new member

[dragonrider]

OK so I lurked for a couple of hours then decided to join. I am more or less a cast boolit,(gotta remember that spelling) shooter, but to be honest I can't tell you why. I do not however use any factory rounds, actually I do use factory rounds for my carry guns. I reload everything I shoot. Except of course the rim-fires.
357,357MAX,45ACP,9MM,380,30-30,44mag,30-06,7x57,8x57,9.3x57,45-70, 7.62x39,7mmsupermag,7-30Waters,223, might be a couple others. And I cast for all except the 223, as yet no mold for it.
Didn't mention 38 special, even though I have a 357 GP100 I never use 38 specials.
Have several 32 cals. auto and revolver but don't shoot hardly ever so no moulds for those either.
A little about myself, Married 39 years, 2 daughters, 6 grandkids, 3 of each. You just can't love em enough. Machinist for 38 years, have a well enough equipped shop in the barn. Also a woodworker with the shop upstairs in the barn. I enjoy a lot of things except yard work.

Have been looking for another handloading site since another I was on closed up. I think is was shooters.com. Can't remember for certain. Obviously I haven't been looking too fast.

Hope to be of some help to some here and I already know there is a lot of help here for me.
:drinks: Here's to a long and happy association.

[wills]

Welcome to the asylum, and don’t believe everything you read about sheep!

[9.3X62AL]

Dragonrider--

Welcome aboard, sir. If Shooters.com was a prior stop, you'll likely recognize a lot of the posters here. Many of us--thanks in large part to 45 Nut (Ken)--transitioned here from the Cast Bullets section of Shooters.com--and after a couple moves we took up residence here, welcomed by Gunload Master (Willy).

There are even a few 9.3mm casters among us. I'm using a Mountain Molds 270 grain ogival flat point design in a CZ-550 in 9.3 x 62.

[dragonrider]

Thanks for the welcome,
Wills, ya I know about the asylums.

Deputy Al
Got my 9.3 mould from NEI, 4 holes, 2-240 grn and 2-304 grn. Have much better luck with the 240's.

[9.3X62AL]

DR--

The "standard" twist rate in 9.3mm seems to be 3 turns/meter, about 1:13" or thereabouts. I understand that recent CZ-550's in this caliber can have 4 turns/meter twist rate, about 1:9.5" to accomodate longer/heavier 320 grain bullets. You may be bumping up against a too-slow twist rate problem with that heavier boolit. Most European 9.3 x 57 and 9.3 x 62 loads feature 232 or 286 grain bullets. My rifle has the 3/meter twist, and shoots 286 Partitions superbly, and at 2400 FPS the recoil is more than most would hope for. Why a 320 grain bullet would be wanted is an interesting question, after experiencing the recoil from full-tilt 286's.

[Buckshot]

..............Dragonrider, Welcome and welcome. Your kids and grandkids are lucky to have a shootin' dad and grampaw. And another machine tool lover too I see. Need some more of those!

..................Buckshot

[Vegas Vince]

Welcome aboard!!


Vince

[Bigjohn]

G'day and welcome from down under,

If you are anything like the rest of us here you will fit right in[smilie=s:

My time visiting this site has been educational to say the least. There is a lot of shooting experience out there which is freely share with any soul in need of guidance.

Interesting handle "Dragonrider", I know one "Dragon Lady" :twisted: and one "Dragonslayer" :Fire: ; so is there some affinity with the dragon's?

Catch up with you around the threads sometime.

John

[Murphy]

Dragonrider,

Welcome to the group sir. Always a pleasure to have another shooter/caster join up and sign in.

I too did some lurking before joining the site. I saw a lot of great information I already knew about, and a lot that I didn't know about. I knew I'd be robbing myself of a wealth of information, and the online companionship of a lot of good people if I didn't join up. Boy has it ever paid off.

Once again...WELCOME!

Respectfully,

Murphy

[45nut]

I would also like to welcome Dragonrider to the fold,er [S]melting pot.
A big welcome to ALL of the new members and many thanks to everyone that makes Cast Boolits your home on the web for CB info,both giving and learning from the basics.
The impetus for this forum is simple,making CB the go-to place for everything cast.keeping the silver stream alive through the sharing of up-to-date information and keeping the information of previous generations alive.
Contributions such as those made by Floodgate,Felix and the resourceful Buckshot to just name a couple were the reason CB was created,not wanting such a "cast" to drift away was indeed selfish of me. I wanted to keep the tradition I felt part of alive. Now 1500+ strong and growing everyday it seems a meek and outrageous move has paid off for everyone that wants to be part of the group.
With the Gunloads hosting and the newest forum software available the future is indeed bright. But it is only by member partcipation that any forum thrives,and THAT is why every member deserves thanks.

