Reloading for the 7.62x38R-update

I found a collet that barely works for holding the case in the lathe..can't remember what size I ended up using but I had to draw it up pretty tight and run the case more than 3/4 of the way in for it to hold. Even then the case would still migrate, a wrap around shim would have worked to make the case hold fast. I was turning the thickness of the rim down a bit from the top side of the rim. I have not yet turned out the old head stamps using the lathe but that will be done sooner than later. The needle file was working but the finish it left was poor which is why I just chucked the cases up in the lathe and thinned the rims a bit. Where function was test and retry with the needle files the amount I took off with the lathe does not leave any question that these cases will work in all the chambers of the revolver with no question marks left. May try to make a set of K frame sized grips for this gun since I've enjoyed shooting it so much but the grip it comes with is too small.

Reloading for the 7.62x38R Nagant Revolver

I happened upon something at a flea market I had been searching out for 4 years now since reading a article in a magazine about a odd little Russian revolver that made for a great woodsman pistol. Its compact, novel design and caliber appealed (read near impossible to acquire and reload for, higher skill level to reload for and not for the faint of heart to attempt) to me in such a way I could not help but want one. The 1895 Nagant revolver usually runs for $110 or so from various online sources and around $125 from military surplus firearm dealers at gunshows. Shipping at the cost of the FFL transfer quickly brings a online or auction acquired gun into the $150+ range and the $125 cost for the show pieces never were satisfactory at the same time I had the $125 in my pocket.

So I exercised some patience and waited, not in too much of a rush as I had numerous other projects to tackle in the mean time. And then whilst looking at the numerous firearms at the flea market I came across a table with one of these revolvers laying there and its owner willing to part with it. The revolver was pristine, looked as if it had never even seen a single round of ammo and was best of all for sale. Having the ability to look it over the seller didn't say much until I asked the price. $200 he replied I sighed, set down the piece, said thanks and walked away. "hey now wait, come back, we can talk" were the words that quickly chased me as I strode away. I turned around to hear what the seller had to say, He asked me what I thought the gun was worth. That seemingly harmless statement is a trap to the majority of the people who take the bait, you have entered the realm of dickering and haggling and you can either awkwardly walk away claiming you are not that interested in which case you probably weren't too much in the first place, failure to make that a point and they might just goad you into naming a price and paying it or grab the challenge by the horns and give it your all & cut them down to YOUR PRICE. I looked the little Russian over more carefully this time, checking its bore, muzzle and other workings. The gun did not have a holster or cleaning rod, not a big deal but definitely a con. I quickly told him it was worth $100 thinking that was fair for both of us and he would never sell it otherwise, long story short I got him down to $100 after a few back and forth offers and "AW NAW I can't take THAT". So here I am with a $100 revolver to reload for and a few options of how to go about it.

This picture was added 8/28/2012 showing the gun about a year after I got it,
As you can see I found some original ammo, but too costly to justify shooting it, looks good on camera though!

Preparing for this gun actually started many years ago, around the time I read the magazine article on the gun and saw various ammo options. I acquired 32-20 brass which I read worked well in the revolver, having various kinds of brass on hand I easily traded for 60 or so pieces of once fired 32-20 brass that would be used along with a 93gr RN mold a friend had me purchase so I could supply him with a few cast bullets now and then. Bullets were sized and lubed to .311 to fit the bore of the revolver, and I set off to load a handful of rounds to test. The week after I had purchased the revolver I went to the range with dad (mostly to help him find a lost ball from his Coehorn mortar he was using to put on a demonstration for the local historical society) and headed over to one of the unoccupied pistol bays and loaded up to try it out. The 32-20 brass fire-formed beautifully, mostly just expanding around the neck. I had loaded the first batch using 32-20 dies however I quickly discovered that .30 carbine dies (as pointed out by somebody online!) would work to readily load this round and they were right. Take a .30 carbine set of dies and swap out the .308" expander ball for a .310", seat the bullet and taper crimp. After the first range trip I did realize some of the rims on the cases were a little too thick to allow the gun to funtion properly. So a set of needle files has come in handy to file the top or forward facing portion of the rim away so as to allow it to function in the gun. As you can imagine after converting 32-20 brass into its Russian Empire/commie cousin it would be a good idea to store it in a well labeled box so positive ID can be made, headstamps can and do lie and making brass out of one caliber for another can pose some problems if somebody came across it and didn't know any better. If you have lathe skills it would not be a bad idea to put the case in a collet in your headstock and turn a circle into the center line of the headstamp to negate the markings. It is important you do not try to make the brass fit the gun by shortening up the base of the brass as this will cause the primer to become exposed, causing a dangerous situation.

My first loads were 3.2gr of red dot behind the 93gr RN bullet, more than enough for plinking. They clocked 790FPS over the chrono and printed very well on paper. My next step is to see if I can make more brass from some .218 bee brass or use it to trade for more .32-20 brass, I have some .25-20 brass and loaded ammo I can fire form as well but I'm not hurting for brass that much. I would like to work up a load that is a little faster than what I have now, try to get something that is close to 950 FPS out of the 4.5" barrel I also have a small assortment of jacketed bullets and surprisingly some XTP as well I would like to load up and do some tests with in phone books.

It is a interesting project if I was a trapper or something and wanted something more than a .22LR revolver I would not hesitate to pack this little revolver at all. Reloads hardly use any lead or powder so its not too hard on the wallet.

Loading buckshot for $0.16 a round

I'm not sure how the idea got into my head, I'm not sure at what point in time I thought to myself I needed to start loading my own buckshot. It wasn't like I was shooting up 50 rounds of it every month at a match though I set out to load quality buckshot and I think I've come up with a decent answer to a problem that never really existed...except for not wanting to pay $1.00 a round for the stuff.

