@ Holly, Judy doesn't have time for hobbies as such...she's too busy with her Housecleaning Business, which she runs with a partner. She also takes care of the Pets of friends, neighbors, and clients while they're away on vacations. She is well rewarded for her time and devotion to their animals. She does all the yard and lawn work, too. I said ALL! Judy does not like to be interrupted or "helped" with what she does in the maintenance of our 3/4 acre Desert estate. She's a real 75-year-old Go Getter! Hal
Hal the Pianist Hammer in hand and some muted strings Thirds, fourths, fifths, and the piano sings Faye the Ex Tuner
I was into Slot Cars too! Shown is my Nephew and his Son in my game room. The Slot Car track later became a portion of my room-filling Model Railroad layout. Hal
I reload for only one Caliber .45 Long Colt. The recipe is a 200 grain Semi-Wadcutter over 9.0 grains of Unique and a Large Primer. The gun is a single-action Ruger Blackhawk in .45 LC. Ready on the Firing Line! Hal
I reload only one caliber...45 Long Colt. My recipe is a 200 gr. Semi-Wadcutter over 9 gr. Unique, over a Large Pistol Primer. My Chronometer indicates 1000 FPS with this load, giving 444 ft-lbs of Muzzle Energy. The pistol is a Ruger Blackhawk Single-Action Army patterned after the Colt Peacemaker. Hal
This was my husband's favorite hobby. He was an avid gun collector. I almost teared up when I saw your beautiful set up! He bought most of his supplies from gun shows. He also built a wall cabinet full of smaller drawers where he stored the various bullet sizes. I gave all this to his two sons after he died since this is where he wanted all that to go. Both of them were military men and appreciated his collection. Just remember, if your house ever catches on fire, RUN. With a room like that, your house won't just burn, it may explode.
@Bess Barber The "gun powders" he has there are actually "smokeless powder", totally incapable of exploding when lit; they burn quietly and slowly, unless confined tightly. Smokeless powder actually contains high-explosive ingredients such as nitro-glycerin, and gun cotton. Frank
This is why I always used Pyrodex and never the black powder for my muzzleloaders. My favorite varmint rifle growing up on the ranch was an 8mm version of the .240 super. Maybe you boys can refresh my memory. Wasn't that a 30-06 brass necked down? My dad made a version of that using the 8mm M98 bolt. The trajectory was flat but it was a barrel burner. I loved that rife and declared war on the red diggers that were destroying the one-acre garden. I went through two barrels on that rifle. I forget what scope was on it, but it was accurate. It had a custom super duper recoil pad one of my dad's friends made for it. My dad's friend would say to him, at least your daughter gets her kicks in a healthy way. It might be of interest to this thread that nitro based explosives that are known as dynamite are disposed of by burning. It burns hot. Even the old stuff crystalized with nitro and so unstable it has to be handled carefully, just burns when put in a fire. If dynamite storage catches on fire the only worry is if something heavy fell on it, causing a concussion that would make it explode. I was driving a truck loaded with boxes of 60% nitro powder up to a mine many years ago and the engine got hot and the oil on the engine caught fire. I got out and took off running downhill. The fire was so hot that the truck was unrecognizable. Luckily I was in a cut with rock banks on both sides and no timber was close. The other lucky thing was by the time the layered argillite rock got so hot it started to explode, the dynamite was burned to a nonexplosive point so flying rock didn't ignite it.
@Faye Fox At this point, it might be educational to add one or two more facts about dynamite in general, and high explosives in particular. Dynamites traditionally have been made of mostly nitroglycerin absorbed into a "carrier" material such as sawdust or better, an oxidizing material like sodium nitrate, or both. It is far safer in this form than it's liquid, pourable form. Nitroglycerin freezes easily, forming crystals which MIGHT (emphasis here, it's still out to jury after 150 years) shift enough upon thawing, causing detonation. For this reason, "non-freezing" dynamites were developed, using a mix of Nitroglycol instead of 100% nitroglycerin, which is simply plain old automotive antifreeze, Ethylene Glycol, nitrated similarly to glycerin. Other materials have also been used. Dynamite traditionally is produced in 1/2-lb. "sticks", made of heavy waxed paper, making them about 1" in diameter and about 8" long. Dynamite upon detonating, the process by which it "explodes", has a typically high "burning rate", about 20,000 feet per second, give or take some. This means that a "string" of dynamite sticks laid end-to-end four miles long when ignited at one end would be "blown" in ONE SECOND! FAST! Dynamite is typically sold in two strengths: 40% nitro and 60% nitro, by weight, depending upon intended use. Frank
@Frank Sanoica Yes good info and might be of interest to many. I don't want to get Hal's reloading thread too far off track. As far as the end to end sticks blowing if laid out on the ground would be fun to discuss. Good point about the old dynamite freezing and super dangerous when found in old abandon mines or storage sheds. Burning it with minimal handing is best. Another interesting point is the headache one can get just handling nitro based dynamite, especially 60%. I did some cartridge reloading but had a friend that loved to do it, so I traded rebluing and browning metal parts and stock refinishing and custom pistol grip making for custom loaded ammo. @Hal Pollner That is an impressive looking reloading setup. I am impressed by how clean and orderly it looks.