[redneckdan]

I was gonna say "run fer yer life while ya still can" but it looks like yer already pretty well hooked, welcome aboard.

[Wayne Smith]

"Dragonrider" wouldn't be related to Anne McCaffery's books, would it? Welcome to this particular crazy house, anyway. All Pernese welcome!

[dragonrider]

DA
I believe you are absolutely right about the twist rate and I stopped using the 304's. I did say that the other was a 240 but actually it's 260 and I am happy with the way it shoots. I have a couple of Mauser actions and in the next year I will be ordering a barrel for a 9.3x62 in a twist rate I can us the heavier bullet in.

Thanks one and all for the welcome. Information is what a site like this is all about, that's why I am here. To use what I need and give what I can, and enjoy the friendship of all.

WS
You are indeed correct, I have and have read everything she has written, but the best by far are the Pernese series, I visit Pern several times a year. Can't tell you how many times I've read those books. Got the tattoo even.

[Gunload Master]

Another warm welcome here Dragonrider, and all new members and visitors. I'm glad to be a part of such a great striving community such as this. Thanks goes out to everyone that makes this place so great.

[Dale53]

Welcome aboard, Dragon Rider. Glad to have you with us. I am fairly new to this fine place, also. You will meet some fine folks here.

Dale53

[fourarmed]

Howdy! I notice you mentioned the 7mm Supermag. Are you a recovering IHMSA member? I am presently casting for a .270 maximum, which is about the same thing with a little more neck. I use it for a standing gun, and would be interested in swapping a few lies about loading for the things.

[dragonrider]

Fourarmed,
As you know the 7mm SuperMag was a very short lived cartridge, introduced, I believe, to compete with the 7mm TCU. The 357 Max case allowed slightly more case capacity being straight walled. But I ain't got no neck, IMHO almost impossible to hold a boolit straight, easily moved if bumped. I got the barrel for my TC Contender, 10", with a set of dies cheap from a local gun shop. He had a .30 Herret also with dies, should have grabbed that one too but didn't. I like to play with it, try different boolits, powders, jacketed, cast, plain base, gas checked, I have several 7mm moulds. It's fun, the guys at the range are always surprised by how loud it is, they expect to see a much bigger hole in the barrel. Of course most folks have never heard of it and think it's something new and improved. Quite shocked when I tell them it's been dead for years.

As far as IHMSA, I wish, there just isn't much of here in New England. And it is something I want to do more of. Been trying to get some going at the local range. I think it would be popular.

Tell me more about the .270 Maximum. I am not familiar with it.

[Greg]

Dragon Rider -

Welcome to the board.


I'd be interested in your 357 Maximum experiences.

[waksupi]

Welcome, buckaroo. Climb up on the buckboard, and travel down the trail with us! We do enjoy ourselves!

[454PB]

Glad you are here with us. This is a great bunch of experienced people, but we always need more. Some of us are closet J bullet users too, but we don't talk about it a lot:roll:

[Frank46]

dragonrider, welcome aboard. Great bunch of folks here. Wills forgot to warn you about the cats. Be here long enough and you'll find out. Frank

[dragonrider]

Cats huh? on another board I go to it's weasels.

[trooperdan]

Dragonrider,

I really like your sig line; I can identify all too well with it! Just don't know how I got so old! :)

[fourarmed]

Re: .270 max. It too is based on the .357 maximum necked down. It has about a .200" neck length, so it is a little more practical than the 7mmSM for cast. It is a bit tricky to form cases, as I imagine the 7mmSM is. I converted a lot of 250 cases, and lost nearly 50 to neck splits. I think if I had annealed them beforehand, I might have done better. But they were new, and R-P cases are usually pretty soft. Water under the bridge. I started them in a .30-30 die and went to the .270 max FL sizer, then had to neck turn them.

I have tried maybe 6 powders so far, and 4759 as proven to be far the best. Very low velocity spreads at 1700 with a ~130 grain SAECO.

I think both of these were developed for the Merrill/XL, as it didn't handle rimless cartridges very well.

[dragonrider]

Fourarmed
Yes I also had problems with neck spits at first but annealing solved that neatly, One shot into the size die and it was done. I have two dies , a neck sizer and a full length sizer. I really like the idea of a longer neck..
Haven't tried 4759, got some, just haven't used it yet. I do know that 748 is usless in it. Also got some PB and will give that a try soon.