Cast bullets in .17 caliber centerfire rifles

  • 1.6K Views
  • Last Post 08 April 2019
mashburn posted this 11 March 2019

Is there anyone out there who has fired cast bullets in .17 caliber centerfire rifles? I'm not talking about the pip squeak rimfire cartridges, I'm talking about real rifles. I have a .17 Mashburn, which no one except me and possibly a few other old-timers have ever heard of. I built it with the old man Mashburn's shop made reamer. I met a fellow with a .22 caliber black powder rifle a few years back. He was a member of the Arkansas Black Powder Association.. by their rules he had to shoot a patched round ball in competition but his favorite loads were with .22 caliber pellets. It was very accurate. I planned on building one but I have too many projects.

After reading the information on bunny rifles I got very interested and have one under construction. And of course being a .17 caliber fan I got to thinking about the possibility of shooting lead pellets in my .17 and have a unusual variant of a bunny rifle. The .17 Mashburn that I have has about the same powder capacity as a .17 MK IV. The shoulder is 40 degrees and the neck is about .173 thousandths in length, A much hotter cartridge than the .17 Ackley Bee. One tenth of a grain powder increase results in about 100 fps. I ran through about 2.5 lbs. of powder working up the loads that I shoot. If there is anyone who has experimented with something like this or has a interest, I would like to hear any and all comments.

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

  • Liked by
  • M3 Mitch
Order By: Standard | Newest | Votes
M3 Mitch posted this 12 March 2019

I'll have to admit that I have never seen a .17 caliber mold.  I guess it could be done, but I have never seen it. -Mitch

Attached Files

GP Idaho posted this 12 March 2019

I bet they'd be fun to put gas checks on. Maybe some swaged 17cal pellets. Gp

Attached Files

Brodie posted this 12 March 2019

NOE offers three .172" diameter moulds.  The 17cal. molds are offered in both gas check and plain base.  If you left the gas check upright (cup up) on the bench and pressed the bullet base into it I don't think they would be any harder than any others.  Such molds would certainly save on powder and lead though.

B.E.Brickey

Attached Files

  • Liked by
  • M3 Mitch
delmarskid posted this 12 March 2019

I have no experience with the 17 but I have driven .22 pellets through my Bee with primed cases. Works pretty good. A friend does it with his 223 and a grain of bullseye.

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 12 March 2019

Hello delmarskid,

I think your on track. I'm not worried about high velocity, I just want a fun rifle to shoot pests around the place and have fun plinking. Years ago I took a .17 cal pellet rifle barrel, turned it to the size and shape of .357 magnum cases-except longer where it would almost reach the end of the cylinder, I rigged the back end to take a Lg. rifle primer and put a small throat in front of the primer to seat the pellet in. Amazingly accurate at distances I didn't expect. I was always going to make a barrel insert but never did. I never figured out a barrel insert that I wouldn't have to butcher the barrel to make it stay put. I'm sure I would have come up with something If I hadn't got sidetracked with some other project.

When I was fireforming cases for this rifle, even after annealing I was loosing a way too many cases in the fireforming process with bullets I began using a very small amt. of Bullseye and bullet lube plugs in the case mouths. I never lost a case after that. It was amazing what such a small chg. of powder would do. Like your example of your Bee and your friends rifle,

Thanks a lot for your input.

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

  • Liked by
  • M3 Mitch
mashburn posted this 12 March 2019

Hello in Idaho,

The swaged .17 pellets sounds interesting of course I would want to make the swages myself: instead of looking for one already made. when I was about in the 6th grade or so  I came up with a 20 cal. Sheridan pellet rifle. I lived about 30 miles from town and hardly ever went there, besides we were so poor I couldn't have bought pellets. I learned to make my own crude pellets,  but they were quite accurate. To save my pellets only to shoot small game I would wrap BB's in tissue and shoot them just for plinking. Amazingly they shot pretty accurate at close distances. I made 20 cal pellets by melting fishing sinkers and pouring it into fired 22 cases. About the only tools I had were files. I would first file the rim off and them split the 22 case lengthwise with a file and take the lead slug out. I would then file the diameter down to approximately .20 caliber-Round the point with files and then take the round ended blade in my pocket knife and whittle out the resemblance of a hollow base. They had no belt. I don't know what the weight of them was but they were deadly on rabbits and squirrels. Those old Sheridans didn't have a pressure relief valve, you could pump until you couldn't force another stroke in it. These heavy pellets with an over supply of air would shoot through a 2X4 board.

