(10-02-2023, 10:51 PM)Snarl Wrote: The only caliber I cast bullets for was the .38/.357. I only have a 5 shot revolver in that caliber, so it's better for me to just shell out the bucks for a box of 500 from Berry's.
The ingots? I spent a bit of time scrounging up and sorting out all that lead ... not to mention melting it down and cleaning it up. Far less aluminum. I guess I'll just leave 'em lay unless somebody I know asks to have 'em. Sure ain't packin' it up if/when we move from here.
These are for a 6 shot black powder revolver, .36 caliber. They should be a bit oversized to insure a good lead to chamber seal to prevent chain fires, but that .390 is just a bit too much. .375 seems to work best - shaves off a tiny ring of lead, seals the chamber tight.
This critter ain't one I can find pre-packaged ammo for. They stopped making that probably 120 years ago. If you could find it now, it'd cost a king's ransom, since they ALL have to be hand-loaded now.
I'm not hurting for ammo for it, since I still have around 300 .375 lead balls and a couple pounds of Triple-Seven powder which can all be hand loaded straight into the chambers in a pinch, but I like making the cartridges as they are a good bit more convenient and easier to load. Less muss, less fuss. Just drop the whole cartridge into the chamber, hit it with the rammer, and move on to the next.
I only make them up about 12-24 rounds at a time, since I've only got 4 wooden cartridge boxes to pack them into, and don't have the equipment to make any more boxes. I need to find someone with a wood shop to crank out a few more of them with the right dimensions. I can buy them from overseas, but they're about 20 bucks a throw for a 1/2 inch by 3 inch by 2 inch block of wood with 6 or 7 holes bored in each one to hold the cartridges and maybe a sleeve of caps for them. That's just not cost-effective. The Yankee boxes only have 6 holes, no cap hole, but they have a lid to cover the top of the cartridges too. The Confederate boxes have no lid, but they have 7 holes to hold 6 cartridges and a paper-wrapped sleeve of caps. Life is full of trade-offs!
ETA: I found one company that sells pre-rolled cartridges of the sort I make. They sell them for about 2.50/ round, but their cartridges have round balls rather than the conicals I use,and they only have 14 gr FFFg black powder, whereas I use 17 gr. FFFg Triple Seven, so mine shoot hotter... and they only cost me about 20 cents a round to make, depending on where I get the lead. Plenty markup in them thar cartridges!
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