Bullet capture.

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  • Last Post 05 May 2008
mosinutty posted this 29 April 2008

Would like to retrieve one of my cast bullets from my Mosin for inspection. Has anyone ever attempted this before? What would be a material or media that could be used as a backstop that would not damage the bullet?

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Brodie posted this 29 April 2008

Mopsinutty;

You could use water-a series of water filled plastic jugs- newss paperand magazines compressed into a block or caardbokard box-or, just shoot them into sort sandy and fairly rock free backstop.   In my experience most alloys around lyman #2=- hardness will stay fairly un deformed and penetrate like the devil.  Really hard stuff will shatter if shot at high velocities.

B.E.Brickey

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CB posted this 29 April 2008

I knew a guy who used to shoot into a box full of saw dust to retrieve fired CBs.  Worked well. Don't know the dimensions of the box?

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Bruce Drake posted this 30 April 2008

Is this to check for gas-cutting or to just slug your bore to check diameter?

If it is just to slug the bore, use a soft lead slug and tap it through with a brass rod. 

 If it is to check for gas cutting, I've used a 12” box filled with Plumbers Seal and newspaper.  It stops most cast bullet loads and if I'm shooting a load to check for cutting I load a cat sneeze load to push the bullet out around 800 fps to ensure it hits the bullet trap and stops.

Bruce

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mosinutty posted this 30 April 2008

Inspection for gas cutting, have already slugged the bore.

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TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 30 April 2008

If  you don't have sawdust, a box of old rags packed in it works.  Allow enough length.

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Ed Harris posted this 30 April 2008

mosinutty wrote: Would like to retrieve one of my cast bullets from my Mosin for inspection. Has anyone ever attempted this before? What would be a material or media that could be used as a backstop that would not damage the bullet? Crime labs use a water tank.  The easiest way if you have a friend with a swimming pool and can shoot almost vertically into the deep end.   When I lived in the country I had a 55-gallon rain barrel and would shoot into this standing on the roof of the house.  It worked fine until I shot a hole through the rain barrel testing a cast load in my .45-70! 

If you want to go the plastic gallon water jug route I would suggest gathering alot of them, because rifle bullets do not always penetrate straight-arrow. Long ogival nosed bullets often yaw or exit out the side of jugs and you may have to set up a “bowling pin” array.   If striking velocity is not enough to fragment or expand the bullet, penetration may be considerable.  Full-power .30-'06 jacketed softpoints which expand well can be stopped in 6-8 gallon milk jugs, but this may not be enough to stop well-stablized, lower velocity bulets which do not expand or fragment at all, and which may continue on like the Energizer Bunny!

http://www.gunsandhunting.com/leaded.html>http://www.gunsandhunting.com/leaded.html

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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Brodie posted this 30 April 2008

Mosinutty;  If you go the newspaper-sawdust in the box route be sure that you have plenty of box and the stopping media packed fairly tight.  Just because it is a pita to  geet all ready to do this and then have bullets go on out the back.  I like Ed's idea of using your friends pool, but then we don't all have pools where we can shoot into them. 

You could use an old oil drum with a rag or towel stretched and tied over the top(so you donpt get too wet), and shoot down from a ladder.

B.E.Brickey

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runfiverun posted this 30 April 2008

the best thing I have ever found to capture a bullet with is snow

 finding the bullet is the hard part.

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TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 30 April 2008

runfiverun wrote: the best thing I have ever found to capture a bullet with is snow

 finding the bullet is the hard part.

After -10 for a week or two the shallow rivers would be frozen solid - shooting parallel to the ice at targets (tin cans) 50 yards out was cool (.357mag).  25-50 yards further there would be a series of grooves in the rises of snow - ending with the bullet encrused with ice crystals in perfect condition sitting on top of the snow!

Doing it with a .25-06 or .243 took shooting at targets 100+ yards off (prone) to get the angle just right, and percentage retrieved was at best 25%.

Dr Mann, it The Bullet's Flight recounts similar techniques - back about 100 years ago.

 

 

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mosinutty posted this 30 April 2008

Thanks for all the idea's guys! I do have a couple of the blue plastic drums from work, I think I'll go that route.

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mosinutty posted this 05 May 2008

Decided this weekend I would give it a go. I filled a 55 gallon plastic drum with water to the rim and placed it below the deck of my house. The deck is about 15 feet off the ground. I loaded one of my 50/50 lino cast bullets with 1/2 of my regular charge @ 10 grains of Acc5744. Shot into the drum expecting a spray of water to hit me....no water.....not even a splash? Went down to the drum to inspect for water flowing from the bottom...no water. Looked into the drum and there was the bullet laying on one side of the bottom and the gas check laying on the other side. Had my daughter go bobbing for bullets, she's half fish, and after sloshing around for awhile she came up with both. Inspected the bullet and found good rifiling grooves cut into the cast with no gas cutting.

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