Elric
Well-Known Member
This guy would slay the audience at a comedy club, really!
Marlin bought the Ideal Mfg Co from Barlow...
Old Principles Applied To New Rifles By H. P. Sheldon.
American Rifleman, vol 59, no. , Dec 2, 1915, pages191-192
https://books.google.com/books?id=sVEZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA192&dq=powder+measure+rifle&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDwuKKpLPYAhUO3GMKHaEJAxA4ChDoAQgrMAE#v=onepage&q=powder measure rifle&f=true
No one will deny that the high power rifle is the ultimate arm, yet it seems to me that its very popularity may occasionally react so as to prevent one from enjoying the full measure of benefit which is in all cases due the enthusiastic rifleman. I refer to the fact that the beginner is tempted through a casual perusal of our shooting literature to commence at the top rather than to approach that extreme by the devious pathways of practical experience. I firmly believe that there lives no really expert rifleman who has not served a low power notitiate. The modern range rifle is a highly developed mechanism, perhaps I should say the highest developed mechanism, and it requires a pretty thorough preliminary course before one can even hope to understand the principles which govern its delicate adjustments.
I maintain that the ultra modern cartridge, such as, for instance, the 30 Government, the 280 Ross, and others of like concentrated qualities, are not the ideal loads for the embryonic rifle shooter to attempt. Report, recoil, and several other things, which are essentials of these cartridges, must exercise a retrograde influence upon the mind of the inexperienced and force him to contract errors which soon became habits. One never has anything to learn which is at hand, as to learn to unlearn, and the best way to avoid forming a habit is by preventing its practice.
In the brave old days when a man's scalp was worth no more than his individuality for quick thinking and quicker shooting, the neophyte was subjected to a course of training which made sure of his future abilities in the latter requirement at any rate, and probably assisted in the complete agility of his intellectual processes. When the young hopeful had reached that ecstatic stage where the father considered him as ripe for his first lesson in the applied science of rifle shooting, he was first subjected to a stern dissertion upon the fate that awaited the careless rifleman and the criminal foolishness of wasting a single valuable load of powder and ball. He already knew from observation about all there was to be known about the exterior ballistics of Pap's old Hawkins and so, presently, he was allowed to ram home a reduced load down into the gun's internal mystery and depart to the forest fringe to put his theories to the practical test of squirrel shooting. The chances were more than even that he was required to bring home a squirrel for every load of powder that he carried in the horn; or else attend one of those pain-full woodshed seances wherein the “spirits" did their marvelous “rapping” with a piece of pine shingle. Lead was scarce and hard to procure, so the hunter planned to nip his game in such a way as to imbed the bullet in the tree, from which he dug it out with his knife and chewed the lump into shape for the next shot.
When he had become dextrous in the application of these first principles, he was allowed one day to measure out the full charge—enough powder to cover the ball as it lay in the palm of the hand—and assume his part of the day's work upon the deer runaway, or behind the loopholes in the long ramparts that sheltered the homestead from the attacks of peripatetic war parties.
No sane minded person, possessed of any knowledge concerning the arms of that period of which he writes, can ever swallow one tenth of the “dope” which Cooper is responsible for; but the fact remains that everything considered, the shooting of those long-haired pioneers was little short of wonderful, and it was due to the perfection of the training which each individual underwent.
Instead of firing a few shots from each of a half dozen rifles, they became absolutely familiar with one, the one they were to use there after; so that by the time they were through with the small game proposition, they could give the man who made the rifle a running start and beat him in a mile. I don't intend to preach a doctrine limiting a man to one and only one rifle, but I do know from my own experience with reduced loads in modern small caliber rifles that the one gun man can cover all the needs of the game in a manner conducive to the considerations of both skill and economy by having recourse to the miniature load and a set of reloading tools. Thanks to the progressive nature of our manufacturers, the dual purpose rifle has become a realization instead of a subject for debate; a man can start out now-a-days and, with the same rifle, shoot anything from the paper targets in an indoor gallery range to a fourteen hundred pound moose on the New Brunswick barrens. All the equipment necessary to success will be found in the following: A high power, small bore rifle, preferably of .25, .28, or .30 caliber; a chunk of lead, a piece of tin and a couple of cans of smokeless powder. An Ideal No. 10 tool and adjustable chambers to accommodate the various bullets which he intends to reload. In addition to these essentials he should also have a moderate supply of the stuff that Whistler mixed with his colors, viz., “brains."
