This article was written by CBA member, Tom Acheson and was published in the Mar/April 2003 #162 issue of the Fouling Shot.

The path of my interest in handguns must have started off differently than what other shooters have experienced. In my narrow little world way back then, my focus was on double action revolvers. It just didn’t seem to make sense to have a gun that took “forever” to load and unload. Therefore when I saw the Ruger and Colt single actions, I just looked beyond them as being impractical. But back in 1974, there was no such thing as Cowboy Acton shooting and western movies had slipped in their popularity. So it took me longer than most to arrive at a point where I would eventually appreciate the single action revolver.

Since silhouette shooting is one of my main shoot-ing interests, all of those early year match entries were shot with double action revolvers, starting in about 1980. Oddly enough the very first entry was shot using an S&W Model 25-2 that had been factory-fitted with a .45 Colt barrel (to go along with the original .45 Auto Rim cylinder) and that was the round that I was using. But in 1996 a single action revolver finally found its way into my gun vault. It was made by El Dorado and was a .41 Mag. Oddly enough, that same year, a friend of mine and I were out in South Dakota shooting sod poodles and we somehow talked ourselves into buying two consecutive serial numbered .45 Colt single action revolvers from Doug Turnbull Restorations (716-657-6338). This “pro-ject” eventually took on the look of being more of a his-torical driven need than a shooting need.

These were ordered to be as close to the original 1873 first-model appearance as we could. Doug Turnbull starts with Colt made revolvers from the Colt Custom Shop and then he builds the gun to order from there. Our requested details include use of the screw in the frame that holds the cylinder base pin (not the spring loaded lat-eral pin used on current versions), the pinched rear sight notch in the top-strap of the frame, walnut grip panels, 5-1/2” barrel, bird’s eye extractor push point, checkered hammer tip and the terrific Turnbull color case hardened frame finish.

So here we are looking at the new gun, appearing almost like a piece of jewelry. Since none of the guns in my vault are “wall hangers”, my intention was to shoot mine and work up an accuracy load for it. But like my friend who owns the twin Colt to mine said: “Life is too short to shoot an ugly gun.” This gun is definitely not ugly. But now it was time to find out if it could shoot. The initial goal would be to develop a load that operates at the approximate 1873 muzzle velocities of 810-855 f.p.s. with the 255-grain (lead) bullet.

The first move was to carefully slug the barrel and cylinder throats. Looks like the dimensional gods were not having a very good day when this gun was assembled. The bore came out 0.4495”-0.450” and the cylinder throats ranged from 0.458” to 0.459. If the cylinder throats are smaller than the bore it can be a challenge to get decent accuracy out of a revolver. (See also FS # 96, p.4 for another writer’s comments on this detail.) By comparison my 7-1/2” Ruger Vaquero has cylinder openings that are in the .451” to .452” diameter range and a bore that is closer to .453” diameter.

Then some preliminary experiments were conducted to identify which lubricator sizer die to use when settling on a bullet diameter. The answer seemed to be 0.452” diameter. Bullets of 0.451”, 0.453” and 0.454” diameter were also tried but were not any more accurate than the 0.452” size. (As a side note here the Ruger Vaquero also demonstrated a preference for 0.452” bullets over 0.451” diameter bullets.)

If you walk into any gunshop (that sells components and reloading gear) and blurt out the well-worn question: “What’s the best load for a .45 Colt?” my informal survey says that the answer will include WW 231 or Unique (popularity in that order) as the powder to use. The week-end plow jockeys and pickle barrel guards in these shops all seem to have their own “best recipe”. But as many of us know, every gun is different and needs to have its own load research conducted for it. Now it was time to assemble test loads.

