Re-Barreling a Shilo

[DirtySteve]

Kurt, We got the Mega Mite press. That thing is a big chunk of steel. We bought one set of swaging dies for our first bullet the .442 tapered one. We have a second one ordered and on the way soon that is .445. I have a core mould and cast the cores my neighbor is nuts on thing being precise does the swaging. He makes our original bullet at 500.0 to 500.3 grains. anything lighter he tosses in the cull pile for me to remelt. I told him plus or minus a half grain would be fine and he said no this just takes one thing out of the equation. We must shoot perfect bullets. He in an old aviation mechanic so thing must be right with him.

I use Brooks and BACO moulds. No complaints with either. However I like the placement of the hinge for the sprue plate better on the BACO moulds better. You have to swing it more but I think over time there is less chance of warping than putting it at the corner. In reality it is probably not an issue but it is just my preference. I keep my cast bullets to with in plus or minus a half grain. Which is not too hard to do. I use my Magma Master Caster and just pour using a ladle instead of the bottom pour. Having a 40 pound melt makes for a long casting session. lol.. I used to shoot NRA Action Pistol Matches (Bianchi Cup) and would cast a years supply of bullet every winter (10-12K) that machine was a time and money saver eve while being hand operated I could crank out bullets with little effort.

The knurled portion on your fired bullet did not smooth out like I would have guessed. It smoothed it out enough to minimize drag but I was guessing it would have be perfectly smooth.

Steve D.