Let us suppose that the hunter wishes to do all these things and that he must limit his expenditures to about sixty iron men. He can do no better than to purchase from the Ordnance Department a service Springfield! this, and the cost of having some good gunsmith remodel the arm to the lighter and more pleasing lines of the “sporter," will account for about forty of his sixty bones. If the lines of economy must be drawn even closer than the above limit he may forego the remodeling stunt entirely and with a set of Lyman sights upon the rifle go to his shooting just the same, albeit his weapon may lack in beauty what it will surely possess in strength. And there are a heap of things which we encounter every day more unpleasing to the esthetic sense than a well kept service rifle-—the wart on the back of a red headed man's neck, for instance.
He may either buy his bullets ready made, or, desiring perchance, to test his wife's affection he may decide to mould his own projectiles. In the latter case he orders the moulds with the rest of his equipment and, if he's wise, buys also an Ideal Dipper and Melting Pot—without which the bullet caster's lot is indeed hard.
Some night soon after the outfit is received and unpacked, he builds what is properly described as “a hell of a fire” in the kitchen stove and, all unconscious of his impending hour of agony, rambles gaily to his fate. With a wad of metal in the pot and the pot over the orifice in the stove lid, he sits down to await the melting. It does melt eventually, but not until the stove pipe is red hot clear to the collar and the paint on the kitchen cabinet is reduced to a sticky, fluid blister. Maybe he forgot to fill the tea kettle too, in which event the solder runs from its sides in streams and the "snoot" drops off. He doesn't care, the stuff is ready for the mould and he winds the handles of the latter instrument into the front flap of his shirt and pours in the first gob. The mould drops a beautiful shiny bullet which the enthusiast picks up and immediately drops likewise. His wife takes the children and goes over to the neighbors for the evening, so it doesn't really matter what the unfortunate says after that.
From time to time he fluxes the molten metal with a bit of wax. This is always an interesting operation if one lives in a town which boasts of a volunteer fire fighting organization-— it amuses the weary citizens so.
Finally, as he drops the three hundredth bullet upon the protecting surface of Madam's merino shawl, the happy man decides to quit and call it a day, to which conclusion he takes off the pot—pouring a little of the hot lead down the inside of his carpet slipper as he does so—opens all the doors that are not already open, and phones the lady to come home. Later, when he starts to assemble his ingredients he discovers that only 27 of the first 300 bullets are fit food for a self respecting rifle, but he's so pleased to learn that the Doctor may possibly save his foot that the discovery depresses him not at all.
But with the completion of the bullet problem the worst of the loader's troubles are over, the assembling of the load is only a matter for ordinary care and precision. Of course if one insists upon smoking a cigarette at the same time that he opens a can of powder, he must expect to have trouble with his barber, but if he merely follows directions while handling and measuring this commodity, he will experience no trouble either then or thereafter.
For the extremely short range shooting with the Springfield the 125 grain bullet (Ideal No. 308241), with a powder charge of 11 grains, weight, of Du Pont No. 75 Gallery Rifle smokeless will be found to work satisfactorily in most rifles; or the heavier bullet of the same series may be used. The latter will probably give the greater satisfaction with its weight of 154 grains and a charge of 12 grains, weight, of the same powder. Both these bullets should be seated with the No. 10 tool and the shell should not be crimped down upon the base bands.
For longer range properties than is obtainable from either the above mentioned loads and still confining oneself to a cast bullet, the Ideal No. 308280 is accurate and cleanly for shooting at 200 or 300 yards, when loaded with a charge of the Gallery smokeless of 12 grains weight.
