What did you learn today??

[Wayne Smith]

I learned yesterday that when it is 90 degrees and the humidity is 78% standing over hot lead is not fun.

[Harter66]

I learned that Redding is responsive to customer service . Even when you admit that you got it at a gun show .

My Ms wouldn't care if I stood there casting for a week so long as she could steal my attention for that 5 min between reload the pot ,wash,pee,wash, drink , snack bite, temp check and pour .

[Texas by God]

My old Mec 600jr will load great 6 pt crimp hulls-see where I 'm going here?
Shotshell loading has a bunchabuncha variables!
Right now Fiocchi hulls and AA wads and Red Dot and 1-1/8 oz of 7-1/2 shot WORKS.
It might not later. Dark Arts-shotshell loading!
Best, Thomas.

[LeadPoisonTX]

I learned that I like larger pour holes on my molds, after observing that some molds have a very small pour hole and I was getting wrinkled and poorly filled boolits. Took the Dremel and with great care and patience, enlarged the pour holes on the sprue plate. Polished them to remove any burs. Boolits are of much more consistent quality and my molds are more enjoyable to use now.

[15meter]

I learned a few things...

1. A citric acid bath may be the best way to prep an iron mold for casting. I have an iron .38 RN Lyman mold that was given to me... badly deteriorated. It's been rusty, cavities black and pitted. I decided to use it to make a handful of soft lead slugs for slugging bores. This morning I scrubbed it good in hot soppy water, rinsed and tossed in a citric acid bath... ½ hour later I scrubbed it again in soppy water. I continued alternating between citric acid and scrubbing in soapy water until my toothbrush stopped turning black during scrubbing. The first boolit out of the mold was completely filled out and fell from the mold from it's own weight. I find that really interesting... further testing is in order.
2. It's completely understandable to be excited about using a new mold... however...
   No matter how much you prep it, and pre-heat it, if your alloy is not up to temperature it will not throw good boolits (I don't use a thermometer).
3. Synthetic two-cycle oil is 100-times better than Anti-Seize as a mold lube. And it don't take very much... the tiny bottle I purchased may supply my grand-kids with mold lube.
4. Spending a bit extra on a mold is well worth it... period.
5. Even if your shop feels a bit cool... if you're wearing wool long underwear, starting the wood stove will make you sweat horribly standing over a hot pot with a ladle.
6. No matter how fatigued you get, it's really hard to take a break and refill the pot when the mold is running like a finely tuned machine.
7. And when the mold is running in such a way, you're wife will never understand why you won't stop to talk to her when she comes to the shop asking questions.

It was a good day.
*

Item seven is why my shop door has a lock on it, in addition to reloading I have a nice woodshop. With my hearing I don't need someone coming up behind me when I'm casting/turning/cutting/jointing/ect.

[woodbutcher]

Today relearned to NEVER trust other drivers.I always pause for a couple of seconds before pulling away from a stop light.Glad I did today.A COP with his head up his tail pipe and cell phone in his ear blew right through a red light.And NO his emergency lights or siren were not on.They are as big of idiots as anyone else when driving.
Good luck.have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[Ron in PA]

I Learned when on vacation for 2 weeks, it's hard to go back to work.

[blackthorn]

Day before yesterday we learned that Gail is SIX years cancer free!!!!!

[whisler]

Now that is cause for rejoicing!!!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

today, I learned that just when you think nothing else can go wrong, something goes wrong, than another, and another.

I've been putting off loading some new boolits in 6.5 ...so I decided to do that today.
I've loaded other boolits for this Jap custom rifle, and only got mediocre results. I had High hopes for this new mold (NOE 270-149-RN) as it's a lovern type, but also tapered. Everything has been ready for 8 months, I just needed to assemble the rounds. I guess I knew in the back of my head, it wouldn't go smoothly. First thing, I choose to quit using a mil surp powder and use 2400. The first step of the ladder, all the powder drops were right on. The next step, something was up, first I'd get 14.7 and the next drop would be 15.0, then 14.7, then 15.0 back and forth, back and forth. I couldn't trouble shoot the problem? Then the OAL started changing, .010 longer, then .020 longer, then back to what I had it set to, then longer...and so on. It's like my reloading room was possessed. I am using with a modified Bonanza BR seater. I think the way the RN engages the seater stem is too far down the ojive, so I think I need to make a epoxy insert/form.

I gave up for the day, maybe I'll look at it this weekend?

[bns454]

I learned to not submit a mold design when your dead dog tired and your eyes dont see right and forget to change the lube groove depth so its not too shallow for a shiney new brass mold.