I finally got around to sizing all my 44Mag cast bullets today. Ive been so caught up in the casting process I had almost forgotten about the other steps that needed to be done to get them ready to load. After lubricating my bullets with Lee liquid alox and letting them dry overnight it was time to size them. With the Lee resizing die the bullet is pushed nose first into the die so theres no special nose punches needed. After being pushed through the sizing die the bullets are caught in the container above that slips on top of the die. The Lee setup is quick and easy to use. My bullets are now sized at .430 and after lubing them again are ready to be loaded.

Range Report/My New Winchester 94 Ranger

I couldn't take it any longer, to have my new Winchester Ranger 30-30 just sitting here and not being shot.The anticipation was killing me. So after leaving the store with a box of Winchester Super X 150 Gr. Power Points it was off to the range. The only spot open was the hundred yard so that's what I took. I am looking forward to getting more acquainted with this rifle. Heres the best group I got of the day and a couple picts of my Ranger......To Be Continued

More Bullet Casting

I had a chance to go spend some time with dad today and cast some bullets.We are casting for the 357 Mag and the 44 Mag with the Lee six cavity moulds, the 357 mould is the 158 gr RN and the 44 is the 200 gr RN. This is my third go at it and its getting better as the first two times I was getting the feel of the melting pot and moulds and the entire process.Last time I casted some I was getting little pits and blemishes in the bullets. I had casted around 800 but only 300 was usable. After some investigating and asking questions on the Leverguns Forum and over at the Cast Boolit Forum I discovered that my mix was dirty. It was not as clean as I had thought, so I cleaned the Lee 20 melting pot and had a better feel for fluxing the metal as well. Another thing we discovered was we were using 10% tin in the mix WAY TO MUCH!, so we dropped that down to 2% and the results between that and cleaning the melting pot seemed to do the trick.Also it seems like the Lee moulds like to be run hot with much better results as well. I am slowly getting the hang of it, this last pict of the semi circle of bullets is what they are turning out like now....One thing I would like to add is while over at the cast boolits forum I ran across a fella by the name of goatlips who has an excellent site Goatlips Blackpowder Tips with tips on smelting, speed casting, and pan lubing all with excellent picts of the process. Check it out, as I have added it to the links section... To Be Continued.

Winchester Model 94 Ranger 30/30

This is my model 94, chambered in the classic .30 WCF or the 30/30. I recieved a few weeks ago . For $200.00 I could not pass this up , and good timing huh?, This IS my high powered rifle. I have yet to shoot it, as im waiting to get dies, moulds and such. But cant wait to try it out!
Heres some links to some great articles on the .30 WCF and the Winchester Model 94

The .30-30: A Historic Overview
30/30 Varmit Loads
The .30 WCF and the Model 1894 Winchester
Long Range Plinking with the 30-30
Winchester’s Timeless Classic
Winchester Model 94 Disassembly

The Williams FP and Marbles fiberoptic

As stated earlier I will be adding things i've already done and this is one of them. I never liked the looks of a Williams reciever sight on a levergun and I much prefered the Marbles peep tang sight. But after being a member of Leverguns.com forum for a while and hearing all the talk from fellow forum members (especially one forum member in particular...You know who you are) about the Williams FP I decided to give it a try. Sometimes in life you try new things and realize what you have been missing and this is one of them. As soon as you shoulder the rifle the sight is there. I LIKE IT!!!. Oh by the way, thanks again Hobie! Another thing I wanted to put on my Rossi 92 was a front fiberoptic sight. Some folks like post type sights and others like the beads. Well I opted for the Marbles with the green fiberoptic bead. Heres some picts of the transformation. Though im still getting used to the sight picture of the peep sight, I like it much better than your standard sights that come on the Rossi.

Gunstock Carving I

I like wood carving even though I have much to learn but I really enjoy carving gunstocks. These picts here are of my very first stock I carved. This blogging stuff is supposed to be current stuff right??? Well there are things that I would like to add and that I will be adding in the near future that I've already done so im playing catch up! But things I want to share anyway!!!
This stock I carved is from a Savage model 110 chambered in 30/06 with just a plain jain stock. I took a chance and went for it, and heres the results. Any comments appreciated good or bad. Like I said I have lots to learn but I dont think it turned out to bad for my first time. Also I have done a couple other projects besides this but being a father has really slowed my projects down tremendously, add on top of that that I love to reload, beginning to cast my own bullets and my love of shooting leverguns. Kids gotta come first you know. I got to much on the plate but hey, it keeps me busy.