The bullets described above have these advantages: first of all, they are accurate—as much so as any small game or target cartridge, with the possible exception of the .22 long rifle—and they reduce barrel wear to practically nothing at all. They are of the same temper, one part of tin to ten parts of lead, which simplifies matters for the caster, and, lastly, they are loaded ahead of the same grade of powder.
As a corollary to the cartridges already mentioned we have the mid-range gas check bullets Nos. 308329 (Spitzer) and 308334 for use with 25 grains of Lightning powder, and, lastly, the full metal service bullet for the extreme ranges.
The man who intends to do much reloading should equip himself with one of the justly popular powder measures as manufactured by the Marlin Company. Check the first few charges in each batch by weighing them upon an apothecary's scales so as to be certain that the slide is set correctly; once set, the machine registers very accurately, though it is wise to test it from time to time to prevent the always possible error from creeping in and working havoc with the breech pressures. While discussing the subject of breech pressure, it will be well to remember that unless the primers are seated to an even depth in the battery cups the breech pressures will be unequal, even when the powder charges are exactly the same. It is almost impossible to seat a primer correctly with one of the old style tools which are so constructed as to jam the primer into the battery cup at an angle. It should be introduced along a straight line and so gently as to not disturb the fulminate or clog the flash passage.
Summing up we find that a first-class outfit will consist of the following items:
One New Springfield, caliber .30, model 1903 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$13.54
Cost of remodeling rifle to "sporter" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 25.00
One Ideal No. 10 tool, double adjustable chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2.50
One extra seating screw, to seat No. 308280 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .50
One shell expanding chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1.00
‘Three molds, 308241S (125 and 154 grains), 308280 . . . . . . . . . . .. 4.50
*Melting pot, dipper and pot holder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1.50
Universal powder measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3.25
Smokeless powder, 1 pound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1.00
Primed cases, .30 caliber, 500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4.85
Primers, No. H48, 1,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .75
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..$58.39
‘Items needed only for the casting of bullets. If the bullets are to be bought ready lubricated, deduct $6 from above total. Bullet No. 308241S, 125 grains, $5.90 per 1,000; 154 grains, $6.19 per 1,000; mid range bullet No. 308280, $6.60 per 1,000.—Outers Book
Marlin bought the Ideal Mfg Co from Barlow...
Old Principles Applied To New Rifles By H. P. Sheldon.
American Rifleman, vol 59, no. , Dec 2, 1915, pages191-192
https://books.google.com/books?id=sVEZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA192&dq=powder+measure+rifle&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDwuKKpLPYAhUO3GMKHaEJAxA4ChDoAQgrMAE#v=onepage&q=powder measure rifle&f=true
No one will deny that the high power rifle is the ultimate arm, yet it seems to me that its very popularity may occasionally react so as to prevent one from enjoying the full measure of benefit which is in all cases due the enthusiastic rifleman. I refer to the fact that the beginner is tempted through a casual perusal of our shooting literature to commence at the top rather than to approach that extreme by the devious pathways of practical experience. I firmly believe that there lives no really expert rifleman who has not served a low power notitiate. The modern range rifle is a highly developed mechanism, perhaps I should say the highest developed mechanism, and it requires a pretty thorough preliminary course before one can even hope to understand the principles which govern its delicate adjustments.
I maintain that the ultra modern cartridge, such as, for instance, the 30 Government, the 280 Ross, and others of like concentrated qualities, are not the ideal loads for the embryonic rifle shooter to attempt. Report, recoil, and several other things, which are essentials of these cartridges, must exercise a retrograde influence upon the mind of the inexperienced and force him to contract errors which soon became habits. One never has anything to learn which is at hand, as to learn to unlearn, and the best way to avoid forming a habit is by preventing its practice.
