What did you do today?

[NTSOG]

BR: "Our cows got through the neighbour's fence yesterday back into our paddocks."

A few years ago a large tree flattened the fence between my property and the neighbours. His 6 large angus steers stepped over the downed fence into my place. I was worried that separating my larger mob with very young calves from his would be a problem, but it wasn't. My mob wasn't interested in his and vice versa to our great surprise. The two mobs kept well apart. I got mine into a separate paddock and shut them in while the neighbour opened my back gate and walked his back home while I stood the fence up and made sure the hot wire was clear and hot.

Jim

[NTSOG]

G'day,

I spent nearly three hours re-attaching the pump rod on my old Southern Cross windmill. The original pivoting fitting wore out years ago so every 18 months or so I have to climb up and reattach the rod just below the windmill body so the windmill can pivot and also pump. I use a pin through the end of the shaft plus a few washers to spread the load and allow 360-degree rotation. It's not a complex job, but, even with a safety harness, holding on with one hand while juggling tools and other bits and pieces, it's a bit frustrating. The worst thing is when I drop a tool and have to climb down to pick it up.

Jim

[bladeracer]

BR: "Our cows got through the neighbour's fence yesterday back into our paddocks."

A few years ago a large tree flattened the fence between my property and the neighbours. His 6 large angus steers stepped over the downed fence into my place. I was worried that separating my larger mob with very young calves from his would be a problem, but it wasn't. My mob wasn't interested in his and vice versa to our great surprise. The two mobs kept well apart. I got mine into a separate paddock and shut them in while the neighbour opened my back gate and walked his back home while I stood the fence up and made sure the hot wire was clear and hot.

Jim

Yes, we've had strays come in with our mob and ours get into the neighbours' places. But they all know which mob they belong to so we've never had any trouble getting them out again. We took 16 yearlings to market a couple months ago but kept one. We'd had them separated from the big girls for a few weeks as they were coming up to dropping calves, so he was the big boss of the "littles". So when all his buddies left he was very confused and unhappy. He took to jumping the fence and hanging out with the neighbour's youngsters for a few hours every day, but he came back for water and sleeping. As he's grown bigger though he feels more like one of the big gang now and doesn't really spend much time with the new calves.

A few years ago one of our big girls had raging hormones and crossed the same creek, then through three fences to go and play in the bull paddock of another neighbour nearly a klick away. We went and got her and she trotted back with us okay, until we crested the hill and she saw our mob, then she took off for home and left us behind - she probably had some juicy stories to tell her mates

Because we have three separate blocks, each block has several neighbouring properties - we have at least ten neighbours (plus HVP) that actually abut our fences, but we also graze our cows through three other neighbours' properties and they also have neighbours. It's like a great big family

[bladeracer]

G'day,

I spent nearly three hours re-attaching the pump rod on my old Southern Cross windmill. The original pivoting fitting wore out years ago so every 18 months or so I have to climb up and reattach the rod just below the windmill body so the windmill can pivot and also pump. I use a pin through the end of the shaft plus a few washers to spread the load and allow 360-degree rotation. It's not a complex job, but, even with a safety harness, holding on with one hand while juggling tools and other bits and pieces, it's a bit frustrating. The worst thing is when I drop a tool and have to climb down to pick it up.

Jim

Dropping stuff is the bane of the roof carpenter
Everything has to have it's own pouch/pocket/clip/lanyard, and you have to carry at least two of everything you're likely to need. If you don't take it you will need it, and if you do have it, you'll probably drop it or break it

[wanneroo]

It's Thanksgiving here, so I had a simple dinner with family and that's it.

It snowed a fair bit here this morning and I think we may have a heavy winter this year. We shall see.

I spent some time in the barn cleaning up from summer and starting to put things away and get my workbenches organized and sorted out for winter. I have various bins of brass from summer so it will be time to get the reloading presses sorted out and start processing brass and decide what projects I will do this winter for the Youtube channel.

I'm keeping my eye on Black Friday sales emails and think I have a few items I might pick up. Sales are pretty good this year so far, lots of discounts.

[bigpete]

20241129_152757.jpg (288.03 KiB) Viewed 30040 times

Picked up my new greatsword today. Now to start training with it

[Flyonline]

You don't look very happy about it

It's named right, makes you look like a hobbit with a normal sword

Out of curiosity, what's the legality with having/transporting those things? My wife has a sword for dancing, and there is some argument on how/where/who can have them.

