(10-02-2023, 04:10 AM)Snarl Wrote:(09-30-2023, 05:55 PM)Ninurta Wrote: What I'm saying is that the only "trade worthy metals" at this station will be either lead, or steel if I can get a forge going.
I've built a couple to melt aluminum and lead. It always amazed me how much aluminum it took to pour a full ingot. It amazed me how heavy lead was. I mostly stopped messing with it because I didn't have anything I could do with it. If you're gonna try ... go BIG. Least time I checked, crucibles were expensive as all get out.
This guy made a good one:
I did a bunch of reloading work this weekend. None of it consisted of casting bullets. I have before ... but it's too much time making stuff at that level.
I think aluminum ingots pretty much have to be re-melted and cast to shape. Then you run into the problem of having to make the molds, too. About all we ever used aluminum for was the hames on a horse collar, and we got those already formed.
I need to cast some more bullets, but fell short this year because it never really got hot enough outside for me to be comfortable casting any, so I've only got a few Colt bullets left. I've got scads of the Richmond Labs pattern, but they'll have to be melted down and re-cast as the Colt pattern. The RL are .390 diameter, and it's a real pain in the ass to get them stuffed into a chamber - I've got to practically stand on the loading lever to get them in. The Colt pattern are .380 diameter, so they shave a little easier during loading. The chambers are, I think, about .375.
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“Trouble rather the tiger in his lair than the sage among his books. For to you kingdoms and their armies are things mighty and enduring, but to him they are but toys of the moment, to be overturned with the flick of a finger.”
― Gordon R. Dickson, Tactics of Mistake
― Gordon R. Dickson, Tactics of Mistake