Recent content by denton

HB beat me to it: Firmly attach the gun case to something solid inside the suitcase.

I mark mine around the primer with a Sharpie. Factory ammunition and new brass get a silver circle, once fired gets black, twice fired gets brown, three times gets red. Orange can't be seen, and yellow isn't much better. So 4 times fired gets green, and 5 gets blue. Enough color survives...

Some simple experimental evidence: I have a 6.5x55 Swedish milsurp that is a joy to shoot. However, it did copper foul more quickly than I thought it should. So I thoroughly cleaned the barrel, removing every trace of copper. Then I shot 1 shot and cleaned again for about 15 shots. Finally...

Eat lots of grapefruit and drink grapefruit juice. It flushes out the lead. And, as many have said, observe proper handling and ventilation to avoid getting it in your system in the first place.

I was amazed at how quickly she picked it up. All I did was coach her on safety, stance, and such and she was off to the races.

She's a freshman in college, staying with us for a few days. She said she wanted to go shooting, so off we went for a pleasant hour of making 9mm holes. This girl is a dynamite shot, straight out of the gate.

I don't know about soul, but I have had firearms in stores "speak" to me, as in "Take me home, please."

The concept of equal and opposite reaction is being misapplied here. The correct idea is that when you pull on a rope, the rope equally pulls back on you, i.e., a force "couple". This does not mean that the bullet and the rear of the cartridge case experience equal force. Take for example the...

Measuring case head expansion is an extremely poor way to estimate pressure. I did take the time to compare it with a proper measurement system, and the results are shown in the attached file. Anybody who thinks they can measure or even reasonably estimate chamber pressure from measurements of...

That's one nasty looking failure. Interesting pic.

Just a minor physics tidbit.... The banana peel effect can happen with a smoothbore. Weiners on the grill always split lengthwise. Why? The stress around the circumference of a cylinder is twice the stress along its length. So a split along the length relieves the stronger stress around the...

CCI 450 primer, 7.5 grains AA#5, 55 grain bullet, 1800 FPS.

I had a similar problem with a 30-30. The basic problem was that my chamber was slightly smaller than spec. New brass would chamber, factory ammo would chamber, but freshly full length sized range brass would not. 30-30 brass has a significant taper. So I bought a die body, whacked to top off...

Some of my handguns are in a small safe near the foot of our bed. If we are alone in the house, the safe door is open. If we have guests or are gone, it is locked.

The OP's question is a good one: Work up to what? Working up to pressure signs is ineffective. Flattened primers are not a reliable indicator, measuring case head expansion is deeply flawed, and the other signs kick in around 70 KPSI. Primers fall out at about 80 KPSI. So what do you work up...