A buddy and I decided to go halves on a "00" (.33") buckshot mold, which stacks perfectly in a 12ga hull so long as petals on a trap wad don't get in the way. I choose to stay with regular trap hulls since the strength between a trap hull and a buckshot hull of the same manufacture and same internal structure (external brass height has nothing to do with hull strength) was the same.

The first load I started with was out of pure curiosity, 18gr of red dot, Win AA hull, Federal 209 primer and a WAA12 trap wad with the petals cut off and 9 balls of "00" stacked in layers of 3 capped with a fold crimp. The load patterned surprisingly well at 30 yards but out of the muzzle it only clocked 1000 FPS 6' in front of the muzzle, a little on the slow side for what I was trying to do (which I wasn't really sure what that was at the time) I messed with the red dot powder and different wads on and off for about a year and decided that I probably wasn't going to get anywhere with wads that were designed for shot and such a fast burning powder.

Around the time I decided to switch up powders I also made a move to obtain new hulls, up until this point I had been using old hulls I scrounged for out at the club. I purchased 1000 Winchester AA-HS 12ga hulls for about $0.04 each shipped and was back in business. Next was powder selection, I was using red dot and wasn't happy with any of the results I was getting speed wise I simply couldn't break out of that 1000fps without something else going to pot, I looked through the Lyman shotshell loading manual as well as the Ballistic Products Buckshot loading manual and gave careful consideration to Blue dot and Green Dot powder. Looking at the charge tables for both I came to the conclusion Green dot would be best for the money. After the hull and the powder I carefully considered the wad, after each test lot of buckshot I would look around for wads to see how they were performing. The WAA12 wads and the claybuster replacements had burns all up the sides of them and were so badly deformed I thought the performance of the wad inside the barrel was not doing me any favors. I read, reread and carefully considered all the factors going into the needs of a buckshot load. And came to the conclusion I needed a tighter fitting wad and something much stiffer to hold up to the rigors of pushing a 486gr payload that only had 3 points of contact to the wad, down the barrel and sealing up the barrel, keeping from loosing velocity.

I settled on A Ballistic product "Flex-seal" gas seal to replace the trap wad and added a 1/4" fiber wad on top to achieve the appropriate payload height for proper crimp. Working my way up from 19gr of Green dot I soon discovered the 1/4" fiber wad was causing the gas seal to tip into the new style Winchester base wad and causing at times a 50FPS variation in velocity so I quickly got rid of that, and reluctantly so because I believe the fiber wad acted as a cushion and helped patterns out. So after some very, VERY early morning range sessions and waiting for turkeys to clear the backstop I continued testing my way up the charge table and watching for any major changes in performance. I had taken my LEE Load-All II and a powder scale to the range for the on range loading and was glad I did because I ended up going back and trying some lower charged loads to confirm the thought that the tipped wad was giving me bad velocities.

The load I settled on gave me 1150 FPS which is about 86% of the velocity of factory loads and 75% of the kinetic energy. It is a low recoil load that feels about 1/2 that of factory in several guns I have tested it in so far. Final cost for each round came out to $0.16 each which is cheaper than shot loads as I making the buckshot for cost of my time, and FAR cheaper than factory buckshot. Translated I can load 6 rounds of my "00" buckshot for what a single round of factory buckshot would cost me. Which means more practice with my shotguns

My final recipe was as follows

AA hull

Cheddite 209 primer

21.5gr Green dot

12ga BP flex seal

9 pellets "00" buck

Source for buckshot mold
 http://buckshotmold.com/

As usual it works for me your results may vary, do not attempt if you do not understand how to work up loads or are not willing to be safe when doing so etc etc.


NEW PICTURES ADDED!

Standard trap hull and a 12ga Flex seal that works as an effective gas seal for buckshot loads.

Seated like a normal wad so it sits on top of internal base wad, the charge of green dot is just about level with the top of the base wad. 

Here we see where the gas seal comes in handy, no petals to cut off the trap wads!

Here we see the top stack of "00" buckshot peeking out, 9 pellets total this payload is a good combination of components that all work together to achieve the desired goal.  A utilitarian buckshot load.

Before you know it you'll have 500 rounds of buckshot loaded up!

Squirrel some spares away today : or : It's better to have it and need it than.....

Often times when you look at purchasing a new rifle or handgun you may factor the availability of spare parts, magazines and other accessories into your considerations of which type or brand to purchase. Purchasing spares and extra parts as well as magazines will keep the firearm running for many many years even perhaps decades after the factory has closed up or importation of more parts has been banned etc. Just about the only guns you may not have to worry about buying extra parts for I think would be the Mosin Nagant and the AK-47....but in reality you would do well to have a spare complete bolt and misc small parts etc.

If you buy a new factory firearm you most likely will get a magazine or two and maybe a multi tool to adjust sights and break down and possibly service the firearm. That is usually all you get when they box up your gun and head to the check out. You could opt to buy some of the magazines stocked at the shop but I've rarely seen affordable full capacity magazines at a gun shop.
Once you get your firearm and get to the range for zero's and familiarization I would suggest you start researching what parts are common to failure in the design. Though you should have done this step of researching design flaws and part failures ahead of time there are few designs that are flawless....if any. Once you identify prone to failure parts stock up on these parts in triplicate at least (remember one is none, and two is one). As well as a full spring kit i.e. mainsprings and the smaller springs that are easily damaged or lost if the weapon is broken down far enough. For pistol parts I would mostly just say extra extractor, complete spring set and firing pin as well as a spare barrel if able. Rifle parts like the AR-15 family, M1 Garand/M1A, M1 carbine etc I would suggest a complete bolt or two if you find them at a reasonable price. Extra gas rings (on top of the complete bolts) for the AR-15 as well as firing pins and the small parts you tend to loose when you take the thing apart too many times/too often (which happens if you are teaching a lot of people how to use it). Also parts that can be easily damaged like gas tube, op rod etc accidents do happen.

