7Acres
07-24-2013, 01:23 PM
Over the past couple of weeks my wife's cousin has been in town spending time with my in-laws. He's been a volunteer at Old Salem in NC working with the blacksmiths learning the trade there. My in-laws know I cast and reload so they wondered if I'd be willing to have him over and teach him. I haven't had anyone ask me to teach them before but I was more than happy to be a good influence on a teen and give him an appreciation of what all goes into making his own ammunition.*
I didn't know what all we'd have time to get into so I set him up casting 452230. Showed him what to look for when inspecting the bullets. Explained the sawdust flux and its purposes. Showed him how to apply Bullplate and what that helps with. After I saw he was up to speed and properly rejecting any boolits with defects I left him alone a while to let him get a rhythm going. I checked in on him when he was at around 120 rounds finished. He asked if we'd have time to get to reload them. I said to go ahead and make it to 200 boolits and we'll see how much time we have left.
Checked with the mother-in-law (his ride) to see how much longer she wanted to hang out and play with her 1yr old grandson. Short story, plenty of time. He finished casting the 200th boolit. I explained the TL lube groves and we applied 45/45/10. Then I set him up with the sizing die and let him size the boolits he cast. Since the LLA wasn't dry I grabbed a box of some identical ones I had cast months ago to reload.*
Then I got us set up to reload. Showed him some large and small pistol primers; showed him what a couple different powders look like for comparison sake. Then I got out the brass, loaded up a box of primers, put the powder in the hopper with the proper Lee sizer disk in place. I carefully explained the function of each of the 4 dies and loaded up 10 rounds while explaining so he could see how it's done. We had just enough time for him to load up 10 rounds. He followed all instructions very well. Next up? Shoot 'em!
I said, "You get to shoot the 10 you loaded and I'll shoot the 10 I loaded." Down to the pistol cube. I loaded and shot 5 from the 1911 and recovered the brass. Then it was his turn. I was standing a good 10 feet away saying a prayer that all would go well. Sure did! All 5 went bang and he had a pretty good group. I shot my remaining 5. Then I recommended he might just want to shoot 4 so he could put the last one in his pocket as a souvenir. He liked that idea. He'd been in a pretty quiet and serious mood all day but after shooting off the last one I could see this glow come over him! We went up to the house to announce we were done for the day. Then I thought to ask him if he'd like a sampling of each of the unloaded components so he could explain to his Mom how a bullet is made and what all of the components look like unloaded. We went down and popped the primer out of one of the spent brass he shot and gave those to him. And I grabbed an unloaded boolit too. But he didn't want one of the ones I had cast. So we picked out one of the dry ones he had cast. There, all set! He was all smiles as grandma was backing out of the driveway. I tell ya, that was one happy camper!*
And I really enjoyed showing him the ropes!*
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I didn't know what all we'd have time to get into so I set him up casting 452230. Showed him what to look for when inspecting the bullets. Explained the sawdust flux and its purposes. Showed him how to apply Bullplate and what that helps with. After I saw he was up to speed and properly rejecting any boolits with defects I left him alone a while to let him get a rhythm going. I checked in on him when he was at around 120 rounds finished. He asked if we'd have time to get to reload them. I said to go ahead and make it to 200 boolits and we'll see how much time we have left.
Checked with the mother-in-law (his ride) to see how much longer she wanted to hang out and play with her 1yr old grandson. Short story, plenty of time. He finished casting the 200th boolit. I explained the TL lube groves and we applied 45/45/10. Then I set him up with the sizing die and let him size the boolits he cast. Since the LLA wasn't dry I grabbed a box of some identical ones I had cast months ago to reload.*
Then I got us set up to reload. Showed him some large and small pistol primers; showed him what a couple different powders look like for comparison sake. Then I got out the brass, loaded up a box of primers, put the powder in the hopper with the proper Lee sizer disk in place. I carefully explained the function of each of the 4 dies and loaded up 10 rounds while explaining so he could see how it's done. We had just enough time for him to load up 10 rounds. He followed all instructions very well. Next up? Shoot 'em!
I said, "You get to shoot the 10 you loaded and I'll shoot the 10 I loaded." Down to the pistol cube. I loaded and shot 5 from the 1911 and recovered the brass. Then it was his turn. I was standing a good 10 feet away saying a prayer that all would go well. Sure did! All 5 went bang and he had a pretty good group. I shot my remaining 5. Then I recommended he might just want to shoot 4 so he could put the last one in his pocket as a souvenir. He liked that idea. He'd been in a pretty quiet and serious mood all day but after shooting off the last one I could see this glow come over him! We went up to the house to announce we were done for the day. Then I thought to ask him if he'd like a sampling of each of the unloaded components so he could explain to his Mom how a bullet is made and what all of the components look like unloaded. We went down and popped the primer out of one of the spent brass he shot and gave those to him. And I grabbed an unloaded boolit too. But he didn't want one of the ones I had cast. So we picked out one of the dry ones he had cast. There, all set! He was all smiles as grandma was backing out of the driveway. I tell ya, that was one happy camper!*
And I really enjoyed showing him the ropes!*
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