Lowpower

shore is purdy!

Please let me know if you find someone.    Thanks Lp

When CS said he had some .243 brass it hit me that last week at the range a guy handed me a box of Barnes VOR-TX .243 brass that he just shot but doesn't reload. The box has 19 cases in it which might get you started.  PM me an addy and I'll mail them over to you.    If you know anyone who has any .30-30 brass they lyin' around and don't need anymore please ask them to pm me.    The guy also handed me a box with 7 cases of the same ammo but .338 win mag. I figure they're costly as all git out to buy and someone shooting them probably reloads to save money. If anyone needs them for they're own use just pm me.    Either way the .243 brass is yours if you want it.    Lp   Edited to add: I use .30-06 and .270 brass that I anneal and neck down to 6.5 which is a flat shooting caliber as 6.5-06. I then shoot the brass 5X and neck size only then do a full size for the 6th reload. The case is fire formed to your chamber. However, since it's the first time fired in your gun you might check the case length as they have a tendency to stretch when fired formed to your rifle. If you have to trim them then do a batch at a time. You shouldn't have to do any more trimming. Make sure you lube the cases when full length sizing the cases but too much lube causes pushed in dimples in the cases. I don't think I've ever used case lube on pistol cases.

Ray Z,   I just got home from work so sorry for the time to respond.   I'm sorry to say I had tons of .243 brass and gave away probably 500 cases.   Here's what neck turning tools look like. The 1st is the one I use.   http://www.21stcenturyshooting.com/Neck_Turning_Tool.php   The 2nd shows you cutting with the brass on the mandrel and the cutter doing it job.   http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/neck-turning-tool-cutting-tips/

Please do not bubba-size your case necks using a 1/4 drill bit. Only bad things can happen.   Why are you trying to downsize .308 cases to .243 when you can just go get .243 cases? How do you know your case necks are too thick?   You run into neck splitting issues unless you anneal the cases. Especially if you go from .308  to .243 in one step. Once fired brass may be ok to downsize but multiple fired cases harden and unless annealed they tend to split. And even then once fired case can split during resizing and when fired from the rifle.  If you don;t anneal the cases corruptly they tend to blow up as they;re very easy to ruin with heating.   You also need to confirm case length is correct after you resize the neck. All case must be cut to the same length to provide uniformity.    Then again you may want to weigh each case to confirm they have the same amount or brass. Better yet fill each case with water to confirm each one has the same volume. Different volume equals perhaps different inside dimensions of the case which can effects how the explosion occurs in the case.  al brass cases are not created equal.    Asking about the rifle itself. Do you have the dimensions of the chamber from the reamers tool? If not,  stick some cerrosafe in to the chamber and get the dimensions .   Neck sizing is accomplished by cutting the outside of the case neck.  An expanding mandrill is pressed into the case neck to uniformly push the inside brass outside evenly. Once done you use the case neck  thickness cutting tool to thin the neck to the desired thickness.  You are doing this for a few reasons.  One being the bullet being the same diameter being pushed into the sized case neck uniforms the  grip the has on the bullet and the other is to provide a given diameter which helps the case seal, during  firing, in the chamber without sticking. You can easily tell a chamber with excessive clearance by looking at all the blow-by residue outside the neck and back up the shoulder. I use a 21st Century neck cutting tool.   Another issue is to ensure the shoulder is set to the correct depth when resizing in the reloading die.    Are you beginning to understand just how anal we long range shooters get when looking for the tightest  groups at the greatest distances? And we're not looking for exactly that (but we are). We want to  know that when we break a shot we know exactly where the crosshairs were and can reasonably expect  that bullet to go where we aimed baring outside interference  like winds, Coriolis effect, light conditions, etc.   Now if you just plan to go have fun shooting and go deer hunting the perhaps you might want to trade  all your excess brass for .243? I bet there are guys on the forum that may be looking to trade brass.   Lp   Edited to add:  All cases are not created equal. Some are made with harder brass, thicker brass, softer brass. LC brass is cheap and known for it's uniformity albeit might be able to hold less powder. Winchester is very good brass but you must uniform it. You can reload it many times. Federal seems softer and the number of  reloads may be reduced. I've never been that fond of Remington brass for reloads but will use it in  my Garand since I expect the rifle to beat up the cases anyway and therefore limit the amount of reloads  per case. The other other and higher priced brands of which I use Lapua for it's stellar uniformity and  the number of times I can reload the cases. It costs quite a bit more, in the neighborhood of $60-75 per 100 cases. 

