Requiem For A Gunsmith, Part Two

In part one of this series, we began by asking and answering some common questions that may arise between a gunsmith and his customers. It’s a for-fun exercise useful only for entertainment value. You can probably think of dozens more. Many of you may disagree with some of my answers. Feel free to point this out. I’m not right all the time, but I try to keep my average at 99.9% or better! Is casting you own bullets worth it? Here’s another depends answer. If you have a source of supply and the time, go for it.

I started casting bullets in the 1970s. Back then, it was a pretty common practice, mostly because the bullets commercially available for handguns were made from lead and good casting materials, such as linotype, pure lead, tin and wheel weights, were readily available. Nowadays, most of the really good stuff like linotype has to be purchased from a supplier and shipped at considerable expense. This negates any savings since you can buy almost any type of bullet already cast, lubed and ready to shoot.

For some, the cost is immaterial since they cast for competition, such as in black powder cartridge rifles, and are very finicky about the blend of alloys and use custom molds that are pretty expensive. I now use wheel weights almost exclusively for my casting. I do have some linotype squirreled away for a rainy day and even some pure lead and tin, but it’s rare when I can’t use plain wheel weights, including rifle bullets.

I have read in some publications that wheel weight sources are drying up due to the price of lead in India and Pakistan. Maybe, but just the other day I stopped by a local tire shop and they gave me all the used weights they had. I guess I have about a ton stored so far and I always accept any I can find for free. My main casting these days is for old military rifles, such as 8mm Mauser and 7.62×54 Mosin Nagant. Those of you who have milsurp rifles and want to shoot them take note.

Personally, I have no interest in hunting with these rifles and only use the bullets with reduced loads at the range. For rifles, I prefer to use gas checks. This gives you a little more leeway as to the pressure Like some other things, you can never get enough. Although a lot of sources are dried up it’s still available on the cheap. Wheel weights make good bullets. of the loads and may help leading problems. Sometimes cases are difficult to find in the Mosin.

I use factory loads as my source as they can be cheaper than some supplier’s empties! Last I checked, Prvi loaded ammo with cases suitable for reloading cost $15.99 for 20 while the same number of empty cases from Nosler will set you back $24.99. Also, my rifle bores slug at 0.310 inch, not 0.308 for the Russian jobs. Although Hornady and Sierra and others list suitable jacketed bullets (usually meant for the .303 British) in their catalogs, try and find some at your local gunshop in that odd diameter.

Molds are available to cast them, though.

The initial cost of equipment will be amortized quickly. The Lyman on the right has been in use for more than forty years. With the reduced loads, the cases seemingly last forever. Just make sure you don’t use any that are loaded with corrosive primers to start out with. I have used bullets without gas checks on such rifles as the .30-30 Winchester Model 94, putting about 1,000 reduced rounds through one using IMR Trail Boss and Hodgdon H4895 powders. The bore scope revealed an almost pristine inside.

I detected more copper washing than lead fouling. Use of lead bullets and reduced loads in any gun, but especially old shooters, will give you a barrel that will last a very long time, though you may have to work on your sighting arrangement with guns that sport open sights. With my Model 94 the reduced loads were shooting about fourteen inches low and the original sights could not be adjusted to point of aim.

My gun was manufactured in an era when it was common to come from the factory drilled and tapped for receiver sights, so switching to He told me he thought they were submarine anchors. I’m saving them for a rainy day. Sometimes it is easier to make your own than to find components. a William’s 5D was easy and cured my elevation dilemma. Hunting with cast bullets is another story but it can be done successfully.

I cast for fun but when I get serious I can turn to one of the commercial suppliers for a good product, an example being my trail gun, a Ruger Blackhawk in .41 magnum with a 4-5/8" barrel. Cast Performance Bullet Company supplies

me with a 255 grain WFNGC that I push with as much Winchester 296 powder I can stuff in the case. Bears and other dangerous critters, beware. I usually buy my lead bullets in bulk for most of my handgun shooting. In my younger days I would take a week or two and do nothing but casting for my handguns that I use on the range making sure I had four or five thousand of each to last me for awhile. I don’t have the time I used to. So, is bullet casting worth it? A better answer would take up a whole book.

The best I can say on this one is it depends. Should I handload on a progressive or single-stage press? Yes and yes and no. Here again, what are you loading and what for? Did you just start to hand load or are you experienced? Competition shooters, especially for handgun disciplines, go through thousands of rounds a year just in practice. Very few of us have the money to match that kind of shooting with factory loads, so hand loading is a necessity.

For that kind of volume, loading on some form of progressive press is also a necessity. That being said, if you are at that level of competition you didn’t start rolling your own yesterday. Progressive presses are not more dangerous than single stage tools and they produce good, accu- These heavy-for-caliber solids for my trail gun come lubed and gas checked. I sleep easier in camp.