The first loads I tried were the ones that my Vaquero seemed to like the best. It is the RCBS 45-255 SWC bullet with 8.0 grains of WW231 and a Winchester primer (960 f.p.s.). In the shorter barreled and lighter Colt, this load was a little too stiff from the shooting comfort perspective. It was encouraging to see that the very first 5-round group that went through the gun went into a slightly smaller than 2” cluster. But accuracy was not up to what the Vaquero has often produced, not an alarming or unexpected development. The biggest lesson learned during those early range efforts was how high above the center of the 6” diameter bullseye aiming point that the bullets were striking on the 25-yard target. Left-to-right was fine but the elevation thing was getting to be downright discouraging for such an expensive gun (notice I haven’t and won’t talk about the price in print, my family may someday read this article). As testing progressed this elevation impact annoyance was eventually solved by sending the gun back to Turnbull who added a slightly higher front sight to the gun, which lowered the point of impact. But now I have a left to right impact area problem (see below).

Written by Bob Birmley Cimarron, NM & Photos by Doug Baribeau, this article appeared in the May/June, 2003 #163 issue of the Fouling Shot.

You’re shooting for score in heavy class. It’s 100 yards and you’re running a string of fourteen consecutive tens with five or six X’s thrown in for good measure. Then on your fifteenth shot you miss and I’m not talking about dropping a point - I’m talking two points! You just shot an eight. You calm yourself down and finish up with a 198. A respectable score? Sure, but it could have been perfect. That one bad shot cost you a “200” sticker and possibly the match. What happened? Was it me, was it the wind, was it my bench technique?

Wait a minute. I know what it was. It has to be a bad bullet! If I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it a hundred times, “It must be the bullet.” I’ve said it plenty of times myself although to be honest I always thought blaming the bullet was an easy way out for just plain poor shooting. But alas my fellow shooters, I think I may have stumbled across something that may explain where that occasional bad shot comes from and you know what, it just might be the bullet.

In March of 2002 the Modesto Rifle Club had its first CBA shoot of the season. On the first morning I settled in on the bench at 100 yards. We were shooting for score. I dropped one on the fifth shot and another on my twelfth shot. Okay, so my luck was starting to run out. Then on my sixteenth shot I dropped two points with an eight. I ended up with a 196. Boy, the Red Gods had just gotten their revenge.


I’ve shot plenty of nines at 100 yards but never an eight. I started checking everything I could think of that could make me drop two points in one shot. Was it the gun? The gun is a Dave Lee built heavy with all the bells and whistles. The rifle finished off the 2001 season with five consecutive 200’s at 100 yards. In the off sea-son it never missed a beat. I don’t say this to boast but to stress the fact that the gun has always done its job. In my case the gun makes the shooter, not the other way around. Was it my bench technique? No, I haven’t changed a thing since my mentor and shooting partner, Bob Thompson, slapped me upside the head for squeezing the rear bag. And that was almost three years ago. Was it the wind? Could be. I have a long way to go before I figure out how to “read the wind.” But on this day the wind was down and at 100 yards my heavy gun spits out tens with boring regularity.

Well, that leaves my loads. I load at the bench. Nothing changes from shot to shot. Same case, same charge, same primer, same bullet. I shoot a .30 BR using the Eagan MX 4-30 ARD “old cherry.” The bullets come out looking as pretty as the mold they come from. (Note: This is straight lino.) My bullets are indexed and I weigh them with the gas checks seated. After weighing them and lubing, I put them in loading blocks in 1/10-grain increments. They are also marked so I can tell each time the weight of the bullet increases 1/10 of a grain. Between each step of my bullet making routine every bullet is checked under a large, well-lit magnifying glass. There’s only one problem with this routine—my aging eyes and the glare of the bright light. After an hour or so my eyes become fatigued so I started looking for a solution to my problem of looking at bright silver bullets under a bright light.

