Rant Mode; ON

[Hamish]

There is a can of JPW that already has a bottle of LLA melted into with the top off to vent the algels share, beeswax from randyrat got here a couple day's ago. I just had a thought. A special mold to cast the soft lead sinkers to slug your barrel. Or how about last nights idea, modify a mold to accept machined archery target points to make AP ammo. It did'nt take long to learn in a search that thanks to Bill and Hilary that is now illegal.

[Skipper488]

Yea, I thought I got into this to save money too. LOL
Very good rant, especially with the command on and command off, to a programmer that's doubly funny.

[casterofboolits]

Jeezopete! I wish I were that articulate. One thing that happens as we get older and deeper into our hobby (obcession?) is the amount of "gewgaws" we end up with. Moulds, lead pots, presses, dies, lubers, brass and lead stash; etc. Then the eyes go and we have a "nuther" problem altogether.

I like to find a load for my guns and then just "sit" on it forever. If my Lyman 429421 44-245-SWCKT over 18.5 grains of 2400 gives me 1.5" at 25 yards, I ain't gonna mess with it! How fast is it going? Damfiknow. Before the eyes went, I could bust nine out of ten clay birds at 100 yards with it!

One thing I'm anal about is my mould dropping the weight they are rated at within +/- one grain with my alloy. I do this by grinding/milling the top of the mould and controlling my alloy to be consistant.

I do what works for me. I like reading about what others do and the results they achieve, but for the most part it ain't gonna make me change or worry about it. YMMV

[Hamish]

Hmm, a mould for making a sinker that would have one end flat so you could push on it, and the other end would have to have a taper so that it would go into either end of the barrel without too much trouble,,,,,,,,

[turbo1889]

One way to keep your sanity is to also develop "minimalist kits". I have several that fit in leather pouches that I can either strap to my belt or put in my back-pack that allow me to reload "in the middle of no-where".

A few of them even include small single cavity mold blocks (I like the old Ideal molds for this) and a set of stripped down handles and little stamped steel ice-cram scoop ladle with the handle cut off to a stub with a couple hose clamps so I can attach it to a stick. I can put a recovered fired boolit or two in the ladle and hold both it and the mold in the camp-fire until the lead melts in the ladle and the mold is preheated and then carefully pour the lead into the mold. Then withdraw both from the fire and let the sprue and boolit solidify and then use another stick as a whacker to cut the sprue. Work some BAC lube into the grooves with my fingers and load "as cast" no sizing.

Obviously the Lyman "big ugly pair of pliers" or a Lee loader are usually the loading tool of choice. But one of these days I'm going to have someone make me up a simple length of metal tube that is threaded 7/8x14 on the inside and then take a 7/8x14 bolt and notch the tip to hold a shell holder. That and a set of regular loading dies would make a handy little loader. Screw a regular loading die into one end of the tube and put the shell holder in the end of the bolt and but a case in the shell holder and screw that assembly in the other end of the tube and it should be just as strong as a regular loading press with the mechanical advantage of the screw using a leatherman to grab a hold of the bolt head and screw it in from the bottom (probably would have to grind the bolt head down to fit the leatherman jaws). Short lengths of 1” PVC with one end glue capped and the other end screw in capped make dandy little powder containers and a single box of a hundred primers with resealable blue masking tape on the two ends of the paper sleeve to keep the tray from sliding loose is more then enough.

I have the shop full of all kinds of goodies – and I have my little kits in their leather pouches. I’m covering both ends of the spectrum and keeping myself balanced.

[linotype]

Hmm, a mould for making a sinker that would have one end flat so you could push on it, and the other end would have to have a taper so that it would go into either end of the barrel without too much trouble,,,,,,,,

Once I stopped laughing, I remembered some "slip sinkers" I found. Tapered like a bullet.
Work great for slugging.
Years ago my biggest concern was why one of my WC moulds was cutting lead as I seated it. .358? .359? .360? What? I need a sizer?

Ah, the good old days.....