Spare parts should be obtained to insure your firearms will run at least until you run out of ammo.
The author recommends triplicates of some spare parts Some may be hard to find down the road like original M1 Garand and carbine bolts.

Revolvers? Don't worry about spare parts for these, maybe a extra spring kit but if you don't know your way around the inside of a revolver....stay out. If you know how to work on these then you know what rarely fails and what you need to fix it.

Springs, barrels, firing pins and ejectors should be set aside to keep your handguns running as well. I recommend the barrels only if you can find them cheap. I've put some spares away for my CZ-52 which I only have corrosive ammo for but at $10 a pop for stripped barrels its a investment that may prove wise if I forget to clean the barrel just once.What about magazines? how many should you get? what kind/brand? If you have rifles/carbines like the mini-14, M1 Carbine, M1A, AR-15/M4, AK-47, CETME/G3/HK91, FAL or any other rifle commonly used by the military or police you are in luck. There is a good chance that magazines and parts will be more common for these as they are in wide use (duh) kinda like parts for the F150 and common Chevy trucks. There are so many brands of mags (most notably for the AR-15) out there these days and you can get some really cheap...but you really do get what you pay for unless your buying surplus in bulk. Stay away from anything that isn't military surplus or manufactured by a reputable company. Don't think I'm joking on this...I have a few steel magazines that have no markings on them whatsever (manufacture wasn't even proud enough to mark them) they were too wide to fit in my AR. For non military i.e. aftermarket mags for the AR-15's I go with C-Product for my 30 rounders*. They (C-products) are great mags at a reasonable price (About $8.00 each). Once in a while a "lot" of a dozen or so military issue mags will hit the forums for really cheap. These are usually military contracts that have had a lot of use. Not all have anti tilt followers but that's a $0.75 upgrade easily done. Last bunch I purchased was a "lot" of 13 @ $3.84 each shipped. Only 1 had a updated follower so I'll end up replacing the other 12 with new manufactured followers. Still 13 very usable mags for a good price ($50 total) after I proof them in the rifles that is. So how many mags should you have on hand for a rifle? You may not think that there will be another AWB or revolution or any such thing that requires you to have massive amounts of mags on hand but you should still have some common sense about you. If you have a military type semi auto rifle you will want at least 6 full capacity magazines and a few short capacity magazines (so long as they are physically different...if not don't bother). I like to have some 20 round mags for my AR on hand for shooting off the benches or shooting prone or offhand. But I've also needed to have full capacity magazines for matches like the NTIT or "rattle battle". If you are going to spend $700-$900 on a rifle don't short change yourself and get one extra 30 round mag to go with it.

During the last presidential election I got a group of people together and we went in on purchasing a large quantity of high quality AR-15 magazines. With new AR-15 in our collections and new AR owners we wanted them to get the good stuff for a good price just in case any new bans were put in place. These are C-product 30 round magazines had from copes dist who has them for a great price. Same price if you order 1 or 100, with flat rate shipping. I have no connection to the company other than being a satisfied customer.

Determine how many magazines you want to have on hand for your firearm. The authors general rule is to have minimum of 50 rounds of magazine capacity for pistol and 100 for rifle/carbines.


*P.S.   C-Products has been out of business for more than a year now as of this update (5/2012) 
If you are in the market  for 30 round magazines I would just stick with the military used magazines at this point but don't pay more than $10 for any 30 rounders, unless you require preban magazines.

M261 Military rimfire conversion for the M16

I purchased a Mosin Nagant while I was in high school and (engage old man voice) I can remember when ammo cost $105 for a case of Bulgarian light ball, 1200ish rounds to a case...if I wasn't making $50 a week I guarantee you I would have purchased more, though I think I was into my Mausers and 8mm a lot more than the 7.62x54R and the 91/30's at the time.

Today, we have seen prices fold a few times over and for a while there in 2009 .223 Rem, 9mm Luger, .380ACP and 45ACP could not be found without really REALLY paying for the privilege. Walmart was the center of the great ammo rush after the presidential election...everybody was either complaining they couldn't find ammo or that they had just scored 6 precious boxes of ammo (in most areas walmart limited 6 boxes per customer). Federal bulk pack rimfire 550 rounds went up only slightly in price (from $14 to $15ish). My hats off to Walmart for not taking advantage of the situation and charging $30+ for the bulk packs like most online stores were. So lets say during all these record braking months of gun sales you manage to secure one or two precious AR-15 type rifles for fear weapons ban might be coming and you could be grandfathered in. But now you can't find ammo for the rascally thing! what now? Perhaps you have a small stash of rimfire ammo on hand that you use for your 10/22 or S&W 17 or k22. If you still have some money left over after buying your AR-15, a few quality magazines (which shouldn't cost you more than $9 a pop for 30 rounders these days) and are waiting for your back-ordered .223 Rem/5.56 ammo to show up you may want to look into a conversion unit for your rifle for training purposes. I happened along a M261 military conversion unit online one day that someone from the castboolits forum was selling. I think I gave somewhere around $100 for it with two magazines.

