Now that's a cast bullet!

[mart]

I cast up some 1100 grain 12 bore bullets from a friend's mold. He has a 12 bore rifle on a Martini action and I am in the process of building one. He loaned me his mold so I could cast up a a good bunch of them for both of us. I got 115 cast this afternoon before my propane ran out. I ran my big pot that I melt large batches in instead of my 20 pound pot. The bullet on the left is a 45 caliber 300 grain for comparison.

135741

[pworley1]

Looks like a great squirrel gun.

[Beagle333]

If your squirrels look like this, relative to you!

http://www.dvorak.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/giant-squirrel.jpg

[big bore 99]

Good for godzilla.

[dkf]

I hope you don't have to fill that groove with lube. You will need to buy lube by the 5 gallon bucket.

[texaswoodworker]

That is one heck of a lube groove! I guess leading issues will be non existent.

What kind of velocity are you going to be getting out of that monster? :D

[mart]

That is a big lube groove. Can't imagine it needing that much lube. I just can't figure how to get it into my Lyman 45.:mrgreen:

[mart]

I don't know yet. My Martini is waiting for the barrel. The barrel was shipped last week. I don't know if Jon has ever run any of his over a chronograph. I would imagine it could be made to run around 1300-1400 from the big Martinis. They may be too long for my rifle. Mine has a 1/88" twist. I think Jon's is a Hastings 1/36" twist. He says they drive tacks from his.

[JeffinNZ]

Looks like a great squirrel gun.

You gonna just drop it on the squirrel? [smilie=l:

[Ballistics in Scotland]

That is two and a half ounces. If the action is the Greener GP it should be good for those velocities, but the shooter might not unless the barrel is heavy. Some of the Greener police guns which preceded the sporting shotgun were intended to function at considerably higher velocity than ordinary shotshells.

For most shotgun slugs the 88in. twist ought to be better than the 36in. I am not so sure about this one, however. The old Greenhill formula is that twist in calibres multiplied by bullet length in calibres should equal 150, although in practice 200 will often stabilize a bullet. This one looks like about 111 x 2 to me.

If the use of a shotgun for deer hunting is required for legal reasons, and you want one in this style, 20ga or smaller might be worth considering.

[LuckyDog]

.....He says they drive tacks from his.

Close only counts in Horse Shoes and grenades..... and maybe this.

[IraqVet1982]

I'm surprised nobody has told you to powder coat it yet.
[emoji1]

[Echo]

...Or tumble loob it...

[mart]

His rifle and the one I'm building are both the Greener Martini. I ordered a 4140 tapered octagon barrel from The Gun Works in Oregon. It should be here any day. His has a Hastings round rifled barrel. It's a shame we live on opposite ends of the country. It would be fun to get together and compare notes on the two rifles. Mine is intended to be used with round balls or short conicals.Accurate Molds has one, their 73-850Q that I think looks like a good bullet. I'll be using the Magtech 12 gauge brass shells. It should be a fun project. I hope to have it barreled and ready to hunt by summer's end. I have a cow moose tag and I'd like to put this rifle to work on that tag.

[Pilgrim]

If you stand on your tippy toes like a ballerina when you touch it off, it'll prolly screw you into the ground a couple inches. Might help you keep from sliding around in the mud along them Alaskan rivers.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

With the shorter slugs or round ball the 88in. twist should be fine, and an octagonal barrel, especially if it isn't a concave taper like most shotguns, should build in some useful weight. The 36in. with the monster should be fine, especially if he doesn't fire many shots per week.

With a project like this, I would certainly want to try the Magtech cases, of which I have some for my Belgian 24ga. But if you don't get the accuracy you might hope for, try gluing a paper tube inside, to make u the internal diameter to match the bullet diameter. The 12ga bore and chamber were made to match up when paper cases were in use, and even plastic is a shade thin. When brass cases were first use, the bore was made with almost no step from the chamber (reducing a tendency to concentrate stress), so the gun still called a brass case 12 was more like an 11 gauge.

[Southern Son]

He says they drive tacks from his.

Yep, 1 inch groups at 100 yards with one round.......

[mart]

With the shorter slugs or round ball the 88in. twist should be fine, and an octagonal barrel, especially if it isn't a concave taper like most shotguns, should build in some useful weight. The 36in. with the monster should be fine, especially if he doesn't fire many shots per week.