Now that I'm a old man I  enjoy having a complete machine shop and the money to do the things that I wanted to do when I was just a poor kid. Your mention of swaging set my want to make in gene off. Thanks for your suggestion and thinks for bringing  back happy memories of my childhood. I just wish I had more tools and money in those years. While I've been setting here typing I have been getting ideas of how to build the swage.

Mash-David Cogburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

dromia posted this 12 March 2019

I use bullets from the NOE molds in my .17 Hornet at around 1800 fps with fine success.

Like all small cast bullets casting consistency/bullet consistency has be good as any defects tend to be magnified.

Attached Files

  • Liked by
  • M3 Mitch
John Alexander posted this 12 March 2019

Great thread and fascinating ideas.  David's tale of feeding the Sheridan is outstanding.

My contribution is pale by comparison. But in 1961 managed to murder a fair number of starling from a Washington DC apartment window using 17 caliber pellets out of a 222 propelled by primers only.  I avoided apprehension by using a paper towel tube silencer which seemed to muffle the tiny report a bit.

John

Attached Files

delmarskid posted this 12 March 2019

The pellet from my Bee would almost Pierce a metal trash can at 30 feet. 3/8" plywood didn't stand a chance. I still have my Sheridan.

Attached Files

  • Liked by
  • M3 Mitch
mashburn posted this 12 March 2019

Hello dromia,

Now things are really getting interesting. You are shooting at velocities that would really fill the bill for what I'm looking for, If I may ask what kind of accuracy are you getting with this cartridge? Are your bullets plain base or GC (I don't even know if there is such a thing as a .17 caliber GC)? would it be possible to share some of your load information with me? I have been thinking of either making a paper patch mold or a swage to make bullets to paper patch. Also, would you be willing to sell me some of you bullets to experiment with. I would pay a fair price or if you're interested, I would trade you some jacketed Hornady V-MAX bullets .I really appreciate your info.

Mashburn-David Cogburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 12 March 2019

Hello John

, I enjoyed your response. I hope you don't live in DC at the present. If you tried that shooting sport now all of the swat teams in the Northeast would have been called in to take out such a dangerous gunman. How things have changed. I'm glad in live in extreme Southeastern Oklahoma. We just passed Constitutional carry a few days ago. We welcome all newcomers just as long as they vote like we do,

Thanks for your response,

David Cogburn -Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

M3 Mitch posted this 12 March 2019

Just doing a couple of Google searches, I am not finding any commercially available 17 caliber gas checks.  I guess someone could make them using one of the DIY tools now available, or maybe the guys at NOE have them? 

Attached Files

JeffinNZ posted this 13 March 2019

Adam (Dromia).  You are taking 'Scottish' to the next level.  LOL.  I should know being a Dunedin boy (Edinburgh of the south).

Cheers from New Zealand

Attached Files

Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 13 March 2019

17 gas checks ..... how about making them by reforming small primer cups  ... fired, de-anviled, then uni-formed in a small die ...

***************

i have thrown away a lot of potential 17 gas checks ... heh ...

******************

i have often thought it would be fun to put together a 17 cast shooter ... but i have only ever had one new take-off barrel in 17, and somebody wanted it on a gun right away ...

just think, you could make a bullet forming swage for a 310 tong tool  ....