Then the light between my ears came on. I remembered how Dave Lee’s bullets looked after he moly coated them. They came out a very dull gray color. The color probably comes from the moly but what the hell, I threw 50 bullets into my Lyman 600 tumbler. After about two hours I checked them out. Sure enough, they were a dark gray. All the cosmetic blemishes had been removed and no more glare from the bright bullets. But there was something else I found. Four of the bullets had holes in them. I didn’t notice any holes before running them through the tumbler. I grabbed 100 unprocessed bullets from my casting table and sat down at my reloading bench. I carefully checked all 100 newly cast bullets under my large magnifying glass. All the bullets looked perfect. I dumped all 100 bullets into my Lyman tumbler. I turned it on and came back four hours later. Like the ones before, they came out a dark gray. Out of 100 bullets I found seven with holes.

CBA member Dietrich Whitesides of Northglenn, CO wrote this article for the July/Aug 2002, #158 issue of the Fouling Shot.

Several years ago, I allowed my membership in the CBA to expire and I have been wandering in the darkness since. Having seen the error of my ways I recently rejoined, and not a moment too soon. I have shouldered the task of providing accurate, low-recoiling, inexpensive rounds for a non-reloading shooting friend’s (they exist) collection of 7.62x54R Mosin-Nagants.

The challenges: I would not be able to fire the rifles, I don’t own a rifle in that caliber, slugging the barrel and throat was out of the question, my friend Steven does not believe in gadgets like chronographs, multiple rifles meant full-length case resizing instead of just neck sizing, and I wanted to minimize costs by maximizing the use of materials on hand.

One feature of the project that was enticing is that the cartridge is well suited to cast bullet use. It has a big case rim for sure extraction, a short, fat case for efficient powder use, and a long neck for good neck tension. (I wonder if anyone has reamed the chamber on a Mosin-Nagant into an improved version. It looks like it could come close to .300 Winchester Short Magnum ballistics in a $139 rifle.)

As everything my friend has been shooting is Berdan-primed surplus stuff of questionable quality, I started with a search for brass. It turns out the Finns use the same round, they just call theirs 7.62x53R. I acquired 100 pieces of Boxer-primed Lapua brass for a reasonable price, full-length sized them, and squared up the case mouths.

I selected two Lee molds to try, both for cost and bullet diameter. Between using aluminum molds and Midway mold prep, casting is more fun than a chore. The molds are the Lee C312-155-2R and the Lee C312-185R. Both are single cavity molds; both bullets are gas check designs of .312 diameter. The alloy I used consisted of relatively pure lead, of which I got about 1000 pounds for free, wheel weights that I pick up off the street, (drives my wife crazy!), and linotype, which I actually broke down and bought several years ago. The alloy was scientifically blended in a 20-pound pot by first refining the wheel weights, adding a carefully calculated, hand-measured amount of the pure lead, and then adding a one-pound ingot of linotype.

The bullets were ladle poured and quenched from the mould. The 155 grainer fell from the mold at .309 inches and 156 grains, and the 185-grainer cast at .310 inches and right at 185 grains. I had acquired a .312” sizing die for my RCBS Lube-a-matic, but ended up using my .310” sizing die. (Mental note: Next time cast the slugs before buying the sizing die.) Wondering about the bullet diameter sent me searching through back issues of The Fouling Shot for answers. There, I found articles on the relationship between hardness and bullet diameter. Of course, I meant to pour them soft so they would obturate better to fill the bore.

The 155-grain bullets were sorted and run through the .310” die to lube and to seat the gas checks. The lube was Thompson’s Blue. I had decided that to offer Steven more that one bullet at a time would tax his non-reloading mind beyond comprehension. The 185-grain bullets will go next time. One of the rifles is a Finnish M39, with a 27-inch barrel. After looking at that little slug with that tiny bit of Blue lube and thinking about that long barrel, I added Lee tumble lube to the bullets as a secondary lube.

During my review of The Fouling Shot back issues, I read several articles about ways to reduce case capacity. As I was building reduced squib loads, I was interested. I settled on rolling up a small square of copier paper and inserting it in the case. The paper was pushed down past the neck, and then pushed out against the inside wall of the case.

Shooting the 8mms by Joe Wiest Dubuque, IA, appeared in the Mar/Apr 2006, #180 issue of the Fouling Shot.

