Free Corona Lead Part 2

[nueces5]

Oops, now you see that I was missing an "S" in brass
I also add that I don't need the lead.

[davidheart]

I didn't have my father around growing up, but every weekend my mother took me to my grandparents home in the mountains. My grandfather was the closest thing I had to a male figure. He had a reputation as the best trout fisherman in Northeast Pennsylvania and still (stalk) hunted when everyone else was sitting in a tree stand. Legends told he could see a deer through the woods at 150 yards and walk right up to it and carefully aim a 20 gauge to place a single pellet in the head of a running rabbit. This man would tie his own flies to match the hatch and walk away with his limit of mountain trout before other fishermen put their lines in the water. A true man of the woods.

This man volunteered to work in the coal mines when he didn't need the cash just to spend time with his friends. My great uncle died in his arms after a cave in crushed half his face. My grandfather served in the Korean War and farmed sheep. He contracted black lung, survived prostate cancer, and had two triple bypass surgeries. His garden and fruit trees always had the richest flavor. At 91 he was outside snow blowing his driveway while I was inside drinking hot cocoa. He used his deer mounts as hat hangers but didn't have many of them because, as most people would frown upon, he head shot his deer. Racks seldom survived. Not for show of skill, but to preserve as much meat as humanly possible to feed his wife and four children. He also never missed.

None of this is made up. I believe every word of the legends and stories about him. When he was in his 80's I once saw him hand feed a donut to a deer which had walked out of the woods to meet with him. The large buck gently took the donut and walked slowly away. I was flabbergasted, but I know what I saw.

My grandfather passed away at 93 in his sleep. Right before he passed he had his "last conversation" with me. He told me he was proud of me. To be careful who I choose to make business partners. And to serve God.

I inherited his Savage 342 in 22 Hornet. The rifle stock wears several notches near the magazine well indicating deer he took with it. As y'all know 22 Hornet is no longer a popular cartridge so I actually began reloading for the sole purpose of breathing new life into my grandfather's old rifle. Members of this forum helped me obtain brass, dies, and gave me bullets and boolits to get me started. A trip to the local gunshop obtained a pound of Lil'gun and 100 small pistol primers.

The rifle is an amazing joy to shoot and reminds me of him every time. I can accurately place 5 rounds inside a dime at 50 and inside a Nicole at 100. I have no idea how this rifle is so accurate. The first animal I used it on was a squirrel at 75 yards. Perfect headshot and I knew I made my grandfather proud. Since then a number of squirrel and rabbits have fallen and put meat on the table for my wife and four kids. I'm still not confident to shoot a deer with it and may never will but that's ok. I have another rifle for that task. For now I'm glad to honor my grandfather's memory and one day I hope to pass down his rifle.

[fatelk]

Cool story, David. Thank you for posting that!

A friend of mine had an old Savage rifle in .22 Hornet, a model 23 I think. It had been in the family for decades and was pretty beat up. Ammo is expensive so he bought a bunch of brass and bullets, and I worked up a load for him. Testing loads, I was amazed at how accurate that little rifle was, consistently under 1" at 100 yards. I was impressed!

My own paternal grandfather was quite a character. He was born in 1907, and would tell me stories of his older brothers who fought in WWI, and stories about hunting and fishing in Montana as a young man in the late '20s and early '30s, and riding his Harley on dirt and gravel from Iowa to California. He wasn't so much into guns or hunting otherwise. He was elderly when he'd come stay with us when I was a teenager and getting interested in guns and shooting. He'd tell me he had a small wooden box that he kept trinkets and mementos from his travels in, and he was pretty sure there was a 45-90 round or two in it from his hunting days in Montana, among other things. When I became interested in casting, he told me he had a metal tin with some lead in it, from when he used to fish. He said he'd give them to me some day.

Some years later my folks went to help him deal with cleaning out his house as he moved in with other family because of his health. They came back with these, that he had sent for me:



Yep, the box has a couple 45-90 rounds, a clip of WWI dated '06 from one of my great-uncles, and a bunch of other interesting things. I never did melt down any of his fishing weights for bullets. Having that can of lead in my garage reminds me of him.

[bbogue1]

Way back in 1965 I went to see a friend, Chris. I walked to his house (me being about 16) where we entertained ourselves with model cars and played a few records. Mainly we sat around in his basement and talked. When the conversation turned to James Bond and his weapons Chris mentioned he and his dad loaded rounds then went out and hunted or target shooting. He proudly uncovered a loading bench and demonstrated how they made rounds. He invited me to come back in a few days and we'go plink some cans. About a week later we got together and carrying 3 rifles simply walked about 4 blocks to a open pit site it was a hole in the hillside where a daylight basement had been dug or something because it had been abandoned years before. We shot all 3 rifles (I think one was a Mauser). I knew that someday I would get the equipment and reload, even though I did not have a firearm.

Can you imagine that today, 2 teenagers walking down the side of the road with rifles slung over their shoulders, shooting in an abandoned pit then walking back?

That was a fond memory. Later in the late 70's my wife gave me a 10/22 for my birthday (a brick of 22LR sold for $8.00). I gave her a Marlin for her birthday. There was a shooting club about a half mile from my house so from time to time my wife, our daughter and our two boys would go shooting. The boys and I took a hunter safety course and then set up a pellet range in the back yard.

About 2011 or 2012 we dug out and cleaned up the rifles and wanted to go shooting. I called our LGS and found there was no ammo to be had, anywhere. I kept checking and after nearly two years I was able to find some ammo. Now I knew I needed a firearm where I was in control of the supply. I got a Sig Sauer 9mm. I bought some ammo and went to the range, shot it all, recovered the cases just in case. I started to save for reloading equipment thinking it would be about two years before I could buy some (retired on a rather limited income). I studied all the books and forums I could find, hung around the LGS and watched every video available. Started to frequent Castboolits to ask tons of questions. After a while I was told about tumble weed Christmas. Thank you BrassMagnet and all your minions for all you do and that persnickety George, what can I say. The rest is history, helped assemble a couple of ranges , taught 5 people to load (including my youngest son and two grandsons, figured out how to get wheel weights and began casting about 3 years ago. I don't need the lead, either. I sure am grateful to this forum for all the help and even the supplies I've needed to continue this crazy hobby. P.S. I still don't have a rifle that shoots reloadable rounds.

[jonp]

Winner Winner! The lucky man has been pm'd.