On a side note, around 41 years ago I was on a hunting trip in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Three of us piled into my bud's truck. Him driving, his younger brother in the middle and me by the door. My bud and I stuck our rifles behind the seat. The kid stuck his barrel down on the front floor. We started driving and BOOM! Ole DumbA didn't unload his rifle.  It scared the heck outa me and when my bud got through with a 2X4 the kid said he'd never ever do that again. We had to keep the heat on high because of the hole in the floor.    If you plan on sticking long guns in your vehicle do so but I'd suggest if you just gotta do it, maybe keep the chamber empty and the shells in the mag or tube so you can jack a round in if you have to. I'm pretty sure there is nothing that is gonna get away in the split second it will take you to chamber the round. However, you may find out that it takes a bit longer to drag a long arm out of the vehicle to put it into use than any pistol.   Lp

Polls are for dancing....   or is that Poles?      :D

So whats the diff between parkerizing and ceracoting?   lp

Imho the COLT 1911 and its variants, of which the Springfield is one has been around 100 years and has worked. The reason for .38's and it's bigger brother  was so anyone could shoot a hand held firearm. The .45 was considered somewhat intimidating to the average person and the main group that needed a sidearm  was the Police. I'm certain they wanted a pistol that anyone could shoot and not be intimidated by.  The Colt 1892, .38's were used by the Military right up until the  Philippine Insurrection when the locals got all hopped up on narcotics before they attacked. They found the .38's just didn't stop the attackers and many soldiers  were killed. The military started looking for something that would actually stop a charging Moro. Enter the 1911 .45 ACP. They worked and have been working ever since.    It was simple once the .357 S&W Magnum was made to give people who liked the .38 but not it's so-so bullet to make the change. They could practice with  .38's and carry with .357's. Besides, automatics were a lot more expensive to buy. Revolvers were guns for the masses. Wheel guns take a little bit more  practice to master reloading. We went through 1000's of .38's and finally got the hang of speed reloading but the average shooter isn't Jerry Miculek.   To shorten a long story....   I prefer the 1911 for it's knock down power, easy reloads, slim and easy to conceal, ability to carry lots of mags for it and it holds 8 rounds in case you need them.   Don't get me wrong. I like wheel guns, too. If I can find a nice carry holster for my Colt .45 (six gun) I'd carry that. I mean how many shots does it take to knock a bad guy down? My .45's will hit a silhouette all day long at 50 yds. Think of that big slow bullet at 7 yds! Ouch!   Lp   Anything that starts with .41 on up works for me. 

I think the frame IS the gun. That means parts or no parts it has a serial number and is the firearm in the eyes of the  batf so I'd be careful on mailing it to someone who is not an ffl.

I'm ready... [URL=http://s587.photobucket.com/user/ren1795/media/images_zps94f04de3.jpeg.html][/URL] Just in case.... :D

So sorry for your loss. We had rescue dogs for the past 29 years. We have watched them come and pass on. Every single one of them is a lost friend. One thing I've found is a replacement buddy will never replace one you lost but will add one more friend to share your life with. This is a wonderful poem that might help. Lp

This is what I carry. It works but I gotta stop to use it unless the wife is driving.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j0eJ0xB7LU     :D

Ya know...I was thinking the same thing...Don't quit yer day job!  :D   Nice looking safes though.   Lp

Very nice video!     I think I'm going to drill out an antler to make powder measure once I come up with the charge for my KY FL. I have my powders in horns like you use but I'm still using a brass measure and I'd like to get away from carrying the weight.    I'm still trying to figure out what musket bag I need. When I consider I can carry my horns and a powder measure around my neck all that's left is the breech hole pick (made that), flints (I probably need to make some sort of a flint wallet to put in the bag) and  lead balls. I got a loading block and plan on making some more. I can use the blocks for loading and carry a small bag of lead .490's.   I mowed the front yards this morning so will be stopping by Bass Pro to get the Goex FFFG tomorrow morning before work.   They're calling for rain on Sat and my schedule just went from Tues-Fri to Mon-Thurs so I'll try and get out Sunday to run the Goex  as the main charge.   Lp

Welcome fellow Memphibian.

http://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/articles/2010/guide-to-the-interstate-transportation.aspx

Sounds like it. I have 2 cans of substitute and 1 can of BP.  :D   I plan on having 2 cans of each after today. The BP for my Flint Lock and the substitute for my Cap Lock.   Lp

