Friday, February 07, 2025

The Minilathe Came in Handy Again

Lately I've been doing a bit of shotgun shell reloading. I decided to pick up one of the inexpensive Russian-made presses from Daddy Ammo that allow you to deprime, prime, and apply a star crimp to plastic shells. By accident, I ordered the 16 gauge unit but decided to keep it, in case I eventually get an old 16 gauge gun. I ordered the 12 gauge unit and got it a couple days later.

When I got the 12 gauge unit I found that the decapping pin for 209 primers was just a small stud that didn't screw into the mandrel.




In the picture the capping insert is screwed into the mandrel. Below the press is the decapper that works with brass shotshells like Magtechs, the 209 decapping pin that came with the 16 gauge unit, the pin that came with the 12 gauge unit, and finally, the replacement I made.

The mandrel is threaded to take the decapping pins, which are threaded M6-1.0. I did some rummaging and found a few M6-1.0 bolts. I cut the head off one and then turned part of it down on my lathe enough so that it can decap hulls with 209 primers. 

I didn't have any suitable nuts in my stash so I ran over to Lowes and bought a pack for $2.79. I secured one in place with a cyanoacrylate glue. The nut provides something to grab if the pin gets stuck.

If I didn't have the lathe I could've chucked the bolt in a drill and turned it down with a file but using the lathe was easier and faster.

Friday, January 31, 2025

Soft Jaw Pliers For Gunsmithing

Last week I found an old Lee Loader for 20 gauge shotgun shells on eBay for a very good price so I snagged it. It's basically new-old stock and came complete in the cardboard box with instructions, loading data, and all the parts.


The kit that I bought dates from the 1960s, before Lee changed their shot dippers over to plastic. It's made from aluminum. There was some corrosion on it preventing me from pulling out the inside part to increase the volume of shot.

After letting some Kroil soak into it for a few days, I used this set of soft jaw pliers to rotate the inner sleeve and break it free. I was then able to pull it all the way out and clean the corrosion off with 0000 steel wool.

I originally bought the pliers to help removal of the cap for the CO2 cylinder chamber on my QB-77 pellet rifle. Since then, they've come in handy for a variety of projects when I needed a good grip on something but didn't want to scratch it.

If you do any kind of home gunsmithing I highly recommend picking up a set.

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Yarzheit Candles for Emergencies

If you want to stock up on candles for emergencies, yarzheit candles are a good choice. They are lit by Jews on the anniversary of a loved one's death and are intended to burn for at least 24 hours.

Thursday morning I lit one for my father and it burned for about 36 hours.

It was a Manischewitz brand candle. (Amazon link.)

Yarzheit candles are available in glass or tin containers. I recommend the glass for maximizing light output.

Compared with many other candles they are relatively safe to leave unattended, as long as you place them on a heat proof surface. They are small, short, and not prone to tipping over.

Wednesday, January 01, 2025

Be an Asset

It sure looks like what happened overnight in New Orleans was a terrorist attack, in the same vein as the recent Christmas market attack in Germany.

This got me thinking about how we can prepare to be assets in such an incident, rather than a hinderance.

First, read this article "Responder Zero" at the Integrated Skills Group website.

https://integratedskillsgroup.com/2021/06/responder-zero/

As a matter of fact, I encourage you to read everything on that site. It's one of the best, if not the best prepping-related sites on the Internet.

Second, know basic first aid. The American Red Cross offers courses. Find one here: https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/first-aid 

Third, take a Stop the Bleed class from the American College of Surgeons. STB is focused on controlling bleeding injuries from trauma and stabilizing the victim until proper medical care arrives. An in person class is best but they also have online training in case you can't get to one in person.

https://stopthebleed.org

Fourth, if you are legally able to, get training and carry a concealed firearm. In this incident, after he exited his truck with a rifle, the perpetrator was taken out by police. What if this happened at an event in which there were no police?

See my PDF ebook, "Guns for Jews" for beginner's guidance.

https://x.com/davemarkowitz/status/1860425977001542091

Sunday, December 15, 2024

Quick Strips for .410 Shells

Most revolver shooters are familiar with Bianchi Speed Strips and the similar Tuff Products Quick Strip for carrying spare ammunition. Well, the .44/.45 size Quick Strips also work for .410 shells:




While this takes up more room than the 5-round box, it's easier to handle as a unit especially if you're wearing gloves.