[bigpete]

You don't look very happy about it

It's named right, makes you look like a hobbit with a normal sword

Out of curiosity, what's the legality with having/transporting those things? My wife has a sword for dancing, and there is some argument on how/where/who can have them.

Its 68 inches long with a 48 inch blade and a bit under 7lb so its a bit on the heavy side but mainly its a bit tip heavy. But ifs what I've got to work with though.

Legalities are different each state. In Victoria you're meant to have a licence for them.

[Flyonline]

Took the 97k and a couple of tins of new pellets plus a home made semi-permanent tripod out for a quick spin before the rain arrived (again).

Very happy with these, all under 10c sized, 25 and 30m for both sets of pellets, though it seems to like the QYS shoot a little better - though it's only a few 3-5 shot groups in perfect conditions so not a true test yet.

Pleasingly, these 2 plus the Barracuda 8s are pretty well identical POI, and the 10gr's are only slightly lower post 20m to 1.5" lower at 30m so plenty of good choices for pellets.

IMG_5851.jpg (95.17 KiB) Viewed 30017 times

IMG_5852.jpg (99.21 KiB) Viewed 30017 times

IMG_5853.jpg (84.72 KiB) Viewed 30017 times

IMG_5854.jpg (81.02 KiB) Viewed 30017 times

Shot a big ol buck rabbit at 32m last week, which was a bang flop - or pop flop rather so looking forward to hoeing into a few for the olds now

[on_one_wheel]

20241129_152757.jpg

Picked up my new greatsword today. Now to start training with it

You'll have fun trimming your hedges and shrubs with that monster

[NTSOG]

bigpete: "Its 68 inches long with a 48 inch blade and a bit under 7lb".

It looks as big as the sword that was supposedly carried by William Wallace when he and his mad Scots mates took on Edward I. Of course it didn't end well for Wallace as he was caught and tried, hanged then, castrated and 'subdivided'. Bits of him were stuck on spikes around the countryside. His head was dipped in tar and placed on a spike on top of London Bridge.

Jim

[bigpete]

bigpete: "Its 68 inches long with a 48 inch blade and a bit under 7lb".

It looks as big as the sword that was supposedly carried by William Wallace when he and his mad Scots mates took on Edward I. Of course it didn't end well for Wallace as he was caught and tried, hanged then, castrated and 'subdivided'. Bits of him were stuck on spikes around the countryside. His head was dipped in tar and placed on a spike on top of London Bridge.

Jim

Funnily enough its patterned after a Scottish lowlander sword.

[bigpete]

20241129_152757.jpg

Picked up my new greatsword today. Now to start training with it

You'll have fun trimming your hedges and shrubs with that monster

Its a frigging workout going through the montante rules with it

[Beeza]

Picked up my new greatsword today. Now to start training with it

Wow that's a beast of a sword. Hanwei Lowlander?
Is it a live blade?
I recently purchased it's little brother the Kingston Arms Scottish Claymore, only 55" long.
Enjoy

[bigpete]

Picked up my new greatsword today. Now to start training with it

Wow that's a beast of a sword. Hanwei Lowlander?
Is it a live blade?
I recently purchased it's little brother the Kingston Arms Scottish Claymore, only 55" long.
Enjoy

Yep,you got it spot on. And yes its a live blade which makes it somewhat intimidating to practice with

[bladeracer]

We had a working bee yesterday at the pistol club in the rain, but I picked up some .38 Special brass from one of the members. Only 421 pieces, plus he gave me 200 new .38 S&W that I can use in the revolvers. So I've deprimed, sized, primed and flared about 700 pieces. Loaded one up with 8gn of AR2206H just now with a 158gn cast bullet, fired it in the Rossi 92 and it sounds good. Didn't chrono it but it doesn't sound as hot as the factory S&B 158gn cast we've been shooting. So I'm loading twenty to shoot into the lawn to confirm they work and chrono them.

[Oldbloke]

So I'm loading twenty to shoot into the lawn

What would you want to murder the lawn?
Your a cruel man.

[bladeracer]

We had a working bee yesterday at the pistol club in the rain, but I picked up some .38 Special brass from one of the members. Only 421 pieces plus he gave me 200 new .38 S&W that I can use in the revolvers. So I've deprimed, sized, primed and flared about 700 pieces. Loaded one up with 8gn of AR2206H just now with a 158gn cast bullet and it sounds good. Didn't chrono it but it doesn't sound as hot as the factory S&B 158gn cast we've been shooting. So I'm loading twenty to shoot into the lawn to confirm they work and chrono them.