I was lucky to have a rifle that was pre-drilled and tapped for receiver sights at the factory. rate ammo, but they do demand attention to detail while using them. I’ve found that shooting the bull with my buddies while I’m loading a couple hundred to miss putting powder in one or two cases. The primer, of course, doesn’t realize I’ve screwed up and is happy to push a bullet halfway up the barrel at the range thereby creating a recipe for disaster if I don’t catch the difference in recoil and muzzle blast.

I have read

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time anymore. The two Dillons on the right are set up for specific cartridges but can easily be changed to others. stories about competitors in Cowboy Action Shooting matches (notorious for using the lightest loads they can get away with) stacking five or six bullets in a barrel before realizing their error.

The trouble with progressives is no matter how many safety features like powder checkers and such are employed, one can somehow end up with either an empty case or one filled with a double charge of powder in the batch, neither of which makes my day. By all means utilize You might notice that they are mounted on and old dresser that I dug up somewhere and used in my small apartment for many years.

It is made solidly and will work for the rest of my life. any safety features that are available, but one thing I’ve done is to limit my loading to when I’m alone and can pay attention to what I’m doing. That isn’t to say you can’t get in trouble when using a single-stage press. I have a buddy that wanted to learn how to reload, so I started him out at a single-stage press putting together some reduced loads for his .270 Winchester.

One of the safest ways to load like this is to use a loading block where all of the loads are individually weighed and inserted in the cases. Then a flashlight is used to check them all to make sure none of the loads are heavier or lighter than the others. Pretty safe, huh? My friend loaded about fifty rounds while I did some

45 ACP barrel was bulged by dropping the hammer on a loaded round when a bullet was stuck in the barrel. Not a pretty picture. other work and generally oversaw what he was doing. When he was finished I asked him if he checked all the powder levels with a flashlight. Yep. So far so good, except one of them froze the bolt when fired at the range and a lot of smoke rolled out of the action. Did he really check the loads? The problem was that a double load of SR4759 would fit into a .270 case without overflowing.

I recommend using a powder such that a double load will overflow the case. Sometimes this is not always feasible. IMR Trail Boss has helped this situation, especially in large cases such as the .45 Colt. I usually use Hodgdon H4895 in re- I have used it for many years and expect to continue. The duct tape holding the hopper on is because it broke along time ago. duced loads of rifle rounds. I also recommend becoming experienced before switching to a progressive press.

Today’s shooters, especially the young ones who can’t wait to blow off a million rounds with the black rifles as fast as they can pull the trigger, need to slow down a little. Load testing development and hunting ammunition that only requires forty or fifty rounds a year is easily accomplished on a singlestage press.

You see these articles where somebody is advocating using a powder measure to throw all your rifle loads "because the bench-resters do it." It works for them because they are using the same equipment and one powder that they’ve worked with along time. We, on the other hand, may be using five or more different powders in load development. Try it yourself. Weigh some charges of a "stick" powder and then try to throw some. You’ll get the picture

Everything it does can be accomplished with hand tools but this little machine really speeds up the process. This little press from Lee Precision will take care of many tasks and only costs around twenty bucks. real quick. On a progressive press, many shooters use an easy-measuring ball powder and don’t redline every load. Why hurry? The hunting loads we end up with may last a couple of seasons. What steps should be taken to prep cases for handloading?

I really like this one because my answer will raise the hackles of a lot of folks and probably generate some mail. So be it. If you are using new, unfired cases, after safety checking them for length, all I normally do is run them through a Universal Case Expanding Die from Lee Precision to round the necks and chamfer the inside of the case mouth. This allows jacketed bullets to be seated without shaving the base off. Then, prime, load and shoot. This gives me fire formed cases for that rifle.

Some of you obsessed with case preparation will label me a heretic, but I have used cases prepped like this to hunt groundhogs and other critters that require a high level of accuracy with no problems. This method usually works fine with bolt-action rifles. When using pumps, lever-actions and semi-autos it’s best to get out the old sizing die and run them through it to start.

Oh, I’ve been bitten a time or two using this method for thousands upon thousands of new brass, but that is what I have a bullet puller for, and the time I’ve saved for my initial range work has been well worth it. For all cases, check for length. If you are using your sizing dies, check after that process. If I am not using these cases in a bench-rest match, below maximum length is fine. I don’t really care if some of them area couple of thousandths of an inch different from the others.

I am just checking for safety. When some of them measure over the max, I trim them all the same. If you can detect an appreciable accuracy difference in your hunting rifle by using cases like this, you area better shooter than I am. I used to jump through all the hoops concerning case prep as has been preached over and over by every gun writer in existence, until I started to experiment for what worked for me. Two things I don’t do is neck turn and ream primer pockets.

