Great way to show off our hobby.

[Saint]

One thing I love to talk about is boolits but unfortunately nearly my only social time is at work and bringing bullets into a high security call center just screams I wanna lose my job. I have been trying to find a way to show off my boolits to some of the guys at work and I finally found a way to do it that keeps anti gun freaks somewhat at bay and also eliminates the threat of lead exposure from passing around pieces of lead. I came up with the idea a few days ago and this is what I have so far. This is fiberglass resin poured into a mould in layers. After the first layer dries the boolits can be placed. Then the second layer is poured covering all but the last 1/4. Then the third layer is poured completely sealing the boolits in the resin. Here is what I have got going so far. The resin is drying now and I will be pulling the mould off tomorrow.

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/3378/boolits2cb9.jpg

[mroliver77]

I mainly keep quiet about it. Even gun people mostly dont understand what we do. Casting tickles me and that is good enough. I am not a "people" person anyhow.
J

[jonk]

I work at a college. I imagine most folks here would flip if they knew I even own guns.

I find too that most shooters are clueless about cast lead. I'd say that maybe- maybe 10-15% of shooters at my range reload their own ammo. Of those, quite a few do cast lead for pistol, but usually buy the bullets pre-cast (3 of my freinds who shoot and reload do for instance). Seeing me shoot cast lead out of a rifle- except for my 45/70 which somehow seems acceptable to them- puzzles most people; I've even heard "You can shoot a lead bullet out of a 30-06???????" (Heck I was there myself once upon a time). I've not seen ANYONE else shooting cast lead from a rifle other than a muzzleloader or old time black powder cartridges like the 45/70. ONE guy- out of a membership of 1200- saw what I was doing and commented that he used to cast a lot for rifles but now rarely shoots rifles, just pistols, for which he casts all his own- so apparently out of the general shooting population at my range, 2 of us know about casting. Maybe a few more. But few.

[1Shirt]

Yep, Agree with the first two repllies. Am always tickled when at the range shooting cast in rifles when somebody walks up and says "I shoot them cast boolits in handgun, but they won't shoot worth a hoot in a rifle!"----or-----"What kind of bullets are you shooting there, don't believe I have ever seen any like that?-------or------"You mean you make those bullets yourself?". l also worked for 15+ years at a unversity, a very liberal university! Sure don't find many gun enthusiasts among those folks. They consider themselves DIVERSE, but not that diverse. All that said, the less that cast and shoot them, the more potential for me for sources of lead.
1Shirt!:coffee::coffee:

[Powderpacker]

Saint -
A friend of mine who knaps flint does something similiar with the arrowheads he makes and sells them for paperweights at gun shows, etc. Your idea would put a lot more weight in a paperweight .

[Bullshop]

Great idea! I can see several places to use these. Small ones on key chains, and larger ones hanging from the miror with the fuzzy dice. Maybe jewlery or the bottoms of beverage cups, wind chimes, window panes, wow lotsa stuff.
When I used to run the gun show circut my biggest obstacle was ignornant folk.
I would have a croud of people checking out my stuff and someone in the croud would give warning in a feverish voice that I was a merchant of evil, and that my wears would at the very least ruin a rifle and put the user in great danger of catostrafic distruction of thier valued fire arm. Now if you were ignorant and split between the town cryer and the evil merchant who would you go with?
It just like another battle I often engauge in. You can show them the book but you cant make them believe.
Blessings
BIC/BS

[Saint]

Got my first one done. Used some yellow felt as a backer and polished it up and here is what came out.

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/3443/boolits3cl3.jpg

I don't deal quite as much with the anti gun liberal crap just because most people don't look at muzzleloaders in the same way. Even some of the anti gun people actually find the muzzleloaders interesting. I always tell them gun control is not the answer. Gun education is what our society needs. My girlfriend is so afraid of guns that she freaks out when she hears my air pistol because she knows nothing about guns she assumes they are dangerous. I tell her that guns are completely safe as long as you follow the rules and treat the firearm with the respect that it is due but she still will not go to the range with me. Why is our country turning into a bunch of pansies?

[mroliver77]

I'll stay single before I would have a lady that is afraid of guns. Guns are dangerous. So are kitchen ranges, bathtubs, 5 gallon buckets and automobiles. My daughter loaded and shot most of her 18 years of life. Never was harmed by one. She died in an auto rollover. Thousands die in autos every year but most treat them with very little respect. Ohhh...rant off.
Bullshop, keep thumping the book! ;)
J

[hammerhead357]

Saint,I am afraid it's not just our community that is turning into a bunch of pansies it's the country as a whole. I really think the firearm related community is better off than most of the rest of the country.
The problem I see is the P/C veiws of so many people that are in positions of influence. By that I mean persons in the entertainment industry, people in the news industry and sports field, also the nitwit politicos. So all in all even though they don't have a clue, the sheepels listen to them and laws are made to that effect and we the sensible people pay by the loss of our freedoms and rights and in some instances livelyhood....Wes...Ok I guess rant off...

[Guido4198]

Got enough of that resin to encase all your guns...????
That might be the only way you get to keep'em after the next election cycle or two .

[Saint]

Got enough of that resin to encase all your guns...????
That might be the only way you get to keep'em after the next election cycle or two .

Funny you should mention that. When I finished the first two I got one of my dirt cheap Traditions derringers and encased it in resin as well. I placed an order for one and they shipped me two. I tried to call the company that shipped it and they were useless so I got a two for one deal. Anyway I hope that at the very least muzzleloaders will hold off a little longer than other firearms.

