In order to get the best accuracy from your rifle, you must have a slug that will fly ... and it must be the correct diameter for your barrel. Your slug should be cleanly finished, and be uniform slug to slug.

I go to a bunch of trouble to make the tooling which will allow my rifles to shoot as well as we regularly demonstrate and document. Sometimes you get lucky with buying a commercial product ... but ... for a custom gun, custom tooling built by the builder of the rifle, is best. Who else knows better what the gun needs.

I had a conversation with a customer last night. We talked about the development risks of time (and therefore money) spent on tooling ... which may or may NOT produce accurate slugs. The early days of this business, saw me going to the range with new slugs to test ... often several new slugs at a time. No guarantee they would fly, or group. And, quite a few didn't. Each one of those failures, had a bunch of tooling back in the shop, all carefully made ... in order to try the first slug of this type. One or two groups, and I knew all that time had just gone into my self discovered education on the subject. At this point, hundreds of prototype slugs have been tested, in order to give me an instinct of what might fly, and group well.

Part of the equation, is the sizing dies. They need to be the correct size, and accurately made. These are lathe turned, but that's just the rough part. They are then fine tuned by a "spin shaving" process to arrive at the correct size, and a proper finish ... all at the same time. Believe me, it's a lot more work than it looks like. I'm sure Hugh will use them, so I don't mind.

I'll get these things down to Hugh, and he can get some lead warmed up! ;?)

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2011 07:53PM by barnespneumatic.

Smackin' my lips! Gorgeous machine work. Has the monsoon abated?
HJH

Hello Hugh,

Well, there's a bunch of water in a plastic tub in my office closet. Wish it wasn't.

Glad you like the dies.

Gary

Interior "spun shaved" finish.



Gary

I just had to correct my eyes! I looked at the .463 and thought I saw a ridge inside. I'm actually seeing the base of the rod...

Hey, those dies make me want a .46 too!

Jerry, that illusion caught me by surprise as well.

Those are some fine looking dies. It will be interesting to see if Hugh and his gun can demonstrate the difference at the range.

Kent

WOW..you just keep amazing me GB. Custom molds, custom dies, custom guns, custom engraving..etc..etc..etc..the list just goes on and on.

Hugh is using his casting equipment. Got a few pics from him, this am.



His Barnes sizing dies in a turret press. Wow ... they never had it so good! hahah



Close up. Ain't they Purdy ....



And some slugs being sized.

Nice going. Looks like a nice clean set-up. Pretty much like mine .... (except for the nice/clean part). ;?)

Gary

Hugh,

Nice setup.

Lon

Hugh,

Nice rig, everything so clean and well organized. Let’s get some slugs casted and sized. Good luck on your first outing with the Nitro Express.

Julio

Thats really awesome guys. waiting for the results....

Just a note of explanation. Hugh had shoulder surgery a short time back. He's still healing. It was a pretty major rebuild. He hasn't wanted the Nitro to rearrange the fine work he had done.

So; the molds and dies were sent on ahead. He has already cast slugs, and is sizing them. Sounds like he's gotten along well with both molds.

He'll be ready, soon; to come pick up his rifle. We'll make an effort to take it over to the range, and get him familiar with it. We had thought of a "non shooting" Rendezvous .... but the endless rain lately, and schedules ... has made it seem worth the while to wait a bit.

Gary

Hugh & Gary:

You know that I'm always available for testing new Barnes air rifles and slugs. Luckily, the weather here in Puerto Rico is forgiving and it’s easier to find a good day for shooting…

Please keep that in mind.

Julio

Hey! I'm just a drive away! What's up with this shipping to Julio for test business?

Did those pictures come from Better Shops and Gardens? Seriously, I've never seen a press and bench that sharp and clean in my life! I suppose that could be MY fault but I doubt it!

Got to keep everything in its place or.......DISASTER!
Currently, I load for 32 SW long, 32 H and R Mag, 38 S and W, 38 spl, 357 mag, 44 spl, 44 mag, 45 acp, 45/70 govt, 223 Remington and 30-06 Springfield. Big rifles loaded on the Redding Turret that you see the sizing dies mounted in. Handguns and occassionally the 223 loaded on a Dillon 550.
We shoot lots of cast bullets, mostly from wheel weight alloy. Even cast for the 30-06 Garand, which works very well at velocities in the 2000 fps range.
Now I am getting ready for the extreme fun of learning how to feed a large bore air rifle and I am really looking forward to it. I am just waiting for my gimpy shoulder to perk up so Gary, Jerry and I can spend some range time. Hope to be up within the next couple of weeks to pick up Nitro and then will post what we are able to do! Stay tuned!

Hugh,

Uh...............not to change the subject, but.

I've been wanting to try some .44 specials in my Redhawk, They pleasant to shoot or should I just still with the mags? There is a local guy down here that reloads commercially for VERY reasonable cost.

Looks like nice dies and no doubt will extract some extreme accuracy.

The 44 special has a reputation for accuracy and versatility. A 240-250 grain Keith style bullet loaded at about 900 fps is fun to shoot with soft recoil, depending on the revolver. I shoot 44 special out of a S&W model 24, which is a dedicated 44 spl. A Redhawk is pretty heavy and would really control the recoil. Having said that, you might ask your reloading friend to just try the 44 spl loads in 44 mag cases. This avoids the grunge ring that will develope in your cylinder chambers when shooting the shorter 44 spl case in the longer 44 mag chamber.

Hugh,

"Having said that, you might ask your reloading friend to just try the 44 spl loads in 44 mag cases. This avoids the grunge ring that will develope in your cylinder chambers when shooting the shorter 44 spl case in the longer 44 mag chamber"

I knew it was worthwhile to ask.

Thanks,

Lon

I've often wished that I could get 148 grain double-ended wadcutters loaded into .357 cases with a moderate load of powder. The wadcutters make such perfect holes in the targets, and those DEWC lead bullets seem to shoot well through everything I've ever tried them in. The rub, of course, is that they're always loaded in .38 SPL cases, and that leads to a bunch of extra chamber scrubbing every time I shoot them in my GP-100. I guess it's time to start reloading, that way you CAN always get what you want.