Well, that was a let down
I made one round this morning and it fired just fine in the Rossi 92.
I made another ten and fired five in the Uberti across the chronograph seeing 145fps to 505fps, and the velocities feel and sound about right. I'll have to test some more to get more numbers for an average.
Then I fired five in the Rossi 92, nope The first four all squibbed about 220mm up the bore needing to be pushed out with a rod. I took the remaining round and put it in the Uberti and it fired fine.
The primary difference I think is that the Rossi has a .357 Magnum chamber, so there's 3.7mm more bullet jump over the Uberti's .38 chamber.
Oh well, I'll try some 12gn loads now but that's four times the amount of pistol powder I could use. Makes more sense to use the pistol powder I think. I'll also try loading one at .357 length and see if that works.

[No1Mk3]

We had a working bee yesterday at the pistol club in the rain, but I picked up some .38 Special brass from one of the members. Only 421 pieces, plus he gave me 200 new .38 S&W that I can use in the revolvers. So I've deprimed, sized, primed and flared about 700 pieces. Loaded one up with 8gn of AR2206H just now with a 158gn cast bullet, fired it in the Rossi 92 and it sounds good. Didn't chrono it but it doesn't sound as hot as the factory S&B 158gn cast we've been shooting. So I'm loading twenty to shoot into the lawn to confirm they work and chrono them.

You have 38 S&W revolvers? The case Base Dia. s .0075" larger than 38 Spl, and even when sized down sometimes leaves a small shoulder that can interfere with loading into a 38 Spl chamber. Try sizing a couple before doing the lot, you may need to swap with someone ( I use 38 S&W in Colt's & Webleys, and have lots of 38 Spl brass, would be happy to swap 2 used Spl per S&W)

[bladeracer]

We had a working bee yesterday at the pistol club in the rain, but I picked up some .38 Special brass from one of the members. Only 421 pieces, plus he gave me 200 new .38 S&W that I can use in the revolvers. So I've deprimed, sized, primed and flared about 700 pieces. Loaded one up with 8gn of AR2206H just now with a 158gn cast bullet, fired it in the Rossi 92 and it sounds good. Didn't chrono it but it doesn't sound as hot as the factory S&B 158gn cast we've been shooting. So I'm loading twenty to shoot into the lawn to confirm they work and chrono them.

You have 38 S&W revolvers? The case Base Dia. is .0075" larger than 38 Spl, and even when sized down sometimes leaves a small shoulder that can interfere with loading into a 38 Spl chamber. Try sizing a couple before doing the lot, you may need to swap with someone ( I use 38 S&W in Colt's & Webleys, and have lots of 38 Spl brass, would be happy to swap 2 used Spl per S&W)

Nope, .38 Special revolvers. So you're saying this .38S&W brass might not work in .38 Special cylinders? The virgin brass chambers and extracts fine in the Uberti 1866, and in the Rossi 1892 but it's definitely tighter than the Uberti - despite the Uberti being 500rds-filthy and the Rossi being cleaned yesterday. Measuring the virgin S&W against the .38 Special I just fired the S&W is only .008" to .009" larger at the base. I was thinking the S&W stuff would be perfect for blackpowder loads, 8gn of FFFg fills the case to the base of the bullet so no filler required. Obviously they won't cycle through the rifles but would be fine in the revolvers. My mate should have his Schofield in a couple of weeks so I was figuring on trying the brass in that one.

If you can use the S&W brass though I'm happy to save it for you, and I can use all the .38 Special brass I can find. I prepped 1200 pieces yesterday, and loaded 80rds with about 2.8gn of Trailboss. Just been out to test them and they ran fine in both rifles, making 685fps with 158gn bullets. This test ammo was just with the .7cc Lee dipper which gives me 2.9gn to 3.0gn of Trailboss, so I just dipped it so it wasn't quite full, probably around 2.8gn and more than close enough. I also chronoed the factory S&B 158gn LRN - 1076fps in the 20" Uberti and 1062fps in the 24" Rossi. 685fps is a bit hot for Cowboy loads so I'll try some at 2.0gn of TB, and some with 125gn bullets as well. I'd like to get down around 500fps.