[miestro_jerry]

I retired from a large university a few years back. I carried a HiPower in my brief case every day for 16 years, nobody knew. When I took time off to go to a Knife Show in Canada, the people around me flipped out. They even got stranger when they found out that I was a knife guild member. I still had my HiPower in my brief case.

If for some reason, I had to come in during the middle of the night for one of my research projects, I had my HiPower on my hip or my PPK in my pocket.

When I had an occasion to give a gift to newly weds, I made them a thanksgiving style carving set, even made the box. Nobody freaked out over that. After I retired, I came back to visit, and one of my colleagues told me that he had be carrying a pistol since he started there. I didn't say a word. :)

If I had thought about a paper weight to show off my castings or recovered bullets from my hunting, I would have made one.

Jerry

[Saint]

Here is the final product. What a PITA. Took nearly my entire day off but here is the final result.
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/6313/boolitsfinalne3.jpg

[CSH]

I never thought about encasing bullets in resin. I might have to try that.

Most of the folks I've run across who are afraid of guns just haven't been exposed to them. Their education has come from the movies and anti-gun media. If you can get them to the range for a shooting session they realize that shooting is fun, gun owners are generally pretty good people, and (contrary to the myths that are perpetuated on-screen) handguns don't pack the same punch as a centerfire rifle. In the past 15 or so years I've taken about a dozen people to the range who had never fired a gun and were pretty far left on the gun issue (so much so that it was tough to convince them it was a safe endeavor; there are quite a few more who were extended an invite and wouldn't take me up on the offer). All of them had a good time, and probably half of them bought a gun within the next month. Even the ones who didn't later buy a gun said their perception of guns and gun control had changed. People fear what they don't know.

I agree that bullet casters are viewed as a little strange, even by those firmly within the gun culture. Other than my father in law and one friend, I've never seen anyone at the range shooting cast from a rifle chambered for a bottlenecked cartridge. I think a lot of beginning reloaders buy commercial hardcast in an attempt to save money and have a bad experience. Thereafter all lead bullets are "bad". I get blank stares during attempts to explain bore and throat diameters, bullet fit, soft lubes, etc. Most folks don't care for that level of effort.

[Jim]

Saint,
how come the hex shaped cast turned out so dark?

[Stevejet]

In 36 years of reloading and casting, living in seven states, I've yet to meet a fellow caster. I have worked both military and commercial aviation jobs all that time, and met thousands of people . Not even a neighbor, in all those locals, reloaded or cast. Known quite a few shooters, no reloaders or casters.

[Saint]

It is just the paint. The hex shaped one actually has the base and sides painted flat black and the round one is painted flat white. It is necessary to spray the sides exposed to air in order to get them to cure. Polyester resin will not cure in open air. The black actually makes for a better effect. just like casting boolits you can get inclusions and unfortunately in clear resin against a white background they stand out significantly. The black one actually turned out better than the white one according to most of the people I have shown them too, maybe due to the fact you can't see the inclusions. The black actually gives it a neat effect similar to a shadow box.

[Saint]

I figure I will give a little more detail about the process. The resin that you want to use has to be water clear. Sometimes you can get it at the hardware store but it usually has to be bought at the arts & crafts supply store. I buy mine at Michaels. Then you need to find some kind of a mould. I have found that soap moulds from the same store work great but you have to destroy the mould to get it out. If you can find latex or silicone moulds they work great and are reusable. You will also need hardener for the resin. You will also need an assortment of sandpaper down to 600 grit if possible but 400 grit will work in a pinch if you are willing to do some hardcore polishing. If you have a diabetic in the family see if you can get a syringe from them but you can do without it. Some kind of measuring cup that reads in 1 ounce increments, and some unwaxed paper cups, popsicle sticks for stirring the resin. The last thing you need is a bottle of Brasso and some kind of cloth for polishing, I use muzzleloader patches.

Now that you have everything you need the first step is to find out how many ounces of liquid your mould contains. In one of the unwaxed paper cups pour in one or two ounces of water and mark that level. The resin must be poured in layers. The castings shown were poured in three layers and both were poured at the same time working in two ounce increments. Pour out enough resin to fill 1/3 of the mould, more or less depending on the amount of layers you are pouring, add as many drops of hardener as the can recommends and make sure to pay attention to the difference in amount of drops per layer. Mix well, this stuff takes a very long time to harden so there is no reason to skimp on the mixing. Pour your first layer being careful not to pour so much that the embedded objects are going to stick out the back as they will not be placed till after the first layer turns into a thick gel, there will be bubbles. Let the resin sit for about ten minutes and if there are still bubbles they can be removed easily with a syringe but if one is not available a needle or tooth pic will work but not as good. Let that layer harden to a thick gel and then start mixing up the next layer. Coat the objects you wish to embed and then place them where you want them. Pour the next layer and if necessary using the syringe inject resin into any air spaces. The objects will move around a lot but just keep resetting them until the resin thickens enough to hold them in place. After that layer gels keep pouring the subsequent layers in the same manner. Let them dry four about 24 hours. After 24 hours you will find that the surface is still sticky, this is normal, the easiest thing to do is to scratch of the soft resin off with a putty knife. After that is done it is time to start sanding. Forgot to mention you need to use wet/dry sandpaper. Work your way to the finest grit you have and make sure the shape is the desired one. After you have sanded down to the finest grit spread a little Brasso on and polish it up. It polishes up pretty quickly but take your time and you will get great results.