Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Why the roomie must die!

I have a reloading press, Dillon style, that is setup for .45 acp.

My free ammo inspired me to get off my ass and crank out some wheel weight rounds.
I have a tin popcorn can containing tumbled brass in .45.
I also have a plastic ice cream pail containing Fiocchi .45 brass.
Roomie saw two identical calibers and decided that they could go in together so she could free up a plastic pail.

I do believe I explained the difference between small and large pistol primers to her.
I also believe that I explained that the workbenches and parts were sacrosanct.
If I didn't inspect the brass in an OCD manner to group headstamps together,
I'd have had a nasty accident.

I'm sure this is a coincidence that my accidental death coverage of $100,000 just came through. Dad was going to sort out the brass for me to intercede in the impending death of the roommate. Unfortunately he doesn't have the fine eye for this work.

If we were honest, we'd both admit he lost that fine eye in the mid 80's.

The roomie tried to sort the brass, but she didn't have a clue.

In the end I just had her sort the Fiocchi rounds into a plastic bucket.
I guess I'll sort out the 250 big primer cases later.
In other news I loaded up about 60 rounds of .45-70. 550 grain bronze solids.
Little heavy for the NEF but good in the new Marlin.

I'm promising Dad, that I won't shoot the roomie.
*At least not with the 45-70*

Dad has some extended wadcutter Brass Solids in .38 special.
I made them last year.
In case he has a beef with Cadillacs in traffic.
Or gets into a bullfight.

I'd have pictures but I just broke the cellphone.
Pity, I'm kinda proud of my 4x4 loading blocks for the .45-70

2 comments:

og said...

Talk to me about the bronze solids. I want to try them in the Sabatti. What kind of penetration etc. do you get? How well do they shoot? Do you think they'll be an issue with barrel wear?

John B said...

Well Og, pull up a chair and have a cuppa handy.

first issue we address is caliber.

If it isn't 8mm or bigger, don't bother, there's cheaper alternatives that can do everything from dump velocity 4 inches in to go thru the bison and the two standing next to him/her.

I get roughly 6-10 inch penetration in animals from bear to moose. In the NEF I shoot a 3" circle at 100 yards or under. I have yet to out shoot my gun. I haven't enough experience yet with my Marlin. Only ran 30 rounds of wheel weight through it so far. though the hard jello bag only let it in for 15",it really distresses a mild steel 1/2 thick target. The NEF single shot has had just under 400 rounds through it in the two years since I got it. 100 of those have been bronze or brass solids, usually my own manufacture. I tried a wear test of some 500 9mm solids through a 1911 colt. I wore out before the barrel did. The gunsmith speculates that while the bronze is harder, it's less likely to micro abrade the bore. So he thinks it evens out.

So far, so good. In the 9mm the round went through and through a steel drum. usually a 9 will only go through one side of the drum.