The Bug is Starting to Hit

It is still only the first week in August, but I am already getting ready for deer season. Two new treestands arrived from SportsmansGuide.com. These buddy stands cost less than $90 each and by rejoining the Buyers’ Club, I got the shipping for free. I’ll be scouting for new stand sites when I get back down to Camp, hopefully this weekend.

I have also been hard at work in the Reloading Cave. I’ve got several new cast lead deer loads worked up.

The finished Whelenizer load: 43 grains over H4895 over a lead bullet cast from a RCBS 35-200-FN with gas checks.
A 357 Mag load for the Marlin 1894. I used a Lee 2-Cavity Bullet Mold C358-158-SWC, again a gas-checked bullet. With 16 grains of H110, it should take a deer at 50 yards. I do not expect to hunt with it as a primary weapon this year, but it will be nice to have handy during season if I’m out roaming about.

I’ve also been loading for my 357 Mag and 45 ACP pistols. The big innovation I’ve been trying out is Powder Coating. I found a good thread on 24hourcampfire.com

The closer I followed the instructions, the better my loads got. Powder Coated paint on lead bullets is a fairly new innovation in and of itself. The idea of doing without the paint sprayer and just tumbling the bullets in a sealed tub is fairly radical twist, but if you get the right paint it will stick to the bullets really well.

A handy addition to my casting this summer was this find at Amazon.com for under $18:

I think they have it at Walmart too.

I can aim this at the top of the alloy in the casting pot and get an accurate reading, so I know how to adjust the rheostat on my Lee Production Pot. I also use it to read the temperature of the powder coated bullets in the oven so I can keep them close to 400F. As they are cooling, I can read when the bullets are safe to touch.

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