What gun stuff did you do today?

[Rebel_Rider1969]

Started cleaning some guns that I bought at a yard sale a couple of months ago. I did better than I thought I had.

Let's see em!!!

 

[M60Gunner]

I've had an on again off again love affair with the 44 Special. This has been going on since the 1970's. Read how great it is, get one, accuracy is never as good as writers like *Skeeter Skelton or Elmer Keith say, sell the pistol, later read more stories, try again, sell cause it never lives up to the hype. So, a few years ago I trade a Glock for a limited production Ruger GP 100 Lipsey's special in 44 Special. Using plated bullets, the accuracy was "ok", but never great. Pistol mainly set aside and not sold.

* = I actually met and spoke with Skeeter.

I then bought a group of bullet molds from an estate seller. Among them was a Lyman 429244 (gas check 245-250gr semi wadcutter, depending upon the alloy). Cast some test bullets with my #2 alloy and size .430" (bores are suppose to be .428-.429" and I like to size bullets a little bigger). Accuracy "ok", but not great, no better than my worked up plated bullet loads, and it leaded the bore. Clean lead out of bore and study up on the problem. Try my 20/1 alloy used for old rolling blocks...maybe a softer alloy would help seal the bullet going down the bore...groups shrink and no leading. Read about using bullets sized to the cylinder throat diameter. Test by dropping sized bullets into cylinder, and my .430" fall right through the cylinder...test fails (thus they are not always being presented into the bore straight on is my understanding). Passing would be bullets stay in the throat and yet can be pushed out of the cylinder throat using a pencil with a little amount of pressure...in other words they better fit the cylinder throat. A friend loans me a .431" bullet sizing die (bullets actually come out .4315"). They now pass the cylinder throat test. Test various charges of Unique with the 429244 bullet...groups shrink further...now we're talking. The load that works the best of the loads tested is Skeeter's carry/general purpose load of 7.5gr Unique, giving 912fps in the GP 100, that had shot like crap in two S&W (models 24 and 624) 44 Specials years ago (possibly too hard of alloy and not sized right diameter, but I didn't know). Friend gives me the .431" sizing die.

I win a pile of older Handloader magazines in an auction, read them and then give away to shooting friends. Scattered throughout the years are articles on the 44 Special and how "special" it is. Find out Lipsey's had a run of Ruger Blackhawks done in 44 Special at least 9 years ago. They had a steel grip frame rather than aluminum and a flat top with a Micro rear sight instead of Ruger's top with "ears" and the Ruger adjustable rear sight. Hmmm. Look in Gunbroker and sure enough there are a few for auction, but most everyone has starting bids in the $1000 + range cause they are "rare". One gunshop had an as-new in the box 4 5/8" one with starting bid of 699 & buy now of 749. Every day I'd check and no bids. Finally on the last day I bid 699, and with no others bids, I won. Seller shipped it real fast, and I picked it up Saturday. Looked like it'd been fired a few shots and then put up in the original box with paper work.

Today I took it to the range. Not knowing what load it liked, I took my plated bullet and cast bullet loads for a starting point that the GP 100 shot the best with that I already had on hand. Plated bullet load sucked to put it mildly. 1st group with 7.5gr Unique load and .4315" cast bullets shot nice. Next group with same load shot even better as I got used to it (to me, it had more recoil compared to mild factory loads, and the Ruger emblem edge on the grip dug into a callus on my thumb causing a little bleeding...I learned how to keep the callus away from the emblem). Shot more as I adjusted the rear sight. I then shot at cans 35yd away off a sand bag rest. Really wasn't counting, but it seems out of 12 shots, I only missed soda cans twice...for me, with open sights, that is great. As Yoda might say, Happy I am.

In the first pic you can see how the steel grip frame blends in finish-wise with the steel receiver. 2nd pic shows a small flaw in the grip frame above the Ruger emblem...no big deal or I wouldn't have bid on it. See third pic showing the Micro rear sight and flat top. You can see how the Ruger grip emblem sticks out of the grip material a bit which is what caught on the edge of my thumb callus.

Next project: Make up more 20/1 alloy and cast a year or more worth of 44 bullets.

View attachment 215715 View attachment 215716 View attachment 215717

Wonder if 44 special from a 44 mag would be more accurate? My 44 mag is a Ruger Talo New Model Blackhawk with 3.75 in barrel. Same accuracy to me with special as the magnums, but much slower bullet speed of course, and less recoil.

 

[ABlaster]

Back at Talon for the third day in a row! Practiced my competition stuff and confirmed repair on a Glock 35.

I called S&W about the M&P 15-22 jamming and they sent me a mailing label so they can look at it. I will send it off next week.

 

[Rebel_Rider1969]

Back at Talon for the third day in a row! Practiced my competition stuff and confirmed repair on a Glock 35.

I called S&W about the M&P 15-22 jamming and they sent me a mailing label so they can look at it. I will send it off next week.

Was the 15-22 one of the old or new ones? Mine runs great, even 42gr subs.

 

[Daezee]

Two years ago I cast a bunch of 8mm bullets. Finally shot enough of them and got to the point of needing to cast more. I've tried to cast 3 years worth this casting season. Large coffee can of it, smaller coffee can full under the large can, + what I cast today (in the shallow pan).

While I was casting 8mm, I was also mixing and pouring into ingots 20/1 alloy in preparation for casting 44 Special SWC's. I mixed up 60 pounds of that alloy; enough for about 1600 of 44 Special bullets.

A while back someone posted they were cleaning and reorganizing their reloading room and wanted some help pouring their bullet casting alloy into ingots. I've got 6 ingot molds and a couple of dippers and would be happy to help. It seemed they were in the Milton/Bagdad area, but I couldn't find the post. Anyway, if still needing help, PM me.