[bladeracer]

I found the Rossi was full of powder residue from the squibs making it hard to close, so I stripped and cleaned it, what a pain in the bum that is
The ejector was packed with residue. I was sort of leaning toward using the Rossi for blackpowder loads because it's stainless, but there is no way I want to be stripping and cleaning that thing every month.

Rossi 92 guts.jpg (112.9 KiB) Viewed 29021 times

So I'm not willing to try to make a load that works with AR2206H for the Rossi due to the amount of residue it leaves in the action if a bullet stops in the bore again.

I prepped just over 1200 pieces of .38 Special brass yesterday and loaded 80rds with a scoop of Trailboss of about 2.8gn under Berry's 158gn hardcast bullets. Took them out today to ensure they work okay and put them across the chronograph. They worked fine in the Uberti and the Rossi and averaged 685fps. For Cowboy I'd rather get them down around 500fps so I'll reduce the load and try again. I also want to use much lighter bullets since we're just spitting them at steel, around 100gn would be good, and on 2gn of Trailboss makes for very cheap shooting, pretty much just the cost of the primer (a $140 bottle of TB makes 11,000rds, and a $3 kilo of lead makes 150 bullets). For comparison I also chronoed the factory S&B 158gn, and I ran a 15rd tube of .22LR Remington Cyclones across it as well, they make 1254fps (1140fps to 1312fps) in the Henry.

[Bugman]

Picked up a new welder. Another toy to play with.

[Oldbloke]

Prepped 110 223 cases.
Mowed the lawn.
Enjoying a stout now.

[bladeracer]

Prepped 110 223 cases.
Mowed the lawn.
Enjoying a stout now.

Nice, I drank stout for a bit when I was twelve and thirteen in South Hedland, my old man said it would build muscles

[Oldbloke]

Prepped 110 223 cases.
Mowed the lawn.
Enjoying a stout now.

Nice, I drank stout for a bit when I was twelve and thirteen in South Hedland, my old man said it would build muscles

I can attest that's not true.

But a can guarantee you it puts lead in the pencil.

[Maxjon]

Loaded some 7.62X39 ammo for my Russian BARS rifle, basically a copy of the CZ527 carbine...Some Subsonic with the Lee .312-155SP and some Sierra 125SP.....

[bigpete]

Got a lead on another deer block...

[bladeracer]

Just put ten rounds over the chronograph, 2.3gn of TB under Berry's 158gn Hardcast bullet.
In the 20" Uberti 1866 it makes 621, 612, 608, 603, 615 to average 611fps with ES18 and SD6.
In the 24" Rossi 1892 it makes 345, 545, 446, 530, 526 averaging 489fps with ES201 SD73. I think the true "average" is closer to 530fps but the longer chamber is causing huge variation. Still perfectly acceptable for Cowboy - shooting 400mm-square plates at 3m to 6m

I'm loading these to 1.525" rather than the max of 1.550" (or 1.590" for .357), so it might be possible to tighten them up by seating the bullet longer. But for now I'm just burning through my stocks of commercial cast bullets for practicing in the paddock, once I start casting then I'll look at making new loads.

[wanneroo]

Never seen anyone load 38 Special that low. I thought 650 FPS was slow.

[bladeracer]

Never seen anyone load 38 Special that low. I thought 650 FPS was slow.

Cowboy Power Factor is only 60 but they have a minimum of 400fps
PF60 is a 150gn bullet making 400fps, or a 100gn bullet at 600fps.
I would think they only have a PF to try to minimise squibbed bullets slowing competitions down.

The lowest reading I've had that I know is genuine is 275fps in .303, but I've also seen 145fps that I think is genuine with one of my light .38's. I get occasional readings in double-digits when I'm shooting only a foot from the chrono but I'm sure those are reading particulate rather than the bullet, stuff that small is not going to be doing 150fps a couple meters downrange.

I just want it to be as cheap as possible so I can do _a lot_ of practice. I plan to cast bullets around 100gn and run them on about 2gn of powder. Pretty much shooting for the cost of the primers, which I bought for about eight-cents apiece years ago. Each case of .22LR gives me 13kg of free soft lead, once I recover it from the rubber backstop. But I also have a few hundred kg of pure lead and lead shot that cost me about $3/kg. Even with commercial bullets these loads are costing me about 33c each.