Dear P.B.,

I received your article for the blog and was surprised to say the least. In all my years of editing The Fouling Shot, I have never published an article quite like yours. I lack the words to describe it, but I have to say I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading it. Actually I fell of my chair more than once. If it was too difficult a task for you, I understand if you don't want to write anymore articles. The membership will just have to struggle on without your words of wisdom. Your invention sounds interesting. I think I saw something similar on the tv show, "When Things Go Bad", so please be careful. It sounds as if you can not afford anymore body scars. You should avoid John for a while. He needs to get over the feeling he got when he pulled the trigger of his custom made CPA rifle at the last match and heard nothing and only felt a mushy pull. I last saw him heading over the target berm with his rifle in hand, hollering you name. His cap was hovering about a foot over his head, I had never seen anything like it before.

Sincerely,Glenn Latham
CBA Editor, The Fouling Shot

P.S. - If you do wish to forge on, please no photos.


Dear Glenn,

Glad you thout my first one was a real humdinger. I got purdy excited my self when I wasa writing it and whata cowinceident, I fell out of my chair to. Once when I wasa rechin for myin pencil and once when I fell aslep. So since you thout it was so good, I writted a nother yarn. Ima thinkin bout given up goat & pig ranchen to become a bonifered arthur. I sent thata spring back to John, fast deliverin mail. I included instrukshuns on how to weld and bend it back to shape. Thata was the least I coud do since he leta me bowerin it. The dam spring was just to big. I awso sent him a pikture of my inventsun, since he so rich I think he woud want to invest to get richer. Anyways I included my newest publikashon for your blob.

Yourin best shootin partnir,

P.B. Kaster

My castin carear begun when I wasa bout 12 yearin old. Sincen I runed out of shells for my Britsh Enfiled rifle, I had to do sumptin. Mr. Merg's store keep real ideel molds in stock real regulary. So I got me a ideel catolog, which I studyed real good. I setteled on mold number 31125. The oldtimers said this wasa the bullet to go with for the .303 calibur and it just so happened to be the same as myin Britsh Endfield rifle calibur and all. It was garentied to be accurate to 10,000 miles. That was what theyin call "advertisin hipe", to get you to buy it. I wasin smarter than that. I nuded that the maximum practickal range was more like from my house to old man Puthamington's house, bout 1 mile.

Now I figured I needed sum powder, primers, some loadin tools, castin matearells and sum lead for the ideel bullets. Mr Merg carryed all my needs exceptin, the lead. Once I saved enuff money, I walked in to Mr, Merg's and told him to fix me up with all I need to load real Britsh Endfield .303 shells. But there was one problim, he didnint carrie lead. He'd told me I coud get sum lead from Old man Kagnap's at his printin shop or from Albert's tire & auto. Now this lead that Mr. Kagnap had was that fancie kind of lead, you know for Afreeca huntin like. It was also expinsive, bout .20 - .25 cent a pound. Since I didnint plan on goin to Afreeca for a cupole years, I figired I just didnint need any of this spechil linotipe or monotipe lead.

The lead Albert's had was real cheep, free infact. It came in sevreal sizes of wheil waits, but all melted the same. Later on I figired I was gettin them whiel waits cheep cuse they was defektive. No matter how hot I got that kamp stove goin, parts of them whiel waits woud never melt. Them parts semmed to be much harder than them that meltied. I heard that linotipe and monotipe was hardear than wheil waits, so I figired thats what the not meltin parts were made of and rechoired special hi tempperture heat to melt um. It was not until I was bout 50 yearin old when I heared fello CBA member, Melvin Martinsun say them was steal clips and they was no good. O well, I halled all 9 pick up loads to the junk yard. It only took 6 days to shuval them into the pick up. But I figured I came out bout evin cause I got $28 cash for em!

Back to the castin. Once I got that first 50 pounds home, I wus set. But it were hard, tring to hawl 50 pounds of lead on a bisiskel with one square whiel was hard, spescelly up that last hill.

