A couple of thoughts

[Woody]

A couple of thoughts or maybe ideas. Now that the weather has changed and I have finished casting for next season, I wonder if a couple of ideas I use are of any use to others.

1. Pin hole scope cap. Not my original idea. It's been around for years, but when I go down the firing line at Friendship, I see no one else is trying it.

pinholeone.jpg

pinholetwo.jpg

Mike Patterson suggested it to me many years ago. I use a 1/16th inch drill bit to make the hole. So what does it do. It increases the depth of field and totally eliminates parallax error. It does slightly reduce the amount of light transmitted to your eye and reduces the field of view. To date, I have not been bothered by either, even on heavy overcast days and prior to my cataract surgery.

2. Pinned mould handles. Again not my original idea. I bought some used mould handles that had been modified and decided I liked the idea and modified most of my remaining handles. Use a drill press and drill through the wood and steel mould handle at the same time, then press fit a stightly oversized and under length wire through the hole. The wood handle will be locked in place and less liable to loosen and be damaged.

mould handles.jpg

Comments and more ideas are welcomed.

Woody

[ian45662]

Neil shoots with his scope like that. I think Dutch does also. I was supposed to give Neil my caps at the last shoot so that he could do mine up but I forgot to. I will see him in next week though and I will have him drill mine out on center.

[art ruggiero]

i did that about 12 years ago hoping to sharpen my vision works on a clear day not so much when cloudy art

[bpcrshooter62]

Hi may i ask how many you have cast for next season ?

[38-72]

I have used a good grade of 5 min epoxy to fix my loose mold handles. Some have been fix 10+ years ago and are still holding fast.

[bohemianway]

For the scope thing you can accomplish the same by lengthening your eye to ocular distance. and use the dark ring created to eliminate parallax problems. Been doing that for decades.

Charles

[Woody]

Hi may i ask how many you have cast for next season ?

.

1250 - 45 Postells

250 - 45 Govt

I still plan on casting some levergun bullets, but my Silhouette rounds are cast.

Woody

[From Along The Trail]

This is a different way to accomplish this subject. It makes it easier to change the opening size. . There is a muzzleloader nipple in the center of the disc. With different size holes if different nipples, they can be changed very easy.

[SchuetzenDave]

I tried the pin hole to sharpen the image on days with more mirage.
Effective on those days but you loose light to your eye.
Your eye acuity and ability to shoot more precisely is also dependent on the amount of light your eye receives.
So is improved target image better than lesser eye acuity?

I always cast my bullets in advance of the next shooting season.
The hardness of your alloy changes with time but is pretty stable after about three months.
Besides with all the shoots in the summer there is not time to be casting bullets.

[Gamerancher]

Man, that's an impressive supply of bullets.
I'm usually casting maybe a hundred, a day or two before a shoot.
Always plan to do a marathon casting session, but I get bored, can't stand at the pot for that long, or I don't have time and just never get around to it.
I did once do a run of about 2500 but they were for my pistols and lever guns with multi-cavity molds.

[Woody]

That's about two years worth for me. I'm bored of casting very quick. I do multiple small casting sessions. Today I cast some 250 grain 38-55 bullets for my Winchester 94. I'll get around 500 cast up doing just a 50 or so each session. Some days, I can do several session some days I go out and unplug the heated pot without casting a single bullet. Need to get some 44-40 bullets cast for my 73 Winchester and my SA Colt.

Woody

[bpcrshooter62]

We might be getting off topic here it seems but my question is if you are a marathon caster and have a stock pile of bullets cast then decide to try a new bullet out what do you do with the pile of old ones you have already cast? I am guilty of this lol i have three different bullets that i use to shoot but am now on to two more different ones lol when i cast i do it for between 5 to 10 days straight for 8 to 10 hours a day so i have 1000s of rounds poured now what do i do with the ones i no longer am shooting lol It took a long time and effort to cast all of them so i dont want to melt them down and recast them there is nothing wrong with them i have just moved on to new bullets i shot master scores with these old bullets but just want to try out the new stuff lol like a lot of us here i think anyway lol always looking for something better to use lol Whats your thoughts on this

[Aviator]

I don't think Woody is a member of the "Mold Of The Month Club"!

[marlinman93]

I've never done huge amounts of casting for any bullet I wasn't already very happy with. That all gets worked out during load development, so once I start running long sessions the bullet has already proven itself for me.

[Woody]

I don't think Woody is a member of the "Mold Of The Month Club"!

I could not tell you when I bought my last mould. LOL! Steve, I think you are starting to know me. LOL!!!!

Woody