Mitty38
Well-Known Member
This memory is almost like a dream. Or maybe it was. I am pretty sure it is real, because stories from others have backed it up.
It is about my uncle Jim.
I stayed with him one summer back in 1979, when I was 12. Now keep in mind, I am 52 now so that was 40 years ago.
Could someone justify this, so I know I am not crazy.
I can remember him loading some kind of long straight copper colored cartridges for his lever gun.
First he went out back to the old junk car and cut the battery terminals off then pulled the lead plates out of the busted battery.
He built a pit fire outside, with coal, then threw them into a tall sided cast skillet along with some lead shot, a piece of pipe and some pine bark.
He then cast a bunch of bullets in a 5 or 6 cavity, gold colored mold, with black handles.
He then dropped the bullets in a pot of bees wax while they were hot. After the mess cooled he dug the bullets one at a time out of the mess with his casting spoon, and wiped them off with a wool sock. Then inside to the table.
I remember him filling the shells with powder till they were all the way full with a regular table spoon, with some kind of powder out of a black Clorox style jug. Then he would shake out some of the powder and tap it down, till there was just enough room for the bullet to fit, and pound home into the brass with a die of some kind and a leather mallet. "Filler all the way up, so to get a good charge," he would say.
I then remember going out the next day and shooting the home made ammo up in his lever gun. I also remember a very sore shoulder.
I originally thought this was a waking dream mixed with some memories, until my brother mentioned our uncle Jim loading shells with a table spoon.
Could this in fact be a memory of a 12 year old boy, come back to him years later.
Or am I as crazy as my long gone, Uncle Jim(God rest his soul).
The things I find most odd are the color of the shells and the mold. Also the fact that he "packed" the powder into the shell till no more would fit, without using a scale or measure. The pounding with a hammer to load was probably a memory of an early type of lee loader.
It is about my uncle Jim.
I stayed with him one summer back in 1979, when I was 12. Now keep in mind, I am 52 now so that was 40 years ago.
Could someone justify this, so I know I am not crazy.
I can remember him loading some kind of long straight copper colored cartridges for his lever gun.
First he went out back to the old junk car and cut the battery terminals off then pulled the lead plates out of the busted battery.
He built a pit fire outside, with coal, then threw them into a tall sided cast skillet along with some lead shot, a piece of pipe and some pine bark.
He then cast a bunch of bullets in a 5 or 6 cavity, gold colored mold, with black handles.
He then dropped the bullets in a pot of bees wax while they were hot. After the mess cooled he dug the bullets one at a time out of the mess with his casting spoon, and wiped them off with a wool sock. Then inside to the table.
I remember him filling the shells with powder till they were all the way full with a regular table spoon, with some kind of powder out of a black Clorox style jug. Then he would shake out some of the powder and tap it down, till there was just enough room for the bullet to fit, and pound home into the brass with a die of some kind and a leather mallet. "Filler all the way up, so to get a good charge," he would say.
I then remember going out the next day and shooting the home made ammo up in his lever gun. I also remember a very sore shoulder.
I originally thought this was a waking dream mixed with some memories, until my brother mentioned our uncle Jim loading shells with a table spoon.
Could this in fact be a memory of a 12 year old boy, come back to him years later.
Or am I as crazy as my long gone, Uncle Jim(God rest his soul).
The things I find most odd are the color of the shells and the mold. Also the fact that he "packed" the powder into the shell till no more would fit, without using a scale or measure. The pounding with a hammer to load was probably a memory of an early type of lee loader.
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