In the brave old days when a man's scalp was worth no more than his individuality for quick thinking and quicker shooting, the neophyte was subjected to a course of training which made sure of his future abilities in the latter requirement at any rate, and probably assisted in the complete agility of his intellectual processes. When the young hopeful had reached that ecstatic stage where the father considered him as ripe for his first lesson in the applied science of rifle shooting, he was first subjected to a stern dissertion upon the fate that awaited the careless rifleman and the criminal foolishness of wasting a single valuable load of powder and ball. He already knew from observation about all there was to be known about the exterior ballistics of Pap's old Hawkins and so, presently, he was allowed to ram home a reduced load down into the gun's internal mystery and depart to the forest fringe to put his theories to the practical test of squirrel shooting. The chances were more than even that he was required to bring home a squirrel for every load of powder that he carried in the horn; or else attend one of those pain-full woodshed seances wherein the “spirits" did their marvelous “rapping” with a piece of pine shingle. Lead was scarce and hard to procure, so the hunter planned to nip his game in such a way as to imbed the bullet in the tree, from which he dug it out with his knife and chewed the lump into shape for the next shot.
When he had become dextrous in the application of these first principles, he was allowed one day to measure out the full charge—enough powder to cover the ball as it lay in the palm of the hand—and assume his part of the day's work upon the deer runaway, or behind the loopholes in the long ramparts that sheltered the homestead from the attacks of peripatetic war parties.
No sane minded person, possessed of any knowledge concerning the arms of that period of which he writes, can ever swallow one tenth of the “dope” which Cooper is responsible for; but the fact remains that everything considered, the shooting of those long-haired pioneers was little short of wonderful, and it was due to the perfection of the training which each individual underwent.
Instead of firing a few shots from each of a half dozen rifles, they became absolutely familiar with one, the one they were to use there after; so that by the time they were through with the small game proposition, they could give the man who made the rifle a running start and beat him in a mile. I don't intend to preach a doctrine limiting a man to one and only one rifle, but I do know from my own experience with reduced loads in modern small caliber rifles that the one gun man can cover all the needs of the game in a manner conducive to the considerations of both skill and economy by having recourse to the miniature load and a set of reloading tools. Thanks to the progressive nature of our manufacturers, the dual purpose rifle has become a realization instead of a subject for debate; a man can start out now-a-days and, with the same rifle, shoot anything from the paper targets in an indoor gallery range to a fourteen hundred pound moose on the New Brunswick barrens. All the equipment necessary to success will be found in the following: A high power, small bore rifle, preferably of .25, .28, or .30 caliber; a chunk of lead, a piece of tin and a couple of cans of smokeless powder. An Ideal No. 10 tool and adjustable chambers to accommodate the various bullets which he intends to reload. In addition to these essentials he should also have a moderate supply of the stuff that Whistler mixed with his colors, viz., “brains."
Let us suppose that the hunter wishes to do all these things and that he must limit his expenditures to about sixty iron men. He can do no better than to purchase from the Ordnance Department a service Springfield! this, and the cost of having some good gunsmith remodel the arm to the lighter and more pleasing lines of the “sporter," will account for about forty of his sixty bones. If the lines of economy must be drawn even closer than the above limit he may forego the remodeling stunt entirely and with a set of Lyman sights upon the rifle go to his shooting just the same, albeit his weapon may lack in beauty what it will surely possess in strength. And there are a heap of things which we encounter every day more unpleasing to the esthetic sense than a well kept service rifle-—the wart on the back of a red headed man's neck, for instance.
He may either buy his bullets ready made, or, desiring perchance, to test his wife's affection he may decide to mould his own projectiles. In the latter case he orders the moulds with the rest of his equipment and, if he's wise, buys also an Ideal Dipper and Melting Pot—without which the bullet caster's lot is indeed hard.
Some night soon after the outfit is received and unpacked, he builds what is properly described as “a hell of a fire” in the kitchen stove and, all unconscious of his impending hour of agony, rambles gaily to his fate. With a wad of metal in the pot and the pot over the orifice in the stove lid, he sits down to await the melting. It does melt eventually, but not until the stove pipe is red hot clear to the collar and the paint on the kitchen cabinet is reduced to a sticky, fluid blister. Maybe he forgot to fill the tea kettle too, in which event the solder runs from its sides in streams and the "snoot" drops off. He doesn't care, the stuff is ready for the mould and he winds the handles of the latter instrument into the front flap of his shirt and pours in the first gob. The mould drops a beautiful shiny bullet which the enthusiast picks up and immediately drops likewise. His wife takes the children and goes over to the neighbors for the evening, so it doesn't really matter what the unfortunate says after that.