The Yugo Model 43

I never intended to get an 8MM but found a good deal on the web for a NEI324210 mold. I looked back in the old issues of the The Fouling Shot and saw some members had shot groups of under 2 inches with old 8mm military rifles, and one person used the Saeco mold and won the postal match.

Before I used my C&R license I stopped in at a friend’s house and looked at a Yugo Model 43. It was 90% new and he wanted $150.00 for it. That is what I wanted to order. I drove out of town and knew I would never get one that nice from a surplus house so back I went, laid down the cash and took it home.

The groove is .322”, bore .316” and the leade is .324”. I didn’t have any 8mm brass so made some from .30-06. The NEI bullet was too long and seated too deeply in the case. I made a die for my Lyman 450 and bored it .322” and opened up the top to .327” and pol-ished a taper in it. I now size the first two bands to fit the leade and the bullet seats without the check being past the end of the neck.

I made a neck bushing for my bushing die with a .350 I.D. to neck size and decap the cases. I also use the Lee case neck expander to flare the necks. It is fast to load for this way.

I couldn’t see the sights too well so CBA member John Wagner made a peep sight and mounted it on the rear ladder sight. He took a piece of 3/8” rod stock, drilled a .100” hole through it and turned it down to fit in the ladder sight after rounding it out. This makes it look like looking through the Jap rifle sights - nice and clear. Well this is one rifle that I never had to do any work on the bedding. At the range with this big 240 grain bullet, 22 grains of 2200 gave a 2.00” group, 20 grains of 4227 gave a 1-1/2” group and 20 grains of REL-7 gave a 1.00” group.

The next mold I got was the Lee 8X56 mold. I had to size down the front band to .322” on this one too (.327” on the remainder) but it turned out to be the best shoot-ing bullet I tried. With 22 grains of REL-7 I got a 7/8” group, 50 grains of WC872 gave a 1-5/8” group and 22 grains of 4198 gave a 1-1/2” group.

The K98s

After I got done with the Yugo Mauser Southern Ohio Gun had a price reduction on the K98s that are refurbished for $150.00. With two molds on hand I figured one more rifle wouldn’t hurt. It came in nice condition with groove size of .323”, bore .316” and the leade of .325”. The bore shows some wear. I ordered a 190 grain Saeco #081 mold from a supply house since I read in Precision Shooting that one fellow did well with it. I cast up some bullets but when I went to put the gas checks on the shank was so short the check buckled. I called Redding and within a week they cut me a new mold. The gas check now just almost touches the last band which I think is still too close, but it works. I lapped this mold out to .327”. This bullet is shorter and didn’t require tapering to fit properly.

I shot it on four different trips to the range and it would shoot 4 to 7 inch patterns with any and everything. I took the rifle apart and found the bedding around the action was very sloppy. I bedded it and ran a crowning ball around the muzzle. Back at the range with 24 grains of REL-7 and the Saeco #081 bullet I got groups of 1-1/8” and 1-1/2”. With the Lee bullet which had the noses bumped the same load shot a 1-1/8” group. Mustafa Curtess’s load of 13.5 grains of AA#2 I got a 1-1/2” group.

The Turkish Model 38

Then came a better deal from Southern Ohio Gun: Buy two Turkish M-38s at $49.00 each (plus $10.00 if hand picked). My brother ordered them and took the choice of one of the boxes, rifle unseen. His pick had a black looking stock and looked about the same inside. In my box was a rifle with a nice light colored stock and a bright bore. Who ever owned this one I bet took very good care of his camel also!

This rifle has a long barrel and the sights are nice. I used a “V” file and opened up the rear sight and can now see well with it. I put in a new firing pin spring from Brownell’s as the original was slow and sluggish. The action is nice and smooth and I never had to do anything with the bedding. I guess this one in the dry climate didn’t get all oil soaked. The groove diameter is .323”, the bore is .316” and the leade is .325”. This rifle shoots better with a clean bore than a fouled one. It also shoots best with the bullet tapered down on the first band to .322”, using either the Lee or NEI bullet. The Saeco bul-let shoots well as-is.

