New guy

STIHL

Well-Known Member
Get used to the feeling of being in over your head, mine is still spinning and it’s been 5-6 years since I made my first one. I get better every time I fire the pot up.

Joking, seriously though I learn something every time I make that first pour. Whether it is cadence, alloy temp, alloy itself, what angle to hold this mold, etc, etc. if you don’t absolutely love it you will go mad with this hobby. I fired off tonight and cast up 2-300 and it was the most calming event of the last several days. For me.
 
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RBHarter

West Central AR
Welcome .
It starts all innocent I'll just cast for the 38/40/45 ACP to save a little cause I shoot it a lot .... Next thing you know there's PIDs , ovens , lead potS , 15-20 moulds and you've bought some obscure rifle in between calibers ....
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
40 years of bullet casting, all started because I was unable to find component bullets for 32 caliber revolvers. It didn't take long for the 38/357 calibers to join the fray, and the 45 ACP joined up a couple paydays later. 30/30 rifle got under way within the first year, and the monster was REALLY out of the bottle after that.

Art AND Science........in my view, a lot more of the former than the latter--but my education was more arts & letters-based than scientifically sound, so that is how I process my world.
 

Sevenfan

Member
Welcome .
It starts all innocent I'll just cast for the 38/40/45 ACP to save a little cause I shoot it a lot .... Next thing you know there's PIDs , ovens , lead potS , 15-20 moulds and you've bought some obscure rifle in between calibers ....
Hmm, built a PID, bought an oven, always watching for moulds, guess I caught it. LOL.

My only mistake is trying to run before I know how to walk, but suppose most of us have been there a time or two as well.

Thanks again for the warm welcome. ;)
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
My only mistake is trying to run before I know how to walk, but suppose most of us have been there a time or two as well.
And there is the rub.

Seems to me that, too many new casters are too lazy to take the time to learn how to walk. Instead, they seek instant gratification and are too lazy to do the research and experimentation that running requires. The classic instant gratification question was* (and may still be), "What is the best load for the 9 mm Luger and
Lee's 356124 2R?"

Even this site's very advanced marathon runners are constantly researching and experimenting.

*From that other site, though I've not visited it in the last eight years.
 

L Ross

Well-Known Member
And there is the rub.

Seems to me that, too many new casters are too lazy to take the time to learn how to walk. Instead, they seek instant gratification and are too lazy to do the research and experimentation that running requires. The classic instant gratification question was* (and may still be), "What is the best load for the 9 mm Luger and
Lee's 356124 2R?"

Even this site's very advanced marathon runners are constantly researching and experimenting.

*From that other site, though I've not visited it in the last eight years.
But a lot of us here enjoy the fiddliness, the over thinking, the tedium, the practice of what some outsiders view as arcane black arts. Many new bullet casters have been driven by extremis to attempt to make their own projectiles and have no interest in wallowing in the minutiae. They do not care about Franklin Mann, H.M. Pope, Keith, Ideal, Hensley&Gibbs, alloys or anything else. They want lots of bullets as fast and as easily as possible so they can shoot. So they can shoot, that is the goal. Nothin' wrong with that, just that we feel like we earned our stripes the hard way and we can be a bit, ah, I don't know, "judgemental?"

We have such an assortment of enthusiasts here. Hard core machinist types that can see .002" with their naked damned Mark I eye ball. We have flint knappers, flint lock builders, black smiths, and guys who have brain tanned hides. We have members who could and will build a quality rifle from scratch and we have gardeners and chefs. We have scientists, artists, and hybrids of the two, hence the name of the site. In short, we are "enthusiasts" and bunch of us have been doing bullet casting for decades.

When I am forced to do something by extremis, I don't care about the history of metallurgy, the science of making petroleum soap based grease, the evolution of a double lipped seal, I want those damned trailer wheel bearings pulled apart, the mess cleaned, new parts right now, and get the bearings packed and back in the hub so I can go fishing tomorrow, not in 12 weeks or 12 years. I just want to do it good enough and be done with it.

Guess what get to finish up doing today?
 
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RBHarter

West Central AR
Wheel bearings ?

Just make sure you get them down too tight roll the hub and get all the slop out and set the key hole on the tight side as the inner races are likely to move some in the 1st 100 miles and come up as much as an 1/8 turn loose resulting in wheel wobble .

You left out old skool wrench benders that still set points and pack ball bearing front wheel bearings instead of tapered rollers .
 

Ian

Notorious member
I haven't packed ball front wheel bearings since I rolled a late-model chassis under my '46 Chevy pickup back in about 1993.

Trailer bearings suck. It's very difficult to find good quality ones and the seals are even worse. Best you can do is buy NSK or BCA and use oil-type seals with the dust lip and garter spring instead of the single-lip grease-types.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
The last one actually did was a 57' Bel'Aire ragtop I did a full off frame restoration on . The simplicity of it all .
 

L Ross

Well-Known Member
I haven't packed ball front wheel bearings since I rolled a late-model chassis under my '46 Chevy pickup back in about 1993.

Trailer bearings suck. It's very difficult to find good quality ones and the seals are even worse. Best you can do is buy NSK or BCA and use oil-type seals with the dust lip and garter spring instead of the single-lip grease-types.
Glad I could find anything. Went to NAPA and it took three stores to come up with the bearings and seals. At least they are all owned by the same guy and his guys chased them all down. In today's fragile American infrastructure we will soon be running out of everything.
 

L Ross

Well-Known Member
Wheel bearings ?

Just make sure you get them down too tight roll the hub and get all the slop out and set the key hole on the tight side as the inner races are likely to move some in the 1st 100 miles and come up as much as an 1/8 turn loose resulting in wheel wobble .

You left out old skool wrench benders that still set points and pack ball bearing front wheel bearings instead of tapered rollers .
Set points? How 'bout putting a dab of grease on the distributor cam lobes. That ougta cause youngin's conniption fits.
 

Creeker

Well-Known Member
Howdy from the coal fields of southern West Virginia. Set many points beside the road with a match cover. Mostly on F-750 Fords & 391 engines.