Its just a simple bolt swap to change your center fire AR-15 or M4 into a rimfire plinker. Now there are some drawbacks to this conversion...accuracy for one can really lack as the twist rate on some rifles and carbines 1:7-1:9 can be more than twice as fast as what you usually find on a .22 rifle or pistol which is around 1:16. If you have a older A1 upper with the slower 1:12 twist rate this may work better for these rimfire conversions. Also the bullet to barrel fit is a little off, Rimfire bullets are around .221"-.223" and the bores are about .218". I have not confirmed this number in any of my guns however. Other than slightly sloppy accuracy you will have to worry a bit about what bullets you shoot, I've heard that just plain lead bullets can foul up the gas works, I use copper washed federal bulk pack in my AR (actually nearly all my guns)and have not experienced this problem with them. The rifle is touted as self cleaning but I run a bore snake down the tube about every 200 rounds of rim fire to keep things from building up.
Above -M261 conversion- Just swap out with your center fire bolt. I put a thin film of small arms weapons lube on the chamber insert so that clean up is a simple wipe down with a shop rag. And my AR chamber gets hit with a chamber mop.

Below- The M261 conversion uses special 10 round magazine inserts that can go into standard 20 or 30 round magazines. You simply push the follower down in the magazine and slide the magazine in place. The spring tension keeps the mag seated in place.

I've used two lesser quality 30 round magazines for dedicated M261 magazines and keep them marked as such so I know what I'm grabbing when I put stuff together for the range. These mag conversions have worked very well for me. I wouldn't eject them (the magazines) from the gun while standing though, That could be detrimental to their service life if done frequently I imagine. Keep this in mind if you're into tactical training.The only draw back is there is no bolt hold open so if I practice rapid fire strings I can't drop the bolt on the 8 round magazine, I have to charge it. Black dog machine makes aftermarket 10 round and high cap magazines which from the reports work very well. The black dog mags are also on sale on their website at the time of this writing (I have no affiliation with the company). Since I'm only using my M261 to teach AR-15 familiarization to my students (not sure what else to call them) and to work on my high power position and get some practice indoors I'll stick with the two steel mags I have. I feel one important role I have in the firearms culture is to familiarize people who are new and willing to learn with firearms they are most likely to come across or own. Above- Installed with magazine in place. The bolt hold open/release does work but the bolt will not lock back on the last shot. As you may be able to tell the bolt locked back is not far enough back to pick up a round upon its release, so the weapon must be charged prior to use.

Though there are other conversions units for the AR/M-16 family I'll stick with my M261 for several reasons. It's in use by the military so surplus parts will be available on the surplus market if I need them. And it is not a proprietary design with only one source of parts and service like you may get with some other units. Olympic arms commercially makes this unit and supplies parts at a very reasonable price (I've ordered a chamber insert from them as the first one I had was cracked which happens after so much ammo is sent down range). Sarco inc also has parts but they are priced more than Olympic arms which are new and from a known source. This unit has been out for a while and the military service manual is online in PDF for free which I downloaded and printed off. If you find any conversion unit for a song I would suggest getting it if you want cheap practice with your AR-15 type rifle. Its a great way to practice indoors with your AR-15, though if the lack of accuracy is going to bother you then I would recommend getting a dedicated upper which has an appropriate .22 RF chambered barrel and still uses the same basic bolt design you see in the M261 conversion. This option would be a good way to go if you planned on shooting it more often than not. If you are already happy with your 10/22 rifle or other rimfire rifle and are thinking about a conversion unit I would suggest spending the money on more ammo instead. The unit works well to get familiarization across to beginners in how to handle a magazine fed semi automatic rifle. It would work well for small game hunting but not to any great distances, it would behoove you to have a proper .22RF rifle for that. I do not have pictures of any targets shot for accuracy but I will post some at the end of the week when I get to the range again.

Dura coat paint

This one will be a short post. I've applied Dura Coat to a 1911 slide of mine as well as a M4 I'm working on assembling (proper word in lieu of "building"...AR's are model kits for adults)...yeah I'll post about the M4 later still working on the write up. Anyways for any of you who have thought about trying out Dura coat I highly recommend trying it out...its rather easy to apply and mix. I used a cheap air brush to put it on and it dried fairly quickly. I really like it because I didn't have to blast the AR rec prior to applying it. We'll see how durable it is in the years to come but it seems ok for now.

"Teaching a man to fish": or : free .224 jacketed bullets...almost

The following is the current method I use to produce very low cost jacketed bullets out of .22 rimfire range pick up brass and a lead core. A lot of people are familiar with cast bullets being made at home but this is a step up from that.

First I secure a good supply of rimfire brass and wash them with hot water and a drop of dishwasher soap, then sort by head stamp as I try to keep the variables down so I use one head stamp/make for one run since the point form die sometimes must be adjusted for that jacket in particular. The cases after they dry get derimmed in the .22lr jacket maker (no picture at this time sorry) and each one is examined for flaws. The brass then goes into a small toaster oven I drug out of the dumpster a while back to anneal. I leave them in until they take a very dirty brass color...these will now be suitable to form into bullets.

The next step is to find something to fill the jacket. I go with lead cast cores so that is what I'll cover here. These drop at .180" and will get formed in the first die of a 3 die set to create a very uniform core. Below we see the raw core not yet squished into a core ready to be seated.

Above core prior to being swaged for diameter and consistency, Below after core is run in die. Note flaws all removed and very sharp cylinder look.


So we have a formed core and a formed jacket lets put them together. This step is as involved as the individual chooses to make it. De-greasing the core and the jacket is one such step, Bonding the jacket and the core is another as well as adding any ballistic tips or partitions as one sees fit. Below we see the core simply dropped into the jacket (not yet upset) and the excess lead from the last step coming out of the side of the die.
Now we need to make the jacket and core upset to .224 and make sure the core is in the jacket in a uniform manner so it wont offer inconsistencies. Below we see the jacketed core exiting out of the die (picture removed for editing, I will have this back in sometime this week sorry). It is now a uniform .224", The core and the jacket are as smooshed together as they are going to get without the use of chemicals. Now the jacketed cores will go into a container being glass or plastic. After I am done with that run of cores they will get sprayed with a film of my own homemade lube of 99% alcohol and Lanolin and shaken to distribute evenly then allowed to dry. This is a very slick lube and is used prior to all the other steps (I don't use it to form the lead cores however. The jacketed core is set tip down into the die and the press is slowly but firmly manipulated.