My first cast bullets

I cast my very first batch of bullets and broke my dads Lee melting pot all in the same day (if anyone can do it I can!) I was casting some bullets for my Rossi 92 chambered in 44 Magnum using a Lee 200 gr six cavity mould. It took me a while to get the feel for filling the mould and to get the mould heated up enough to fill out the cavity's. Several hundred were produced but only a handful of good ones. The Lee 20 lb furnace has an adjustment screw for flow control and after casting a few hundred I decided to fiddle with this and slow down the stream running into the mould. That's when my casting session abruptly ended as I stripped and bent the screw and the lead continuously poured out of the pot. At one point I had the Lee melting pot full and the lead was at the bottom of the adjustment screw and covering it for sometime and heated it up enough when I went to adjust it it stripped and bent right quick. Hopefully my next casting session produces much more usable cast bullets for my shooting pleasure! But I found out that you can produce LOTS of cast bullets in a short period of time with the Lee six cavity moulds. This being the first run at it gave me the feel for it and i'll know what to expect my next casting session.

These are the first pictures of casting my first ingots. Around eighty lbs of WW and around 50-60 lbs of tin ingots, next it will be in front of a Lee 20lb pot and Lee sixcavity moulds for the 357 and 44Mag. Im getting excited already I cant wait, reloading your own cartridges and then shooting them out of your favorite gun or preferably a levergun is awesome but to be able to cast your own bullets on top of that sure is gonna be quite satisfying to say the least. To melt those wheel weights, flux and skim the dross off the top of the pot only to reveal that shiny silvery molten liquid lead was great. I have a strong feeling I will enjoy making my own cast bullets as much as I like reloading and shooting leverguns as it all just meshes together and goes hand in hand. Another good thing about this venture is I will be spending a lot of good quality time with my dad. He is my shooting, reloading, and now casting buddy. We will be casting our very first batch of bullets today . And I cant wait!

J Stevens Arms & Tool Co.Revived

Last year when I found this ole girl a (J Stevens Arms & Tool Co. 12 guage singleshot shotgun made around 1913) , I thought of my father, something I could fix up and give it to him as a gift. The stock and foream had seen its better days with scratches and a few cuts and dings throughout . The reciever and barrel had rust pits all over it. So I stripped the stock, sealed it, and added a nice hand rubbed Tru-Oil finish. For the metal finish I chose Oxpho-Blue. I stripped the metal with Naval Jelly which took the rust and what blueing was left off in a jiffy. Once it was down to bare metal I cleaned the metal and put the Oxpho Blue on. Oxpho Blue is the best cold blue on the market in my opinion, as it leaves no after rust and has a nice looking and durable finish. Even though im a levergun nut this is one of my favorite guns. In excellent original condition they are worth no more than 100.00 though its worth much more than that to me. If this gun could only talk. My father was tickled to get it . Heres the results.

United States Fire Arms

These are some picts I done of a couple of U.S.F.A. pistols. Last November I attended the first annual Sixgunner.com/Leverguns.com Meet, Greet, Shoot, And Eat at the Red Brush Rifle Range in Southern Indiana and had a chance to shoot one of these fine pistols. It was a 20th anniversary 44 spec shootist U.S.F.A. When Jim Taylor ask me if I wanted to shoot it I immediately said..Uh, you bet! It was the slickest single action pistol I've ever had in my hands PERIOD!.

Firearms photographs(digital)

Here is some of my digital work. The picture of the pistol is a Ruger Police Service Six that I engraved and stippled for my dad and later added the smoke effect. This picture was used on the cover of a western entitled "The Drifter" by a fine gentleman and friend named Paco Kelly. The other picts are of various Winchesters with different effects added to them.

Photographing Firearms

I like photography, even though I am no pro by any stretch of the imagination, but hey I enjoy it! If I'm not shooting guns I like taking picts of them and I also like digital images as you can do a lot with them. I use a program called Paint Shop Pro and use many plugins (add ons) to extend the capabilities of the program. But sometimes the simple effects are great to. Heres some picts of my dad's stainless Rossi 92, It has the 24" octagon barrel and features a Marbles tang sight.

This is my first post. Im as new as new can be to this blogger stuff so bear with me. My love for reloading and leverguns has lead me to start a web journal. I will add things like range reports, ballistics, bullet casting, lots of picts of my Rossi 92. The model 92 and clones are my favorite of all the leveractions. Nothing compares to the smoothness and quick handling in my opinion. There is just something about the 92 I love. Heres a pict of my Rossi 92 chambered in 44 Mag, Stainless 20" round barrel. Its as slick as snot on a doorknob thanks to the article by Jim Taylor for fieldstripping and smoothing up the action.Heres a link to that great article.Thanks again Jim!