.... and it would have to shoot small groups ... how far apart could 17 sized bullets possibly get ?? ...

keep us informed .... 17 cast could give us some answers ... such as how fast can you go WITHOUT gas checks ...  and how would powder coating work ...

ken

Attached Files

  • Liked by
  • M3 Mitch
mashburn posted this 13 March 2019

Hello again,

I wish I still had my Sheridan but I don't. There was a little blonde headed girl that moved in a couple of miles away(the story was  that she was quite promiscuous) I needed some transportation. The front axle in my bicycle had broken and both of my tires were beyond repair. I had made boots out of pieces of tin cans to put inside the tires over rotten holes and etc. I then riveted the boots in and put old pieces of inner tube to protect my tubes. The tires had gotten so bad I couldn't even run them that way. I found a kid that had a front axle and bearings and two brand new bicycle tires and tubes and he wanted my Sheridan. Regrettably I traded. Guess what,Blondie wasn't the way I was told and I didn't have my Sheridan anymore.

I remember there was a Silver Streak and some other streak. One was a 22 caliber and the other was a 20 cal. I can't remember which was which. Oh what memories.

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

  • Liked by
  • delmarskid
mashburn posted this 13 March 2019

Jeff,

Yes, I'm Scottish along with a mixture of a lot of other Nationalities. I don't know why the Scotts love their guns so much. Look at all Scotts with names connected to rifles: Hepburn-Mashburn and the list goes on and on.

David Cogburn-Mashburn.

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 13 March 2019

Ken,

Boy, it's good to hear from you again. Before I go any farther, did you ever know a man from Manchester, Iowa named Dick Sanders? A friend of mine Xeroxed a copy of Sanders book called 17 Caliber Shooting. It was not only a load book but it included his notes he made while shooting 17 caliber cartridges that he designed and the guns he fired them in. It was published in 1991.  It broke a spring in my feeble mind and I couldn't think of nothing else until I built one. I had several phone calls with him while I was building my rifle. I found out later that I was the only one that his wife would let him take phone calls from. I think it he was getting older at that time. That was in the late 90's I built a rifle like one that he had just developed without having a sketch or anything. He would describe different things and I guess we understood each others thinking. I kept in touch with him for a few years and after finding out that his wife wouldn't allow him to talk to anyone but me, I didn't want to upset him or her. Maybe she liked to hear my southern accent. I believe that he and Frank DeHass had some kind of friendship.

I can't believe that I had never thought of making jackets from spent primers. I got to see what I can do. After you mentioned this I started thinking of making a nose pour mold in which you put the GC in and then poured in the metal. there used to be a fellow around here that made pistol bullets in this manner. You would have to run them through  a sizer and crimp the GC's  firmly or they wouldn't stay on long. My .17 Mashburn has thousands of rounds fired through it and hasn't lost any of its accuracy. It fires 20 gr. slugs better than 25 gr. but I lost too much effective killing range with just a 5 gr less bullet. Believe it or not I have targets on file of 5 shot groups at 100 yds. in  about a .200 inch group. I have never tried to get all of the velocity that it is capable of , I developed a good accurate load with enough velocity to blow up prairie dogs. I made the mistake once of shooting a turkey with it.  I found that you should either shoot him in the head or shoot him straight in the breast. You never saw such a cloud of feathers in your life, I shot him in the side of his body. When I cleaned him the side where the bullet struck of course was not damaged. The side of the exit was different. I got one-half breast and most of one drumstick from that side The day before I killed a gobbler with my 28 guage shotgun. I almost let it spoil while I drove around to all the turkey hunters that I knew, showing them the pulverized head and ragging them about not needing a 31/2 magnum to kill a turkey..

Since you came up with the idea of making a swage out of a tong tool, you should volunteer to make one and loan it to me. Ha Ha. What part of Iowa do you reside in? Thanks a lot Ken.

David Cogburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

  • Liked by
  • M3 Mitch
gnoahhh posted this 13 March 2019

I took a decrepit .177 Made in China air rifle and converted it to percussion. I started by pulling the barrel and reaming a tiny chamber backed by a simple percussion gun nipple. The innards of the rifle went in the trash and I fashioned a simple (crude) central fire swinging hammer, held and tripped by the gun's original trigger. (Hammer looked a lot like a S&W revolver hammer filed out of O-1 steel and hardened, driven by a simple flat spring.) The loading/shooting drill was: unscrew the nipple with a standard nipple wrench, breech seat a .177 air rifle pellet, dump in a measure full off 4f black powder to fill the chamber (I don't recall the exact charge but it was around 1/2 of an empty .22 short case with a handle soldered on), screw the nipple back on, cap it with a #11 cap, and fire. Noise was virtually nonexistent, velocity was fairly snappy (how's that for a technically precise term?!), and accuracy was Minute of Starling at 50 feet. Admittedly slow to reload, but what's time to an old fart sitting on the front porch with nothing better to do? I never experienced blowback, but I was never foolish enough to fire it without shooting glasses on.