But back to the castin. I baroed Mamas biskit tin and made up some lead ingnots with them whiel waits. I then put the biskit tin back in the cup board beford she found it missin. Now I had 43 purdy lead ingots. At this point I figered I wasa set with lead for the next 10 years at lest.

Back to the castin. I had the ladeel Mr. Merg set me up with, but it was hard, real hard to melt them ignots in the ladeel. That is when I got the genyus ideer to get one of Mamas pots to melt them ignots in. I was reel carefull to wipe it out reel good when I was done and put it back up so shes woudnint knows I barroed it. She was very pertikular about her cookin utensills.

Back to the castin. I went back and studeed that Ideel catolog and figired that that ladeel was used for poorin the lead into the mold. But I got the hang of it reel quick. Once I got them cavitees filled, I woud close the top reel quick. Once the lead dried up to make reel bullits, I woud open the top and pound them bullits out. But here is a reel tip, insteed of poundin till they come loose and fall on the ground, use a punch & chiseel to drive them out, it is much faster. Tip #2, keep them fingars out of the way. Now after bout four hours, I woud have bout 20-25 kinda purty bullits. The rinkeels made them reel custom made bullits. Evereeone I showed them too said they had never seen anything like um, thats bekause theys were custume made.

Back to the casting. Nexted comed the lubrikating. Kuse I wanted to be ekonomical, I tried sevral homemade lubs. The first one was some pure buttar, but everee time I shot them bullits, I smelled Mamas homemade biskits and gots hungree. I think that was a combinashun of them lead ignots being made in Mamas biskit tin & the buttar. Next I tried a honey/earl/lard mixtir. Lets just say it did not work good. Then I settiled on baring greese and jello (orange works best). This is how I did (do) it. It one of your Mamas or the wifes ccokin pots, mix about two heepin spoonfulls of barin greese with one package of jello. Stir it reel good. Then heat it up til boillin. STOP. Now wile it is coolin sume, set them bullits up, base down in one of your Mamas or the wifes pin ten. Now here is whare I runned into a problum the first time. My bullits were leanin left & right. I solved this by hacksawin them bases flat. Tip. Becarefull of them fingars. Three weaks later when them bullits bases were flat, I set them up in that baroed pie ten. Next I heated up the baring greese & orange jello till bollin. STOP, QUICK. Now when little cooled, poor the lub to the top of the pie ten. STOP. Now wrap sume ten foil over top and slip it in the icebox when your Mama or the wife is not lookin. HIDE IT WELL. If they spot it, tell um its some possum livers & skunk hearts your takin to the huntin kamp. They will not touch it then and it will have time to get ready.

Next time I will tell you how I got them bullets out of that kwivering hunk of joy and loaded some reel .303 Britsh Endfield shells.

P.B. Kaster

Appearing in The Fouling Shot #179 Jan/Feb 2006, this article was written by John Alexander.

Part 4 of 4

Every year I return to Indiana to hunt deer on the family farm where I started hunting squirrels and rabbits over sixty years earlier. The farm has always been about half woods and the adjoining properties are also heavily wooded. While I was growing up no deer had been seen in that part of the Midwest for over fifty years. Now, in a half hour walk through the woods you are likely to see at least one whitetail disappearing into the trees. Wild turkeys and coyotes, although unheard of forty years ago, are also abundant.

When the time came for my annual deer safari to the wilds of Indiana I was still frantically trying to find the ulti­mate cast bullet handload for the NEF slug gun. I was sure there was still room for improvement if I could find the right combination. However, my best loads were averaging two inches at fifty yards and, although I am a little nutty about accuracy, I knew, from a practical stand­point, this was good enough for a woods rifle.

I decided to go with the 0.635" balls cast of wheel weights and quenched in water from the mold. These were a few thousandths over groove diameter, weighed 370 grains, and had a Brinell hardness of 28. The ball was loaded over 26 grains of Blue Dot, a PGS gas seal, and two 8 & G soft fiber wads. Velocity 15 feet from the muzzle was 1,240 ft/sec for the 370 grain ball. This com­bination substantially exceeds the energy of a 44 Magnum pistol. so I reasoned it would be adequate for deer at moderate ranges.

