Winter Projects

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Last Post 09 January 2024

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Wm Cook posted this 01 January 2024

Just curious about what others are working on this winter.

With the milder winters (central mid west) there'll be a handfull of decent shooting days between now and late February but for the most part it's time to get some shop work done.

On my wish list I have:

.308 Winchester LR .093 flashhole v LR .125 flashole v SR .059 flashole v SR .093 flashole comparison using 2400, 4227, RL10X and 4895 comparison.
Subsonic work with 7.62x39 Ruger Ranch
Set up a Lee 4 hole turret press with a dedicated turret to mass produce 7.62x39's. I finished one for my 9MM's and hope to get it done with the 7.62.
And as weather permits, finish 308 load development using a 204 grain and a 219 grain Egan design from Accurate.
And maybe start inching toward to getting a Savage 10F with a 9 twist Shilen barrel chambered in.222 set up to shoot HVY class. That rifle will be under gunned by everyone in its class but its in my safe and if Al cuts more of those 227-79 SP I'd have the right twist rate. With a 3" bolt on forearm it'd be like shooting a bb gun.

I was just curious what you were working on this winter. Happy new year to all. Bill C.

A “Measured Response” is as effective as tongue lashing a stuck door.

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Fitzpatrick posted this 02 January 2024

I am working on some heavy weight 38 special round in a 357 mag pistol and a lever action rifle using a 215 gr. bullet and 2400 powder,

then I am waiting on my M1 Garand barrel to come back from Jess 's Reboring and start life as a 35 whelen Garand

So my winter projects are going fine, oh forgot to mention working on a 12 gauge round ball brass case loaded with Homemade Black Powder and reloaded primers .

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Boschloper posted this 02 January 2024

New Hampshire winters are a crapshoot. Temps so far have been way too warm. No snow, and the ground isn’t even frozen.

Today I made an inside the waistband holster for my primary carry gun, SIG P220. Last week I ordered a 6.5 mm mold for a Carcano Type I. The bore is .269, and the commercial bullets I have tried tumbled. The mold is nominally .266 and my plan is to powder coat to fit. On the list is mounting a very old Weaver scope on an equally old Winchester 74. Both are high mileage and no collector value but they deserve each other. I thought I had enough 311284’s cast for the upcoming postal season but with the warm weather I keep shooting them, so I may have to cast more.

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Wm Cook posted this 02 January 2024

On the list is mounting a very old Weaver scope on an equally old Winchester 74. Both are high mileage and no collector value but they deserve each other.

That is such a spot on perspective for a happy ending.

M1 Garand barrel to come back from Jess 's Reboring and start life as a 35 whelen Garand

That’s outside the box thinking. Stuff like that keeps you mind clicking and your heart young. Good stuff.

A “Measured Response” is as effective as tongue lashing a stuck door.

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Bud Hyett posted this 02 January 2024

Several:

Finishing a Remington #4 Rolling Block.
Thorough cleaning of all target rifles.
Inventorying excess molds for sale.
Testing .25 caliber loads
Testing 6mm loads.

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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Wm Cook posted this 02 January 2024

Bud what work’s left to do on the Remington?

A “Measured Response” is as effective as tongue lashing a stuck door.

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gnoahhh posted this 02 January 2024

Finishing up two Ballard projects: 1) .40-65 with #5wt. 30" round barrel. Barrel fitted, extractor fitted, gotta get cracking on finishing up the wood. 2) .32-40, #4wt. 28" 1/2 octagon barrel. Barrel fitted, working on extractor and conversion of breechblock from rimfire to centerfire. Wood from CPA waiting to go on. Both are forged receivers of course (ex-Ballard Pacifics). Will campaign them in their current "shop finish" in ASSRA competition this season (as adjuncts to my Pope High Wall .32-40 and No-Name High Wall .32-40), then off to have the receivers color case hardened while I rust blue their barrels - just no time left to do that before the fun&games start!

Project in lingering stages: Recreation of Springfield NRA Sporter but with a twist. Homage to Griffin&Howe and their early 1930's program for gussying up customer's NRA Sporters for a nominal fee - a poor man's G&H custom rifle. Caliber: .22 Hornet as further homage to Springfield employees who cooked up the cartridge originally. Parts: original pre-war high number M1903 nickel steel action with solid provenance of starting life on a National Match rifle, Krieger .224 1-14 barrel blank contoured and threaded to match the specs of NRA Sporter barrels, quarter sawn black walnut NRA Sporter repro stock, horn tip. Steel grip cap and M70 butt plate that came out of Michael Petrov's estate.