Well I'm back home. Good range day so here's the good news.   The 6.5-06 is 1/4 MOA at 100 yds. Time to cheek it at 300 then on out to my normal 600 yds.    I was successful tuning my Anschutz at a higher FPS. Im getting a hair over a 1/4 inch at 100 yds and small one hole groups at 50 yds which is kinda normal for an Annie.   I found out I easily hit center mass every time at 50 yds with my Cowboy six gun in Colt .45. It shoots around 5 inches 5 and 4 inches low. I just put the sights on the shoulder and bang. Center mass every time.  I guess that means those old westerns where the cowboy's were shooting their 24 shot six guns CAN make the bad guys duck at distance!   :D   I know that no one cares about Annie targets or center mass shots and pretty much standard sub-MOA rifles so there's no reason to post pics.   Alrighty, now for the bad news.   My Kentucky rifle doesn't seem to like Triple 7 in any version. FFFG, FFFFG. My first shot today did the normal flash and I waited so long I was gonna put the rifle down when it finally went bang. I'd say 2 maybe 3 seconds between flash and bang.  I had shot that one offhand just to fire a fouling round. I reloaded and this time shot off some bags,  I think the delay was around 1 second that time. A friend who was there and shoots black powder told me the Trip 7 is needs more heat to set it off. That's why I works so  well with a cap as the cap directs the hot charge right at the main charge and is pretty much instantaneous. He suggested since I already had powder with me to just mix a  duplex load of 3-4 gr of Goex in first then my main charge of Trip7 and try to use a lil powder in the pan as I can get away with.    BTW, the second shot was dead center approx 6 inches low. I CANNOT say that I actually was able to hold it through the hang fire but I must gotten lucky. :)   IMHO I think I'm going to stay away from duplex loads and go get me some Goex FFFG.     What do ya'll think?  And, Dave, is yer old FL hang firing much?   Edited to add I did not shoot my Hawkins today and we did get rained out. Heavy rain for about 1/2 hour which just had me trying to keep my powder dry. After the rain came the Western TN Steam Room. We immediately went to a feels like temp of over 100 degrees.   I also didn't bring my .45-100 because a friend called me asking if I had some Eley .22LR he could try with his brand new (used) Model 54. Bringing another friend into the shooting mix made me decide to limit what I was shooting. I brought my 6 gun because I had a few hundred rounds to play with and hey!, shooting distance with those old sights sure is fun! I was using a mess of old LFN 200 gr pills.    Lp

Oh I dunno...Bartlett TN (Shelby County) made the  list... :D   Lp

We still have heavy rain in this part of the State which it's heading toward Nashville by now....   I'm going to work up some loads for my 6.5-06 today and maybe load a few hundred .45's(LC).   Everything is ready to go for tomorrow. Other than what will probably amount to steamy heat it should be fine to go  shooting.   I think I'll spend a few hours at the range. I will test my .45-100 and 6.5-06 loads, create a good load for the Flintlock,  shoot my Cap lock, see if I can dial in my model 41 for the 4 silhouette distances, and maybe run a round of trap and skeet.   Note: auto correct is not your friend.....

Well, it poured most of the day and seeing as how I don't wanna get my powder wet.... :D   i ran a rod down the barrel once more and filled my big powder horn with FFFG and the little one with  FFFFG.    I plan to go out tomorrow morning and do some serious shooting with it so maybe I can get a decent range report in.   I'll take my tried and true Hawkins to put a couple of rounds out then give the ole flintlock a work out.   I was gonna bring out my .45-100 but I think I'll devote the whole session to ole Mr. Flint.   Old Indian Chant.... May the rain God's move the clouds East and allow rays of sunshine to permeate the range. Hallaluya!   Lp 

Thanks, Dave.   If you find one to ship I'll cover the shipping!   Bob

What's strange about Western TN is I don't see lots of rock of any sort. Just lots and lots of pebbles. I think when it cools down  I may head over to big muddy and prospect around it's shores or stroll around Shelby Forest.

Hehe. Thanks for that source, Leroy!   I just bought 5 flints from Track of the Wolf but I had seen some English guy that had picked up a mess of it from around the Thames River in the UK. He had a mess of chunks the size of melons in boxes all over the place.  I was hoping to find a source here in TN or nearby so I could learn how to do it from scratch.  In another life, many years ago I was in Survival. In fact, I think I still have a copy of my manual still lying around. It's easy to live off the land although i'm startin to move slower.  To me knapping from scratch is just another project in a long line of lessons learned.