Linstrum
06-18-2010, 11:21 AM
To coin a phrase: My, how things have changed!
About 13 years ago when I started participating on Internet shooting forums, things were a lot different than they are at this site. Until this site was formed I hung out at alloutdoors.com, and a few others I don't remember because they aren't worth remembering. Flaming was pretty common and what could best be described as gangs formed and if you weren't a member of a gang you were fair game for flaming regardless if what you said was the best thing since rifling was invented and the gangs flamed each other. Nobody can learn anything where turf wars are the norm, and learning, passing on new information and ideas, and getting rid of myths/wrong information was why I participated. The core group who started this site knew exactly what was wrong and from shear frustration of not being able to just talk about new ideas and pass on new information in a normal friendly manner, they took control of what has turned out to be the future of bullet casting and shooting. As the result of a simple concept but a lot of hard work and effort, boolit casters/shooters have a decent forum where participants don't have to be afraid to say something that is different from the old accepted - but often wrong – cast bullet reloading practices. Because of that, the old wrong information about bullet casting and cast bullet performance is FINALLY getting dumped and replaced with some pretty good new, interesting, and CORRECT information.
When I started casting in 1964, most bullet casters used pure lead, Lyman #2 alloy, and linotype, and all the reloading data and practices were developed for these materials as the norm.
This was the norm with the casters and reloaders I hung out with back in 1964:
Used wheel weights were trash.
Lubes were limited to beeswax and a few commercial types.
Pistol loads had to be below 1600 feet per second.
Rifle loads had to be below 2000 feet per second, preferably below 1600 feet per second.
Slow powders could not work because of severe leading problems, so only small amounts of fast pistol and shot shell powders were used. IMR 4895 with a cast wheel weight bullet in the .30-06 was unthinkable and a full case of smokeless rifle powder with a cast bullet in a high power rifle load was insanity (my best accuracy in my Mosin-Nagants is with a 180-grain wheel weight boolit and a compressed load of 4-grains IMR 4895 over the flash hole and topped off with WC860 or WC872 up to the mouth).
Inexpensive military surplus canon powders were useless in hand-held arms (see above - - - with cast boolits my little Swede Mausers are at their best with IMR 5010 that is used in the .50 BMG, I use the Saeco 140 grain with no more than 46 grains IMR 5010).
Pistol bullets could only be cast with Lyman #2 alloy, high power rifle bullets were only linotype, and black powder had to use pure lead bullets (I have pretty good luck with wheel weights in most everything except cap and ball revolvers that need soft balls to press in the cylinder and the 6.5 Swede Mauser that need hard phos-copper doped wheel weight boolits to take the fast rifling twist).
Black powder was only for replica muzzle loading rifles and cap and ball pistols. Even though the first cartridge guns used black powder it was better to use miniscule loads of smokeless powder in old black powder cartridge guns and if an old cartridge gun couldn't handle small smokeless loads it should not be fired, period (I saw a few Damascus barrel shotguns welded shut and hung over the fireplace or donated to museums. Not all old black powder guns are safe to shoot even with black powder - especially Damascus, but just because a gun from the black powder era cannot withstand very small smokeless loads is no reason to never shoot it again with black powder – just make sure it is safe).
Auto loader rifles can't shoot cast, especially the Garand and M1 Carbine (I shoot cast in auto loader rifles, especially the Garand and M1 Carbine).
What myths, wrong, bad, or out of date information did you used to have? I had a lot, and probably still have a few, but not like I did 46 years ago. :bigsmyl2:
rl809
About 13 years ago when I started participating on Internet shooting forums, things were a lot different than they are at this site. Until this site was formed I hung out at alloutdoors.com, and a few others I don't remember because they aren't worth remembering. Flaming was pretty common and what could best be described as gangs formed and if you weren't a member of a gang you were fair game for flaming regardless if what you said was the best thing since rifling was invented and the gangs flamed each other. Nobody can learn anything where turf wars are the norm, and learning, passing on new information and ideas, and getting rid of myths/wrong information was why I participated. The core group who started this site knew exactly what was wrong and from shear frustration of not being able to just talk about new ideas and pass on new information in a normal friendly manner, they took control of what has turned out to be the future of bullet casting and shooting. As the result of a simple concept but a lot of hard work and effort, boolit casters/shooters have a decent forum where participants don't have to be afraid to say something that is different from the old accepted - but often wrong – cast bullet reloading practices. Because of that, the old wrong information about bullet casting and cast bullet performance is FINALLY getting dumped and replaced with some pretty good new, interesting, and CORRECT information.
When I started casting in 1964, most bullet casters used pure lead, Lyman #2 alloy, and linotype, and all the reloading data and practices were developed for these materials as the norm.
This was the norm with the casters and reloaders I hung out with back in 1964:
Used wheel weights were trash.
Lubes were limited to beeswax and a few commercial types.
Pistol loads had to be below 1600 feet per second.
Rifle loads had to be below 2000 feet per second, preferably below 1600 feet per second.
Slow powders could not work because of severe leading problems, so only small amounts of fast pistol and shot shell powders were used. IMR 4895 with a cast wheel weight bullet in the .30-06 was unthinkable and a full case of smokeless rifle powder with a cast bullet in a high power rifle load was insanity (my best accuracy in my Mosin-Nagants is with a 180-grain wheel weight boolit and a compressed load of 4-grains IMR 4895 over the flash hole and topped off with WC860 or WC872 up to the mouth).
Inexpensive military surplus canon powders were useless in hand-held arms (see above - - - with cast boolits my little Swede Mausers are at their best with IMR 5010 that is used in the .50 BMG, I use the Saeco 140 grain with no more than 46 grains IMR 5010).
Pistol bullets could only be cast with Lyman #2 alloy, high power rifle bullets were only linotype, and black powder had to use pure lead bullets (I have pretty good luck with wheel weights in most everything except cap and ball revolvers that need soft balls to press in the cylinder and the 6.5 Swede Mauser that need hard phos-copper doped wheel weight boolits to take the fast rifling twist).
Black powder was only for replica muzzle loading rifles and cap and ball pistols. Even though the first cartridge guns used black powder it was better to use miniscule loads of smokeless powder in old black powder cartridge guns and if an old cartridge gun couldn't handle small smokeless loads it should not be fired, period (I saw a few Damascus barrel shotguns welded shut and hung over the fireplace or donated to museums. Not all old black powder guns are safe to shoot even with black powder - especially Damascus, but just because a gun from the black powder era cannot withstand very small smokeless loads is no reason to never shoot it again with black powder – just make sure it is safe).
Auto loader rifles can't shoot cast, especially the Garand and M1 Carbine (I shoot cast in auto loader rifles, especially the Garand and M1 Carbine).
What myths, wrong, bad, or out of date information did you used to have? I had a lot, and probably still have a few, but not like I did 46 years ago. :bigsmyl2:
rl809