fizzbangwhallop

21 hours ago, Dellboy said:

what sort of mix do you use ?

Up in my first post...

“To keep the main water clean, I use 2 Asda pickled onion jars for the cleaning solution with 20cases in each at a time... 8-10mins at 30c. We’ve got hard water from the tap so I just use rainwater from the butt.... level teaspoon of catering citric acid and a dab of Fairy/dishwasher rinse-aid in each jar.”

Strangely I found that that a heaped teaspoon wasn’t as effective... haven’t a clue as to why?

When I was looking into it, Seaclean was recommended, bought some but I’ve never used it as the citric works well enough.

cheers

fizz

Apart from being sticky....I’d have thought you’d need to let lemonade stand for more than a while to get rid of the bubbles? I let the water stand for a day or so to get rid of the bubbles that naturally form on the sides of the container.. less work for the de-gas function.

 If you don’t de-aerate the water, the bubbles will cavitate on the surface of whatever you’re trying to clean thereby reducing the effect as they act as a cushion.  

Catering citric acid is dirt cheap on fleabay....

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=cotric+acid&_sacat=0

Cheers

Fizz

I’ve used one of these for a few years now.... it’s been very good, the de-gas function is a useful addition. I bought a 6l one in order to be able to clean up bits off the bike...carbs, brake cylinders etc etc.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Professional-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-6L-DIGITAL-SMART-DEGAS-heating-SS-Basket-cover/282994398090?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

To keep the main water clean, I use 2 Asda pickled onion jars for the cleaning solution with 20cases in each at a time... 8-10mins at 30c. We’ve got hard water from the tap so I just use rainwater from the butt.... level teaspoon of catering citric acid and a dab of Fairy/dishwasher rinse-aid in each jar.

Rinse the cases, rinse again in hot water with a couple of teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda to neutralise the citric, rinse in cold water... then I blow them through with an air-line and into a Lakeland desiccating unit to dry them off ( no airing cupboard)

et voila....

(That’s before I took the label off! )

Fizz

Ash is away til the 4th/5th but you can get your name down for the early bird group buy here..... and confirm it by pm.

https://nightvisionforumuk.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19422&start=120

If you’re not already a member you’ll need to join to view the thread.

cheers

Fizz

I had a problem using 24grns of N135 in my .17Rem, batch loaded in the March to the existing spec which had been working fine year round for a few years.

I must have put around 20rounds through the  rifle over the months without a problem til the August when I zeroed another scope to it.... first shot, stiff bolt lift....second shot, stiffer bolt lift and with the third shot I had to knock the bolt handle open with the bottom end of a club hammer shaft. No noticeable increase in recoil or much change in the poi.

The cartridges are stored in a room that doesn’t get any sun and I hadn’t left them in the sun beforehand....strange one.

Pulled the rest of the batch, dropped to 21.5grns and worked back to 23grns where compared to an original target they were a couple of clicks off the original zero. 

Speaking to 20-250 on the SD, he’d experienced similar, unexpected results with 135 but I’ve not experienced it with N133 in the .20.

fizz

I’ve had my Sako A1 .20Prac since 2013 and the load developed at the time ended up at 24grns of N133 (old’ish pot left over from .223 days) with cci400’s, I did a side by side test with Rem7.5’s but the cci’s came out with a narrower FPS spread. 

But there has always been a bit of cratering on the primers...nothing untoward and I put that down to the thickness of the 400’s cup.... a few months ago, I decided to go back to basics including measuring the chamber after chrono’ing that load and finding it short on FPS compared to the original pot of powder. 

At  the same time... I went for the CCI450 Magnum primers with their thicker cup having done a side by side with the BR4’s (didn’t bother with the Rem7.5’s).

On the basis that the Magnum primers are supposed to be hotter, I dropped back to 23.2 guns and came up in .2 grn increments but my groups didn’t start tightening until the speed got to 3600fps and the 39grn SBK’s went into their next published  Ballistic coefficient band at .287

I ended up with the best group at 24.6grns but dropped it back to 24.4grns to allow a bit for warmer weather. 

Dies-wise... I run all my cleaned/annealed cases through the chamber, and for those that are tight I now use a Forster bushing bump neck sizing die that will also bump the shoulder.

