I think I'm going to have to admit defeat.

[L1A1Rocker]

It hit me last night that if I started doing that, I could shoot cast bullets through the Miranda. Evidently your Jedi mind tricks work on me.

.......And besides all that, the guy who turned me into a 300 Blackout fanboi, turned me into a stamp collector, and got me to finally warm up to AR-15s is now using his power of suggestion on this........

Lawdy I must be getting weak.

I can't believe your wife lets you still talk to me. . .

 

[Ian]

She's pretty easygoing about these things, her dad was a gun nut too and conditioned her to the insanity.

So, since I'm blaming you for this idea, have you bought us a convection oven yet? I bought the Lee BLK mould that's .002" undersized on the nose and all but the rear most driving band, should be perfect for one of your projects....

 

[L1A1Rocker]

Once I'm done with this chicken coop I'll be picking up the gun related projects I had to back off of. I do recall looking at some toaster ovens at the good will store for powder coating purposes. They're a bit small though.

 

[Ian]

We are about due for a new oven, and I can use the one at work to do a few batches for now. If this works out, I might buy my wife a new one and take the old one out to my metal-working shop. Need something to preheat cast iron for welding, tempering steel, and for heating bearings on occasion anyway.

 

[9.3X62AL]

"......conditioned her to the insanity." THAT might be the most accurate description ever seen in print for my wife also. Any lady who--on a first date--knew what a barrel bushing, a Pachmayr grip set, and Camp Perry all were is worth a second date, at minimum. That was 16 years ago, and I couldn't be happier. She does occasionally RIP OFF and appropriate firearms I bring home that I seldom see again......I do get to clean and reload for them, though. Cases in point--SIG-Sauer P-228 and a preter-naturally accurate Mini-14. These both go along on every back-country trip we take, and the Mini paid for itself several times over during an untoward occurrence in March 2007 near Silverwood Lake. You can get a lot further with a kind word and a rifle than with a kind word alone. %$#& meth heads.

 

[Ian]

"Walk softly and carry a big stick" is a good philosophy for a lot of things in life.

So our friend Tom at Accurate Molds sent me a "defect" mould to try out. I finally got it cleaned up and ran a batch of bullets this morning. It's a 225-grain gas-check RFN .45 mould. Josh supplied me with some .45 checks. I'll have to let the bullets harden for a couple of days before applying them since right out of the mould the shanks are too soft to hold the checks on very well, and having a check come off in a suppressor isn't the best of things to have happen.

As an aside, I may be springing for more of Tom's iron moulds in the future, so far this is the absolute best Accurate mould I've ever cast with, bar none. It's heavy, and the acid case-coloring gives off some sour fumes, but it is fuss-free and the bullets drop like rain. I never had to use a mallet to get them to drop, not once. Also, I got razor-sharp bases from straight clip-on WW alloy WITHOUT breaking the block edges with a file, something I'm still puzzling over.

 

[Rick]

Also, I got razor-sharp bases from straight clip-on WW alloy WITHOUT breaking the block edges with a file, something I'm still puzzling over.

Proper sprue plate tension. I get clean sharp bases, it's my first and most important bullet inspection and I have never cut the edges of the blocks on any of my 70+ molds. Open the sprue plate and before opening the blocks I inspect the bases, any that aren't perfect are no better than the sprue and go straight to the sprue pile. With the blocks still closed is the easiest/best time to see any defect/rounding of the bases.
.

 

[Ian]

I think you nailed it, Rick. On this mould the sprue plate was set floppy loose, almost no compression of the Bellville washer. I snugged it up, but just enough to get maybe 50% compression of the washer, which come to think of it is a lot less than most of the moulds come as shipped. I usually leave them alone and run them as they come, maybe I should be backing them off a bit. Thanks for the tip!

 

[freebullet]

What are you sizing at?

 

[Ian]

.4515".

