This channel will reflect my varied interests/hobbies and how I attempt to create the illusion of living in the great outdoors somehow within city limits.
Some of my hobbies include travelling, boating, snowmobiling, fishing, finessing rifles to shoot accurately, handloading ammunition, processing firewood and enjoying the varied weather of a northern climate. I'm an IT guy that likes to relax and take a break from work just to dive into projects like restoring a 1977 18.5 foot Starcraft Holiday I/O boat, rebuilding an old snowmobile and keeping anything mechanical around here running as in many cases newer isn't always better :)
My Dachshund Leon will of course take part and make cameo appearances as he tries to live his best life in front of the firepit or fireplace or near any source of heat for that matter. He's become quite the movie aficionado watching movie/live events projected out by the firepit or chillaxing by the fireplace.
Another consideration is seating depth and with milsurp rifles try neck sizing. They are manufactured to shoot 3-4 moa with irons on a good day. Consequently, the chambers might not be as consistent as a modern rifle where full lenght sizing produces a tighter consistency. I enjoyed the shotgun footage too!!!
@@azrls43185 I’ll post the new stuff when I get back. The 47.5 imr4350 soft points are at about 1.5 inch groups. The 196 bthp are also about 1.5 inch groups too. I’ve got a ton of footage and need to get back to the range :)
SEE MY CORRECTION in the next reply. I have a Caldwell Ballistic Chronograph and use it with their yellow and green logo app v1.21 from the Apple Store on an iPhone 13 mini running iOS 17.6.1. 1. You must use the Caldwell provided cable or a 4-pole 3.5 mm stereo (trrs) mini jack cable with 2 male connectors. 2. You must use an Apple MFi Certified 3 Pack Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter. 3. You may have to swap cable ends when connecting #1 to the chrono and iPhone adapter. 4. App v1.21 settings Location, Bluetooth, Microphone, Siri, and Cellular: Off. Location doesn't seem to get T° or BP data for the app and I quit trying to figure out that part. Once I got things working, I never updated the app again. I also still have a Caldwell pre-v.1.21 app working on an ancient iPad Mini iOS 9.3.5. Set the chrono 10-15' out. Go through your usual physical setup, open the app, get the green cable icon in the upper right corner, and it's ready. Go through the New Group setup. Press Start. Fire a shot, let the chrono capture the velocity, transmit the shot to the app, and let the app log the shot. Do not rapid fire. The system needs time to record each shot. I power cycle the chrono when it throws an Err2 (missed shot) or Err3 (front sensor fault). Yes, I have to wait for a cold range. That's life with an optical chrono. I don't worry about the chrono app doing the math. I can do the math. I just need it to log each shot. Stop and Save Group. Optional: Saved Groups and select the group you want to add a photo. Edit, tap the camera icon, take/save the photo to the group, and tap Done. I verify the average FPS and add that along with the chrono distance to my ballistic app to get the estimated MV. There is a Caldwell Ballistic Chronograph for PC I have not tested yet.
The Caldwell Ballistic Chronograph and their v1.21 app on an iPhone 13 mini were tested and DO NOT WORK with the Lightning adapter. I got a green icon in the app indicating the chrono was connected. It didn't record any shots. The only configuration I have that works is the Caldwell Ballistic Chronograph and their v1.21 app on an iPad Mini with the 4-pole 3.5 mm jack. The problem is the conversion from the legacy 4-pole 3.5 mm jack to the iPhone Lightning port. It's anyone's guess why Caldwell is marketing a product they aren't supporting.
I have an 1894 Winchester saddle ring carbine with a special order shotgun butt in .38-55 caliber. I slugged the bore and it's right at .379. New ones are .355 bore so it takes some thought. I bought .380 cast lead 255 grain bullets on line. I also cast some with an old Winchester 1894 bullet mold, and it worked. Beautiful rifle you have there. Slug the bore and see what you get. The Marlin bores were a little bigger as a rule.
I believe we slugged it but I’ll double check. These are fun old rifles. We could hunt with these old rifles in close for sure as it’s quite the smack when the bullet hits the targets
@@rachelmcknight425 I missed taking a video of him in a suitcase waiting for use to unzip the other half of the case. He knew something was in there the second we came in the door.
I got an iPhone 16 and it doesn’t work on it. It didn’t work on the last iPhone. I had either and I’ve had this thing for about four years and Caldwell don’t care. I thought about getting just a cheap android phone from a pawnshop just for this purpose, but decided it ain’t worth it. I should say, though that the corner graph itself works fine. I just can’t use the app, but it still helps me with my reloads.
Thanks for the video. I have a 870 tac from 2014 collecting rust. Just got it back to normal and was considering a rail but I do not like the idea of drilling the holes for attachments. This seems to be it.
I’ll let you know how it does as next week we’re hitting the range with slugs. It’ll be with and without a rifled choke and we’ll measure groups. So far it’s been great
IDK what economics you are using but the fact you can push powder coated lead to dam near jacketed velocity means you are saving money and makes casting for rifles much more available to the common loader.