With 22 grains of Rel-7 and either the Lee or the Saeco bullet I got groups of 1-3/8”. I had a lot bigger groups with other loads. For the price of this rifle it did very well. I loaded some up for my brother but his “bench rest” is sand bags on his Jeep. Still, he claims it was no trouble to keep them in 6 inches at 100 yards.

The ‘88 Commission Rifle

Last winter I bought an ‘88 at a gun show I guess just because I wanted to buy something. This spring I planned on seeing if it would shoot and sell it if it didn’t as I didn’t think too much of it. I checked the bore size as they were originally made with the “J” bore of .318” (groove diameter). Mine was bored for the larger (“S” -.323”) bullet and had light rifling. Since I was going to sell it I didn’t keep any notes, but I took some of my 8mm loads and just shot it off the 50 yard bench without any bags and got 2 inch groups. I sold it to a friend and always wondered just how good it might have shot. Then this summer my brother picked one up at an auction and gave it to me to try. It also had the “S” bore and light rifling again. With the loads I used in my other 8mms it gave between 2 and 3 inch groups.

At the last gun show here this fall there was an ‘88 laying on the table that just jumped right at me (with a Swiss Vetterli .41 R.F. following me home for another story later). This one has a bore of 315” and groove of .323” and a leade .327”. The stock has a blacker finish like black shoe polish was rubbed in the pores but looks okay. The bolt works very smooth and it is a nice gun.

With 23 grains of Rel-7 with the Lee bullet I got a group of 1-3/8”. The NEI gave a .90” group and the Redding bullet gave a 2-3/8” group. I haven’t played with this one much. But for a cast bullet rifle it shoots them very well. These are a slick working gun. The bad news is that I am moving to a bigger house and have to pack all this stuff up!

Fitting Lee Sprue Plates by Mustafa CurtessAustwell, TX,

Fitting the sprue plate on a Lee mould to fit niceand flat is simple and productive. I ordinarily cast with anew mould long enough to thoroughly test the bullets.After that, if the bullets are good enough to use routinely,the mould will be broken in and stable. There is sometimesa small amount of warpage brought on by severalheating and cooling cycles.

It is common to see a wedge of light showingunder the sprue plate; zero at the pivot screw to ? at thefree end. I remove the sprue plate and grab the cornerwith the screw hole in it in the vise jaws, half way throughthe hole and give the plate a whack on the top side witha leather mallet. This will bend a barely visible tab downtoward the blocks. This then will produce a wedge of lightthat is larger by the screw down to nothing at the outeredge.

Then lay a sheet of abrasive paper on a flat surfaceand set the sprue plate on it, allowing the stop flangeto overhang the edge. Polish the bottom of the sprueplate until the area over the cavities just begins to showcontact with the abrasive paper.

By far, most of the metal polished away will bewhere you bent the little tab down around the screw hole.With the screw adjusted so the sprue plate will almostpivot of its own weight, you will have a perfect fit of theplate to the blocks. Because of the wide contact area, itwill be perfect and permanent. I also lightly lap the top ofthe blocks on the abrasive paper to remove any burrs. •

This article written by CBA member Ralph Schneider, appeared in the Jan/Feb 2003, #161 issue of the Fouling Shot.

Those of us who experiment with cast bullet lubricants can often do preliminary testing by first sizing several bullets “dry,” then wiping the experimental lube on them with a wooden or plastic paddle. But this is a mess, and seating such bullets usually leaves the bullet seating die in need of dismantling and cleaning. Another possibility is to melt the lube and pour it into the reservoir of a lubrisizer, let it cool, then size and lubricate the bullets in the normal way — but there is at least the distant possibility that pouring hot lube into a cold lubrisizer could summon the demon of differential expansion into being and crack the casting.

