Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

MifflinKid

Members
  • Posts

    14
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by MifflinKid

  1. I fire lapped two Ruger Vaqueros in the late 1990s. I used the NECO kit linked by pskys2. Both guns leaded the barrels badly starting just beyond frame/barrel areas. The frame choke areas on each of these .45 Colt guns measured less than .449". The cylinder throats on both were originally way too tight (around .448") but a gunsmith opened them to a .4525" each prior to my fire lapping escapade. I followed the NECO directions but it took many bullets (225gr truncated cone bullets without lube; BHN 18 at .452" -- do not use soft bullets) with the 220 grit to get the constrictions a tad under .451". I then switched to the finer grits to finish up the opening of the choked areas and polish the barrels. I used 2.5 grains of Red Dot but seated the prepared bullets so that their bearing areas, which had the lapping compounds embedded in them, were totally covered by the cases. Preparing the cases was very messy. The lapping compounds got all over the place and me. I used a lot of paper towels and Hoppes #9 to clean my hands and the prep area. I removed all of the dies from my press and scrubbed them with mineral spirits to remove any lapping compound. I typically fired 12 rounds, cleaned the barrels and cylinders with Hoppes #9 and Bore Scrubber and many cotton patches. To measure my progress I used Hornady .454" lead balls to slug the barrels and a micrometer to asses the progress. FWIW, the first dozen or two rounds (220 grit) removed the most material. Thereafter progress slowed. I fired the bullets into sheets of 8.5x11 paper to make sure each bullet exited the gun. It took hours to do the firing of the lapping bullets (and the cleanings and the measurements). I had a small audience watching at times. I got some "interesting" comments from several of the watchers. The results? The frame chokes were eliminated, barrel leading was almost totally eliminated, the barrel was extremely polished. Cleaning the barrels became much easier. Accuracy with my Cowboy load went from over 3" at twenty-five yard, bench rested, to about 2.5" - 2.25". I considered that pretty darn good with the gross sights on the Vaqueros and my eye sight (in my late 40's then). Edit note: The frame choke areas were originally less than .449" not .459" as I typed in my post. Sorry for any confusion I caused!
  2. I use a piece of chrome plated wire. I cut it of a large safety pin. The ends a bent at 90 degree angles.
  3. I use Hornady's muzzleloading lead balls for slugging barrels https://www.midwayusa.com/prduct/1165132904/hornady-muzzleloading-bullets-round-ball They are currently on sale at MidwayUSA. I always use a micrometer to measure the swaged ball. Calipers are not really good enough for me.
  4. Please don't confuse the precision of the Titan EasyDial with improved repeatability. You are still using the Dillon powder measure to meter out the powders. The great benefits of the Titan EasyDial are getting back to a known and recorded position of the powder bar quickly and the ease of doing so. You still must overcome the usual problems we have with many powders (uh, like Unique and 700-X) being inherently more variable in drop weights. As I mentioned in my original post, humidity in my basement will still affect the drop weights of powders -- the Titan EasyDial just helps me accommodate for those changes more quickly. At least with the HP-38 and BE-86 powders I have used. Good luck with your Titan EasyDial. I hope you will like yours as much as I like mine.
  5. I got the Titan Small Bar. Yes, it is a rotation counter. Each full rotation of the dial (making 100 changes to the lower numbers) causes the upper number to increase or decrease by one depending on the direction you turn the dial. The result of this is that you can record your powder drops as, say, 3.83 with powder A gives you 4.6 grains or 5.71 with powder B gives you 8.4 grains. I think you would want to remove it to make it easier to get the back of the dial on the head of the powder adjustment bolt and place the washer and push upper 'yoke' in the assembly and down into the body of the powder bar. I had no problem taking the powder bar out of the powder measure body or putting it back in once the assembly was installed on the powder bar.
  6. I got one after reading this thread. I've used it with my 9MM rig. The dial is easy to read and seems to smoothly increase/decrease the powder amount. I run three different loads for my 9MMs and adjusting the powder drops for each is much easier with this. I record the setting used with each load in my load book. Thus far I've used it for my HP-38 and BE-86 loads. I'll use it with my HS-6 load in the next week or so. I have found, naturally, that when I go from load to load I have to make minor adjustments to get back to the desired weight -- usually +/- 3 to 5 to accommodate for the changes of humidity in my basement.
  7. Humidity in Maryland drops in the winter. Like right now. The dehumidifier in the basement is set to go on at 40%. It hasn't run in weeks. Our cats are getting shocked every time we pet them.
  8. Spray Static Guard on the floor. I use soft anti-fatigue work mats at my reloading bench. When the humidity drops I start experiencing static shocks. I then clean the mats and hose them down with Static Guard. That seems to solve the problem for a month or two. When the static shocks reoccur I just spay the mats again.
  9. How about some numbers? Bullet diameter, diameter at the case mouth, OAL. And, by chance, do you have any pictures of the errant round?
  10. I made my comment based on the number "2" that was most prominent in the pictures. Taking a closer look I now see that each slot has a number but I find it hard to discern the slot sizes except the one numbered "1" is clearly larger. Rishii seems to have a clue on this. His comment makes sense.
  11. You can certainly use them in a revolver (assuming bullet diameter is compatible). But don't use a round nose bullet in a lever or pump rifle. You risk a chain fire in the tubular magazines. Also, without a roll crimp, the bullets can be set back into the cases in a tubular magazine from the magazine spring pressure.
  12. I don't have a Square Deal press, rather a RL550B. If the priming bars on the two are similar I have a suggestion. On my large priming bar I used a lettering die to impress an 'L' (and an 'S' on the small priming bar). I did this on the top portion nearest me when I'm running the press. Further, I filled in each of the impressed letters with florescent green paint. It's pretty hard to get them confused now.
  13. They were on the 617 I picked up last week. They look nice. The grip surface is nice. But they are too small for my hands. I appreciate that they cover the back strap but they are still too small in diameter for my mitts. Plus they wiggled fore and aft. I put a thin strip (say 1/8" by 1/2") of double-sided foam in the small cut out area inside the grips up near the top of the grips. That eliminated the wiggle.
×
×
  • Create New...