Geeez...I guess you get the 'BUSIEST BEAVER AWARD', some of you fellas have gotten down right serious...
I am green with envy!
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Geeez...I guess you get the 'BUSIEST BEAVER AWARD', some of you fellas have gotten down right serious...
I am green with envy!
Good thing I'm retired, its alot of work! Finding steel FMJ's in 9mm, guess ill have to scan all 6-7 buckets of copper scrap for steel. Got 160 lbs so far and a bucket and half to go. its my 4th trip, only have till spring till they call in a Co scoop the berm and refill w clean dirt, cause they are getting complaints of ricochets. But, my old agency just switched to a hybrid MP 40 and have to shoot 800 rounds ea to transition to the new striker fired weapons, and yeah no steel. Sure leaves little bittle pieces of copper jackets.
Accurate 36-180F for my 686.
Attachment 211918
Barely works at 1.610"
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So back to this with a few facts. I did some experimenting for my own knowledge. In the red container when everything was said and done I had 52.25 lbs of 150 grain RN boolits. I decided to put my nose to grindstone and PC them all in one evening. On average i was turning over one tray every 9 - 10 minutes with just over 200 projectiles per tray. it came out to 24 trays. Just a hair under 4 hours including clean-up. Next came the sizing. I set up a digital counter and a count down timer and came to the conclusion that it take me on average 2 seconds to size a boolit. I set it for 5 minutes each time and after 6 tries the lowest amount was 143 and the highest was 161. in the end the average came out to 152 which is about 2 seconds per projectile.
The powdercoat is a Metallic Silver and in the other photo is 28 lbs of other misc projectiles like 9mm and some 44s that I used some jet Black to see how I would like them. Now it's time to start casting again!!
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You funny, The addiction makes It necessary to try to shoot at least once a week. This past weekend was 6° with 8 mph wind and I still got 225 rounds off.
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Not very many this morning since I did have to harvest maple sap from our trees. I did manage to cast enough for a couple session each of 210 gr 41 cal SWC, 130 gr. 358 cal RF, and 200 gr 30 cal. semi point Loverin plain base.
Heh! Well, I have the time to cast now and that may not be the case later in the year. Boolits don't go bad, so I figure I might as well get it done and have a big heap of cast, sized and lubed projectiles ready to go. If time is scarce later in the year, I can still bang out a bunch of rounds if I wish. I try to take the same tack with brass. A lot of it is loaded up, but what is not I make an effort to keep primed, resized and flared so I can bang out rounds as needed/desired.
I have 3 new molds in the mail, so lots more casting in the near future. Waiting on the Mihec H&G 50 8 banger and ordered 2 flavors of Lee 44 6 bangers. I can hear the pot crying quietly in the corner...
I hope you ordered the H&G 50, 8 banger in Aluminum!
I just bought a H&G 50, 6 banger, steel, front hinge handles....OMG it's heavy! Had to redoo my rest under the Lee 20# pot so it would fit all the way through on an angle due to the overall length.
I ended up drilling a set of Lee handles to fit it and that made it more manageable, still heavy though!
Yes, the H&G is in aluminum. I am coming to find I prefer iron molds, but boy do they get heavy as the number of cavities increases. I figure the 8 banger will empty the pot in a hurry, though.
Yesterday broke in a new mold from N.O.E..
That AL sure does some nice work.
It's for the 357/38 with 3 pins.
They sure look good.
Some .44sAttachment 212396
Did you have to brave the cold to get that done?
I wonder if Lyman might put out a PID control? Seems like the next step with that temp. meter....
Hey Charlie, not to hijack your thread but I'm wondering how many of you use mold thermometers with a PID controlled pot and how well you think they work, and how big a pain os the cord.
(pictures along with your answers would be appreciated)
Hey Jim...Can't post a picture of that myself...don't use a mould thermometer. I thought they would be a hassle from the first time I heard about them. Could be someone does...we'll find out, good question.
I ran a batch of Lee .358 125gr. RF to be powder coated and run through my new Ruger LCRx-3