Above we see the finished product a short, large meplat 55gr bullet ready to be cleaned up and loaded. The last step I take is to dump bullets into a old t shirt put a small drop or two (for every 50 bullets) of Brasso and for 10 or so minutes polish them (by rocking the old shirt back and forth) so they are nice and shiny and all the lube and dirt is removed. Remember do not push these "free bullets" faster than 3,000 FPS or the thin jackets might come apart mid flight. The Corbin book claims 3,400 FPS but I have yet to try it. The thinner jackets and soft lead work very well on varmint but not on medium game. Bullets as large as .257" can be made with the rimfire jackets but they are lighter plinker bullets where as the RF jacket is the perfect length for a 55-62gr bullet. I figured that I need to make 8,000 of these free bullets to get the cost of the die set and press back but one should not look at the cost of the setup like that. Instead its a "give a man a fish, teach a man to fish" kind of thing. I'll never have to buy varmint bullets for my rifles ever again. And the joy of being able to supply myself with handfulls of these is tramendous.

Good Enough For Them, Good Enough For Me : or : Retirement From The Street Beat

Each year the big handgun manufacturing companies produce new updated models and generations of their products and really push to get their handgun in the holsters of the law enforcement officers and swat teams around the United states. Some departments upgrade every so often and upon doing so might choose to sell back their carry guns if they are switching to a new model or make. Police trade in weapons are common at one of the bigger gun shops here in Columbus and I try to keep my eye out for these as they are some of the best deals around. They are kind of like mil-surp but not as abused or dropped as much (as the case might be with some french firearms ararar). The latest addition is a Beretta 96D in 40 Short and weak....er I mean S&W for short....or wait what did I mean? The D is a Double Action Only (DOA) firearm. This particular set up has no safety other than a fireing pin block, Where if the hammer was pulled and released or the gun was dropped and the trigger was not being pulled the firing pin would not strike the primer. I aquired my example after a friend picked one up and allowed me to try it out. I liked the mild recoil and simple controls (lack of safety and easy break down) and the price out the door $277 didn't hurt. I figured one would be a welcome addition to the line up. The gun came with 2 mags and some holster wear which is fairly common (duh). And since another person carried this gun everyday, trained with it, broke it in and proved it as it were I feel comfortable after I run it through its paces having it close at hand in a time of need.


The other two police trade ins I've aquired might have been from a armored truck company or something of the sort. These are two S&W revolvers one being a k frame 65 (357 Mag stainless) and the other being a 10 (38Spl blued). The 10 I picked up first for $267 OTD, and the 65 was $264....REALLY good prices for S&W revolvers that have been carried more than shot. They show holster wear but the action is sound and the 10 will handle +p loads....which I've been feeding it on a regular bases since I like a 160gr full wad cutter almost going 950FPS out the 4" barrel. I've been using that same load in the combat matches with great success so far knocking the steel down in a hurry. The 65 has not been shot much since I only have 28pcs of 357mag brass on hand, most of which is on its 6th loading.

So we see here 3 great guns that have done their civil duty only now to be loaned to others and not dread their fate all for $808....The wheel guns are great for those learning to shoot combat matches or just want to plink. and the 96D will be great for trigger control training, yes the pull is heavy but if your a experienced shooter and don't like Glocks then this might be a good option for you.

Soft brass and stuck cases!

I have not had hard wired internet to my computer for a year..today I finally wired up the network cable in the new apartment. So I'm gonna get back on here and try to get new stuff out now!!!!!!!



While sorting through a small container of .223 brass that has been buggered up too much to use again for .223 reloads I got the idea I would try out a set of .300 whisper dies that I got for a good price not long ago. .300 whisper is the .221 fireball blown out to 30 caliber if I remember correctly and therefore much shorter than .223 Rem. Long story short I did not use enough lube on a particular brand of brass that tends to have a soft case head and rims are easily stripped off. The die set was a RCBS set where the decap assembly and expander ball goes out the bottom of the die. SOOO if you have a stuck case in the die...you can't take out the stem to use a stuck case remover. Esp if the expander ball is somewhat stuck in the neck of the case that is in the die. So my lathe to the rescue I turned the case head off as it was sticking out of the die still (duh?)
The next thing was to sort of bore out the last bit of case head so the stem could be removed all the way out the front of the die ( my dad pointed the fact I could remove the stem out after opening the hole up to 30cal but I was worried about wall thickness for my threads). After doing this a standard stuck case remover can't be used because I have successfully removed all the material it would have used to remove the case.
Next using the lathe I took the largest tap I could find and threaded the case that still resided in the die. You only need about 3 full threads and a bolt that is the right size for this.
After that I tossed the whole shebang, bolt threaded into the brass and the die into the freezer. HA I did learn something in physics. After about 20minutes or whatever we put the die in a rubber jawed vise and with a brass rod gently tapped from above. After a few taps the bolt pulled the brass out with it and I cleaned the die and checked for any damage.
Lesson learned....USE enough lube...I've had this problem more than not lately.

Lee's Hand Held Press

Lee precision produces a little reloading press one can use without the need for a reloading bench. Their Lee Hand Press retails for around $39.98 and will fit standard Shell holders, Dies and their universal priming unit which I've seen sell for about $5 from Lee dealers at gun shows. The priming unit screws into the top of the press, you place the shell holder of the case you are priming and the priming arm is inserted into the ram and your set to prime. The press I used was a gift from somebody I worked for at OSU who no longer reloaded and thought I could put the press to good use as well as the priming unit, loading tray and RCBS 45 ACP dies. I have seen the Lee Hand Press before but didn't think highly of them as all my presses are green, orange or blue. So would this little Lee Hand Press stand up to the rigors of reloading on and off the Wonderwolf bench?