It takes two pretty good days to drive the 1,300 miles from Old Town to the cabin my brother, Arch. had built on the old homestead. The cabin overlooks a small lake in the woods Dad and I built over fifty years ago. It is not only a pretty place but the fish can be fed from the front porch and a metal gong, across the lake. provides a tar­get for informal shooting. It would be a great place to hang out even if the surrounding woods weren't infested with deer and turkeys. I planned to get there a day early to recuperate and spend time checking out the woods and the permanent tree stands as well as provisioning the camp with adequate supplies of Oreos, chips, Snickers bars. drinks, and other staples to maintain our strength for the rigorous hunt ahead.

On opening day we rose at the customary ungodly hour and after stumbling around finding boots and other necessary items managed to wake up enough to enjoy the traditional breakfast of biscuits and gravy prepared by Arch's wife, Linda, as her once a year concession to the madness.

I hunted all day mostly out of the tree stands and saw several deer but only one legal buck which was too far away and mostly hidden by brush and trees. This was a real change of pace from hunting in my area of Maine where you can sometimes hunt for several days without seeing a deer but the result for the day was the same - no dead deer.

The next day we were up at the same insane hour but without the deluxe breakfast. About an hour after getting settled in my tree stand. the first deer came into sight. The sun was just climbing above the horizon. The deer was coming directly from the east and the glare made it hard to tell if it was a legal buck. As the deer cir­cled more to the north around the stand it turned out to be a small doe. She hurried past within thirty yards of the tree stand. occasionally looking back over her shoulder as if saying in deer talk ··come on guys if you can catch me we can have some fun." Since I expected a following buck, I removed the bulky outer mitten from my left hand to be able to work the hammer and trigger in case one appeared. Yes, I am left handed.

Within a minute or two. a small fork horn appeared. He also came directly out of the rising sun and the glare again made it difficult to see him clearly. He was walking quickly in the same general direction as the doe but not following directly, obviously trying to appear cool and dis­interested. He was following a trail towards an opening, fifty yards from the stand. where I had shot two deer in previous years with Arch's .357 Max TC Contender. As he approached the opening. I raised the rifle and was horrified to see only an orange glare through the scope which I assumed was caused by the rising sun. I could see the deer rapidly approaching the opening with my other eye but no amount of twisting or straining my eyes could eliminate the orange glare that blocked my view through the scope.

Needless to say, I was in a highly agitated state as the deer walked unscathed into the opening and then, still unscathed, through 1t and down into a steep ravine and out of sight. When he disappeared, I stood up and positioned myself to shoot if he emerged from the ravine where I could get a reasonable shot. Instead, he climbed out the other side of the ravine in thick brush.

Although I could see him through the scope, the intervening limbs and trees made a decent shot impossible before he dis­appeared unimpeded on his quest for love. Although I wasn't thinking calmly, it finally occurred to me that I had been looking in the same general direction when I saw the deer clearly through the scope coming out of the ravine, without a trace of the blinding orange glare. As I stood there puzzling over what had eliminat­ed the glare when I had stood up to shoot across the ravine, I noticed the oversized thumb of my orange over mitten still on my right hand. Putting the gun back up in the same sitting position I had tried to shoot the buck from - there was the infernal orange glare completely blocking my view through the scope. To paraphrase Pogo, I had met the glare and it was me.

This was the only shot, or even good view of a buck, I had had in two days of frigid waiting. and I wasn't in the best of moods. Since I had never seen the Bambi movie, the thought that my incompetence had probably allowed love to blossom for the two young deer didn't ease my frustration I was heading back to Maine in one more day and it was beginning to look like I might not find out this year if the .635 Nitro Express would kill a deer. I was so agitated, that in spite of the good hunting story this fias­co would obviously make, I immediately vowed to myself to never admit how I saved a deer's life by sticking my thumb in front of the scope.

Of course time heals the most embarrassing wounds and here I am giving a detailed account of my blunder for coast to coast distribution. In addition to the passage of time, improved luck later in the day also helped ease the regrets and made it easier to confess my bumbling per­formance.

