Random Cool Tricks

Availability of .410 shot shells isn't good. Reloading equipment for the .410 is worse, and the range pick-up cases I've been saving are a mixed bag of short and long with mostly damaged crimps or blown out roll crimps from slug loads.

So I went looking for alternatives.

The British converted lots of their Enfield's to .410, and converted the .303 case to serve as the brass for the .410 shot shells.





.303 British brass is 2.222" long, so it wouldn't be suitable for anything but light shot loads.

.444 Marlin would work, and is 2.225" long, and I'm not using .444 Marlin brass to gain .003" length.

Then there's the 9.3X74R cartridge. It's very close to the same external diameter at base and rim to the .410 and it's 2.941" long. It was also in stock, which is a critical factor nowadays.
It uses a large rifle primer, and I suspect it'll have greater case capacity. Should be long enough to seat a standard shot cup with an over shot card. I've been loading 20, 12 and 10 ga shells like this since I was a kid, so the little .410 will be fun and thrifty.

I can already imaging the funny looks I'll get fire forming the cases. Not only is there no impact at all, but the burnt corn meal filler stinks up the whole range . Once they're fully fire formed they should last just about forever in a single shot .410 and allow the loading of all sorts of versatile loads.

This is the only good picture I could find online of the converted 9.3X74R brass.


And here are my 9.3 x 74R and .303 British shells.
It's labor intensive to form 30 of them, but now the loading is easy



I finally got to get them all loaded with shot cups wads, a max load of shot for the cup, which seems to be plenty, and an overshot card sealed in with wax. To 25 yards, these will be deadly on bunnies.

The ten at the top are fully formed. The bottom row is waiting for the tiny barrel to cool off.

 

A great idea! And with their ruggedness, you don't need that many.

 

or

 

stowed for travel

 

another one of too many "shopping cart homeless shelter"

Why not get these folks back into society and stop supporting their self-destructive lifestyle?

 

A gorgeous rig!

 

Got that reel mower tuned up sweet!

 

Good luck with that.

It's taken decades of tolerance and support to get where we are. Who thought giving needles to heroin addicts, so they "stay healthy" was a good idea? As soon as cops stopped busting heads and running the homeless off they started to become more visible. Mild climates help. If I hadn't spent a few nights in Ontario wondering if I'd freeze to death I might still be living under canvas.

Most street people I met forty years ago were homeless by choice. I was, and I was really, really good at it... in the summer. The urban campers I've met recently have reached the end and are where they choose to stay. Two of them I met lived quite near where I work in the city and would get up every morning and make their rounds of several miles. Both were physically able to hold down a job, but something drew them to living in a tent off in the woods. Others, like the guy who was sleeping in my Mercedes, are drug users who have nowhere left to go. Trying to bring the urban campers or the dead-end addicts back to anything resembling what society sees as normal would be overwhelming for them and for us.

If I see any hope of improvement it's from the church. Guess how well that'll go over once the MSM gets wind of it?

Fixing the homeless problem would truly be a cool trick.

 

Another cool trick from the Amish. This Leacock 15" reflector does double duty, protecting a low ceiling above a gas lamp from heat and reflecting the light down. The trick is the small turnbuckle through the center hole. This makes hanging the reflector and lamp easy, but more important to lamp users, it allows you to rotate the lamp and adjust the position of the valve.

 

Oops! Sorry about your glass.

 

These matches from the local tobacconist are long enough to let me light off a Quick-lite lamp with a single match. But what's cool about them is the box.



It's likely unintentional, and just a simple way to hold the folded box together. What I see is a perfectly placed and shaped spot to hang the partially opened box on a nail. Easy access to a match, right next to my lamp lighting bench is a pretty cool trick.

 

Some of you may have guessed that I'm not a teetotaller. Everything in moderation has worked for me for several decades. The issue I've had recently is one of variety. I have a few flasks that are designated for specific content. The favorites of fallen brother's.

The flasks are easy to identify, and there's absolutely no chance of my mixing them up. What I wanted was a few more hip-pocket size flasks, without the expense of finding a made in USA stainless flask.

The simple, and cheap solution was some convenience store 12% alcohol malt beverage bottles. Honestly, it tastes like OFF bug spray and has a finish like 10W30 motor oil, but at two for $4.00 I had to sample it. The labels came off easily with blade and lighter fluid. Relabeling from my larger bottles just took a little patience.

I remove the tamper proof ring and smooth the edge of the cap with a spoon. My girl at the convenience store told me that a whole case of these bottles had fallen on the floor from shoulder height, and not one had broken. That's what I needed to know.

Now I can pack along a couple more of my favorites.

 

I like the external bottle opener. It'd look wrong on my daily driver. Fits the style of my faded 300D with canoe rack.

 

That looks like fun.