Some people who reload go as far as taking their equipment to the range to load small lots of ammo to fire through that particular gun right then and there. All your brass should be already prepped and primed mind you so you spend less time at the range doing what you would usually just do at home. Not to mention handling primers at the range can be tricky. So once your at the range you look at your notes at what you've tried and pick out the next incremental load or combination. Taking your prepped brass you simply throw the powder charge then seat the desired bullet with the hand press. No clamping your Rockchucker or Orange Crusher to the shooting bench or your tail gate. Now I didn't have any testing like this to do over the colder months here in Ohio so I took the press with me to the indoor range here on campus to find a regulated load for my 38/200 Webley with fixed sights. The press did fine and took a little getting used to as far as not having a hand free to guide the case and bullet up into the seating die. All my brass was primed and belled only needing powder and a bullet. So how does this press do other operations of reloading other than just simply seating a bullet? For this test I had sized and belled a few hundred pieces of 9mm luger brass while seated on the couch watching a movie (another benefit of the hand press!). Priming with the handpress is like priming with any other non auto priming unit on a single stage press. Place the case and primer in their given areas and with the "feel" of things seat the primer slowly but firm and consistent.I was pleased with the press overall but I would not use it for large production runs. Only on load testing trips to the range and such. The power zone is on the upstroke because you close the handle to lift the ram you must be careful not to smash your fingers in between the ram shaft and the handle when it finally closes all the way. This press is not something for the beginner to start with. For lots of reasons just stick with a bench mounted press for those just starting out.

Part 3: HD shotguns-last word

The shotgun we have focused on in the last two articles is at the bottom of the picture. Middle is a 870 wingmaster built as a home defense shotgun, and top is a Chinese copy of the Winchester 1893 shotgun Browning designed and later revised for use as a trench shotgun (1897). These are great examples of what could be used for a home defense shotgun though I recommend you use what you have or what your comfortable with(or can afford). If all you have is a single shot pardner in 20 gauge you got for your birthday when you were 17 then use it. But whatever you do practice with the it so using it is 2nd nature. I would just as soon use the 93 as the 870 the bump in the night can't tell the difference when you rack the slide anyways. For now I'm done with the 870 build as I did it way under budget and I don't feel the need to add too much more to it. A shell holder adds width, but its handy to have 6 extra rounds on the gun if you need to grab it and run. you can get up to 17 or 18 rounds on/in the gun if you add a stock shell carrier as well but again width is added and the use of a sling becomes uncomfortable. If I wanted to recover some of my costs I could sell the take off parts like the stock set and end cap but I think I'll save those for future projects or acquisitions. A surefire tactical light would be nice practical add on without getting too far into tacticool in my opinion. It keeps you from having to rely on the lights in the house and the surefire is a fairly blinding flashlight if your on the recieving end of one.

Below we see two folding stock versions of HD shotguns.
Great for tight hiding places and rafters. 870 and a Moss 500

Part 2: From Doves to Defense-Finishing Touches

"Subject to change without notice" is something I always keep in mind when told something or giving information to others. I had talked of chopping the full vent rib barrel down to use for this project but I managed to acquire a factory 18" 870 combat barrel from a gentleman at the local gun show. I got a straight up trade on the 18" barrel for my 28" field barrel which would need a new bead after the chop. So I'm sorry to say you wont get to see pictures of 10" getting hacked off of the field barrel. I simply took the 870 in the gun show with me to see what kind of things I could find to help my project along. Taking the gun to the show when you are looking for parts for it is a good idea as in the majority of the cases you can make sure its the right part before you leave the table. And in some cases especially if it is a "Jesus part" (the word uttered as it springs across the room never to be found again) the person selling the part can install it properly for you for little or no cost.
Now we have something that looks a little more like a combat style shotgun we have a shorter barrel that will be handy in tight spaces and a stock that keeps the thumb out of the way from bashing the nose. The next few things are not needed but since I have access to the equipment I figured I should refinish the receiver in a parkerized finish. Parkerizing helps protect steel from corrosion and wear and is pleasing to the eye as you will see in the following pictures.

870 Receiver before being sand blasted and parkerized.

After being sandblasted and parkerized.

We see just how much better the receiver looks with just about an hours worth of effort put into the gun. The cheap painted on finish would not have lasted very long with the rugged storage conditions and use the gun will see. The gun appears to be a new off the shelf police or military model. But in fact little over $200 has been invested into the gun so far. I understand that not everybody has the access to equipment to do these kinds of things but I feel that anybody resourceful enough can come up with ways to do a durable finish such as this. I did not bother to parkerize the barrel as it had minimal wear but I did refinish the bolt and forearm/rails. The trigger pack/guard is aluminum and does not take the parkerized finish. Along with the 870 I also parkerized the RPK a friend and I built over the summer. The key to getting a uniform finish on the gun when you parkerize it is making sure you use a good quality brake cleaner after you've bead blasted to remove all the oils and dirt. Although I took my time in doing all the prep work the right way that did not prevent somebody else from putting a part on top of my receiver while it was in the park tank. A small blem is the result but it will not harm anything in the long run.

The last two pictures also show the right side of the receiver of before and after. From this point on we are pretty much finished with the project that I had set out to do. A magazine tube extension is optional to add a few additional rounds to the gun. I happened to have a factory magazine tube on order that is only adding $20 to the whole project cost. $225 is the total investment after the tube extension shows up. Not bad when you look back at what we started with. A 3 point sling might be made but only used in combat matches where switching from the shotgun to another weapon may be required. The 3 point sling will not be on the gun for its home defense role as it has no role on a gun you might grab at 3am unless you are putting on a whole battle outfit with sidearm (rolls eyes).