Attached Files

shastaboat posted this 13 March 2019

While I always like a challenge I think trying to shoot a cast 17 cal or swaged 17 cal bullet is kind of foolish.  .17 cal high velocity jacketed bullets certainly have a use for varmint hunting or targets but when you figure in the velocity restrictions of shooting a lead bullet accurately, you might just be wasting your time.  I do cast, load and shoot .22 cal in .223/5.56 for varmints and it is somewhat tedious to install gas checks and size/lube but highly accurate and effective within the threshold of cast bullet velocity.

Because I said so!

Attached Files

  • Liked by
  • M3 Mitch
mashburn posted this 13 March 2019

Foolish

Remember this is the Cast Bullet Forum. Without what you call foolish, cast bullet shooting technology would be nothing like it is today. I've fired thousands of Jacketed 17 cal cartridges both on the range and in the prairie dog fields. I grew up as a small game hunter that put food on the family dinner table. When Dad bought me a box of 22 shorts, I was expected to shoot food with every round. One of the first things I did when I got old enough to make a little money was to buy 22 shells and shoot to my hearts content. I'm sure people thought Benjamin Franklin was foolish.

I have three college majors-Industrial technology, Science and physical education .My 17 with jacketed bullets will shoot 5 shot,.200 inch groups at 100 yds. Mission accomplished, time for something else. In one of my responses I described what happened to the Turkey I shot. I have approximately 70 rifles and there are several that fill the bill as small game rifles but I want to shoot this one with cast.  Most of the rifles that I have I built myself. This is how cast bullet shooting has progressed so much. Like Elmer Keith said "Hell I Was There" and Larry Potterfield would say "That's The Way It Is.

 Please Don't call Me Foolish.

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

  • Liked by
  • M3 Mitch
Brodie posted this 14 March 2019

Mashburn,

NOE offers 17 cal gas checks in , I believe, copper on their web site.  Good luck and keep up the good work trying different applications for cast bullets.

B.E.Brickey

Attached Files

M3 Mitch posted this 14 March 2019

Well, to paraphrase Kennedy (JFK), "We choose to do these things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"!  I don't have any .17s, but, I have shot a lot of .22 CBs, and have had decent accuracy with them. I will say that it can be a challenge to keep a .22 mold hot enough, and that challenge will be more severe with .17s.  But, nobody learns anything from not trying.  "To infinity - and beyond!"

Attached Files

  • Liked by
  • JeffinNZ
mashburn posted this 14 March 2019

Hello Gnoahh,

I'd like to have you for a neighbor. We could set on the front porch together with your percussion pellet rifle and shoot the neighbor that I have now in the butt when she came out of her house. Your rifle is something else. Now you will have to build one that is a little more technically advanced. I've been doing things like that since I was a kid and don't plan on quitting as long as I'm on top of God's Green Earth. I've got one of those fine Chinese rifles also and have thought many times what I could do with it besides putting a drop of diesel in the base of the pellet. When I was a kid, we built firecracker powered pistols. I guess it was a good way of practicing a steady hold while you're waiting on the fuse to burn down. I appreciate your comment and be sure and let me know if you come up with any other neat projects.

David Cogburn-Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 14 March 2019

 

 

 

Thanks for the info.

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 14 March 2019

Mitch,

Thanks for your encouragement

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 14 March 2019

Ken,

You have to hear the latest. I have a friend who manufactures single shot rifles (Fenris Wolf Arms) He was telling me a story today about some of his friends trying to make .17 caliber gas checks in a very strange way, They were were priming 17 caliber cases and shooting small pistol and rifle primers with the anvils removed through their rifle. They were shooting them against the basement wall. Now here is the real funny part. The owner of the house had sticks of summer sausage hanging in the basement..Several months later he was eating some sausage and bit into something hard. You just guessed it, it was a GC.I measured a small rifle primer today, it was .174 OD. It wouldn't be hard to turn one Into a 17 gas check. Thought you would like to hear this.

