Buffalo Hunters casting bullets? Fact or fiction.

[joseywales76]

LMAO,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,funny, i think i would pay money to see that,

[joseywales76]

Been there, done that. Not a problem to do the job. One of our club contests was to shoot into a block of wood, split the wood open, recover the bullet, start a fire with flint and steel, and when the bullet was remolded, fire at another chunk of wood. First one done, wins. I believe the winning time was around 23-25 minutes. And, it is hilarious watching someone trying to pick up and load a hot ball!

lmao,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Just Duke]

Cool!

[madcaster]

This is a great thread,more for us smokepole guys maybe,but STILL relavent to all of us.It CAN be done,sometimes it may be best in the year after hunting season and in the Spring.

[Just Duke]

This is a great thread,more for us smokepole guys maybe,but STILL relavent to all of us.It CAN be done,sometimes it may be best in the year after hunting season and in the Spring.

Oh yea!
I think it should be in the BP section though.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I have a book written by one of the most successful buffalo runners and points out on page 56 that he used bullets made to his specs.1 part tin to 16 lead.He said factory ammo cost 25 cents and they could reload for half that. He never mentions anyone casting while hunting.Some people must have done their own casting however or there wouldn't be bullet molds around.I saw one on the antique road show that the appraiser valued at 44,ooo bucks.I think it was a 4 cavity.He said it was worth more than the Sharpes rifle the man had with him. Personally I think thats a croc. The book is called the The Buffalo Runners by Frank H. Mayer .It is a good read if you can find a copy. He writes in his book that he paid $ 237.60 for his Sharpes rifle and after the buff were gone you could buy them in Denver gun shops fo $25.00. He started hunting buffalo in 1872 and stayed at it untill the end.He also states that there really wasn't a lot of money in it. He was told by many that he was the most successful of them all.He said if I was I think the others must have been pretty poor. As I recall he died in 1950 at the age of 105.

[PatMarlin]

Gopher Slayer please check you PM's.

[Bullshop]

Some of the ledgers kept by the merchants show hunters comming in and buying pig lead. I dont think they were hammering on them buflers with them pigs.
That reminds me I have a few copies of the encyclopedia of buffaol hunters by my good friend Leo Remiger and his friend Miles Gilbert. I think I will soon be putting them on the swapping and selling forum.
BIC/BS

[wills]

I have a book written by one of the most successful buffalo runners and points out on page 56 that he used bullets made to his specs.1 part tin to 16 lead.He said factory ammo cost 25 cents and they could reload for half that. He never mentions anyone casting while hunting.Some people must have done their own casting however or there wouldn't be bullet molds around.I saw one on the antique road show that the appraiser valued at 44,ooo bucks.I think it was a 4 cavity.He said it was worth more than the Sharpes rifle the man had with him. Personally I think thats a croc. The book is called the The Buffalo Runners by Frank H. Mayer .It is a good read if you can find a copy. He writes in his book that he paid $ 237.60 for his Sharpes rifle and after the buff were gone you could buy them in Denver gun shops fo $25.00. He started hunting buffalo in 1872 and stayed at it untill the end.He also states that there really wasn't a lot of money in it. He was told by many that he was the most successful of them all.He said if I was I think the others must have been pretty poor. As I recall he died in 1950 at the age of 105.

some of it is online
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/reso...ve/buffalo.htm

Looks like I already said that.

However he wrote
"These Sharps used paper-patched bullets, made to my specifications, one part tin to sixteen parts lead; none of this hard-nose, steel-covered foolishness you have today. The sixteen-to-one formula gave us just enough hardness to penetrate and enough lead softness to mushroom. We didn't have much paper on the buffalo ranges, so we had to find a substitute for our patches. I used antelope buckskin, pulled and stretched real thin. It worked fine. I loaded my own cartridges, not because I liked to, because loading was a tedious job after a day in the hot sun on the range: I did it because it was cheaper. Factory ammunition cost 25 cents a round, but we could hand-load for half that, so we handloaded."

[waksupi]

The thread still lives!

I question the statement, that a round of ammunition cost 25 cents at that time.

[georgeky]

I have read every reply to this thread tonight and have to say, without a doubt, this is one of the very best piles of buffler dung I have ever read on the net.

Absolutely great!