From time to time he fluxes the molten metal with a bit of wax. This is always an interesting operation if one lives in a town which boasts of a volunteer fire fighting organization-— it amuses the weary citizens so.
Finally, as he drops the three hundredth bullet upon the protecting surface of Madam's merino shawl, the happy man decides to quit and call it a day, to which conclusion he takes off the pot—pouring a little of the hot lead down the inside of his carpet slipper as he does so—opens all the doors that are not already open, and phones the lady to come home. Later, when he starts to assemble his ingredients he discovers that only 27 of the first 300 bullets are fit food for a self respecting rifle, but he's so pleased to learn that the Doctor may possibly save his foot that the discovery depresses him not at all.
But with the completion of the bullet problem the worst of the loader's troubles are over, the assembling of the load is only a matter for ordinary care and precision. Of course if one insists upon smoking a cigarette at the same time that he opens a can of powder, he must expect to have trouble with his barber, but if he merely follows directions while handling and measuring this commodity, he will experience no trouble either then or thereafter.
For the extremely short range shooting with the Springfield the 125 grain bullet (Ideal No. 308241), with a powder charge of 11 grains, weight, of Du Pont No. 75 Gallery Rifle smokeless will be found to work satisfactorily in most rifles; or the heavier bullet of the same series may be used. The latter will probably give the greater satisfaction with its weight of 154 grains and a charge of 12 grains, weight, of the same powder. Both these bullets should be seated with the No. 10 tool and the shell should not be crimped down upon the base bands.
For longer range properties than is obtainable from either the above mentioned loads and still confining oneself to a cast bullet, the Ideal No. 308280 is accurate and cleanly for shooting at 200 or 300 yards, when loaded with a charge of the Gallery smokeless of 12 grains weight.
The bullets described above have these advantages: first of all, they are accurate—as much so as any small game or target cartridge, with the possible exception of the .22 long rifle—and they reduce barrel wear to practically nothing at all. They are of the same temper, one part of tin to ten parts of lead, which simplifies matters for the caster, and, lastly, they are loaded ahead of the same grade of powder.
As a corollary to the cartridges already mentioned we have the mid-range gas check bullets Nos. 308329 (Spitzer) and 308334 for use with 25 grains of Lightning powder, and, lastly, the full metal service bullet for the extreme ranges.
The man who intends to do much reloading should equip himself with one of the justly popular powder measures as manufactured by the Marlin Company. Check the first few charges in each batch by weighing them upon an apothecary's scales so as to be certain that the slide is set correctly; once set, the machine registers very accurately, though it is wise to test it from time to time to prevent the always possible error from creeping in and working havoc with the breech pressures. While discussing the subject of breech pressure, it will be well to remember that unless the primers are seated to an even depth in the battery cups the breech pressures will be unequal, even when the powder charges are exactly the same. It is almost impossible to seat a primer correctly with one of the old style tools which are so constructed as to jam the primer into the battery cup at an angle. It should be introduced along a straight line and so gently as to not disturb the fulminate or clog the flash passage.
Summing up we find that a first-class outfit will consist of the following items:
One New Springfield, caliber .30, model 1903 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$13.54
Cost of remodeling rifle to "sporter" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 25.00
One Ideal No. 10 tool, double adjustable chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2.50
One extra seating screw, to seat No. 308280 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .50
One shell expanding chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1.00
‘Three molds, 308241S (125 and 154 grains), 308280 . . . . . . . . . . .. 4.50
*Melting pot, dipper and pot holder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1.50
Universal powder measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3.25
Smokeless powder, 1 pound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1.00
Primed cases, .30 caliber, 500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4.85
Primers, No. H48, 1,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .75
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..$58.39
‘Items needed only for the casting of bullets. If the bullets are to be bought ready lubricated, deduct $6 from above total. Bullet No. 308241S, 125 grains, $5.90 per 1,000; 154 grains, $6.19 per 1,000; mid range bullet No. 308280, $6.60 per 1,000.—Outers Book