David Cogburn-Mashburn

.

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

David Reiss posted this 14 March 2019

David,

I have a NOE 172-27-FN mold 2 cavity that cast one PB and one GC. If you would like to borrow it, you are welcome to it. 

David Reiss - NRA Life Member & PSC Range Member Retired Police Firearms Instructor/Armorer
-Services: Wars Fought, Uprisings Quelled, Bars Emptied, Revolutions Started, Tigers Tamed, Assassinations Plotted, Women Seduced, Governments Run, Gun Appraisals, Lost Treasure Found.
- Also deal in: Land, Banjos, Nails, Firearms, Manure, Fly Swatters, Used Cars, Whisky, Racing Forms, Rare Antiquities, Lead, Used Keyboard Keys, Good Dogs, Pith Helmets & Zulu Headdresses. .

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 14 March 2019

Hello David,

Man what a great offer. I would love to borrow your mold but I would want to put up a deposit. You must be one very nice guy, but would your wife agree with me. Of all the people that I conferred with in the short time I've been on the forum, I've only had two that don't seem like someone I would want to be friends with. I'll discuss it with you later by phone.

Thanks,

David

 

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

shastaboat posted this 14 March 2019

I think I remember P.O. Ackley shooting burros in Arizona with a .17 cal and jacketed bullets. Since we both know that cast bullets are limited in regards to velocity and air guns can attain the velocity within those limitations, does it sound prudent to load a powdered and primed cartridge to the same performance?  Air is free!   I've got some sewing needles around here that I'd like to develop a load for and if I can get someone to cut a mold for me I'm sure I can also find someone to build me some gas checks I can fit...lol...just think about this for a minute....

Because I said so!

Attached Files

shastaboat posted this 14 March 2019

I apologize for insinuating anyone here might be foolish!

Because I said so!

Attached Files

Urny posted this 14 March 2019

David,

I corresponded with David Sanders back in those wonderful days, after I ordered a copy of the book, which my wife still has at our place in Missouri.  She had bought one of Vern O'Brien's 17-222 Rem Magnum rifles, beautiful myrtle stock with basket weave carving, rosewood tip and cap, and finish like polished chrome.  As Mr. O'brien used to say, 'the only thing wrong with that Weatherby fellow down in Southgate is his conservative tastes.'  The Krieghoff barrel fouled quickly enough that we cleaned after every five shot group.

The idea of casting bullets for it never occurred to me. 

Attached Files

max503 posted this 14 March 2019

I've been wanting to try pellets out of my 22 Hornet, powered by a shotgun primer.  This thread may give me the motivation to do so.  I have pellets on my shopping list.

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 14 March 2019

Here we go again. My 17 cal rifle is capable of producing velocities around 3700 fps. I don't load it that hot, I shoot somewhere around 3550 fps. Like I stated earlier, I'm a small game hunter. A squirrel shot with this thing is unusable. When I was younger and could walk long distances over rough terrain we hunted with dogs. I don't walk so well anymore and have to find a likely spot and set down and wait. Distances can be very long. If I can get from, 1800 to 2,000 fps with accuracy that  some 17 hornet shooters are claiming I will have filled the bill. Yes, I have plenty of rifles that will do this but I want to do it with this one, with a feeling of satisfaction that few people ever feel. I will put my knowledge and experience about rifles against anyone. During 7 years in the army my assignments varied from playing ball, shooting on the small bore indoor match team, and having possession of a very accurate .30 cal scoped  rifle that I do not care to talk about..

I think you are entirely missing the point, there are a lot of us out there that are creative machinists.To me, guns are my form of art. I have built not only rifles but several actions in my personal shop. Like the oldtime major league pitcher Dizzy Dean said "if you've done it, it ain't bragging." There seems to be a lot of people who are jealous of these creative people. I can't understand why you joke about casting needle sized bullets. It has nothing to do with what I'm trying to accomplish. I go up to my friends gunstore and watch people put together pretty little colored parts and think they built a custom rifle. Remember, this is a cast bullet forum and we should be trying to learn instead of belittling others who are. I notice you aren't a Cast Bullet Association member.