Around noon, Arch who was hunting to the south of my position, froze out of his stand and decided to still hunt in my general direction. Neither of us had heard or seen anything except the two small deer, whose life the thumb of my mitten had spared. However, as if by magic, two nice bucks miraculously materialized out of nowhere perhaps moving away from Arch.

As I watched their approach, one conveniently posi­tioned himself broadside to me in an opening. He was well beyond the fifty yards where the gun had been zeroed to group shots a couple of inches above the point of aim. Not having much time for range estimation, I aimed a couple of inches higher than what I considered the ideal spot behind his front leg.

At the shot he went down. I was surprised and quick­ly reloaded (quickly is a relative term with a single shot) and got ready to shoot again when the buck got back up. Instead, he kicked a couple of times and laid still. I was stunned by his instant and unexpected demise.

The ball had hit a couple of inches above the point of aim, gone through the middle of both lungs and lodged under the hide on the opposite side. Although flattened a bit, it was in one piece. Although the damage to the lungs was severe, it is not clear why the deer died almost instantly, since the bullet's path was at least eight inches below the spine. I would have expected it to run at least a short distance before succumbing. The deer was hit, and died, 90 of my steps from the tree stand or a little over 75 yards. It was about 160 pounds field dressed and would have been a small six point if one point had­n't been knocked off.

A single deceased deer is obviously the smallest of samples and his unexpected instant death may have been a fluke. However, judging from the autopsy, a sixty three caliber ball propelled by a conservative load from a twenty gauge rifled barrel does more than enough damage to promptly and humanly kill a deer at seventy five yards if hit properly. Seventy five yards probably encompasses 95 percent of opportunities for a shot in the woods we hunt.

With further load development, I believe it will be possible to find a low cost handload with the needed accuracy and flatness of trajectory to extend the practi­cal range of a good twenty gauge rifled gun to well over 100 yards. If so, the twenty gauge slug gun will equal the effectiveness of many rifles m traditional deer hunt­ing calibers. Low cost handloads and the mild recoil of the twenty gauge will make it practical and pleasant to confirm the accuracy of the combination, secure a solid zero, and practice to build skill and confidence.

The $2.50 per shot cost and punishing recoil of the twelve gauge with factory loads make it much harder to confirm accuracy, zero, and practice effectively without developing a flinch. either from the thought of that much money flying out the muzzle or the pain.

The excellent performance on the deer strengthens my contention that a twenty gauge is the appropriate gauge for a slug gun for deer Few twelve gauge slug gun hunters have practiced enough to become really good with their gun and load. The twin difficulties of high cost of ammunition and the painful recoil takes all the fun out of such practice and makes proficiency unlikely.

If a hunter grits their teeth and practices with a twelve gauge, there 1s a high probability the punishing recoil has bequeathed them a world class flinch which they are probably not aware of. Either way there are probably few hunters that should take a 100 yard shot at a deer with a twelve gauge slug gun. To be responsible. those with a bad flinch should probably limit their shots to archery range. Most hunters would be more effective with the milder recoiling twenty gauge.

In summary I believe it 1s possible to find handloads for the twenty gauge slug gun that have both the power and accuracy of many conventional rifles being earned in the search for deer. I admit, I would be happier carrying a high quality modern rifle that I knew had the capability of making a three hundred yard shot if a deer foolishly appeared in an open field. However, I no longer feel abused by the misguided Indiana game laws which rule out such a rifle. I know my slug gun has both the accu­racy and power needed to humanly kill a deer at the ranges I am likely to see one, and I have developed quite an affection for my short, ugly, cheap little .635 Nitro Express. @

This article written by CBA member, by Paul W. Brasky of Kingston, NY, appeared in The Fouling Shot #170 July/Aug 2004 issue.

