Reload'n And Levergun'n

My love of handloading my own cartridges, casting my own bullets, and shooting fine pistols and leverguns. Range reports, Ballistics, Reviews, Pictures, and everything related.

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Location: Jennings Co, Southern Indiana, United States

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Pic Of The Month: Sept 2006

This is the first installment of pic of the month. I ran across this excellent pic over on the leverguns forum posted by friend of the forum Tycer .

The pict shows another friend of the forum Yancy shooting Tycers new Winchester Extra Light 1886 chambered in 45-70. Notice the follow through and Yancy still focused on the target. Also notice the brass in the air and the smoke coming out of the top of receiver. Thanks Tycer!

(Click Pic To Enlarge)

(Photo courtesy of Tycer Lewis)

If any of you have a levergun pict you would like to share for picture of the month drop me an email at steveb3006@yahoo.com

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Sign Of The Week

I've been thinking of adding a new installment called sign of the week. A friend from the leverguns forum posted this and I thought this was a good a pict as any to begin the sign of the week series.




(U.S.M.C. Photo Booth)

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Range Report: Ranch Dog TLC432-285-RF

I finally got to send some of those Ranch Dog TLC432-285-RF out of the end of the barrel on my Rossi 92.



Its been a long journey as some of you already know and now its time to reap the benefits of that long wait. Again this isn't the true Ranch Dog per say as this has the bigger meplat and longer length of the original Ranch Dog TLC432-285-RF but from the range report and accuracy tests it shoots great just the same. This cast bullet weighs right at 282 grains with the Lee liquid alox and gas check with straight air cooled wheel weights of approx 12 Brinnel hardness. Im using a charge of 17.0 grains of WC820(n) to start with. (Again this load is safe in MY rifle and you should always start with a starting charge and work your way up!

For the most part I have dealt with terrible leading and accuracy in this rifle since beginning to casting my own due to the oversize bore of .432 and undersized cast bullets. I had an accurate load with Hodgdons HP38 but wasn't worth the lead I had to clean out from the .429 diameter bullet lobing down the barrel, well not anymore. I finally got this custom bullet mold and I got zero leading with this correct size(.432) cast bullet. I lucked out from the start with a good consistent and accurate load. Heres the chrony and accuracy results from 50 yards.


(My kids got to the target before I did as you can tell. One a pokin and the other a scriblin)



(Click to enlarge and read text)

I entered the data from the chrony into Robs Reloading Organizer to view in a graph format. You can see this is an accurate and consistent load. Also this is the first load I have tried with this powder and cast bullet combination. I lucked out on this one.

Related links: Ranch Dog's Bullet Casting

Handloading Time: Ranch Dog TLC432-285

After that last casting session I was ready to get some of these Ranch Dog TLC432-285 (modified version) loaded up and see how they shoot. These aren't the true Ranch Dog bullets but that's another story altogether and some of you know just how long of a story it is.


After applying the Lee liquid alox and running them through the Lee sizing die to seat the gas checks it was time to lube them once more before moving on over to the Lee Classic turrent press.

I used a hair dryer on the Lee liquid alox because I needed to have these lubed and loaded in the same day. The instructions for Lee liquid alox calls for sitting the bullets on wax paper after lubing to dry overnight and I didn't have that much time.

(Speed drying Lee liquid alox with hair dryer)
The hair dryer speed drying method is quit simple. After you lube the bullets in a bowl with the Lee liquid alox put the hair dryer to them for a minute or so, swirl them around some more in the bowl and hit them again with the hair dryer and add additional Lee liquid alox if necessary. In less than ten minutes I was in front of the turrent press and ready to load some up.




The Ranch Dog TLC432-285-RF weighs right at 282 grains with the Lee liquid alox and gas check. I used a starting charge of 17.0 grains of surplus WC820(n) to start out with.(Remember always use starting loads then if safe work your way up, these loads are safe in MY gun and yours may differ) As usual the Lee Classic turrent press was a pleasure to use and the Lee Pro Autodisk powder measure was throwing very consistent charges of the WC820(n) ball powder. In short this thing Rock-N-Rolls!



(My reloading buddy(dad) watching me load some up)
Now on to the range report!


Related Links: Ranch Dog's Bullet Casting

Friday, August 11, 2006

Casting Time: Ranch Dog TLC432-285-RF

I got some free time to cast up a few Ranch Dog TLC432-285-RF (the modified version anyway) for My Rossi 92 and I really like the big O pile of bullets the Lee six cavity mould leaves behind.






The cast bullets are weighing right at 282 grains with the Lee liquid alox and gascheck.

(Pictured are the TLC 432-285-RF after being tumble lubed and ran through the Lee sizing die to seat the gas checks. Another coat of Lee liquid alox will be applied before loading.)





Related Links: Ranch Dog's Bullet Casting