Mashburn 

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 14 March 2019

Hello Urny,

I appreciated your response. Sanders used to come to Tulsa, Oklahoma to shoots out at the John Zink ranch. In regards to your 17-222 mag It sounds like something was wrong ,maybe too much case volume for the bore, but it sure does sound like it is pretty. My 17 wildcat has about the same case capacity as a 17 MKIV. When I was shooting prairie dogs we would clean our rifles after every 50 shots. All of my rifle barrel bores were pretty slick and I quit cleaning so often. When I started missing 200 yd. headshots I would clean. it is amazing that how well it would hold its accuracy with a dirty bore. It is oh so nice to hear from true rifleman like you and your wife.The barrel I used when I built my 17 was a Sako  pulloff. I can't remember what 17 cal that it was. Speaking of myrtle wood, I have some for a two piece rifle buttstock and forearm. It is myrtle wood burl-very beautiful. It is Sanders book that broke a spring in my brain.

Thanks for your comment,

David Cogburn-Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 15 March 2019

Hello max503,

Everyone needs a little motivation once in a while. My motivation has really been fired since I joined the Cast Bullet Association.  Your shotgun primed idea should add a little extra umppp. A fellow member, David Reiss is loaning me his .17 cal mould, so I should get started with this project pretty soon. I appreciate your info, we should all encourage the others.

Thanks again,

David Cogburn-Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

Urny posted this 16 March 2019

Good morning Dave,

I believe you are right about something being wrong with that rifle and probably at least two things, maybe three.  One was the visibly rough bore, possibly made when the manufacturer was struggling to master a bore that small.  Another was very likely the powder capacity to the 222 Magnum derived case.  The barrel was only 18" long, and chronographed over an Oehler 33 only managed 3900 fps, give or take a bit.  The standard load developed by the original purchaser used 24.2 grains of a Dupont powder I will not name, given the slippery hold my memory has on reality.  The bullet was the 25 grain Hornady.

We tried a load with the machined 25 grain solid copper bullet from a relatively new company called Bullberry.  Before loading these I had written to Mr Sanders asking what he thought a good load for the new bullet might be, using the same powder as worked OK with the Hornady.  His thought was that 10% reduction might work, but if it was his rifle, he would not do it at all.  I should have listened to that very good advice, but did not.  The first (only) shot with the 10% reduction blew out the extractor and welded the case to the bolt head.  There was no further damage to the bolt or other rifle parts, and after getting the bolt face cleaned up and the extractor replaced, the rifle continued to give groups that were acceptable, but not brag worthy.  The 10% reduction is another possibly flawed figure related to my memory, and the records are not available to me right now.

Sadly, during a time of financial stringency, the O'Brien went away to fund a new engine for a Wagoneer.  There was a good side to that, a story for another day.

Thank you for bringing back these, on the whole, pleasant memories.

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 16 March 2019

Glad to hear from you again Urny,

I'm glad you weren't injured. I took Dick Sanders advice and loaded with nothing but Remington #61/2 bench rest primers. I would be afraid to know what the peak primer pressure is when this this thing ignites. I've fired it several thousand times and evidently it is going to hold. I have always been afraid to use any kind of solid bullets.

I don't know when your rifle was made, but when they first started playing with 17 cal barrels I think the rifling was cut. I'm not exactly for sure. I know they had  heck with them  I believe that Remington tried to use cut rifled barrels when they were developing the .17 Remington rifles. I don't try to load mine to the Max. I keep it about 3,600fps.Out of curiosity, what year was this rifle made?

Thanks for your correspondence.

David Cogburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

Urny posted this 17 March 2019

Thank you for the kind words, David.

