The End of Irish Shooters Digest??

Cal Ward

Maybe ONE more question?
Broken Croshairs in vintage scopes. Can steel wire be got that is thinner than a hair? Synthetic fibre works but is of variable strength and thickness. It has to be very thin almost to the point of invisibility or it will look like a hawser in the lens.

gunny123

123shooter wrote: »

To overcome the problem of cooling fractures in metal, insulation is the key so sand and/or rockwool or ceramic insulation is used so the near molten metal cannot conduct heat from itself. So the cooling is gentle and slow according to the process used.

This process is used often in heavy engineering and especially when welding different metals together or using steel or nickel welding rods to weld cast iron..........different metals = different conduction rates = different cooling rates.......one cools faster than the other it will shrink away from its partner causing a crack/fracture.

The process has been known about and used for years........People who had an old style heavy engineering apprenticeship would have been taught all about this.

The slow cooling is also used to anneal previously hardened metals, heat beyond the upper critical temp and cool as slowly as possible, doubt it would work for lead though. Hardness in lead is controlled by the antimony content, but i have seen lead shot advertised as "chilled lead shot" in adverts for cartridges, so maybe occassionally "heat treatment" is used.

I think the problem Cal has is that he is using reclaimed bullets from ranges, so he cannot know for certain what is in that lead, or how soft or hard it will be.

yubabill1

I have no experience of reloading, but Lidl have a graphite lubricant spray in store on 28 Dec

https://www.lidl.ie/en/special-offers.htm?articleId=5779

If the spray has a non-evaporating solvent, it might burn in the bore, of course. Then there's old-fashioned pencil lead (graphite) or other forms of graphite dry lubricant. Just a wild shot in the dark.

There's also moly coating, but perhaps I'm showing my ignorance, now.

On the crosshairs, again another guess, but steel can be drawn when heated appropriately.

nihilobstat

yubabill1 wrote: »

I have no experience of reloading, but Lidl have a graphite lubricant spray in store on 28 Dec

That is designed to lubricate the lead in propelling pencils.

Cal Ward

Not wild. It fits the known facts.

Cal Ward

I'm thinking about alternative lubricants. Graphite. Molybdenum. Copper grease. Am I forgetting any?

Cal Ward

The 40 grain load of tu5000 was a flop. Inaccurate. Leaded the barrel. Awful cleaning job. I was warned fast powder -20 grains of sp3 - would cause pressure. It turned out very well. The reason was never clear. The slower powder worked fine with jacketed bullets although it was sooty. Even pistol powder in reduced loads was ok. We repeated the test with three rifles and now we do all load development with sp3 and 165 grain cast gaschecked bullets. The cost per round is only £0.15 versus £0.70 using jacketed match kings. I wouldnt chance tu5000 now - I thought my barrel was wrecked at one point.

gunny123

Did pyrodex not replace blackpowder Cal ?

Cal Ward

Pyrodex is a black powder substitute. Both are available legally.

Grizzly 45

Pyrodex is a black powder substitute. Both are available legally.

Bar the ROI of course...

Cal Ward

There is lots of legal black powder in the Republic of Ireland. It is reloading and the sale of BP to private individuals for "a purpose other than blasting" that is prohibited. Apparently France is more civilised about it.

Grizzly 45

Who uses BP for "blasting" these days?:eek::eek: Didn't realise Captn Jack Sparrow is living in Ireland.:D:D

Cal Ward

I would prefer not to pursue the subject of legal industrial explosives manufacturing. I know very little about it and public forums are monitored by people who often regard an interest in these areas as indicating criminality.

Grizzly 45

Whoever those people are Cal.They can and will find it anyway on the interweb, along with things on how to make SMGs, nerve gas and all other types of interesting goodies.Most don't bother because;

It's still easy enough to go buy whatever you need on the Darknet these days with bitcoin

Fortunately or unfortunately, a lot of those DIY recipes are booby-trapped that unless you are a chemist or have had instruction, any wannabe terrorist will self-destruct themselves to the benefit of society.

The majority of the chemicals needed are already known and are required to be sold to registered end users under the explosives acts[various].Even the common stuff in the household is so watered down to be useless.

Those that are making pipe bombs, still have access to "decommissioned" stocks of explosives from the troubles obviously.Or are running in mil-spec stuff from the Baltics or the Balkans.

Knives and vans are a lot easier to acquire these days.


How did you draw a conclusion that we wanted to discuss making BP from the previous comments?

Cal Ward

Actually I used the word "legal". There is' as you know, a manufacturer in Ireland.

Grizzly 45

Nope! Never knew that!:eek:
And my question still stands.Who uses BP for "blasting" these days?When there are 100% safer options and efficient materials out there? Seems like the only logical market would be, fireworks and BP shooters...

Cal Ward

Detonators

Nekarsulm

Well Exsol make quarry blasting explosives up here beside us in Co Cavan.
Wouldn't like to try loading the resulting slurry into a BP gun though....

Cal Ward

Blasting powder has been reprocessed legally into gun powder but with only partial success. BP substitutes are preferable especially Hodgdon's 777