In preparing for the Seasonal Military Postal match several years ago, I discovered that the noses of my cast bullets were no longer nicely pointed, but rather were a bit blunt or rounded. Although this made little difference in my scores. the aesthetics of it bothered me a great deal. The problem was caused by sizing Lyman bullet #314299 from .3145" to .311", sometimes in several time­ consuming steps, and always with the wrong nose punch in my lube-sizer. (Did I mention that I'm thrifty?)

Coincidentally, Lee Precision had begun to offer it's line of press-mounted essentially "nose first" sizing dies, but as I had some concerns about whether they would apply gas checks and knowing no one who had experi­ence with them, I was hesitant to try one. (Did I mention that I'm thrifty; well, O.K., cheap?) In the meantime, siz­ing from .314" to .313" to .312" to .311" was fast becom­ing intolerable. Having had enough, I purchased a .311" Lee sizing die kit and was immediately rewarded with perfectly sized, gas-checked, and undistorted bullets. Since then I've acquired several other (Lee] sizing die sets and heartily recommend them for one specific pur­pose, namely bullet sizing. Lubing, even with a close ­but-not-exact nose punch, is done as a separate step in a conventional machine; unless of course, you don't mind the liquid Alox "procedure."

As good as the dies are, they don't come in all sizes, and as luck would have it, the one you need may not be available. For example, I needed a .3245" die for my 8mm Mauser, but only .323" was available. Lee Precision will gladly make a custom die for you, but if the desired dimension isn't too much larger (-.003") than their stan­dard offering, you can lap one out yourself. I'd read about the method on the now defunct Shooters Talk > Cast Bullets web site (It can now be found at http://www.cast­pics.net > "Research and Data.") and tried it. It worked perfectly, turning oversized bullets into -1 m.o.a. per­formers. I am indebted to my friend Rick Tunell for allow­ing me to share 1t with you.

You'll need a sizing die approximately .002"-.003" smaller than the desired diameter; a stiff steel rod at least 4" longer than the die itself and -3/4 the inside diameter of the die; wet/dry sandpaper or emery in 320, 400 and 600 grits; your favorite lubricant - WD-40, 3-in-1 oil, etc.; a towel; plenty of unsized cast bullets; and a micrometer. What you do is wrap the steel rod with the 320-grit paper so that it protrudes enough from each end to grasp with your fingers. Generously apply oil and roll the die back and forth using firm downward pressure on either a flat surface or your towel-covered leg. Check your work after every 30-40 back and forth strokes by cleaning the die (a quick wipe will suffice), installing it in your press and siz­ing a bullet. Measure its diameter and continue lapping until you are within -.0005" of your desired diameter. Use 400- and 600 grit oiled paper on the steel rod to pol­ish the die to its final size. Once again, check your work carefully.

Depending on how much metal you need to remove and on how quickly you work, the job will take about an hour to complete: The results are well worth the time invested.

From time to time, it becomes necessary or even desirable to radically resize a cast bullet to fit a particular rifle's bore. By radically I mean as much as a .012" reduction. Why would you do such a thing? Curiosity is one reason since we've all read that resizing by more than say .005" distorts the bullet and significantly reduces accuracy. Haven't you wondered whether that bit of conventional wisdom is true? Another reason is that you may be searching for a bullet lo fit a particular bore and what you want isn't readily available, but you do have a likely candidate on hand even though it's too wide. For example, I needed a bullet for my 7.65x53mm Argentine Mauser which fitted it better than Lyman #314299. Having seen such a discussion on Shooters Talk > Cast Bullet site, and having corresponded with Rick Tunell, its principal advocate, about it. I was deter­mined to see for myself whether it was true. I just hap­pened to have a Lee .314" sizing die and a supply of LBT .326" cast bullets on hand as well.