If they all chamber without a problem I might use a Redding Type S with a 17/20 spindle and a carbide button.  Followed by a Wilson to seat 12thou off the lands, I’ll try some at 10thou first on the next batch ready and waiting following a quick dip in the salt.

cheers

fizz

I rest my case.......🤣

Well...with a bit of to’ing and fro’ing getting the PID to communicate properly with the SSR, it’s finally finished and I used it in earnest for the first time this morning for another batch of .20Prac cases.

Last step (which took a couple of timewasting dead ends before I bought what I should’ve done in the first place) was to fit an led to come on when the PID switches on the relay so I know the output socket is powered. 

Adjusting the deck height in the caseholder worked until the heat got too hot and galled the threads and I annealed to just over onto the shoulders. 

I was quite impressed the PID didn’t overshoot by more than a degree...doing over a hundred cases, the temperature only dropped by a degree so that’s a pretty tight range. Bearing in mind Pinkfoots observations above and in his subsequent email, I’ll anneal the next lot at 500c.

What you can’t see clearly from the photo is the .243 case neck keeping the 6mm probe off the bottom of the pot and any possibility of a false reading.

Just remains to say many thanks to everyone’s input and assistance...invaluable!

Cheers

Fizz

Thanks chaps.... got a couple of ideas I’m kicking about...

cheers

fizz

Can anyone give me the internal diameters of the Lyman pot....thinking just where it will sit inside just off the lip ie where it won’t slip down inside) and between 5 & 10mm lower down and in the main body.

cheers

fizz

59 minutes ago, Bob57 said:

Nice job fizz👍, I like the look of that,and sounds a better way of annealing than with a gas flame, you ought to put it into production as a complete kit, I'd be interested in buying one😃

Thanks Bob 👍

That might be a project in a couple of months time if I can find someone local to laser cut and drill the discs and the bottom plate for a reasonable price....but don’t hold your breath. 🤣

Cheers

fizz

View from above...

Finito.....all the bits finally arrived and I’ve re-made the rising plate to include the 6mm rivnut and screw......and I improved on the riser guides to stop the plate dropping off the end although I don’t think you’d ever need to drop it that far down.

Quite pleased with that.....shame it’ll probably be a few months before I next need to anneal some cases.

cheers

Fizz

Good stuff Bob 👍

On 3/24/2019 at 12:20 PM, fizzbangwhallop said:

Speaking to Kevgun yesterday he suggested the brilliantly simple alternative to welding or pop-riveting..... straight onto fleabay and the various sizes s’be here Tues/Weds. 

Watch this space...

Bits arrived this morning........ just finished: the secret component was a rivnut ! 😂

Couple of things to tidy up like replacing the 3mm threaded rod case holders with cap screws and possible the guide rods. And the 6” ruler I sacrificed for the rising plate was too narrow to take the 6mm rivnut I originally intended to use and drilled the two top plates for.......

On 3/22/2019 at 12:55 PM, fizzbangwhallop said:

It would be to fix the adjuster nut to the base plate..... I had fiddled with one of the butterfly wing plasterboard fixings but would still have to fix it in some way. 

Speaking to Kevgun yesterday he suggested the brilliantly simple alternative to welding or pop-riveting..... straight onto fleabay and the various sizes s’be here Tues/Weds. 

Watch this space...

1 minute ago, Popsbengo said:

I see you enjoy a good tinker in the shed!

Would pop riveting do?  I initially wanted to spot weld but found it much easier to source rivets

 

It would be to fix the adjuster nut to the base plate..... I had fiddled with one of the butterfly wing plasterboard fixings but would still have to fix it in some way. 

2 hours ago, Popsbengo said:

Good stuff Fizz!  The Lyman pot does the same thing as the Lee, takes a while to settle the temperature.  I may experiment with a proper PID electronic controller and use the built in 'stat as a safety.

The other thing I've done is sat the whole rig in a stainless-steel deep tray (Ikea roasting tray) so should there be a leak or splash of hot salts, they don't land on a wooden bench top and ignite it (or me and a subsequent trip to the hospital).

Having used a rotary gas burner and the hot salt method, I'm sold on molten-salt; cheap, simple, repeatable and precise.

 

Thanks Pops 👍

Having read the write-ups and while I was waiting for case holder to arrive, I started thinking about making one with an adjustable deck to save the need for faffing about with spacers and the molten salt level..... 