But a third possibility exists: mold the lubricant into sticks such as those typified by commercial bullet lubes. These are usually about 1” in diameter and 4” long, with a hole through the center to admit a threaded rod that enables a pis-ton to apply pressure to the lube in the reservoir and force it into the sizing/lubricating die. It is reasonably easy to make molds that will form such sticks; what follows has been abstracted from an online discussion of Felix Lube, and then modified somewhat.

Overview: The basic mold parts are 1” I.D. PVC pipe, PVC pipe caps to fit, and 3/8” rod. Use drywall (or similar) screws to attach the caps, open-end up, to a board. With a 3/8” bit, drill through the centers of the caps and about 1/2” into the wood. Cut the PVC pipe into sections 5” or 6” long, and cut 3/8” O.D. rod into sections about 8” long to form center shafts. Insert the pipe sections into the caps (Don’t glue them in place!) and insert the 3/8” rod sec-tions into the center-drilled bases. In case the upper ends of the rods are not centered in the pipes, prepare a number of 1” long sections of 1” diameter dowel rod that have been center-drilled to accept the 3/8” rods. Also, go to your bolt box and find a flat washer with a 3/8” I.D. and a 1” O.D. Finally, prepare a length of 1/2” I.D. pipe (about 8”-9” long), and put a pipe cap on one end. These last two items are tools for pushing the lube sticks out of the molds.

Construction Details and Refinements:

A 2” X 4” board works well; cut it long enough to easily accommodate the bases of the number of molds you want to make. When you drill the pipe caps to accept the drywall screws, it is well to countersink the holes in the caps and also to mark and drill smaller pilot holes in the wood. Number 6 screws work well for attaching the pipe caps to the 2X4; use 2 or 3 screws per cap, evenly spaced around the inside edge of the cap. When center-drilling the PVC caps with the 3/8” bit, use a drill press (to be sure the holes are vertical), and lower the drill bit very slowly to keep it from “grabbing” in the PVC and distorting the holes. The PVC pipe can be a tight fit in the caps; it may be necessary to use a file or a belt sander to taper the outside diameter of the ends of the pipe sections so that they are an easy slide fit into the caps. Aluminum rod works well for the 3/8” center shaft; it is smooth-sided for easy removal, and it can even be heated to help in that process. The 1” dowel sections may not be a very close fit in the pipe sections; it is possible to build the diameters of the dowel sections up by using multiple winds of masking tape — the stuff eventually sets up like iron. You may want to use 1/2” strips of masking tape to create “collars” around the upper ends of the dowel sections to keep them from slipping too far into the pipes. The 1/2” pusher pipe can be easily made of a length of rigid cop-per pipe; attach the pipe cap by soldering or with epoxy. The basic mold parts can also be made of copper pipe and pipe caps — with appropriate changes in screw head sizes, since copper caps have less interior space; in some parts of the construction process, copper can be easier to work with than PVC.

This article written by CBA member Gordon Meeder, was published in the Mar/Apr 2011, #210 issue of the Fouling Shot.

I just had to have a Colt Police Positive to add to my modest collection of Colt service revolvers. The one I bought just happened to be in 38 S+W. Or as Colt called it, the 38 Colt New Police. Once I got it I had to shoot it. I found a couple of boxes of Remington factory 146gr. cartridges. It took no time at all to shoot them up. I bought a set of Lee dies and went to work to reload them.

I’ve been reloading for years and everything seemed normal until I went to seat the bullets; the 125 grain Lee round flat nose and 148 grain wadcutters. (I chose those bullets because that’s what I have molds for.) They were loose in the sized case. Some would fall in!

Now the 38 S+W is supposed to shoot a .360” diam-eter bullet. My Lee bullets out of the mold go .358”-.359”. That ought to have been big enough to have at least some tension in a resized case.

