Shot my first Cast Boolits today! Thanks guys

[Nikolaus]

Thank you for all your help and wealth of information on this website. In the last month I have smelted my first wheel weights. Cast my first bullets and powder coated them. Tonight I got to go to the range for the first time and try them out. Not only are they my first cast boolits, they are my first reloads also. I was trying to be cautious so I brought my Hi-point .45, mainly due to its low value, and I really don't like it. The thinking behind this goes if I did something wrong to blow up a gun, I would rather have the boat anchor Hi-point take the dive. Well I should have trusted my instincts as the .45 swallowed up all 40 lee 452-228-1r boolits I loaded for it, and quite accurately for me and this firearm. I have also been casting and reloading for my new Canik 55 L-120 (cz clone). The .45 results went so well I decided to take the new pistol for a spin. The pistol has only fired 40 rounds of commercial before today. I put 40 cast lee 356-125-2r downrange. No malfunction, no leading in either gun. The new 9mm didn't seem to be as accurate as the .45. I am not used to the light weight, the different trigger, and was a little nervous being my first time shooting hand loads. Here are a couple pics. I am not trying to brag, I am a crappy shot, the reason I started casting and reloading is to be able to shoot much much more for less money and get better. Here goes, thanks guys.

http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo329/Nikolausxx/IMG_16571.jpg (http://s388.photobucket.com/user/Nikolausxx/media/IMG_16571.jpg.html)

http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo329/Nikolausxx/IMG_16551.jpg (http://s388.photobucket.com/user/Nikolausxx/media/IMG_16551.jpg.html)

http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo329/Nikolausxx/IMG_16561.jpg (http://s388.photobucket.com/user/Nikolausxx/media/IMG_16561.jpg.html)

[jonp]

Before you get too worried about blowing up the hi point check out a few torture test videos on youtube that are a real eye opener on their strength. Ugly as sin but strong.

Congrats on the cast. Ive been casting some the last few weeks and am going to try some out this weekend

[jonp]

Btw how do you like the Canik? The price on them sure is right

[Nikolaus]

I like the canik, I think it has great potential. I've never had a DA/SA gun before. I am used to single action triggers so the extra take up in the trigger on this gun throws me off. I have read great reviews on the canik on cz and eaa forums. It points well and fits my hands very well. Th DA trigger is hard to pull, and I just pull the hammer and shoot SA. The sights are ok, but could use some green or orange dots as the white is hard to see. The SA trigger feels really good once you get past all the take up. I think I may do some home gun smithing on it to get the take up removed from the trigger and change the grips and the sites. I paid $347, and it is a real nice gun at that price point! It came with 2 17rnd magazines but honestly I have not loaded them past 10rnds.

[osteodoc08]

You'll find you don't save money, you just shoot more!

Good job and welcome to the club.

[Bored1]

Nice looking targets! Don't look like that bad of a shot to me. Maybe I will post up some of mine to make you feel better. Although, finding a mentor has greatly improved my shooting skills.

BTW- Alvo, Ne isn't that far from Omaha really. What range are you shooting at?

[MtGun44]

What diam are you using for 9mm. Most find .357 or .358 to be much superior
to .356.

Bill

[Nikolaus]

I got a .357 sizer. The bore slugs to .3565 on the canik. I may need to lap the sizer, but for right now I will try again another day. I was shooting at Thunder Alley indoor range in Lincoln.

[MtGun44]

Try unsized if they are about .358 and you may find your lost accuracy. In handguns
best accy is usually found at least .001 to .002 larger than groove diameter. Are you
using a .0001" reading mic for these measurements? If you are using a caliper, regardless
of the number of digits you have on the electronic display or can interpolate on the
dial, the instruments are rated at +/-0.001 by the makers. I get a steady stream
of "Well I was trained properly, so I know how to do this with MY high quality. . . . ."

Not trying to pick a fight with these folks, but this is just uninformed baloney, I have
worked for a large aerospace manufacturer and we have serious government contract
quality requirements and for consistent measurement FOR REAL, we require that
the rated accuracy of the instrument be four times smaller than the size you
are trying to measure. I have worked with folks from our Precision Measurement
and Metrology departments and they have taught me a bit about precise measurements
in the real world. What you can read on a scale or display and the repeatable
accuracy are two different things.

So with a .0001" accurate micrometer, you can be very certain of getting at least
.0004" repeatability, which is more than we need for our normal need to be sure
to about .0005"

If you do not have a .0001" mic and are a bit serious about the hobby, you can get
a good Brown & Sharpe, Mitutoyo, Starett or Fowler on eBay at good prices. Enco
USA tool supplier usually has new Fowlers for about $35 or a bit less and they are
a good quality mic.

Good luck, you are starting on the right foot and getting pretty good results.

Bill

[Nikolaus]

I'm pretty sure my micrometer is only accurate to .001. I made a guesstimate on the .3565 due to it being almost exactly half way between the 6 and the 7 on the dial. That being said, the boolits sized exactly at ..357, so that would only put it less than .001. I will do a little research on here on lapping lee push through sizer dies. I might try to open it up to .358. One would think you could get pretty close as a hobbyist with this micrometer.