I’ve got the discs, stainless nuts and bolts and a bit of tube (albeit with a smaller inner diameter 😕 but I did buy a thinner thermocouple from Thermosense up front)

What I do need to do is find someone local that can spotweld in stainless for me.

Work in progress......this was the project a couple of weeks ago inspired by Yorric’s version on the SD....reminds me of a Mamod...already had the Wilson, 80mm pulley and the motor from fleabay......half an old chopping board and a bit of the warmer plate from an old Hostess plate warmer. 👍🤣

Cheers

Fizz

😎

First attempt yesterday.......quite pleased with the results on these .20Prac cases.

Took a cautious while to get the salt up to temperature.... the small Lee pot takes all of 375g of the salt mix to the brim once melted and I took some out to get the level just below the lower plate of the case holder. (375g being the size of the pot sold by Ballisticrecreations in the photos on the website)

i didn’t want to anneal too far up the case so I cut a couple of 6mm long spacers out of some stainless tube to fit over the spigots.

There’s a section in the Ballisticrecreations instructions showing the heating temperature curve of the Lee pot showing it goes higher and then settles back....a bit hit and miss depending on the individual pot so I let it get to 550c and turned it down slightly to stop it heating and annealed x number of cases.  Once the temperature had dropped to 530c odd I let it ge5 back to 550c and carried on. 

Cases were in to the count of 4 and then into the jug of hot water on the floor....good tip on the hot water. 👍

Cheers

Fizz

The case-holder arrived from ballistic recreations this morning... £11 odd for duty and vat. Nicely made, functional and the 2 decks are .9mm stainless. A .17mm Rem case will fit over the internal locating spigot.

Also spoke to cdsg at lunchtime.... the Lee shipment had just been cleared by Customs and they were expecting to post it out on Monday, asked about the  Lyman pots and they were due in Monday.

Getting there.....

fizz

Having ‘discovered’ Paul Parkins article last weekend I’ve been working on gettting the bits over the week and just waiting for stuff to arrive....

Salts ordered from apcpure, s’be delivered Monday;

Thermometer and thermocouple ordered Wednesday pm from thermosense... manufactured the thermocouple and despatched Thursday, received Friday! Really helpful, friendly advice.....highly recommend them!;

Desktop scales and check weight from ourweigh, received Friday;

caseholder from ballisticrecreations on it’s way.... but I have ordered some bits to make my own - I thought the fixed deck height c’be improved so I’m thinking I could adapt (bodge) an adjustable deck using a spring toggle plaster board fixing to raise and lower the deck height. Got some stainless mesh coming for that.

Also ordered a Lee melting pot but everything else might be here before that. Downer.

cheers

Fizz

I use 39gn blitzkings and worked up to 24grns of N133 with CCI400 primers and seated to 1.923" on the ogive using a shooting shed comparator. 

Thats in a 22" 1:11 pacnor super match stainless  and gives me just under the 3700fps mark.

All in a Sako A1 with a piccatiny rail in a macmillan stock and put together by Neil Mckillop.......very nice!

Expecting a Pard NV008 to go on top this week....looking forward to that!

Cheers

Fizz

Or for seeing where your house is leaking heat... or finding ceiling joists, hot water pipes under the floor, inflammation spots on horses or 'other' bodies 😂 , cold spots.....the list is endless. 

None of that namby-pamby 5.56 minor calibre stuff - major calibre is the way to go!

 

I 'know' that 'blank" blank!!

Several years ago I was working on the fireworks for Hogmanay and we had a row of 4' scaffold frames along from that fieldpiece! The frames had multiple 6, 8 and 10" mortar shell tubes wired to them and I was in the middle of one wiring up the shell ignitors to the firing box circuits.... I hadn't noticed the crowd gathering near to 1 o'clock and when the bloody gun went off I nearly poo'ed my pants!

Merde......thanks for that Tam (RIP).

The other memorable thing was the bladdered Scots Guard complete with kilt and a bottle of whisky dancing on a 50 shot 3" mortar cake at 5 to midnight! He got removed quite rapidly... before his bits got removed quite rapidly.

Fizz

Gentlemen........ and now for your delectation, may I present Gunner's very nice .223 Ackley.

If he ever runs out of ammo, the barrel is long enough to clout them one round the ear.....

Cheers

Fizz