Finally, I made an appointment to get my fingerprints for my braced pistol registration. Fingerprints will be in the appropriate digital file format for ATF submission and sent to me, so I can simply upload them with any on-line applications. The place has been doing fingerprints for ATF submission and has the process in place for whatever the prints are needed for. Supervisor said, "Doing a Form 1?" Yep.

PS. Why the container of acorns? Grandkids pick them up to give as treats for our goats.

 

[ABlaster]

Old, but not fired much.

I’m using 40grn CCI mini mags and it occasionally short-strokes. It will load the new round, catch the spent case between the bolt and chamber face, and fail to reset the hammer. What I need to do is run my gopro on slow motion and see if I can capture what is happening when the failure occurs.

Happens about twice in 25 rounds. I have three mags, and it happens with all three.

 

[IronBeard]

Wonder if 44 special from a 44 mag would be more accurate? My 44 mag is a Ruger Talo New Model Blackhawk with 3.75 in barrel. Same accuracy to me with special as the magnums, but much slower bullet speed of course, and less recoil.

Not sure about accuracy, but the shorter case means more travel to the forcing cone, plus you end up with a carbon ring, that if not cleaned properly, can cause trouble with loading/extracting full length loads. If you reload, loading .44 special-level loads in full lenghth cases is not hard, and eliminates the 'ring' issue, plus others.

 

[Anangrypasta]

My Pietta 1862 Dance repro fell out of timing at the range the other day and pooped on my weekend. Tore it down this evening and found a massive chunk of crud clogging up the action! Hoping all will be fine once I pull that out and put it back together.....

 

[Raven]

I'm not telling

But I will say I loaded a bunch of 45ACP clips! Yes, clips Just so I can get a dig in on all the master debaters wasting their hot air over whether its "clips" versus "mags" I'm proud of my 45ACP clips. They hold 6/7 the same amount of ammo as a standard M1911 mag and the clip is 1/20 the cost of a mag. And I can leave a clip fully loaded indefinitely without stressing springs or warping feed lips. 45ACP clips are a win/win/win/win/win/win half a dozen different ways against M1911 mags

 

[Anangrypasta]

Installed this sweet CAS-V! Shoutout to @mattster916

 

[mattster916]

yes sir! lookin pretty beast!

 

[Jester896]

I contributed to my buddy's granddaughter's trust fund...picked up his Model 77/22-VMBZ

 

[The_Spaartan]

Took my new Sig X-Macro Tacops to the range for the first time. It'll replace my P365xl as my EDC once my holster for it gets delivered

 

[Raven]

Researched this.

Brand new on the market...
Brand new in the box...
And it's missing parts

 

[reel_crazy]

My brother shoots a 22 target pistol with a S&W performance center compensator ... and wanted to see if i could make him one that was a bit heavier .. he is not sure it helps any and this is sort of informal bragging rights stuff .. anyways i had a piece of 1 in round damascus that i thought might look nice.. so the following pics are my attempt..

preparing to make six holes...

all shined up and ready to dunk in muriatic acid

finished along side s&W comp

test fit on the only gun with a 1/2 28 thread

 

[timc]

Went to Element again yesterday for a couple hours. Fired a new 10.3” build and shot a Springfield 1911 I bought last year, but finally got around to shooting

 

[Rebel_Rider1969]

Researched this.

Brand new on the market...
Brand new in the box...
And it's missing parts

For the $$$ it should come with an extra gun.

 

[Raven]

For the $$$ it should come with an extra gun.

At least a no questions asked lifetime bumper to bumper warranty

 

[Daezee]

Earlier I'd bought an Ishapore 2A Enfield (7.62x51) via a friend disposing of estate guns. All matching with beautiful bore, but saturated with paint, grease and oil. I'd removed enough paint and grease that I could move the sights and shoot it (shoots cast bullets nicely), but I was too lazy to do more. A good friend noticed that I'd only shoot a few shots and then let it cool otherwise grease and oil would start oozing out. He finally couldn't take it anymore so basically said give me the rifle and let me work on it.

He removed grease, oil, and paint from the stock and all metal parts, taking it completely apart. Blasted off any rust from the front and rear sling swivels, magazine, and the nose piece that had been hidden under all the gunk on them. Parkerized the nose piece, sling swivels, and magazine. Put 3 or more coats of linseed oil on the wood, put it all together and presented it to me. All I did was put a coat of oil on the newly parkerized parts to soak into the surface for rust prevention and make those parts a little darker to better match the original parkerized finish on the receiver and barrel.

I should've taken a before pic, but here it is as of today.

My friend whom I've been selling reloading stuff for, scraped the shelves of his building looking for any other items. In 2007 my home burnt. I'd told my friends they were free to go through the mess for anything they could salvage. He'd found some primers, set them aside and forgot about them. I now have them. From prior experience following the fire, such primers still work fine, but I still did a brief test of 13 today...all worked fine, so now I have a few more primers for myself. They are shown below. Some will take twisting or breaking the plastic tray to get them out from the heat warped trays. Around 1600-1700 primers.

He does have one more bullet sizer/lubricator (Saeco) w/lube heater base, a dozen or more sticks of lube and various Saeco sizing dies and top punches for me to sell. I'll need to do a WTS ad for it in case anyone wants it. It'll be cheap for what you get. I already have multiple bullet sizers that I keep set up for different sizing diameters and bullet styles, so I don't need it.

Finally, since the remaining powder and primers aren't selling, I bought all myself and closed the ad.

 

[RackinRay]

I read about the mount somewhere, and I had to. Know most here will understand. LOL