Linda got the rifle about '90 or '91 of the last century, and I think the seller, who was a very good older friend of ours, said it was about 25 years old.  Other than that I do not have any dating information, unless it is with the book in Missouri, about 1550 miles away.  Our friend, George Abbeglen, had bought it for his wife Ellie, who had no interest in rifles.  It was a birthday gift, and for his next birthday she bought him a mink stole.  I wish George had kept the original receipts to pass on to me, but he did not.

You are likely correct about cut rifling, that was the practice for the early .17's as I remember it.  Primers we used were RWS small rifle which George provide in a half pint jar, about full with one empty box for identification.  Things were sometimes done differently then.  Think of surplus 4831 in paper bags, the last of which was selling about the time I got out of the Army.  At least, the last of it at Simm's Hardware in Sacramento.

Regards to you and your family.

 

Attached Files

delmarskid posted this 17 March 2019

Mine is a blue streak in 20. I married that blonde girl. She remembered you.

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 20 March 2019

Hello again,

You got me with that one, WHAT A COME BACK.I didn't write what my first thought for a comeback was, I'll keep that one to myself.

THIS IS A JOKE ISN'T IT??? I have really enjoyed our correspondence.

Thanks,

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

  • Liked by
  • delmarskid
4570sharps posted this 07 April 2019

22 caliber is as small as I'll go!

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 07 April 2019

Hello 4570 sharps,

This project is getting well underway. I have a bullet mold, Gas checks, sizing dies and bullets have already been cast. I will be writing up some of the info for the forum in the near future. The biggest problem is that I have five rifles that I am just getting started with to shoot cast bullets. I just need to be younger.

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

Bud Hyett posted this 07 April 2019

Shooting pellets in a T/C Contender or centerfire rifle, .22 Hornet or .22 Remington Jet case, with the primer pocket drilled out with a 1/8 inch drill and Remington 7 1/2 primers works well. Simply reprime and set another pellet in the case neck, almost flush, and wait for the next starling. With a good hit, this load will permanently tame starlings, opossums, and other similar-sized vermin. 

Hold the rifle or T/C Contender about a foot back from the window and the slight sound will be absorbed.

SEGREGATE these cases with the enlarged primer pocket. I have two only that reside with my pellet pistol.,  

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

Attached Files

delmarskid posted this 07 April 2019

I think a barrel stub fit to go in a single shot shot gun in .177 and a shotgun primer to drive it should be in my next Christmas stocking.

Attached Files

  • Liked by
  • Bud Hyett
mashburn posted this 08 April 2019

Hello Bud,

I did this in reverse. I fired a .172 caliber cast bullet in a pellet gun . It exited the rifle and hit a tree. I was careful to aim at the edge of the tree instead of the middle. Years ago I was down walking around the pond with a pump up pellet pistol. I picked out a little spot on a big pecan tree just about eye level and was going to put a pellet in it. I fired, hit the spot and the .22 pellet bounced back and hit me right in the center of the forehead. OUCH. That's why now if I shoot a pellet gun at a tree, I don't shoot it dead center, I don't want a knot on my head again. The bullet was undersize for the rifle, rifle-centerfire bullets are .172,but I guess I could have done like I did when I was a kid and didn't have any pellets. I would wrap a BB in tissue paper and shoot it in a .20 caliber air rifle. What your doing sounds like a lot of fun. I'll be writing some of my work with the .17 along as I go. Keep and eye on it, I think you will enjoy it. 

I took a .177 caliber air rifle barrel and chucked it up in the lathe and made six pieces that look like .357 cartridges. I made the necks longer so that they would reach even with the front of the cylinder I machined a little chamber for the pellet and machined out a place for a no. 7 1/2 primer. The accuracy with these things at 50 feet or so is amazing in a .357 revolver. I've been intending to make a barrel liner of some sort but never have. I enjoyed your info,

Mashburn

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

mashburn posted this 08 April 2019

Hello delmarskid

That would be a neat little contraption to play with, Keep up the good work. If your neighbor decided to light the world up with too many Christmas lights  I'm sure you could discourage him somewhat Take a look at my info. just above this one and take a look at what I did to shoot pellets in a .357 revolver.

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

Attached Files

Categories
Search
Popular Tags
This Weeks High Earners
Hot Topics
Close