Echo
01-21-2014, 04:21 AM
I went out on the patio to place some Babbitt I had won on eBay, and DANG! It was so nice out I decided to cast some boolits. I plugged in the SAECO and the hot plate, and sat a Lee 30-160 RNGC on, with a Lyman 311672 that throws a nice 160 gr RNGC boolit. When everything was up to temp, I started with the Lee, but it disputed me, and sulked, even though I spoke lovingly to it. So I pulled the Lyman off, and started with him, and he behaved like a gentleman. Probably cast about 250 boolits, and had maybe a dozen round-heeled culls.
So I piddles around the house for a while, then took the boolits into the reloading shack to loob-size them. Set up the old Lachmiller (predecessor to the LAM), with a .311 die, and started the process. Hmmm. The loob-sizer had a hitch in it’s gitalong. Hmmm – What’s this? It’s BROKE! One leg of the blasted handle was broke! Carrumba. Well, it so happens I have another in pieces that I have been meaning to clean up and re-assemble. The handle was fine, but I had intended to replace the bicycle grip with a round ball (wood, from Michael’s). Broke out the epoxy and did that, then piddled around the house for a while, again, until the epoxy was well-set. Assembled the handle onto the Lachmiller, and pressed on, after a few false starts. NRA lube, but the nights get chilly, and the loob was being recalcitrant, so I put the drop light on it and watched TV for a while. Came back out and lube-sized about 25 boolits, then replaced the .311 (that really wasn’t sizing the boolits, just loobing them) die with a .310 and loob-sized about 25 more. The boolits miked .309-.310, and the gas check was crimping nicely with the .310 die. I already have some sized to .309, so it will be an interesting day at the range.
I’ll load these up with 15-16 grs 2400 and take them to the range Thursday, loading whatever shoots the best that night for use the next day at the SROLY’s. The 1917 Enfield generally generates some interest at the SROLY’s, especially when they see that I’m using lead boolits. “Aren’t you afraid that you will get leading?” “Well, no, leading doesn’t happen if you know what you are doing”.
I had intended on adding a picture of my patio casting bench, but my computer disputed me. Hopefully fixed this PM, and I will upload then...
So I piddles around the house for a while, then took the boolits into the reloading shack to loob-size them. Set up the old Lachmiller (predecessor to the LAM), with a .311 die, and started the process. Hmmm. The loob-sizer had a hitch in it’s gitalong. Hmmm – What’s this? It’s BROKE! One leg of the blasted handle was broke! Carrumba. Well, it so happens I have another in pieces that I have been meaning to clean up and re-assemble. The handle was fine, but I had intended to replace the bicycle grip with a round ball (wood, from Michael’s). Broke out the epoxy and did that, then piddled around the house for a while, again, until the epoxy was well-set. Assembled the handle onto the Lachmiller, and pressed on, after a few false starts. NRA lube, but the nights get chilly, and the loob was being recalcitrant, so I put the drop light on it and watched TV for a while. Came back out and lube-sized about 25 boolits, then replaced the .311 (that really wasn’t sizing the boolits, just loobing them) die with a .310 and loob-sized about 25 more. The boolits miked .309-.310, and the gas check was crimping nicely with the .310 die. I already have some sized to .309, so it will be an interesting day at the range.
I’ll load these up with 15-16 grs 2400 and take them to the range Thursday, loading whatever shoots the best that night for use the next day at the SROLY’s. The 1917 Enfield generally generates some interest at the SROLY’s, especially when they see that I’m using lead boolits. “Aren’t you afraid that you will get leading?” “Well, no, leading doesn’t happen if you know what you are doing”.
I had intended on adding a picture of my patio casting bench, but my computer disputed me. Hopefully fixed this PM, and I will upload then...