Cast some 0000 Buck today !

[6pt-sika]

I ordered a Lee two cavity .38" roundball mold on monday and Fedex delivered it today with some other stuff . So I cleaned it up and cast a few from straight WW's here at the shop and water dropped them .



Perhaps next week I'll try them half WW and half Liontype !


I'm hoping I can fit six of these in a SP-10 wad for my 10 gauge guns .

At about 75-85 grains each 6 of them should put me about 480 grains or a skoosh under 1 1/4 ounces .

[Old Ironsights]

They make dandy wrist-rocket balls...

[Nath]

.40 long rifle or smooth rifle ammo!

Good luck.

[rogn]

used 000 when I was a teen to collect half wild guinea hens for dinner. One of them would decapitate one of those things.

[6pt-sika]

If they load in the SP-10 to suit me and pattern at 25 yards to suit me I will eventually use them to kill a Virginia Man Eating Whitetail deer !

[6pt-sika]

Actually if I get positive results from my cast stuff I suspect I'll go ahead and buy 8 pounds of 0000 Buck from BPI . Save my lead for rifle bullets instead of making buckshot .

[6pt-sika]

Decided to cast some .380"/0000 today . Same as before straight WW's water quenched and I think I did about 100-110 . Also decided to roll some of them as I was casting kinda quick and was getting some torn sprue cuts . So I got a large piece of aluminum and a slightly smaller piece of steel .

[mikld]

Just wondering, why so hard?

[6pt-sika]

Just wondering, why so hard?

What "hard" ?

[rock-steady]

The WW alloy may be too hard to shoot through a shotguns choke. I always use pure lead for casting buckshot and shotgun slugs.

[Blaine]

The WW alloy may be too hard to shoot through a shotguns choke. I always use pure lead for casting buckshot and shotgun slugs.

Wheel Weights, v. quality barrel steel? Nah... How it might pattern might be a different story.

[6pt-sika]

Got home a bit early this afternoon so after I cut the grass I loaded six rounds of 2 7/8" 10 gauge with six pellets of 0000 Buck , 30 grains SR7625 , seven 9mm cases of Grex for buffer in the SP-10 wad . I also put 10 gauge over shot wads over these just to keep the crimp relatively flat . After I was done I took a candle and dripped a couple drops of wax in the top just to make sure none of the Grex sifted thru the minute cracks .

I tried them in both barrels of my circa 1884 Parker Grade 2 Top Lever Hammer #3 frame 10 gauge , my circa 1889 Parker EH #2 frame 10 gauge and my circa 1899 Parker EH #3 frame 10 gauge .



The 1884 hammer gun .





The 1899 #3 frame EH .





And finally my circa 1889 #2 frame 10 gauge .





Well by no means are they the best buckshot patterns I ever shot and by no means the worst either .
I'm actually kinda satisfied with this as the first attempt . I think I'll cast some more Monday or Tuesday of half WW and half LINO .
I definitely think I'll go ahead and buy an 8 pounder of 0000 Buck from BPI .

[6pt-sika]

When I load the next group I think I'll load four more so I can try them in my circa 1882 Parker Grade 2 lifter 10 gauge and my circa 1890 LC Smith Quality 2 10 gauge .

[6pt-sika]

Hmmmm I think I shoulda used six separate pieces of paper rather then my usual tape up the holes and shot another . A little difficult to tell where all the holes are even though U marked each hole .

[mikld]

Just wondering, why so hard?

What "hard" ?

Lino + WW, 50-50 will prolly run about 16-18 BHN. Harder than I run in my Magnums. I would think that would be a bit hard for buckshot in a smoothbore, but I ain't no shot gun expert (or reloader)...

[Griff]

A 50-50 mix of WW-Lin will be harder than 16-18Bhn, and be quite brittle.nnAt about 5-1 WW-Lino, bullets will show splits & breaks under my hammer test. Not conducive to penetration or lethality.

[6pt-sika]

I suspect the already made stuff at BPI is close to 16 on the Brinn scale .

Last time I checked any of my water quenched WW bullets they were about 12-14 .

[6pt-sika]

I shot these six groups off hand in my front yard .

I think when I shoot the next time I'll do it from the bench at the gunclub . Retry the three guns I already shot as well as my Parker lifter , LC Smith and a nice old Ithaca NID I have with fluid steel barrels but choked tighter then the hinges to h...e...l...l !