Saturday, December 14, 2024

A Rossi .410 Single Shot

A few weeks ago I got to shoot an old H&R folding .410 shotgun that belongs to a friend, and instantly got a bad case of the wants. I offered to buy it from him but he's not selling, and I can't blame him. He owns some property and it would be a perfect piece for taking care of varmints in his garden or to tote while he's walking his land.

So, I got to looking for a .410 break barrel on Gunbroker. I lost an auction for a nearly mint condition Stevens 94 but found a gently used Rossi SS4112811. I picked it up from my FFL a couple days ago and it's in even better shape than described in the listing. It's basically new old stock. The only thing that was missing was the OEM cable lock, which is no loss IMHO. This model is no longer listed on Rossi's website.


The barrel is 28" long with a modified choke, which is preferable for my needs to the full choke most .410s have. I think, anyway. I need to pattern it.

The gun weighs about 3.8 lbs. It feels like a toy but it means that you can carry it all day.

Rossi's method of takedown is good. The forearm is held on by the same screw which the front sling swivel is attached to. It's captured so it can't be lost.

Like the H&R single shots made in the past several decades the Rossi has a transfer bar, allowing it to be safely carried loaded with the hammer down. It also has a manual hammer blocking safety mounted on the left side of the receiver. At first my reaction was to regard this as superflous but it will allow me to hunt with the gun cocked, much as one would with a hammerless double or a pump gun. I'm left handed so the safety is easy to push off with my trigger finger. A righty could use his thumb, but for once this is a gun feature that's actually more southpaw-friendly.


The plastic furniture is hollow, which got me thinking about using it to store emergency supplies. There's plenty of room in the stock to hold a bore snake or maybe a collapsible cleaning rod, and a bottle of oil, or a ziplock bag with some shells. The forearm is hollow with reinforcing ribs. If I cut one out it could hold shells. I may just stash some fire starting gear in it.


Since the 2020 pandemic, .410 ammo has been scarce on gun shop shelves, and most of that seems to oriented for defensive use in Taurus Judge or S&W Governor revolvers. My FFL only had shells loaded with No.9 shot. However, I've been able to find a variety of .410 ammo online in both 2.5" and 3" length, and have acquired several boxes to experiment with, ranging from No.9s to No.4s to buck and slugs.

UPS should be bringing a stock cuff for ammo and a repro M1 Carbine sling today.

I'm also planning to fireform some .303 British empties into all-brass shells, using instructions posted elsewhere by @Outpost75. The gun closes on the .303 cases but it's a little tight so first I'll sand a thou or so off the case heads. I also have a box of Magtech 2.4" brass shells on the way from Ballistic Products along with suitable cards and wads. Next weekend there's a gun show and I'll try to pick up some Lil-Gun and/or H-110/W-296 to reload with. Apparently, 2400 is also good for reloading .410 but lately it's pretty much unobtanium. And I can always use the Holy Black.

I have several 12 and 20 gauge shotguns so this acquisition wasn't a need, but it should be fun to experiment with.


Thursday, November 28, 2024

Mossberg 500 Shotgun Home Defense Setup

I've had this Mossberg 500 Mariner 12 gauge shotgun for close to 20 years. It's pretty much a dedicated home defense gun, although I did use it in one or two action matches over 10 years ago. Recently, I've done a few mods to make it more useful for me.


Closeup of the fiber optic front sight and left side of the accessory rail, which is symmetrical:




Closeup of the tail switch of the Inforce weapon light, with the lockout flipped up to prevent accidental activation:



HPG stock cuff:



When choosing these modifications, I kept Greg Ellifritz's comments in these posts in mind:

So, after a couple different configurations over the years, I think I've settled on my final set up:

I've been wanting to try out 1.75" mini shells due to their reduced recoil and because you can load more in the tube magazine. Mossberg shotguns are easily modified to run with the mini shells with adapters from either Op Sol or Defender Tactical.

Even if I keep the gun loaded with Federal 2.75" 00 Flitecontrol for now, the mini shell adaptor gives me the ability to use reduced recoil loads when I'm older. With 2.75" shells the Mossberg's capacity is 6 +1, but with mini shells it's 9 + 1.

Since I no longer have any small children in the house, the gun is kept in a closet "cruiser ready," i.e., full magazine, empty chamber, bolt locked forward.

Set up this way, the Mossberg will handle any home defense situation I can reasonably think of in my suburban location.