I looked at the sizing die and noticed it said it was for a 38 Auto, whatever that is. I thought maybe Lee miss-packaged the die set. I sent a note to Lee. They said that was the correct sizing die. Working at it some more I noticed that some of the cases held the bullet tighter than others. I thought, could the brass be inconsistent? Could some of the cases have more spring back?

I had no way of measuring the thickness of the brass. The outside diameter of loaded brass measured .378”-.380”. Fired brass measured .384” outside diameter so I knew the die was doing something. I quit worrying about it. I carefully seated the bullets and applied a heavy crimp.

These old Colts were regulated at the factory to shoot to the sights at 15 yards, apparently with a 146-148 grain bullet. The factory 146 grain Remingtons shot to the top of the post front sight at 15 yards and just a tad to the left printing a nice round 2” group. The Lee 125 grain, cast of wheel weights and tumble lubed in liquid Alox goes 126.5 grains. The wadcutter weighs 150. I loaded both of them with a charge of 3.5 grains of Unique. My old Lyman cast bullet hand book gives 3.5 grains as a starting load for a 133 grain bullet and 3.4 grain starting load for a 150 grain so I figured I was safe. The revolver was made in 1919 so I decided a gun that old would never see anything but a suggested starting load. The dipper that came with the Lee dies throws 2.3 grains of Unique. I thought that was treating the old gun too nice.

When dealing with these old revolvers one has to take into account the crude sights, if you can call them sights compared to what comes on revolvers today. So to get that 2” group consistently one has to really have his act together. I don’t always have my act together. Both loads shot 2” when everything came together. The wad-cutters shot higher than the factory loads and had notice-ably more recoil. The gun is hard enough to shoot with-out it kicking too much.

Maybe I should have used that Lee dipper for the wadcutters! I shot 18 of them then set them aside figur-ing it was too much like work shooting them. I also didn’t want to abuse the old Colt. Looking at the factory Remington bullet it appears to be pure lead; at least it’s pretty soft because it can be scratched easily with a fin-gernail. The wheel weight bullet is harder and the longer bearing surface of the wadcutter might account for the harsher recoil.

A note on wadcutters and the 38 S+W is in order here. I had to seat the wadcutter up to the crimping groove in order for them to chamber in the gun. There seems to be a pronounced step at the beginning of the throats of my Colt. The factory bullets have a pronounced step with a band measuring .358” just at the case step-ping down to .336”.

I suppose this round was designed that way so a heavy bullet could be used and chambered without encroaching on the limited powder space, which is what the wadcutter does. Seating the wadcutter on top of 3.5 grains of Unique sure looks like a compressed load to me. I have since tried the wadcutters using 2.3 grains of unique. They still let you know they went off and feel about like the factory rounds.

The 125 grain bullet, instead of hitting on top of the post as the factory load did, hits just below the post and a little more to the left, enough so that it would be hard to hit a squirrel at 15 yards, but not enough that it would make a difference if the gun is used for its intended pur-pose (which isn’t shooting squirrels). I’ve settled on the 125 grain bullet for general use as it is accurate enough for plinking and makes the Colt easier to shoot than the heavier bullet. It also has enough zing to shoot clear through a 3” pine landscape timber leaving an impres-sive exit hole for such a “pipsqueak” round by today’s standards.

After I did all this I decided to slug the throats and the bore of the Colt. Finding the throats to be .358” and the bore .355” made me wonder about the .360” specifica-tion for the 38 S+W. My Lyman Manual gives .360” as the bullet diameter used in their testing. They also used a Model 33 Smith as the test firearm. Maybe Colt used the same tooling for the 38S+W as they did for the 38 Special for economic and convenience reasons. Officers Models and OP’s in 38 Special from the same era I own have those same dimensions. I don’t have any experi-ence with a Smith and Wesson.

Dealing with the loose bullets in the brass is an inconvenience during loading but it isn’t that big of a deal. I was concerned about the bullets maybe walking in the case from recoil but there is no evidence of that and I get reliable ignition. If I ever need more brass I’ll try another manufacturer like Starline.

