Rain chilled afternoon....

[pls1911]

What to do on a rain chilled afternoon?
With ample alloy at hand and two Miheck brass molds for the 45-270SAA, a couple of hours provides 46 pounds of very nice boolits....
Slug casts 287-288 grains in my alloy.

[btroj]

Looks to be a productive day. I love big piles of freshly cast bullets. Then I remember that I have to size them and the luster wears off.

Brad

[geargnasher]

Casting in a condensing atmosphere is pure magic.

Gear

[caillouetr9981]

The absolutely best bullets are cast on a cold, rainy day....

Reggie

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Guess that means I had better get with it!

Hope to run out of cold raining days before long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Wed, a cold and sometimes raining day, I had a good session with my new BRP .462/465gr. 4 cavity mold and turned out a nice pile of those big bad boys.

Now am into the gas checking, sizing, lubing and soon on to the building of the test loads.

Great mold from Bruce and a pair of nice sizing dies from Buckshot. Everything is working good at this point, hope the shoot'in/test'in goes as well!

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[zuke]

best way to spend that kinda day!

[sundog]

pls1911, great job.

Absolutely! Casting in a condensing atmosphere will yield the best, most consistent boolits. I've been saying --- and DOING --- that for years.

I cast several rainy days recently with a RCBS 30-180-SP and have a 3-lb coffee can of boolits for upcoming military bolt matches. Cull rate is right at 3% -- they will be used for barrel warmers. Have I ever mentioned that I like RCBS moulds? Naw, prolly not...

[pls1911]

Followup:
This wimpy alloy of about of 75% lead (reclaimed roof flashing) to 50% ww/pb alloyed earlier this year has an as cast hardness of about 10, ok for routine .32, .38, .44, and .45 non-magnum loads.... even 45-70 around 1400fps.

Now, after 20 hours, the heat treated batch measures out at 21+ BHN, great for 30-30 and higher velocity 45-70 gas checked loads. ... All withut the brittleness of linotype!!!

[jmsj]

pls1911,
Great looking boolits.
It has been snowing here for the last two days I should have been casting.
I went camping w/ my son and his Cub Scout den and woke up to 6" of snow yesterday.
jmsj

[felix]

The ambient being cold is not the trick. It's the condensing atmosphere that encourages consistent boolits without the effort otherwise required. I've always wondered about the optimum ambient conditions required to shoot good, but have never been able to justify any conclusion that deals with what we are talking about here. Why? I shoot good when I feel good. But, that feeling will not cut the mustard. ... felix

[Doby45]

You guys with your cool rainy days, shut up.. You are gonna have me wishing away these nice sunny 70-80* days we are having here in Georgia. ;)

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

:kidding: Nice and 80 degrees should not be said in the same breath!

Hate it WHEN MY SKIN LEAKS!!!!!!!!!!

Favorite day would be a nice crisp Spring/Fall day, just cool enough that a light jacket feels good if not working and you need to shed the jacket if working.

Probably about 60 degrees, light to no wind.

HATE Hot weather, cause it makes my skin leak!!!!!!! ;)

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[rintinglen]

Dang blue skies and sunshine! Now I know why I can,t shoot those tiny groups I see in the magazines--the weather is too nice when I cast my boolits.
Have to remember that excuse for the next silhouette match--I've used up all my others.

[btroj]

Casting in a condensing atmosphere is pure magic.

Gear

How does a guy from Texas know this? And you get what, 4 good casting days a year?
Sadly, I could have been casting good bullet much of the past month. I want dry days to go shoot the bullets. Please.

[geargnasher]

We normally get about 28-30 inches of rain a year here in the Hill Country. We've had 3/8" since September of last year, and that in the last three weeks with the exception of a heavy dew in the middle of December. There have been no good casting days this year. Two nights ago at about three in the morning would have been perfect, though. When I lived in Kingsville, near the coast, there were a great many superb casting days, but one had to do it in their underwear at two in the morning to keep from having a heatstroke. The spring and fall nights often brought cool air from higher altitudes just low enough to make it drizzle but not cool off.

Gear

[Doby45]

I was gonna say something about casting and wearing a thong but I decided against it. ;) What a man does in his garage is his own business.

[btroj]

Wow, casting in you skivvies. Not much PPE there at all!
I suppose I need to remember that not all of TX is arid. I will be getting rain all summer long, I hope. Sadly, it only makes the humidity go from to 90 percent.
I sure hate summer.

[geargnasher]

Canvas apron, boxers, safety glasses (even back then), and a single wrap of duct tape around the top of a $1 pair of Salvation Army Store patent-leather shoes. I used to chase red-headed females, too. Never said I was smart when I was younger, but I did have a consistent agenda.

Gear

[btroj]

Wow, that is an image I didn't need in my brain.
Does show, however, the lengths to which we will go cast. It is truly an addiction.

[Doby45]

I am now poking out my mind's eye. :)

[gnoahhh]

Rain chilled afternoon= light a fire in the fireplace and curl up with a good mystery novel. Throw a roast in the oven for dinner so the smell rolls throught the house. I only cast bullets when I need them, I see no need to stockpile thousands or to cast them just for something to do.

[Doby45]

Are you a chick?

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

He is probably like me, not a "chick", just an Ol'Coot. [smilie=l:

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[gnoahhh]

Sorry if that disrupts your idea of a "manly man", but I like to read as much, if not more than, casting and reloading. I was stating what my idea of the ideal way to spend a rainy cold afternoon. I spent all day yesterday messing with mould alterations and test casting them. Today I'm re-reading LeCarré's "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold"- a signed first edition worth more than a pile of new Lyman moulds. (It's nice to be semi-retired and work and play when i want to!)

[Doby45]

Rain chilled afternoon= light a fire in the fireplace and curl up with a good mystery novel. Throw a roast in the oven for dinner so the smell rolls throught the house.

9 out of 10 normal people if shown this quote and asked to select M or F would choose F. Sorry if that offends you. I was asking in a joking manner and simply forgot my smiley face.. :wink:

[gnoahhh]

Not to worry. I forgot my smiley face in my reply! (Should have said it 's one of last year's venison roasts from a deer I shot.:-P)

[geargnasher]

I'm saving reading on rainy days for when I'm too old to spend them doing other things.

Gear

[felix]

Yep, and that happens much, much faster than you think now having untold levels of hormones. Gear, the next time with the doc, have him measure them for a baseline value. Then, when energy levels fall off during MAN-O-PAUSE, and they WILL, the level then can be boosted. ... felix

[a.squibload]

My last casting session was pretty good, thought I was getting better.
There was a cool breeze coming in from a thunderstorm.
Thanks for shootin' down my ego!


As long as it's a leather thong it's PPE, right?

[geargnasher]

Yep, and that happens much, much faster than you think now having untold levels of hormones. Gear, the next time with the doc, have him measure them for a baseline value. Then, when energy levels fall off during MAN-O-PAUSE, and they WILL, the level then can be boosted. ... felix

Felix, you got my drift for sure. +1 on the medical stuff, problem is my "baseline" has been all over the map for years, particularly with thyroid and the liver hormones that balance thyroid. HRT isn't just for the ladies!

I have a good friend, now in his 70s, who had prostate cancer about ten years ago. part of the treatment was a regimen of estrogen. He said he'd never, NEVER make fun of women for PMS, hot flashes, random crying fits, or panic attacks again. A whole different perspective!

Oh, Squibload, I prefer chain mail over leather for PPE. ;-)

Gear