Penny's Hand And Machine Casting/ Vetterli boolits

[Noel]

It seems I just found myself a Vetterli, that's the good news.

Bad news, I don't cast......YET:roll: Flame away!

I would like to find a supplier of boolits for possibly up to .431"+, 310-320gr
projectile with a nice fat metplat(sp) to use for hunting.

In my search of Vetterli info I found this "Penny's Hand And Machine Casting" company. There is a phone number but when I try it I just enjoy a fax machine screaming in my ear. They have no online info that I can locate.

Anyone know if they are still going and if so do they ship to Canada?

Any other possible supplier would be helpful too.

Just a plain base boolit is fine, no gas check as top speed will be 1450.:mrgreen:


Thanks for your help!

Noel

[Nueces]

Welcome to the board, Noel!

I'm afraid Mr. Penny passed away several years ago, so the operation has ceased.

Looks like you'll be casting sooner than you thought!

Mark

[Noel]

Doh!:(

Not exactly what I wanted to hear but I appreciate the info!

Oh Andy.........:mrgreen:

I hope to cast for 38-55 and 9,3 as well so maybe it is time to take the plunge.:Fire:

Thanks Mark!

[Nueces]

Noel, you might also post your needs in the Swappin & Sellin section. Folks here have been known to supply 'starter' bullets.

Mark

[JSH]

I thought the Vetterli were a rimfire?
Jeff

[mazo kid]

JSH, the Vetterli as issued is a rimfire cartridge but a lot of us have converted them to centerfire. Fairly easy to do and brass is made out of 348 Win. necked down and trimmed or 8mm Lebel fire formed and trimmed. Noel, my first boolits for my Vetty were Meister; they make a 430" 300+ gr boolit with a decent meplat. Emery

[Noel]

Thanks for the tip Emery!

My Lee dies and 100-348 Brass showed up from Higginsons this afternoon. Time to start trimming and reforming.

JSH, as Emery pointed out, they are often converted to centerfire as this one already is. It is all origonal save for two inches lobbed off the barrel and same for the stock if I remember right.

I have records of my Great Uncle using one of these in 1932-33 so I thought it would be neat to give one a try.

With the dies they sent the Lee catolog which has the cast moulds. The 310gr 44 looks very promising and should hit like a freight train with that big fat nose.

Andy P has kindly offered to send some of these cast bullets ( Thanks Pal!) and has been a huge help so far along with Nrut and Stocker. Kudos gentlemen!

I will likely post a WTB in the exchange to see what I can come up with. Part of me wants to go crazy on getting set up and the other part tells me I barely have time to reload and shoot let alone cast too.

Speaking of which, I am being called to put the kids in bed.....

Talk to you soon!

Noel

[Noel]

If any of you out there are looking for a quick way to make Vetterli cases out of 348 I may have found a nice option to having to use a hacksaw.
The case has to be shortened to 1.500" and even with the taper of the case, my general purpose copper tubing cuttings cut them off in ten seconds flat including putting the case in the cutter and getting it started.

I don't have a die for trimming in my Rock Chucker and really struggled to hack the first one off, hence my discovery. I hope it is helpful for anyone else looking for another way to shorten fast. I left an extra .060" to clean it up. May be overkill but I hate to waste cases. Just barely get the case snug between the rollers and blade and turn very carefully so it makes the full rotation and still lines up and then gently turn the cutter in as you twist the case. Slick as snot.

Noel

[singleshotbuff]

I bought and used a lot of bullets from Penny's in the days before I started making my own boolits. In fact, I'm sure I still have 1000 or so 454424s from him. He made GREAT bullets and was a great guy to deal with, he is missed in my book.

May he rest in peace, I think God has a special room for boolit casters LOL.

However, I think most, if not all of his offerings were commercially available molds. You should be able to find bullets of the type you need easily. Better yet, the mold for the boolit you need is probably readily available so you can cast your own.

SSB

[Noel]

SSB, no doubt there is a pile of different moulds I have found. Heck, I am even a fair good aquaintance with the two tire shops in town to get my stash of WW going.
I will try these boolits Andy is sending. I am sure they will shoot better than I can.


If I do get a mould, should I go all out and get a six chamber? I was thinking a two holer would be good enough but would love some feedback regarding that too.

Thanks very much,

Noel

[45nut]

Hey Noel, another welcome to :cbpour: is in order before business and opinions.

A .430 boolit should not be any great difficulty in selecting WHEN not IF you start casting. Get started on the lead asap. It will only get more scarce in the future.
Two cav or six, well if consistency is paramount a single cav is best, then a two cav but for that old relic I imagine a 6 will be just dandy and you can spend more time loading and less looking at a puddle of alloy.

[Buckshot]

................Noel, another welcome to the board. Another slug to look at is the RCBS 43-370 FN. It's intended for the 43 Spanish. My copy actually drops closer to 390grs then 370 and it's OD is right at .440" with WW. You could hand lube it and then run it up through a .430/.431/.432 (whatever) push through size die.

Here's a picture of it:

http://www.fototime.com/CFE4FB6484BDAE6/standard.jpg

...................Buckshot

[JSH]

Buckshot, I looked at one of these a while back, priced way higher than I would give$400+ if I rememeber correct. I have seen some since priced more in line with what I would pay. Fill me in on the center fire conversion if you would.
Jeff

[Noel]

Thanks everyone for the words of welcome! Looking forward to spending some time here.

Buckshot that bullet looks like a dandy. From what I have learned so far the Vetterli is very finicky with OAL to cycle the rounds so I cannot be over 2.200".
A slug that heavy might make it to shoot to the sights at 100 yards tho as I hear it is 8" high with the 310gr pill.
I hope to use it for hunting for the "meat tags". The bigger the flat nose the better, and boy, that RCBS has a big one!

Thanks!
Noel

[Leftoverdj]

The Harbor Freight Mini Chop Saw makes fast work of shortening cases. Lube the blade with kerosene on a Q tip and give the motor a few minutes to cool down every 20 cases or so. It's best to cut them a trifle long and finish the job in a case trimmer.

It's my recollection that the Vetterli was made in both rimfire and centerfire configurations and there were arsenal conversions as well.

[twotoescharlie]

better slug the bore on your vetterli before investing in bullets or molds. I have 5 vetterlis and the bores vary from .430 to .441.

TTC

[Noel]

Thanks leftoverdj, I will try to locate one if I have money left over after getting set up for this boolit building.

twotoescharlie, thanks for the info too! The rifle is coming from a member here who has already been firing it sucessfully with .430" dia. He has slugged the bore too. I saw you were collecting some nice rifles there and look forward to any info you have to share in the future. Have you shot yours at extended ranges? I am curious if they shoot to the sight graduations when the 310gr is going the 1427 like the origonal load.

I also just found out many of the chambers need a longer case than the 1.500" I trimmed mine to. Glad I only did 26 cases since they should have been 1.650".

Have you tried the heavy boolit Buckshot mentioned?

Noel