[Bullshop]

Waksupi
That may depend on who, when, and where you buy from.
If you are standing 300 yards from a large heard and have everything accept ammo and I am selling ammo in close proxcimity to your hunt location, maybe!
Think about this, we pay about twice as much to buy small items in Delta Junction as we do in Fairbanks. Fairbanks is 130 miles away. When the price differance is brought to the merchants attention thier responce is usualy "go to Fairbanks". With the price of gas now driving my PU a round trip to fairbanks is about $100.00 in gas. Wut ya gona do?!?
I guess knowing the enterprising spirit of even early merchants the same situation was present on the prairy. Ya think? At least some of the newby's would buy until they learned better.
BTW we went to Fairbanks yesterday for supplies. Total spent was $2500.00. We have learned when you make the trip make the most of it.
Blessings
BIC/BS

[waksupi]

Bullshop, maybeso. I do know, those folks who think gold is a good investment, and the SHTF, if I have a loaf of bread, and they are hungry, the bread will cost an ounce of gold!

[wills]

The thread still lives!

I question the statement, that a round of ammunition cost 25 cents at that time.

Well he died in 1954, so we missed our chance to cross examine him on that. But here is something else.

http://books.google.com/books?id=ouh...sult#PPA261,M1

[wills]

Bullshop, maybeso. I do know, those folks who think gold is a good investment, and the SHTF, if I have a loaf of bread, and they are hungry, the bread will cost an ounce of gold!

Known in economics as the diamond - water paradox.

[jhalcott]

I believe those guys went out as a small company, taking every thing they needed. I read that they had a small forge in their wagons. A "sail" tuned by a handle would supply forced air to the fire. This was a neccessity for reshoeing the horses.

[yondering]

I'm surprised I don't see more comments here about making fires from cow chips. Having grown up on tales of the old west, I've made a few campfires from cow chips. As long as you are careful to select the dry ones, it works fine. No exceptional odor, it just smells like burning grass. We cooked hot dogs and hamburgers over it, and they were just as good as from any other campfire I've had. The cow chip fires definitely got hot enough to melt lead. No question at all in my mind that it was possible.
It does burn differently than wood. I've found it similar to the dried out newspaper pulp that remains after testing bullets in wet newspaper in the summertime. Tends to burn a little smoky until you get it going well.

[waksupi]

I believe those guys went out as a small company, taking every thing they needed. I read that they had a small forge in their wagons. A "sail" tuned by a handle would supply forced air to the fire. This was a neccessity for reshoeing the horses.

Hold on that one. I was a farrier for quite a few years, until my intelligence increased enough to stop. Even back then, "keg" shoes were available, that were cold fit, with no need for a forge. Some sort of small anvil and a good 4# hammer would be about all you needed, and you could get by with even less than that, assuming a couple rocks were available. I've did that several times back in the Bob Marshall. Pounded the nails with rocks too, along with doing the clenches. Kinda reminds a guy to take the proper tools next time.
It always amuses me to see on tv, a blacksmith bending on a shoe, and then quenching it, before studying it. What da heck is he looking at? And why did he quench it? I never quenched a shoe I can remember. Do the forge work, and throw the first one on the ground, and go on to the next one. Let them cool, and be as soft as they will be. Quenching them hardens them, and gives less grip on stone.
The only ones that needed forging were from bar stock for horses like saddlebreds, and those that would need a Memphis bar, skid plate, or something else out of the ordinary.

[MtGun44]

If I ever learned anything from TV, it was that anything you learned
from TV is total BS. Waksupi's comment once again verifies the
lesson, in an area where I have zero expertise from personal
experience. I am a pretty decent horse rider, but never had to work
on one.

If you learned to shoot from TV, you learned to drop an Indian on a
fast horse at 300 yds with a 4 5/8" 45 Peacemaker takes a quick
fanned hipshot. You learned to always keep your finger on the
trigger of a gun. You learned to keep the hammer down on a 1911
and cock it with your thumb just before you need to shoot. You
learned that 6 guys in a small bar with M16s and thompsons on
full auto can shoot about 5-6 mags at each other and nobody will
get hit. You learned a 2" pine table will stop a .44-40 and .45 Colt.
You learned to hold a Glock sideways for best accuracy and control.

Lotsa good stuff there.

Bill

[PatMarlin]

LOL...