one to "ooh and aah" over things much, but this is hugely impressive.The action is so different from what it was that I literally checked the serial number to be sure it was mine. The lever stroke is not only shorter, it's also lighter and a lot smoother. It'll probably be this weekend before I get a chance to shoot it, but as long as it's still 100% reliable I'll be VERY happy with it.
 
#39 ·
Sounds like your going to be happy with your purchase. Once you settle on a load for that rifle I'm betting it will see more range time than anything else you own. A bit of a slow week for me, yesterday put 150 rds of cast 6.5x55 mm down range and finished with the last 52 rds of cast 6.5 going down range this morning. So now over the winter I get to build at least 300 more 6.5x55mm with an overall length of 2.880" instead of the 3.150" that I built last year. I have 2x 6.5x55 mm rifles and the cast lead ammo with the 3.150" OAL chambered in only 1 of the rifles instead of both of them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: John in AR
#40 ·
...150 rds of cast 6.5x55 mm down range and finished with the last 52 rds of cast 6.5 going down range this morning.
It's still odd-sounding to me when talking about cast bullets in true rifle calibers. I know there's absolutely nothing wrong with them & people have been doing it for over a century; it's just something that I've never done. The heaviest caliber I load with lead bullets is .357 mag, and even that only in handguns.

Are those gas checked, or is that not necessary?
 
#41 · (Edited)
One of the hardest (labor intensive) load building exercises I have ever done is with cast lead bullets in rifle calibers. The 6.5x55mm load took at least 4 months of work, doing at least 8 hours a day 4 days a week with a single stage. I tried 9 different propellants, at least 9-12 loads per propellant until I finally got the 300 yd accuracy I needed for the match I was going to compete in. Gas checks on rifle caliber tighten up the accuracy immensely.

This last year I have been doing a lot of experimenting with the .30-30. I used 4 different cast lead bullets from 150 grain to 175 grain and only 1 was gas checked. Which turned out to give me the best accuracy out of a 120 year old Winchester M1894 SRC. My go to powders (readily available in this area) for cast lead rifle caliber bullets are either IMR 4227 or 2400.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dorobuta
#43 · (Edited)
Personally with the amount that my wife and I shoot combined I do not have the time to cast. I generally buy my cast bullets by the thousand. For pistol calibers its cheaper than building myself. My local dealer charges $80/1000 (.38, .44,.45 (LC & ACP)). Can't beat those prices the 6.5x55 costs $225/500 and the M1 Carbine $73.00/1,000 etc. Far cheaper than buying factory cartridges of FMJ bullets.
 
#44 · (Edited)
Casting can be a pain, especially if you're casting for high precision or high power. It's also messy, smelly, and potentially dangerous. I only cast my own bullets for low- to medium-power stuff. Just .38spl, 9mm, 45acp, .45 Colt, and some (non-top-end) .357 magnum. I only use them for close to medium range shooting as well; mostly just clanging plates.

Because mine aren't intended for high-pressure stuff or high-precision stuff, I take shortcuts that some wouldn't. I don't worry much about hardness, just using it as-is; mostly from castoff wheel weights. I don't even size them after casting. I tumble-lube them using "Ben's Liquid Lube", which is just a home-made mixture I found online. IIRC it's 60% liquid alox (or generic x-lox) and 40% Johnson's liquid floor wax, but don't quote me on that as the ratios may be off.

Basically, after sorting through the wheelweights to weed out the zinc, steel & rubber ones, I just melt them in a pot on a turkey fryer. Scoop out the steel clips as they float to the surface and sawdust-flux a couple times. Not as big an ordeal as it sounds; pretty easy & basic, just be sure to do it outside, wear a face shield and don't breathe the fumes. Then ladle the molten lead into some dollar-store muffin pans to make ~1.7lb ingots. That's my stock. When I want to cast bullets from the stock, just melt an ingot or five in the pour pot, bottom-pour from the pot into inexpensive six-cavity lee molds, and dump them from the mold directly into a bucket of water. The sudden quenching is supposed to add hardness, but even if it doesn't, it cools them before they hit the bottom of the bucket, so they don't get banged up the way they can if you dumped them directly onto a hard surface while still hot.