That’s the goal. If you like to shoot and if you’re a hunter in theory you could feed your family for next to nothing depending on how far you have to drive to go hunting. I’m doing this for fun and to learn new things. Damn my wife’s venison steaks are good though. Video coming soon.
You don’t have to handle lead anymore once they are coated, there is no barrel fouling from lead and you can squeeze more fps out of a round before having to go to a copper jacketed bullet. Traditional store bought bullets are getting out of control price wise
St Albert Alberta Canada. Just outside of Edmonton. -40 in the winter sometimes but in the summer it’s 80-90 at times and you can read your paper in the backyard at 11 pm if you want :)
We’re using old 3030 brass resized and casting our own bullets from wheel weights so we’re back to cheap. Factory ammo and factory bullets are brutally expensive these days
Interesting! Learn something new every day. I’ve always just cleaned the new Lee molds with acetone, then used beeswax to coat the hot mold, which has always worked for me. The most critical thing to not get frosty bullets is getting the mold hot enough, then it all starts to work well. Never used anything other than the beeswax, so maybe I’ve just been lucky.
It seems to be easier to clean as well after using the chalk. We’ve got to sit down with some acetone and give them a good cleaning again. The heat is the biggest thing. We might rotate between 2 different calibers if we’re running a bit hot to give it 10 sec to cool between moving to the alternate die. This Wed night we’re back at it casting lee 7/8 key drive slugs, 1 oz and .690 round ball. If we’re on a roll we might do some more Lee 170 gr cast and well as some 7.62x39 and 7.62x54 Mosin Lee 155 gr .312 cast stuff.
Basically. It uses bolt holes that were used as pins to hold in the trigger assembly. It’s quite a decent setup as it’s snug and has been holding up to some heavy slug rounds. We’re getting ready to range test some new roll crimp slugs so you’ll see it in action shortly.
I send mine through a Dillon 8mm Mauser trim die but I'm tempted to try using the rifle itself with a well lubed case to see if I can't convert brass that way.
I couldn't bring myself to do that to 30-06 brass since I have several rifles in that caliber. But not having a 270 and plenty of range pickup all of my 8mm was once 270 Win brass.
@Richard-D 30-06 is a great caliber but factory ammo is insane. In addition to the surplus rifles in 30-06 I have a Remington 721 (the father of the Remington 700) in 30-06. Best thing is Remington 700 stocks fit and I have a Magpul with ACS magazine, talk about modernizing an old rifle.
@@SALTYCOMBATDIVER-ExInstructor I’m going to be reloading for 3006 shortly with some 178 gr amax and 180 gr cast bullets and test the group sizes until we nail it
@@Richard-D I don’t think a lot of people realize the huge difference between a quality powder and something cheap. I Powdercoat caterpillar parts at work everyday and that’s how we do it
We used an old oil change pan to catch the bullets like morons. We needed to rinse or nothing would stick. I noticed after the first batch of powder coating. As clean as it was it still left a residue
My expensive sizer has gathered dust for a long time now. Not because it did not work well but because it is no longer needed. I have cast bullets for 40 years and tried everything. Alloys... chamber bore size relationships different lubes gas checks etc etc... sometimes more art than science. ALL these things are a thing of the past. High tech coatings. or powder coat.. I can do it myself. All I need is the Lee sizer. one for each caliber obviously. gas checks? uh.. naaa. I have run these coated bullets at close to 2k fps I have 'recovered' a few and they are still coated.. better proof tho is there is no leading whatsoever. There would be no point to a gas check (in my opinion at up to these velocities) pretty much I have bags of gas checks that I will most likely never use. I have a lot of different sticks of lube I will never use again. I now shoot my cast bullets with no smoke and no leading and no lead particles or handling of lead (once coated) and my guns clean up even easier than with jacketed bullets. I do this at home but you can buy coated cast bullets and I do occasionally when time is of the essence or just feeling lazy LOL... Try some yourself. they are slightly faster... slightly more accurate and WAY easier to clean up the gun afterwards and most likely safer to handle.
If you have an older single stage press that you aren't using much, mount it upside down on your bench. You can now drop the bullet into the die and push it down through, letting it fall into a bucket under the press. Let gravity help you. And, you don't spill sized bullets everywhere when you take the hopper off.
...I've got a Rockchucker I bought 50 years ago - 1973 - through the post Rod & Gun club at Illesheim - recently I bought the Lee breech-lock adapter for it - had my LGS install it - @ 74 I no longer have the strength to do it by myself...I bought a Lee .38 sizer years ago
You’ve got your moneys worth out of that rockchucker. Too bad they don’t make everything like that anymore. A lot of companies can take a hint at going back to quality from RCBS
IIRC it cost me 26 bux...many times since I moved to FL from NJ in 1979 I considered getting rid of it as I'd transitioned to progressive presses (Lee 1000 & Dillon RL550B) but thank God I kept it!!!
Standing them on their bases is no more work. Put em in an ammo block nose first then invert onto a silicone sheet in a toaster pan. All upright & separate that fast.