After looking at that 9mm target. The top right shots at 2:00 appear to be keyholed. I wonder if this is due the sizing? I might try shooting some more factory ammo from it and see what happens too. I wonder if I didn't cull the cast boolits good enough and got a few with malformed base that I might have missed. All those shots were from my first casting session. I looked them over rather quickly culled the deformed looking ones, and powder coated the rest. Some were shiny, some were frosty. I was just trying to get familiar with the whole process. I cast a few hundred more last night and I may cull more or look at them better. Being new I still have a lot of research to do. I loaded them to COAL 1.050, and charged one batch with 3.1 grains of Bullseye, and the other with 3.4 grains. I got my calculations from quick load. I did not see any signs of excessive pressure, or abnormality when shooting. I got the COAL by seating deeper until they would chamber without hitting the rifling. 1.060 was too long and would not chamber properly. According to quick load, the fps should be about 940 on 3.1 grain and 1050 or so on 3.4. According to the chart the pressure on 3.1 was below the yellow zone, and 3.4 was in the middle of the yellow. I dont have a chrono to verify the fps on the projectiles. I may research more tonight into the key holing. The accuracy could also be me because it is a new gun, and a different style trigger system than I am used to.

[Shiloh]

Now your hooked.

Shiloh

[Nikolaus]

You got that right Shiloh! I was hooked before I went to the range. Now it's bordering on obsession!

[w0fms]

Before you get too worried about blowing up the hi point check out a few torture test videos on youtube that are a real eye opener on their strength. Ugly as sin but strong.


I'm thinking of getting a complete set of Hi-Points for other calibers just to work up loads! Seriously. I still think they are perfectly fine (and really quite reliable and accurate) range toys... and wow.. to actually blow one up would be an accomplishment...

[plainsman456]

There is no turning back now.

keep pluging away it can shoot tighter.

[DeanWinchester]

It's possible the HI Point may be one of the strongest autos ever made. THeres a video where some nut drives a bolt into the barrel and then [remotely] touches it off. It did NOT explode in such a way that a shooter would have sustained life threatening injuries. That's impressive no matter how homely they may be.

I hi point will explode though. Here's what it takes to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKkQm5TRaWE

[RogerDat]

Well about them targets. How many of those shots missed BMC? Not that it is not fun and worthwhile to work on tight groups in the 10 ring but.... gun is a tool and that work looks accurate enough to get the job done.

[yman]

Welcome the the world of casting, reloading, and to the cast boolits site. Osteodoc08 has it right, you dont save much, you just shoot more. :Fire: But thats just more fun. I suggest to grab anything you need when you see it, I doubt there is anyone here that hasnt passed up a nice bunch of lead or a bag of brass without regretting it later. Now that they have closed down the lead mines in the US. WW are going to be harder and harder to come by, but keep your eyes and ears open, there are different places to get lead. I scored 2 68lb door wghts from an old building this summer.
I wouldnt worry so much about blowing a gun up, just remember to follow the rules, only 1 powder on the bench at a time. Read the load data, check it, then check it again. Cross reference if you can, I find alot of places that sell powder have free pamplets around. Check each case after adding powder. I use a small flashlite. Always label after reloading. And if every in doubt, just disassible it, a little time and a little lost powder (if you spill it) is a small price compared to a gun, or worse.

Heres to many happy years reloading. good luck and enjoy.

[guncheese]

dont be suprised that a hi-point can be accurate
homely yes bad trigger yes inaccurate NO!

[Nikolaus]

I was surprised it didn't jam. I pulled it out a few weeks ago to show a friend. We shot 4 magazines of commercial through it and it jammed 3 times. I took it apart and cleaned it, and plunk tested the barrel for the cast rounds. It worked flawless to my surprise!

[Bored1]

I do believe that's the first review I have heard about a hipoint jamming with commercial loads in factory mags.

Guess that just means you have to feed it a steady diet of cast only!

[TXGunNut]

Congrats and welcome to the affliction!

[w0fms]

Anectodal? Yes. Isolated, possible?

The first round out of a brand new .45 JHP Hi-Point, without adjusting the sights, nothing, on factory PMC .45... at 50' dead center Bullseye. That is the only firearm I've ever shot that has never had a FTF or FTE yet. And lets say compared to other toys, it's not as well taken care of. I've had some issue with leading as the bore is slightly oversized, (no I didn't slug it!) but for some reason I've not been upset because I've had to run a Chore Boy down it twice...

Ugly as sin, powder coated pot metal and plastic, and extremely top heavy, yes. Accurate as all get go, with the sights sighted in correctly from the factory (never happened on any other gun I've tried)... and I don't really care about it too much.. if it fails, it's disposable. I don't think it will fail, though.

I'm glad we have such devices made in the USA for sale for beginners and the financially less fortunate... and the customer service is supposedly excellent.. I don't know.. haven't needed it...

[Nikolaus]

We will see if the luck continues. I am going back to the range tonight. Hopefully the Hi-Point likes the 452-200-swc I made up for it. It was a real hard time getting them to the right COAL to feed manually. I think I've got it. Hopefully luck is on my side like last time! Unfortunately I have not had a chance to lap my sizer die for my 9mm or experiment with .358. Its going to be trying some berry's plated I had laying around.