[6pt-sika]

I haven't tried any of the unrolled balls to see if the sprue flat spots make that much of a difference . But then no more of these then I plan to shoot when I'm done playing the amount of time it takes to roll 100 of them is a small matter . And then again I think I wanna try some of the BPI store bought stuff also .

I'm pretty satisfied already with the results . I happen to have a .445" ball mold that I may try as well with perhaps 4 balls as long as I can fit them in the SP-10 shotcup and get a good crimp .

[Nath]

Interesting post. What was the distance again?

N.

[6pt-sika]

Interesting post. What was the distance again?

N.

25 yards

[Nath]

That's not to shabby.
I know your a seasoned buck shot hunter and know you will work it out. I am waiting for the venison photos

N.

[6pt-sika]

I am waiting for the venison photos

N.

You and me both !

If I get Damage Control Permits this year it will be atleast 3 1/2 to 4 months before I can make any pics with dead deer . Otherwise it'll be the middle of November

I'm also working on getting some suitable molds for 10 gauge slugs that will fit inside the SP-10 wad and shoot decently to say 35-40 yards .

And with that being said I'm after a Parker EH or NH 10 gauge with cut barrels that's still tight and on face . Or a set of barrels for a Parker 10 gauge hammerless that have been cut and still ring true .

I set of barrels with the choke cut off should do very nicely for me with a larger slug someone has given me but without the SP-10 shotcup . Also might just do a bit better with the large buckshot thru a cylinder barrel . And of course skeet will be better

There's a guy on Gunbroker that has a very nice Parker EH 10 gauge that's been cut to 28" that I would love to have but he has it priced about three times what most folks would value it ! It's almost a grand more then I paid for my 1889 EH that's in about 90% and almost three times what I paid for my EH 1899 that's not but about 75-80% but uncut etc etc etc . The day after I got back from the Philippines they had what appeared to be a very nice Parker NH 10 gauge with barrels cut to 27 7/8" from an original length of 30" . The gun sold for $425 I had planned on bidding and waited for the auction to be close to over to bid but I fell asleep and missed out !

So now I have 3 or 4 folks keeping an eye open for some cut barrels to fit either of my Parker hammerless guns with the stipulation that they ring true and aren't beat to heck .

[6pt-sika]

This afternoon or Monday I would like to load a dozen of the 0000 loads and go to the range to shoot from the bench with the same three guns I already tried offhand and add my Parker lifter hammer gun , an LC Smith Quality 2 and my Ithaca NID Grade 2 with the fluid steel choked tighter then heck barrels .

I think when I do this I'll also carry along 12 different targets as it'll be easier to see actual holes . Shooting the same target over and over with taped up holes is okay if you're seeing them in person but doesn't work quite as well for pictures with the sun seeming to shine thru the taped up holes !

[6pt-sika]

Got my dozen rounds loaded last night !

I had the first batch at home that I hadn't rolled yet , so I brought them to the shop today and rolled them all . Then after that I cast 200 more and then rolled them as well .

Last night I loaded two shells with 4 balls of .451" diameter . Those were plain old Hornady ML balls . I actually thought I had grabbed a box of .440" I have and got these by mistake . What the heck I'll try them in my LC Smith since it's the more open of the bunch . At some point I wanna see if I can get my hands on a .400" roundball mold that should loosely be "00000 Buck" .

[Nath]

We experimented with three,,, think they were .54" ish many years ago using tea leaves as a packer! Oh yes, 12g.
Flaming good they were!
Tight triangular patterns a good way out I recall!

N.

[6pt-sika]

Shot the 0000 in my Parker lifter 10 gauge , LC Smith Q2 10 gauge , Ithaca NID 10 gauge and my Parker top lever hammer 10 gauge yesterday evening !













I also tried some .451" ML balls in the Parker top lever hammergun . I could get four balls and seven 9mm scoops of Grex inside the REM SP-10 wad . I shot them in that gun as it has the more open chokes of the 10's I have at the moment . It wasn't terrible but not great either !

[6pt-sika]

While I was there I tried the Brenneke 20 gauge KO slug in my Parker VHE and Fox Sterlingworth 28" both at 25 yards !










Not the greates but good enough for what I wanna do with them !

[6pt-sika]

Shot a round each in my 1884 Parker 10 gauge hammer gun this evening with 0000 Buck !





I also found out 7 9mm scoops of Grex is the same thing as a 4.3 CC powder measure so I've upgraded !

[Nath]

Looking good, that's going to work..


N.