Casting bullets

Last September I joined a shooting club. I originally joined to shoot skeet. I love to shoot clay pigeons and thought it would be fun to shoot with a group. Shortly after joining the club I learned about a pistol action shoot the club has every Friday night. I was really excited to give it a try. I have had a pistol since I was about 18 and shot at cans, but never shot it much. I never even thought about shooting in competition. I was very excited to give it a try. The week went by very slowly, but Friday finally arrived. I was greeted by all the regulars. They were very friendly and explained how it worked.

Action shooting tests your skills by incorporating speed and accuracy. They both affect your score equally. You might be the best shot in the group, but if you shoot slow you don't score very well. If someone doesn't shoot as good but shot all six shots faster than you they could win.

I have never tried to shoot fast before. When you're shooting at cans you don't need to get in much of a hurry. They aren't going any where. I was always worried about how many times I could make the cans move so I took careful aim before I squeeze the trigger.

Well the first shoot came and went. I think I took 6th place, but most important I had a lot of fun!! I bought a 250 pack of bullets. We shoot 48 shots in a match, so after the 4th week I knew I needed more bullets and guess what? No bullets anywhere. I called my dad back in AZ and asked him if he could send me my reloading equipment. I called my cousin and asking him a few questions about his reloading. He told me about bullet casting. He said he could load 1000 rounds of pistol shells for about $50. I was all ears. He sent me about a hundred bullets he had casted so I could try them out. I loaded up about 30 and took them out and shot them. I was blown away by how accurate they shot. I made one big hole about the size of my fist. I was sold!! I ordered the mold and sizer and while I waited for them to come in I found some lead wheel weights. I melted the lead down and cleaned it up and was ready when the molds came in. I was a little nervous through the whole process, but I watch a lot of youtube videos and asked my cousin a lot of questions over the phone. I have to say, it isn't hard. I love to shoot, but my whole life I have been limited by the high cost of ammo, especially now!! Now I can go out and shoot a couple hundred rounds and not be out much more than my time. Be warned it is a very time consuming process!! First you have to melt down the wheel weights, removing all the steel clips and junk. Then you make bars out of the clean lead that is ready to make bullets. Next you melt the clean lead and scoop it into your molds. I am only making two bullets at a time so it takes a long time to make 500. Right now I have more time than money, so I think its great

I only have a single stage press. Meaning I can only do one thing at a time. Remove the primers, prime them, widen the case then add the powder and finally the bullet. If you have the money buy a good Dillon progressive press, but if not buy an old one on craigslist like mine. It will be a little bit of an investment and it may be a little hard to find powder and primers, but its worth learning how to do it.

Give it a try, let me know if you have any questions.

The reason behind the name

By naming this blog O Bar O Canyon, I would like to dedicate it to my Grandpa, Dad and my Brothers. This is one of our favorite places to camp and hunt for quail, rabbit, javalina, coues whitetail deer and mule deer. I even hunted elk there one year and successfully filled my tag with the best tasting cow elk I ever had the privileged to eat! You have to understand, this is an area of Southern Arizona that is all cactus and mesquite. Not at all where you would expect to find elk. I wouldn't have been surprised if that was the only group of elk within 50 miles, maybe more. Some how my brother and I were able to find some tracks and follow them for about 10 miles. We lost the tracks and gave up multiple times. At one point we gave up and varmint called and almost shot a coyote. Some how we picked up the tracks again and were able to fill the tag.

My Grandpa and his hunting group hunted this area for more than 60 years. I loved to hear the stories. about how things use to be. One of our favorites is of a hill he called Stomp Hat. I cant remember the name of the man, but one of his friends shot at a huge mule deer buck as it stood and then ran across the face of the hill. He shot every bullet he had at the deer and MISSED. He through his hat on the ground in protest and proceeded to stomp it. Hence the name stomp hat. They used that name  and we still use it today as a land mark. That probably happened 50 years ago. My hope is that by us telling the stories (Grandpa told along with ones of our own) to our kids and grand kids maybe they will last another 50 years!

Grandpa we miss you! Thank you for taking the time to teach us the things that meant so much to you. Hunting camp and life in general isn't the same with out you!! We love you! God be with you till we meet again!