Keeps me out of the bars, mostly.

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Lloyd Smale posted this 04 January 2024

casting and loading 4k of 45acp right now. just bought an 45acp 4in ar15 pistol to feed. if it runs well ill put a binary trigger in it like my 4in 9mm. then let them both EAT

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 04 January 2024

m12 Winchester 20 gauge ... a friend dropped his newly bot proud possession off and said it was sticking fired shells ...

dang, this thing is mint pretty and the action is still gritty, so maybe not fired much at all. easy-peasy, just need chamber polished, right?

Sticking shells heck, they were welded tight .. have to hammer them out with a long rod ... ok, disassemble .

***********************

I have always heard about how great these M12 are ... coveted and handed down for generations ... etc. Doubt is creeping into my mind. I think these were designed by a committee that really didn't like each other.

i found out why this one is near mint ... the back 1/4 inch of the barrel part of the chamber is 0.020 over spec. that part of the shell brass bulges 0.020 ......

and what makes the shell super stick is that the M12 has the back 1/4 inch of the chamber a separate ring that screws into the receiver behind the barrel ... i guess to be custom fitted to each gun because the M12 is a takedown with an interrupted threaded barrel ... oh my ... I bet that committee was screaming at each other as they signed off on this design.

anyway, this ring was in spec diameter, so the 0.020 bulge just ahead of it is captured by the tighter ring as you try to extract the fired case.

so ... do i enlarge the rear ring to allow a fired case to bulge 0.020 evenly and extract .. or do i do the hard thing and bush the barrel and rechamber ?? ... dang this is a pretty gun.

my winter's headache project.

*********************

for fun I am working on machining a broken firing pin for my M74 Winchester ... and rebarreling with a longer barrel my Ruger 44 Mag carbine ... should be interesting, I am going to put on an adjustable gas port ... so I can shoot cast bullet plinkers .................... oh, and building a 35 Whelen for myself ... got my barrel and reamer ...

ken

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RicinYakima posted this 04 January 2024

Pulled out the CV Schmitt Model 12 reloading press that has been sitting for 5 or 6 years under the shop bench. Going to get a good cleaning and will have to make two parts, a block for the seating die to lock into and a primer feed magazine. Found some dies on eBay.

You guys are a lot more ambitious than I am it seems.

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RustyZipper posted this 06 January 2024

Waiting on some Corbin used dies on .308 to get here. Trying to figure out which projects to use some zebra wood on. Handgun grips? ? Some favored airgun grips? Be Well Brothers, RZ.

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Rich/WIS posted this 07 January 2024

Bullet inventory is way down and need to rebuild my stash for 45 ACP and 24 and 30 cal for my 243, 30/06 and 30/40. First have to smelt and blend my alloys for each. Winter here in KY is pretty mild so expect to be able to do the smelting outside. Not much to do project wise except re-do the lighting in my garage, but that is only a few hours of work. Then it is cast and size and sneak off to the range on days when the weather permits.

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Eutectic posted this 09 January 2024

The kitchen remodel which had been promised for several years is now complete. Back to shooting!

147 grain cast in 9mm in the form of Accurate 35-147C has worked nicely in several pistol matches last year.

Outdoor match season is over so work on improvements in 9mm cast is in progress. New accurate molds with improved dimensions are in hand. Casting of sufficient match quality bullets in progressing nicely. Load velocity and function testing will begin soon. Bench testing will wait for warmer weather, hard to shoot straight when shivering!

Steve

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cfp4570 posted this 09 January 2024

Squeezing and cutting .30-30 cases into .219 Zipper for my next H&R handi-rifle barrel, a 1 in 7 twist Green Mountain blank. Got the dies, reamer, barrel, and aforementioned brass, now just have to start making chips and get a heavy bullet mould. Also some light gun work for other people; A Beretta A391 20 gauge that wouldn't eject. It did after I cleaned the vaseline? out the gas system and reciever. Converted two handi rifle barrels from ejector to extractor, and finished up a .454 Casull H&R barrel for my son in time for the Illinois gun season which now allows straight wall rifles. (He killed a deer with it, too!)

Why a .219 Zipper? Well, that's a dang good question and I have no good answer, other than it's mine and I think it's neat, and in single shots I really like a rimmed case.

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