 

[300BLK]

I've often thought a 9 or 40 top end would be cool. Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of a gas operated 10mm so as to be to take advantage of that cartridge's superior ballistics. The 9 and 40 would be more like cheap, 50 yard plinkers. I know a guy with a PC9, and another with a Camp 45. Both like them, but neither is currently available. I lean towards the 9mm because of the bucket of pickup brass that I have, but then the price of the conversion rings to reality. Ian's frustration with the 45 just lends more credence that a pistol gas 300BLK would be a better choice.

I need to see how low I can go with loads for my pistol.

 

[Ian]

Save your dollars for Blackout components and tools. The BLK suppresses better, is more accurate, more capable when you consider the top-end loads, and even with subsonic bullets has a very effective 200+ yard range. And it's just a barrel change.

 

[300BLK]

I'm thinking that a 16", pistol gas upper might be next. If I were going to drop the $ for a tax stamp, I would just be adding a buttstock to turn the pistol into SBR. Going silent does have a certain attraction.

 

[freebullet]

I'd try some at 454 just for giggles. Heavier the better 250-300 if they'll fit.

The 3moa red dot is likely a big factor in your displeasure. I've found that for me a red dot must not have bigger than a 1 moa dot. Even then it's a limiting factor for me. I've tried a few things to do better with them-

1. Turn the brightness down to the lowest setting you can see it on. On my aimpoint the dot goes from covering 1moa to covering 3moa at 1 click brighter setting. You might bench the gun at 100 to see how many inches it covers. If it's covering 6-8" @100 it'd be hard to keep them all in a group that's smaller than that.

2. Sight in using a tiny portion of the red dot. With mine I like to sight in at the very top of the dot with the brightness at the absolute lowest setting I can see. Kinda like using the nikon bdc circles. Putting the muzzle loader 200yd circle on the spot you want to hit will net you a miss but using a tiny portion of the circle where the poi is gets you a bullseye.

3. If your red dot doesn't go to a dim enough setting that you see a clear dot it's going to be hopeless. If your seeing a star, halos, two or more dots, or any other aberration the 3moa turns into what your getting. In those cases my only prayer of getting consistent groups involved witnessing the dot against something else on the gun. Helps insure proper alignment when the dot is less than consistent.

I'd have to try a traditional optic before I declared defeat. In the first picture you have a pair touching & enough close to it that, I imagine it can do better for ya.

When all else fails I strap the gun in a dangerous game machine rest to see what it does without human input. That usually points out some interesting details.

Hope something works, it sounds like a real fun gun.

 

[Ian]

I can run factory jacketed or handloaded Rainer copper plated round nose bullets through it and it drills ragged holes. It's not the system, it's the actual bullet causing the problem. This thing simply will not group well with any cast bullet or load combo I've tried, and I've just about tried them all.....except gas checked.

 

[Ian]

Tried seating checks again tonight, it doesn't look like it's going to work. The aluminum checks slip right off. At this point I'm going to have to order some Hornady crimp-on checks.

 

[freebullet]

Checks on the acp doesn't sound appealing to me. Especially for an autoloader.

Fire lapping? Brad mentioned it's effectiveness for a couple problem barrels he'd dealt with in years past. Might be worth a try before....

I'll poke around & see if I have any mp225hp powder coated leftovers. They were the only cast we could make shoot well through a friend's 45acp single rifle. It didn't even shoot jacketed well.

 

[Ian]

I've tried powder coating and it helped. I only did it with the Lee 230 TC though. This rifle has a chamber that's very tight at the front and will only accept .4515" or smaller bullets, and at that they have to be heavily taper-crimped.

 

[freebullet]

So a gentle throat job followed by fire lapping, lol, I dunno.

 

[freebullet]

Bored 1 has a 45 throat reamer & I'd bet he'd let ya borrow it for postage to taper yours a bit. We did his rock island officer frame & a colt defender I had. Both worked well. His was a steel barrel that was short throated from the factory & we throated it to just accept the standard Lee 200rf I was loading enmass at the time. My defender was getting a small touch of leading at the entrance to the lands. It had a ss barrel & took more gentle turns but we remedied both & he still has the reamer if he can find it.