interests that can help you prep

[Pauls]

I have begun to do some programming in ANSI C again - it has been over thirty years since I have done any but it is coming back to me. The analysis and problem solving is great to open your mind to look at problems in different ways.
I am also machining some tools that I will need to make 25 ACP cartridges into 22LR (center fire) that are reloadable. (an exercise in wasting time) It is practically useless for anyone with out an old Contender with a 22 barrel. The older ones use a sective firing pin so I can use it to fire the 22LR centerfire.

These are fill-ins between harvesting. We are waiting on some of the potatoes and carrots to pull them up. Most of the other plants have been harvested.

Hunting seson is very near and although I probably won't hunt this year I am getting everything ready.

[Infidel]

I like that .22 idea, sounds like a fun project if nothing else. I've been busy reworking my work shop, it's been 12 years since I put the shop up and I was in desperate need of more workbench space so today was spent mucking it out and building new work benches, that job will be finished up tomorrow. So peacticing my rough carpentry skills. Making knives has been a great hobby and I think the principles of being able to make things for yourself is particularly useful to prepping. I've kind of reached the point in my life where yeah I could go out and buy stuff but if I can make it myself I will. It usually doesn't end up costing any less but I get exactly what I want built the way I want it plus the satisfaction of knowing I did it myself.

-Infidel

[Coppertop]

Bought an old Jeep pickup last spring. It seems like I am spending a lot of time and some money learning how to mechanic. It is a skill I needed to upgrade- Mechanically inclined, but I know enough about mechanic work to know I don't have the first clue.

Pauls- That 22 project sounds like a lot of fun. Let us know how it works out please.

[Pauls]

I will keep you updated but it is a "fill-in" project that has to be done as time permits. We start harvesting carrots today so it is going to be busy.

[Pauls]

I finished the sizing die for the 22LR center fire and made a pin to push the sized case out of the die. I started the first of a couple of forming dies that will be used to size dowd the 25 ACP to 22 LR after the cases are cut down at the rim and the pressure ring. (it would be very hard to force the solid part of the case through a die and it would close up the flash hole and primer pocket if I tried). After I get the forming dies made I have to make a decapper pin and a mandrel to hold the 25 ACP case while I trim the base and rim to size.

I tested the sizing die on some fired 22 LR cases and it does an excellent job of sizing them. They come out of the die at exactly .224". It looks like this will work!

[Innkeeper]

That was part of why I moved around Jobs in the Army so much I liked learning new things, 5 MOS's later I am Medically retired and working on setting up work benches and such in my garage to get back to working on my own vehicle again. Did it a lot as a teenager, and on the vehicles I drove in the army, and now with my Jeep I plan to do as much of the work as I can. I am also setting up to go to the different certification classes with all the Gun Companies through work, as much to work on my own as to maybe make a few bucks on the side doing for others. Plus it will get me extra money at work. I plan to build a work bench for those in my basement when I finish it this winter.

[Pauls]

Well, I completed the two forming dies, a decapping pin, a priming jig and trimmed a case body on the 25 ACP. I then ran it through the two forming dies and the sizing die.

I now have my first center fire 22 LR cartridge. We tried it in every 22 we own and it chambers and ejects just fine. Now it looks like I will have to make a bullet mold to get bullets for it and then I have to make a crimper to crimp the bullet in place. I have the plans for the powder measure that I will be building - it is sort of a miniture RCBS powder measure with a .195" bore. I'm hoping that it will throw accurate loads between 0.5 grains and 2.0 grains of HP-38. Only time will tell.

[Infidel]

Well, I completed the two forming dies, a decapping pin, a priming jig and trimmed a case body on the 25 ACP. I then ran it through the two forming dies and the sizing die.

I now have my first center fire 22 LR cartridge. We tried it in every 22 we own and it chambers and ejects just fine. Now it looks like I will have to make a bullet mold to get bullets for it and then I have to make a crimper to crimp the bullet in place. I have the plans for the powder measure that I will be building - it is sort of a miniture RCBS powder measure with a .195" bore. I'm hoping that it will throw accurate loads between 0.5 grains and 2.0 grains of HP-38. Only time will tell.

That's a pretty light charge of powder, it would be hard to throw consistently without a custom built measure. You'll have to post some pictures of all the finished work and let us know how they shoot. I'm enjoying the progress updates and who know you might just be able to market this thing if the manufacturers don't start making .22lr available soon.

-Infidel