Using my Lyman 450 lube-sizer, I lubed, applied gas checks, and sized to .326" 20 LBT bullets, making sure all lube grooves were completely filled (so as to support the driving bands when reformed). I next took a .314" Lee sizing die, screwed it into my press, smeared the .326" bullets with case lube (use no more than you would when resizing brass) and sized them down in one stroke to the smaller diameter. You'll need a strong press, a stronger workbench and a bit of muscle for this, but little else except an open mind. When loaded over 22 grains of Accurate Arms' XMP 5744, 20 rounds with the radical­ly resized LBT (at .314" and seated to touch the rifling) shot identically to 20 rounds loaded with the same pow­der and charge, but Lyman #314299 (at .314" and seat­ed to touch the rifling). Let me repeat there was no toss of accuracy with the reformed slugs. I've repeated this several times in the Argentine Mauser with bullets meant for the 8mm Mauser (Lyman #323471 and a Lee custom run of a 236 gr .. 326" bullet) but always with the same ' satisfying results.

As tor the conventional wisdom and the intentional "mistreatment" of cast bullets as described above, it's not how much you size but how that makes the difference. If you can't or don't concentrically resize cast bullets, accu­racy will be affected. The very design and mechanism of lube-sizing machines such as the Lyman #450 and the RCBS Lube-A-Matic don't lend themselves to such radi­cal resizing and will almost certainly distort the bullets because their noses aren't supported. The Lee press­ mounted sizing dies are strong, easily modified, support­ing the bullet completely and sizing them concentrically. As such, they're quite useful when you're looking for a bullet to fit a particular bore, but no such mold 1s offered and you don't want to purchase a custom product While you can't reduce .50 caliber cast bullets to .243" with the Lee dies in a single stroke, you can reduce them, even those which have been heat-treated, by as much as .012" with no ill effects (so long as their lube grooves are first filled and gas checks, if any, applied in a standard sizing operation). @)

This article written by Manton Bodsford, was published in The Fouling Shot #126 Mar/Apr 1997.

Bullets recovered after firing can provide clues to load performance and help in final load adjustment. To date, nobody has successfully seen what happens inside a gun, as the bullet proceeds from cartridge case to free flight. While I can't do this either, I do the next best thing which is to recover my bullets to see the indications of what happens.

Of course I resort to the usual pre-recovery observations as well. What shape are the bullet holes? How's the group? What do the primers look like? Is there carbon on the brass? Is there any lube on the neck of the case, or on the tar­get? What are the chronograph results and bar­rel condition, etc.? I also recognize that, if you have an accurate load, there is little reason to check the bullets. They are already working just fine. I feel the most benefit comes when you think all is okay, but the load won't shoot, or results are less than acceptable. Observing the recovered bullets allows me to determine what is happening, rather than just guessing. Factors such as the type and quantity of powder used, filler ef­fects, wad benefit, alloy suitability, and bullet qual­ity, are all factors that I routinely check.

This article appeared in Fouling Shot #178 Nov/Dec 2005.

Part 3 of 4 by John Alexander

After noting that the muzzle energy and momentum of factory twenty gauge slug loads were comparable to those of short range deer rifles, I bought a twenty gauge NEF Ultra Slug gun and mounted a BSA 1.5-4.5X scope. I next tested eight factory slug loads at fifty yards from a bench rest. Six of the eight produced five shot groups of over ten minutes of angle making them unsatisfactory as humane loads for deer much beyond bayonet fighting range.

Two of the factory loads performed much better in the NEF gun. The three inch Brenneke USA Magnum exceeded the muzzle energy of the factory 405 grain .45-70 loads and was also the most accurate producing five shot groups at fifty yards averaging 1.5 inches, or three minutes of angle (MOA). The Winchester “BRI” load was almost as accurate averaging 2.1 inches (4.2 MOA) for five shot groups, and producing muzzle energy levels comparable to the .44 magnum.

Either of these combinations had adequate accuracy and power to be satisfactory deer loads for woods hunting. However, the Brenneke and BRI shells cost over $2.50 and $2.00 per bang respectively. My goal was to develop handloads of comparable accuracy and adequate power for deer at up to 100 yards.

I had three possibilities on hand for slugs for my handloads. One was the Lyman “Shotgun Sabot Slug” which looks like an oversized and elongated air gun pellet. I had also cast a good supply of both 0.575 and 0.635 inch diameter balls from various alloys. The smaller ball weighed about 280 grains while the larger ball and the Sabot Slug weighed 370 and 360 respectively.