With a project like this, I would certainly want to try the Magtech cases, of which I have some for my Belgian 24ga. But if you don't get the accuracy you might hope for, try gluing a paper tube inside, to make u the internal diameter to match the bullet diameter. The 12ga bore and chamber were made to match up when paper cases were in use, and even plastic is a shade thin. When brass cases were first use, the bore was made with almost no step from the chamber (reducing a tendency to concentrate stress), so the gun still called a brass case 12 was more like an 11 gauge.

The barrel is a straight taper. It just arrived to day and is a behemoth. I'm headed out to Good Friday service soon but I'll post a picture of the barrel tomorrow. The 12 gauge Magtech case actually uses 11 gauge wads so I had the bore rifled to a .748 groove diameter so that I could use a .750 ball or bullet. These bullets from Jon's mold drop at .737 so they are pretty loose in the mag tech cases. I may have to use them in a Federal paper. I am going to order a .750 round ball mold from Jeff Tanner and have Accurate Molds build me a 73-850Q to drop at .750 from WW with 2% tin.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Close does count in horseshoes and grenades, but you forgot dancing. LLS

[Blammer]

I wanna see a pic of the gun and cartridge!

[Ballistics in Scotland]

The barrel is a straight taper. It just arrived to day and is a behemoth. I'm headed out to Good Friday service soon but I'll post a picture of the barrel tomorrow. The 12 gauge Magtech case actually uses 11 gauge wads so I had the bore rifled to a .748 groove diameter so that I could use a .750 ball or bullet. These bullets from Jon's mold drop at .737 so they are pretty loose in the mag tech cases. I may have to use them in a Federal paper. I am going to order a .750 round ball mold from Jeff Tanner and have Accurate Molds build me a 73-850Q to drop at .750 from WW with 2% tin.

Yes, with that bore it should be a very usable combination. I had naively assumed that a mould beginning in .73 would be .730 in diameter, but I now see they will do custom moulds, so .750 should be available. I would still do some calculation on the length of bullet that twist is liable to stabilize. You might well find out that the round ball would perform better than a solid-based bullet of the same weight as a ball.

In the days when black powder limited the express rifles to deer, antelope and lion, fashion shifted away from the 4 gauge to the double 8. It was just about as effective, and most shooters could use it more accurately, especially for a second shot. Your friend, with something a bit more powerful than the ordinary 8ga rifle load, is going to be ready when somebody invents a bigger elephant.

[mart]

As promised here's some pictures of the barrel, or should I say artillery piece.

135899

135900

135901

That's a 45 caliber bullet in the bore
135902

[Blammer]

Wow! I'm guessing you could put a 20ga shell in it.

[Digger]

Good pics ... for a while I thought you might have been talking about this one ..

135987

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I'm irresistibly reminded of the live-action "Popeye" movie, in which Olive Oyle is trying to say something good about her fiancée, Beastly Bluto, but all she can come up with is "He's... large..." Or occasionally "very large." You aren't, by any chance, looking for a name for the thing?

Not that I would want to say there is nothing else good about this gun. It will be just as effective as any other single shot, moderate-range deer rifle or shotgun, and probably less destructive of meat, if anything, than a high velocity one. It is also... distinctive, or even very distinctive, in a drab world of interchangeable Remingbergs. The Greener action is a delight, and the safety is far better than any trigger safety.

It looks like you have an early specimen, possibly the police gun action, which isn't a takedown. That is possibly just as well in this application, but the takedown is pretty strong, enough to be used in many rifles. The normal takeown device has a tiny tang on the barrel lug, coming up against the far side of a central slot in the action. This picture is one I made once, in a restoration job, with an inserted piece of high speed tool steel to avoid softening by silver soldering heat.

To avoid trying some bullets from your friend's mould is probably more than flesh and blood can stand. You should come to no harm as long as you start with light powde charges. But I wouldn't lay out money on a mould like that unless I was pretty sure 88in. twist would stabilize it.

I would also want to be really sure that that 1100gr. bullet was a close fit to groove diameter, or a thousandth or so over. Usually a heavy soft bullet will expand to fit the bore and prevent leading. (There is, for example, a NEI mould of .746 diameter, just like the old "bore" rifle bullets and with a medium-large rounded lube groove, which would probably work in your rifle. But with the 1100gr., what part of the bullet will expand? The stem, which is thinnest, and that does nothing to seal the bore.



136007136008

[leebuilder]

I thought i seen it all.
Thanks for showing it.
1100gr, can i shoot it,,,, after you test fire it?.

