Twice in a month, I'm going to take up knitting.
rufe-snow
Member Posts: 18,650 ✭✭✭
Last month it was the Rock Island with a 40 S & W barrel. Winchester factory squib load, left a bullet in the barrel. Didn't notice, with the expected results. Took me 2 days with a Dremel to get the barrel opened up enough to get it apart. Got it working, but it cost me $100 for a new barrel. Plus replacing the other parts that were kaput.
Today i was crongraphing handloads in a FN 57 X 28. Everything was going fine, till it started emitting smoke like the Rock Island last month. O No! Not again. FN won't sell replacement parts. you got to send the pistol back, and they bend you over without vaseline to get it fixed.
Took it home and got it apart. FN weren't no dummies when they designed it. They put a gas vent hole through the top of the slide opposite the extractor. Other then the firing pin hole plugged with part of the primer and a hole blown through the plastic covering the slide. It looks like it will be good to go. That hole through the plastic slide cover looks kind of bizarre. But as long as it works, I'm going to finish crongraphing my loads.
Comments
And the good new is, if you count your eyes, hands and fingers now, you get the same number as you would have gotten in September! The rest can be replaced without physical therapy.
Judy says to take up crocheting instead. There is only one needle involved so you would only be half as dangerous!
Glad you are O.K. Biker Bob is right and we are still glad you can count to 10 without removing your shoes. Bob
Dammm,could've been way worse, thankful it was not!!
You may want to second think that Knitting thing. My wife took it up several years ago and the initial cost year one was right at $30k, for tools and materials. Includes the finest yarns, trips to visit Alpaca farms, lessons in NY, oh and don't forget the fairs in Atlanta.
Most avid shooters only get one "kerboom" per lifetime.
The way I see it, you must now live to age 150.
5.7x28 is a tricky round to reload for. The brass has a coating to aid in ejection or something like that and the coating wears off.
I have never messed with them.
You are lucky. I have been reloading since 1974 and have never had a kB, I have had some crappy loads but no squibs. I had a M1a slam fire on of my reloads cause I used real soft Fed primers. I had some stout 45 Colt loads go pufffft when I used Magnum powder and non-mag primers. Some went off fine the others went pufffft and the bullet would land about 20 feet away. I had fun pulling about 100 bullets that evening.
Pretty lucky there, rufe! Don't blow yourself up, we need your help over on the Ask the Experts column!
I believe that the plastic coating, is specifically for the PS 90 selective fire PDW. It's supposed to help retard extraction during full auto firing. Doesn't seem to have any effect one way or another on the function of the 57 pistol.
I'm going to test fire the 57 tomorrow with factory ammo. If it functions OK with factory ammo. I going to try some reloads with 1 grain less powder.
Been reloading this one since ammo went up to over a dollar a round and it is tricky. ( Ruger 57 not FN) Several observations:
Dont use Lee dies to size, they do not set the shoulder back enough. RCBS small base dies is a must.
You must crimp your bullets. I crimp separately with lee crimp die. Be sure to follow recommended COLs
Use plenty of size lube because the small base of the case is easily ripped off.
Plastic coating does not matter, much of it disappears when tumbling... at least for me.
My best loads are with HDY Vmax and AA #7. Best groups have been with the starting loads.