Part 1: From Doves to Defense! Shotgun Alteration.

There are few reasons these days why an off the shelf shotgun with a mid length barrel and 3 or 4 round magazine would not suffice for a home defense shotgun for the average home owner or apartment dweller ( Ammo choices need to be kept within reasonable limits as over penetration can be a factor in thin walled apartments). For the average gun enthusiast an off the shelf HD shotgun would work....however we are not the average gun enthusiasts that simply purchases a ready made HD shotgun off the shelf. Now I'm not talking super tacticool with quad picatinny rails and a GPS unit with the newest bottle opener that whatever tactical unit deployed somewhere your not supposed to know where they are, but somehow you do because you have "friends", uses and swears by and as such every other armchair warrior will discuss at length as to why its better than the same tactical bottle opener made by Mall Ninja gear outfitters inc. I'm talking about something that is practical as a defense shotgun recycled out of a field shotgun that maybe has seen some better days, or something you simply picked up at a gun show or pawnshop for a song. In this case my "seen better days shotgun" is an 870 Remington Express Magnum, This version was built with a cheap finish and cheap wood or synthetic stock depending on what the customer wanted. From what I can tell it was built to compete with the Mossberg 500 line of shotguns.
Although its the Remington brand "economy version" to be honest looking over the shotgun it looks and feels like its a well built operational shotgun that just got a cheaper exterior finish and slightly rough internal workings as working the slide some things will need smoothed out! I picked up this full vent ribbed 28" barreled Express magnum 870 at a gun show for around $150 which I thought was a nice price even though cosmetically it was rough. I've owned a old Westernfield (Sears brand) Mossberg 500 clone (One of the better ones) for a few years now as a combat shotgun and have owned other true Mossberg field guns but have sold them as I've gotten away from shotgun's for occasions other than social emergency's. Any field hunting I would do would now be with a double barreled side by side that was gifted to me while I was in High School.

Here we see the painted stock and barrel and get an idea
of the overall condition of what we're starting with!

I couldn't help but pick this 870 up with the idea to resurrect it as a Defense shotgun for a easy project. Wanting to keep the conversion as cheap as I could but using components I know have been proven I first decided to change the stock and forearm out. I hunted around online stores and auction sites for a set of Choate (Choate machine and tool) stock and forearm as I know their older version fits me well as my dads combat shotguns sports their stocks. They are slim and the length of pull fits me well. I picked up a set of Choate's older version of their pistol grip stock and forearm for around $55 after shipping. Installation was easy but did require a little tool to install the forearm nut. Now the gun fits me better and the pistol grip keeps my thumb away from my nose, Buck shot and Slugs had beaten my nose up in the past with the shorter pull of traditional stocks and the subsequent placement of my thumb. ( pics of stock set up to follow in part 2 as I've deleted all the pictures from my camera at this time on accident.)
We have a nice start dressing the gun up for slightly more social occasions other than the old dates it used to keep with turkeys and dove. The next step in the project is to smooth out the action as it still seems rough like it came from the factory and seeing the lack of wear on all the internal parts this would lead me to believe that the gun might have been carried for a decade in the truck but only a few boxes of shot have gone through it. There are several ways to go about honing the internals to smooth out the workings of the Remington 870 but my method was a bit course yet very effective. Using the finest sand paper I could get my hands on (from my tool box) I rubbed the abrasive off into the action and worked it several times. Yes it wears the finish down but we're going to refinish the whole thing so no worries there. I was careful not to take things too far with this process as it does not take much. After I had done this a few times I took the entire gun apart and gave it another good cleaning. Even before I applied a light coat of oil the gun cycles much smoother and did not require as much force to pump forward as the bolt used to stick towards the rear. After this process is complete I made sure to get all the remaining grit out of the action and trigger pack as long term damage can result from it being left in.The next step will be to alter the barrel and get the gun ready for a Parkerized finish which will include sand blasting the whole works.

Did you know WD-40 was developed for missile parts? (random sorry)

Summer has come and gone...again. I spent 2 months of my summer working with the FEH (First Year Engineering) Program here at OSU moving offices around for them and doing a little paper work (yuuck) as well. On top of that I kept working my normal job at UPS so I was working 9-9 day in and day out with little downtime. But I can't complain I got paid well for all of it and I have lots of money saved up. I just gotta remember where all I put it ( most of it I think is wrapped up in new toys in the safe...opps)! Also this summer I moved closer to the OSU campus which will benefit me in many ways...However the space I moved into is rather small compared to where I moved out of (pics to follow later). The reloading set up is still the same though I will have to revise a few things to get the best use out of the space. I was lucky enough to get out and do some shooting and testing this summer esp with Brittany who is really picking up on this whole gun culture thing. It's actually really fun to watch her develop her skills. Here is a peak at some articles I have planned and hope to publish on a more regular basis. Bullet swaging for the 41 magnum, more case conversions (woot), Building a combat shotgun out of a field gun, building a varmint rifle in the workshop and much much more.. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not hesitate to comment on articles or ask me to clarify things I've written about. This whole blog is here to help you and the comments you leave help me to become better at writing these sorts of things.

The case of many calibers : or : Why you should give all your range brass to me!