I have found that most of the brass now commonly available is so precise that neck turning is a useless operation. Besides, if the neck is thicker on one side so will be the body. That case should go in the scrap pile. I have a mechanized RCBS Case Prep tool that allows me to ream primer pockets fairly easily. I don’t bother. I do clean the pockets of my rifle cases with the nifty little revolving wire brush that comes with the tool. Most of the time I don’t think it makes any difference, but it makes me feel good.

For handgun rounds, forget it. I’ve never cleaned any of their primer pockets. I’ve inspected for off-center primer flash holes enough times to wonder if there ever was such a thing, but I still find myself looking at new brass to find that four-leafed mispunched clover. I have tools to uniform the flash holes that I used to use religiously. No more. If there is any case prep option that I haven’t tried, I’d like to know what it is. Just do what works for you.

If you’re a fanatic who wants to spend endless hours at a job with questionable worth, help yourself. If you just want to shoot, maybe a minimalist method is a better choice. Somewhere between these two approaches will be best for you. I swear I didn’t touch it! This isn’t exactly a question, but how many of these have you gotten over the years. I had a guy come in with a Remington 512 .22 rimfire.

They are nice little rifles and will be seen often since they last along time with good care. "This thing won’t feed right. The bolt’s real sticky." I tried it, yep. "Have you had the bolt out," I asked. It’s real simple to do just pull the bolt back pull the trigger

and it comes right out. I got the answer above. As you know there is a little part called the cartridge stop that must be in an upward position when the bolt assembly on this rifle is replaced. Otherwise, feeding and operation can get a little squirrely. I told the customer I might be able to fix it by the next day. Sure enough, that was the only problem besides having half a tree full of dried leaves and other debris in the action, which I cleaned up. I didn’t have to charge very much and the customer was pleased.

Six months later he was back. "This thing won’t feed right. It just went bad all at once." Again I asked if he had removed the bolt or done anything else. "I swear I didn’t touch it!" Needless to say I repaired the gun the same way I did the last time. I think I charged him about $1.50 or something. I admonished him to bring it to me if he wanted it cleaned or anything else went wrong. Well, that was about six months ago. I keep looking up expecting him to appear in the shop.

I could tell him how to insert the bolt back in the rifle, and I will if he ever fesses up to having removed it, but this is too much fun. I’ve held this one for last, because I used to shiver when I heard it. "I just bought this rifle and it doesn’t shoot worth a darn. Can you fix it?" Don’t cha’ love it? How did you buy it—used or new? If new, I usually recommend sending it back to the manufacturer and let them deal with the headaches. Sometimes bad apples slip through.

Although the standard for accuracy has gone up exponentially over the years, and that most buyers expect inch groups or less, those rifles are still very far and few between. And, shooters who can take advantage of this level of performance are somewhat hard to find, too. The firearms companies have their own idea about what qualifies as an accurate rifle, and many times they just send the piece back without doing a thing to it and no explanation. Real helpful, huh? There’s our dilemma.

I’ve seen some of these guys shooting at the range. They are so scared of the recoil and their bench-rest technique is so abominable that they couldn’t hit grandma’s bloomers at 25 yards. Don’t ever tell one of these guys the simple truth. They all think they are the best shooters in the world and it has to be the gun’s fault. I had a Ruger 77 in .257 Roberts that wouldn’t shoot no matter what I tried—powder, bullets, primers, new cases. Maybe the 100 grain bullets were too short.

Maybe the 120 grain bullets were too long. Maybe this, maybe that. I free floated the barrel, recrowned it and glass bedded the action but it was the same as before. Then I bought a bore scope. It revealed that one side of the barrel had lands as smooth as out-ofaligned tires at 200,000 miles. No wonder it wouldn’t shoot. Half the barrel was missing and I couldn’t see that by just looking down one end. I may be a little dense but the light went on.

If someone brings me a rifle that they say won’t shoot the first step is to pull out the old bore scope. If the barrel checks out, game on. If it doesn’t, I take pictures of the problem and recommend rebarreling. The bore scope is not infallible. For example, it can’t necessarily tell you which barrels will shoot accurately, but it usually can tell you which won’t. Sometimes the barrel is pitted and shoots so well it confounds you, however, I’ve saved myself a lot of grief using one and I recommend it.

If the barrel looks OK, I have an accuracy package consisting of recrowning, free float the barrel, glass bedding the action, working the trigger to a reasonable crisp weight and shooting the rifle myself to compare targets with the owner. It’s rare that the client is not satisfied but some people never are. At least I don’t have to tell them they can’t shoot worth a darn. AG