[leebuilder]

I thought i seen it all.
Thanks for showing it.
1100gr, can i shoot it,,,, after you test fire it?.
What would the ballistic coefficent of that boolit be?

[JSnover]

Looks like a great squirrel gun.
Just shoot the tree. Pick them off with a .22 when they fall out.

[mart]

I'm irresistibly reminded of the live-action "Popeye" movie, in which Olive Oyle is trying to say something good about her fiancée, Beastly Bluto, but all she can come up with is "He's... large..." Or occasionally "very large." You aren't, by any chance, looking for a name for the thing?

Not that I would want to say there is nothing else good about this gun. It will be just as effective as any other single shot, moderate-range deer rifle or shotgun, and probably less destructive of meat, if anything, than a high velocity one. It is also... distinctive, or even very distinctive, in a drab world of interchangeable Remingbergs. The Greener action is a delight, and the safety is far better than any trigger safety.

It looks like you have an early specimen, possibly the police gun action, which isn't a takedown. That is possibly just as well in this application, but the takedown is pretty strong, enough to be used in many rifles. The normal takeown device has a tiny tang on the barrel lug, coming up against the far side of a central slot in the action. This picture is one I made once, in a restoration job, with an inserted piece of high speed tool steel to avoid softening by silver soldering heat.

To avoid trying some bullets from your friend's mould is probably more than flesh and blood can stand. You should come to no harm as long as you start with light powde charges. But I wouldn't lay out money on a mould like that unless I was pretty sure 88in. twist would stabilize it.

I would also want to be really sure that that 1100gr. bullet was a close fit to groove diameter, or a thousandth or so over. Usually a heavy soft bullet will expand to fit the bore and prevent leading. (There is, for example, a NEI mould of .746 diameter, just like the old "bore" rifle bullets and with a medium-large rounded lube groove, which would probably work in your rifle. But with the 1100gr., what part of the bullet will expand? The stem, which is thinnest, and that does nothing to seal the bore.



136007136008

I doubt I'll use many of the 110 grain bullets in my rifle. The are considerably undersized for my bore. My groove diameter is .748 and I will be using .751 round balls or a .750 short conical. These are .737 as they drop from the mold. Jon's rifle has a Hastings barrel and the groove diameter is .735. I am set up better to cast this big a bullet. He was struggling with a ten pound pot and a small dipper. I offered to cast a bunch of them for him because I have bigger pots and a Rowell ladle capable of pouring one of these big guys in one pour.

His rifle likes this big bullet and he loves shooting it. He refers to himself as a recoil junkie. The man hunts hogs with a 577 double rifle and doves with a British 10 gauge double. I'll try a few in my rifle when I get it done. Jon provided me an inletted semi shaped buttstock of Koa wood for my rifle. I need to find a similarly colored piece of Koa for a forend and I'll be about ready. I'll be talking to a local gunsmith this week about barreling it and soldering on some sights.

[mart]

I tried an online BC calculator. It came up with .332 for a ballistic coefficient.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I doubt I'll use many of the 110 grain bullets in my rifle. The are considerably undersized for my bore. My groove diameter is .748 and I will be using .751 round balls or a .750 short conical. These are .737 as they drop from the mold. Jon's rifle has a Hastings barrel and the groove diameter is .735. I am set up better to cast this big a bullet. He was struggling with a ten pound pot and a small dipper. I offered to cast a bunch of them for him because I have bigger pots and a Rowell ladle capable of pouring one of these big guys in one pour.

His rifle likes this big bullet and he loves shooting it. He refers to himself as a recoil junkie. The man hunts hogs with a 577 double rifle and doves with a British 10 gauge double. I'll try a few in my rifle when I get it done. Jon provided me an inletted semi shaped buttstock of Koa wood for my rifle. I need to find a similarly colored piece of Koa for a forend and I'll be about ready. I'll be talking to a local gunsmith this week about barreling it and soldering on some sights.

Each to his own, but possibly he should be reminded about dementia pugilistica.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_pugilistica

[mart]

He retired from the Marine Corp after 30 years. A little ol 1100 grain bullet ain't gonna hurt him none.[smilie=l:

[John Allen]

Me sees lots of lube in your future

[Ballistics in Scotland]

He retired from the Marine Corp after 30 years. A little ol 1100 grain bullet ain't gonna hurt him none.[smilie=l:

I wonder which came first, the chicken or the egg?