I talked my wife into learning to shoot a revolver and the Police Positive seemed a good choice to start out with. It isn’t heavy, doesn’t recoil much with the 125 grain load, isn’t intimidating like a big gun, and if one learns to shoot it one could probably learn to shoot anything. It also has a 6” barrel making it a little easier to hit with than say a 2” snubby.

I find that when first teaching someone to shoot it is better to use a reaction target rather than paper. A reaction target just makes it more fun. I hang a 3# coffee can or something similar in size from a frame about eye level high. For first time shooters I have them stand back about 3-4 yards point the gun at the can and blast away (after some preliminary instruction and dry firing). Students catch on pretty quick. Hitting the target and watching it react gives them confidence. After they start hitting regularly I let them stand wherever they want, to teach them humility. It is fun. My wife is improving. Cans don’t stand a chance.

This article written by CBA member Pat Ifland was published in the Sept/Oct 2007 #189 issue of the Fouling Shot.

In my opinion the best and least appreciated tool for sizing bullets is the Lee Push Through Sizer. I’ve included a picture of two bullets, one sized with a Lee die and one sized with a Lyman Lubrisizer. I also have an RCBS lubrisizer and ran the same test with similar results so this is no indictment against Lyman‘s machine.

Both lubrisizers were totally cleaned before testing because of some lube trials I have coming up so the H&I die was free to center itself. The top punch was left loose so that it would have as little chance as possible of pushing the bullet into the die at an angle, and I did the best I could to get everything straight. As you can see in the picture the bullet on the left was sized off center using the Lyman lubrisizer while the bullet on the right is symmetrical using the Lee die.

Experiments in Inert Gas Casting by Steven F. Hurst, Tucker, GA was published in the #163 May/June 2003 issue of the Fouling Shot.

The research lab I was working in had an assortment of controlled atmosphere hoods for working with materials sensitive to air and moisture. Having been a bullet caster since high school, I was well aware of the effects of dross on bullet casting. I wanted to see what life was like without this bother.

We had three choices of atmosphere: argon, very inert and very expensive; nitrogen, inert and much cheaper; and carbon dioxide, not used much because it reacted with many of our compounds, but it was dirt-cheap. I determined from reference sources all three would work for bullet casting, as there was no chemical reaction between lead, tin or antimony and any of the three gasses at casting temperatures. One weekend I brought in my casting equipment. The hood was set up for nitrogen, so I passed the electric pot, ladle and moulds through the airlock.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of casting in an inert gas atmosphere, it is a unique experience. Once you have skimmed off the initial dross, the pot stays clean and bright forever. This was ladle caster’s heaven! A perfectly clean pot, with no fluxing ever. Sprues were uncommonly bright, with no oxidation; I put them right back in the pot and the surface stayed clean and clear. Even the moulds were safe from rust, you could have left them sit for 1000 years, or at least until the gas ran out.

So now I do all my casting in my own hood under inert gas protection, right? Wrong! You see there is a small problem. You have to work with your arms and hands in gloves. Not just gloves, but thick rubber gloves attached to the wall of the hood. The gloves are about ten sizes too big so everyone can easily get their hands into them. You stick your arms in and you feel like the guy that was inside Robby the Robot. Setting up experiments in a hood is bad enough, trying to cast bullets is another mat-ter, manual dexterity is nonexistent, the gloves are hot and your arms sweat. After 30 minutes, this is about as comfortable as a root canal.

Ok, there had to be a better way, I considered a home cabinet, with Mylar lining so it would be oxygen proof, petal ports so I could put bare arms in, and positive pressure so 99.9% of the air was excluded. A card-board mock-up showed this was not the way to go, finger dexterity was good, but very limited arm mobility, just like the cabinet, made casting difficult. Just try to cast with your elbows held in one place, you will get the picture. I considered other options, like filling the garage with inert gas and wearing a scuba regulator with an outside exhaust, but this was a lot of work and I am a lazy guy.