Brass, In this day brass is rising more and more in price. Formed brass, as in what we shooters use and pick up at the range is no exception. So to this I'll admit that I am a brass rat.....and damn proud of it! I go to the local range and scrounge every bit of brass I can lay my hands on...but its not to turn it into the recyclers but to recycle it myself. My father taught me the importance of picking up brass before and after a session at the range. I even pick up Berdan primed cases WHY? because they have infinite uses in the many tinkerings I do. Practicing/testing case forming methods in dies, annealing experiments and for the possible use as jackets for bullets down the road. One case (pun intended) is the 7.62x25 which is a hot loaded brother to the 7.63x25 (30 Mauser). I have 100's of these cases I've picked up at the range for several years and continue to do so. I didn't know why until just a few weeks ago when I read on a idea to convert them to boxer primed brass for 30 Mauser (a lathe comes in handy for this project). The big problem is getting that primer out of the case. A simple lathe project is making a hydraulic piston you insert into the mouth of the case after filling it part way with water. The water can not be compressed and it blows the berdan primer out. Another operation you can do with this piston is "water forming" the case by inserting it into a sizer die and whacking the piston with a mallet the same way you would to decap it. However instead of having a void under where the primer would pop out the spent primer would seal up the case and cause the case to fill to the die it has been placed in. I have lots of brass cases for which I don't even have a gun for yet 50BMG, S&W 500 (I don't officially own one of these yet), 375 H&H, 378 Weatherby, 38spl, 9mm, 270 Winchester, 243 Winchester, 30-30, 357 sig, 22-250 and the list just goes on and on. Its a good idea for any serious reloader to stock up on all sorts of brass "just in case" they obtain a firearm in that caliber. Or need to load some ammo for a friend.

I know the average shooter in where a box of 50 rounds will last them a year might not reload and that is understandable. To some reloading is a mysterious event that takes place in dark basements and backyard shops. Modifying brass for the rifles in your collection to some is even more mysterious. "Why take the time to make brass when you can get 20 pcs for $X" I've heard numerous times. And I've often wondered why I alter brass from one caliber to another however I take a huge amount of joy in learning along the way while making brass for rifles I have no brass on hand for. A close friend who recently purchased a .308 Remington 700 Sniper rifle wanted me to make up some reloads for him. I have .308 Winchester dies on hand here at my place in Columbus but no unprimed brass (I have 20 or so primed cases all from pull down ammo). I went through my "Rifle brass range pickup" bin that sits near my reloading bench and pulled 50 pcs of 30/06 brass that had badly deformed necks from actions closing on them etc. I trued them up with a pair of pliers as best I could and ran them through my .308 die without the decapper. This is an important step as you will have to pull the decapper, neck expander through that long tube you are making out of all the excess material the neck is being formed from ( you NEED the neck expander if you are necking brass UP! as you will see in the pictures bellow). I try not to anneal before I do this kind of major reforming via dies as the shoulder tends to fold and collapse on itself. If you are simply expanding the neck out on a case put the case into a pan of water so as only the neck is sticking above it and anneal the neck. If you anneal the shoulder and you attempt to expand or shrink the neck diameter the downward force on the now softer shoulder most likely buckle it and fold it into itself (if you annealed correctly). I start with the die out half way ( so as to work in the rockchucker's "power zone") and take it down in steps running the case up backing it out and turning the die perhaps 1/3 of a turn or so, taking the time to remove the case every three or so strokes to re-spread the lube so as not to create any dimples from hydraulic pressure caused by excessive lube in that one area. This also helps if you are doing major reforming so as the shell holder does not start to bend the rim and deform the base from constantly pushing and pulling on one area (This is important as to keep the rim from becomming weak and breaking resulting in a stuck case, I'm just trying to keep all the dust that has built up on my stuck case remover box intact).


So back to this .308 project out of .30/06 cases at hand. After we have made a goodly sized handful of reformed cases we need to trim the excess off the neck. A plumbers tubing cutter works well for this as does a trim die though I admit I have limited experience with the trim dies. I prefer to cut with a tubing cutter, anneal the shoulder and neck, Install the decapper and sizer ball back into the FL sizer die and carefully start the case slowly as the inside diameter is greatly reduced and will need to expand a great deal to slip over the neck sizing ball. After this function is performed the first time you might notice the neck looks a little funny not a straight and true profile you would expect. Chamfer the mouth of the case so as to get rid of any fold overs from the case mouth and run the case through the die several more times till it looks more uniform and measures more closely to what its supposed to. Remember we have work hardened the brass a great deal at this point so annealing is a critical process if you don't want to loose those cases during the final loading stage or perhaps the upon the first firing. I promise I will write a article in the near future on annealing and explain the process a little further!

Left is a case that was formed in 6.5 jap dies out of a 30/06 case the base was lathe turned and then after I noted a slight flaw in the neck I decided to grind a profile of the case to make sure I still had subtible wall thickness which you can tell is spot on.

Center is a 22-250 case formed in 6.5 jap dies and the belt lathe turned off. ready to be fire formed.

Right is a 22-250 case after fire forming to 6.5 Japanese. slightly undersized but still works very well.




(ABOVE) All of these are 22-250 cases that were run through the 6.5 japanese dies without neck annealing. Since these were being necked UP the expander ball had to be left in Would annealing the necks of these cases saved them? Most likely NOT as they were ridden hard by the previous owner that left them at the range.



(ABOVE)
Left we see a 22-250 case that was annealed at the neck before it was sized up. A collapse resulted in that attempt

#2 It is rather hard to tell but the rim is badly deformed from being left in the same position after each stroke. The case kinda sits higher, Also you can see the formed belt that would be lathe turned off.

#3 We wee the same thing as the first case but with an atempt using 30/06 brass. Note the shoulder on both of these were annealed. My next attempt will be JUST the neck.

#4 we see a badly oversized case that was run through the die. The ring at the neck resulting in excess material not cut off before hand. It is possible with time and effort to salvage this case although running it through a 30/06 FL die minus decaper/expander might help the base form more easily.