OK, the other day I did a little rant about cartridges not being the caliber they claim to be. It’s true; many aren’t. So why do I feel like an idiot (aside from the obvious?) Because the reason for that rant… well, it wasn’t valid.
My dial caliper, used for measuring things in thousandths of an inch, is getting pretty long in the tooth, so I was using the crappy electronic caliper that I don’t normally use. Why don’t I use it? Because it’s a piece of crap and won’t hold a zero. This is not because it’s made in China; it’s because I’m a cheap bastard and bought a crappy tool.
This crappy tool told me that the bullets were actually .245″, not .25 caliber. Worse, it did so consistently enough that I believed it. So today when my new, proper, non-electronic caliper arrived I went back and measured things and lo and behold! My bullets were magically .250-.251 again.
*facepalm*
So I am sitting here tucking into a heaping helping of crow, and the clever swage-block I made the other day based on the crappy tool is just a wee bit, what, too small you think? No! They are too large!
It’s a really crappy tool.
So I managed to swage a mess of bullets I can’t use, including some jacketed bullets. So why, you may ask, am I swaging jacketed bullets? Why, to make these of course…
Launched at about 1050fps. these could be very interesting… To make them I simply push a 50gr. FMC into the swaging die with the open end up, insert a punch with a projection on the face to make the hollow-point and hammer away. Works a treat.
I’m imagining seven of these loaded in an airweight J-frame… could be some real potential for a light-recoiling defensive pistol…
I’ll soon be testing two new loads, one using a 65gr. LSWC and another using the H&N 31gr Hollow-points. We’ll see how those work out.
OK, this blog is not going to turn into ‘Tinker Talks .251 TCR.’ I’ll keep you updated, but I’ll be resuming the usual chaotic mix next time out.
By the way, don’t look for the other article. I’ve edited it into this post so that I am not spreading bad information. Anyway, this plate of crow isn’t going to eat itself…
Michael Tinker Pearce, 26 November 2019