After pulling them from the bucket & letting them dry, I just pour a layer of them on a cookie sheet or similar, and spray the Ben's Liquid Lube on them. Roll them around, spray again, let set & dry, and that's all I do. In my overly-simple uses, that works fine. This is 600-800 each of 124-grain 9mm stuff and 125-grain .38 stuff. Using the six-cavity molds, not final sizing, and the simplified lubing process makes it a lot less hassle than it would otherwise be.
Automotive tire Ingredient Bean Cuisine Auto part


For someone loading for long-range, high-pressure calibers, or true precision rifle stuff, you'd want to be a lot more meticulous. But for my purposes, these work surprisingly well. Frankly, I've even used the 125-grain .358 rnfp bullets for 9mm just out of curiosity and they work fine - again, for the short-range, low-precision stuff I use them for.
Automotive lighting Automotive exterior Auto part Metal Aluminium


{edited for typo}
 
#45 ·
Afterthought - the muffin-pan 'ingots'. They're just from normal muffin/cupcake pans and run a surprisingly consistent 1.6-1.8 lbs (90-100 9mm or .38 bullets) per ingot. They've turned out to be a pretty good size to work with, as they're small enough you can add one to the melting/pour pot without cooling it down as much as a bigger ingot would.
Wood Cuisine Gas Hardwood Rectangle
 
#46 ·
It's been probably three weeks give or take since killing my last armadillo and I thought maybe they'd decided to move on. But last night killed another one, not 30 feed from the house digging a hole in the yard. It's funny, our cats hate gunfire and leave when they see me with a gun, but when I shot the armadillo last night the female cat came running up to me like she was saying "thanks for killing the monster" or something.

Armadillos suck, and possums are worse.
 
#47 ·
It's been probably three weeks give or take since killing my last armadillo and I thought maybe they'd decided to move on. But last night killed another one, not 30 feed from the house digging a hole in the yard. It's funny, our cats hate gunfire and leave when they see me with a gun, but when I shot the armadillo last night the female cat came running up to me like she was saying "thanks for killing the monster" or something.

Armadillos suck, and possums are worse.
Odd coincidence that I was tempted to shoot one last night. I just got into my truck to go to town to workout and the varmint trotted out across the headlights and towards the old car I have yet to get hauled off. Right in line with the gas tank then angled towards the house.
Hard pass on that one.
Then I realized I switched from Hornady 135gr+p Critical Duty to Federal 115 JHP after it skipped out of view...nah still wouldn't have.... maybe.🙄
 
#49 ·
Another gun gone. Several years ago I loaned a .22 rifle to our office manager, when her pond was being overrun with snakes. A little marlin 750 that was bought stupid cheap at a grand-opening special at Dick's sporting goods. She asked me this morning if she could buy it, and I just told her to keep it. She's been with us nearly 12 years so I told her to keep it as a christmas present and gave her a box of minimags to go with it.

Also confirmed with my son that he wants the PM9. He wouldn't take it for free, so I told him to bring me a big bottle of my favorite bourbon when he comes. Win-win all around. 🤠
 
#51 ·
One more gun gone. Both sons came to visit this weekend, and I gave one of them my PM9, the only Kahr I had left, plus five more Kahr mags to go with it and his existing CM9. It's still odd to me, but for whatever reason I'm genuinely enjoying the getting rid of a lot of things lately. I recently did buy a new watch, but that was more than paid for by the crazy price the old Mak-90 brought; but other than that, the last couple years have been much more about getting rid of things than acquiring them.

Once we get past this initial sale of customer accounts (which should happen by end of year), I'll probably start selling miscellaneous things on ebay as well.
 
#52 ·
One more gun gone, this one an H&R youth model .223 single shot. I bought it years ago when my kids were small, but they’re my size now and nobody has used it in years. The gun shop owner said a local guy bought it as a starter hunting rifle for his young son, so it’s going to be put to good use.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top