.339 gas check Rimrock 200 gr cast lead for 33WCF?|Page 2|Winchester Hunting, Shooting & Reloading|Forum|Winchester Collector

Sounds to me like you have things pretty much your way at present.  I am a bit too far away to baby sit my granddaughter, plus a bit scared to do so.  My wife did most of the child rearing early on with my son–being active Army and a battalion commander, etc, left little time for doing so.  I will suggest that as you age and become less fit, you may end up needing to shoot at the range more than in the hills, but that is yet to be seen.  If I was emperor and had my way, I would be on the Mississippi River chasing ducks, etc, but now I shoot mostly at trap, small bore silhouette games (very addictive!!), large bore silhouette and precision, etc.  One day I may be down to shooting just to hear the noise and smell the smoke.  Carry on!  Tim

As much as I enjoy reloading and casting I know neither activity is a good idea for someone without dedication and attention to detail. It also takes a considerable investment of time and resources, including a bit of floor space to work in. John Kort and another Cast Boolit member told me about this forum awhile back. I can’t imagine enjoying my Winchesters without loading and shooting for most of them. In my retirement I hope to spend more time in my loading room with the equipment stashed in there. As some of you retired folks know retired life can be very busy if you allow it. I don’t have any grandbabies to spoil but I’m working with several non-profits along with a few government agencies and contractors trying to make my little corner of the world a better place. I also have a retirement business to keep me humble and close to home. Thank goodness I’m a member of a private range only a few miles away.

The 33 is a prime example why I cast and load. I may never own another 1886 but there’s a chance I may and it will likely be a 33. If I had to buy ammo off the shelf there’s not much chance this old tightwad would get to shoot it much, if at all. It may cost me three or four hundred dollars to fire my first .33 round but I’ll likely be set up to shoot it for as long as I want. Loading and casting gives me the freedom to make as much ammo as I want but like any other freedom it’s neither cheap nor easy. 

Mike

M64lvr said
You’ll really getting to center seed of my interest to begin with of considering casting! I used read everything i could of John Korte, aka 30WCF, on several sites. Him and several more what got me thinking maybe I’d like to start Casting, not to mention his experience with the 30-30!
Another for sure is, whenever ive read anything pertaining to an 86 in 33wcf,  Casting was included! And before even being aware of the 33wcf, I wanted to find me an early model 94 in 38-55, but that never happened either. Roots of that was from way back, reading Townsend Whelen’s “Red Letter Days in British Columbia”!
But I definitely would’ve worked good number years longer, but Dr pulled me. I worked 40 years underground mining, 39 those years underground at the working face! What really even amazes me? I was a Continuous Miner Operator for 32 years. My last 6 years I was Foreman or Superintendent.  But those unfamiliar with mining,  the Continuous Mining Machine is the beginning of all that coal mining is about. It cuts the coal at the working section, loads it into shuttle cars, to be hauled some distance,  where it’s then unloaded onto a conveyor belt headed outside. I worked coal seam heights in my younger days as small as 32″ and even up to 14ft all thru years. But a Miner Operator is in a continuous dusty area, not mention often dangerous! Hey every day you go where no mans ever been before!
But it took a toll on my health, especially breathing & hearing! Then with job damage to my lungs, when I retired and started seeing a pulminolligist, he found i had a genetic lung disease, Alpha1.  
Thus my dependency on my 4w! I get to a desired level in these mountains, and hunt there, I can’t do much climbing,  lungs can’t keep up!
Plus I was in number bad accidents, many broke bones, a broken neck in 96 in a really bad accident that killed 2 my buddies not many feet away from me!
But I’m not being dramatic, bragging, or anything of that nature. Im being honest of God’s mercy & grace toward me! 
Im truly thankful to still be able to go and do everything I love, but yes at my own pace! But anyone who knows the truth of my past, is scratching their head wondering how I still can. Just being a Miner Operator alone, fir 32 years, has my Dr’s often saying I should be dead, or on oxygen full time near death! Most Miner Operators with over 20 years on this machine are done for, and often only 15 years!
Yes, I Thank my God,  for still being here, still going, doing most everything I want! Because I know myself for sure, it is by Him I do!
  

Yes!!!  Whelan’s Red Letter Days in British Columbia!  What an impression that story made on me.  What a wonderful story to fuel a young man’s imagination.  And to fuel an appreciation for the .38-55.  I know I talk about the .33 WCF and the .32 Special here a lot, but the .38-55 has also been very popular with me.  I’ve had Winchester 1894’s (carbines and rifles), Marlin 1893’s (carbines and rifles), Savage 1899’s (round barrel rifles, octagon barrel rifles, short rifles and saddle ring carbines) in .38-55.  I’ve of course loaded for it for many decades and almost exclusively used lead bullets.  I don’t think I’ve ever fired a round of factory ammunition in a .38-55.  

Not a great photo but here is my favorite .38-55 (and it’s a Marlin )  In my defense Ian (mrcvs) just posted a photo of a Marlin on another thread.  This is the bottom rifle and it has a very slender special order 28 inch rapid taper barrel, full magazine, factory swivel eyes and the Hepburn top mounted receiver sight.  The rifle above it is a 32-40 short rifle with a special order 24 inch half round barrel, pistol grip, checkered and also the Hepburn receiver sight.  Both are highly accurate and have wonderful bores. 

But yes, Red Letter Days… I’m going to have dig that out and read it again.  I’m looking forward to it. 

View post on imgur.com

I can’t get photos to load up yet, it’s stormy here today. I’ll look later!

But Whelens story when I read it, got me fueled to read everything I could get on him, he’s my #1 ??Inspirational & Influencer! Back then it was first Teddy Roosevelt,  until I learned Whelen. Ive got most Whelen’s books! But his RLDIBC, ought be required reading for every American boy in 5th or 6th grade!

Thanks Steve very much! And i posted it in detail cause I’m compelled too, to give Thanks and Glory to the Lord and his loving mercy! Believe me, it’s lot more dramatic and couple only Devinely possible that I walked away! One, if I told you, you probably wouldn’t believe it, I wouldn’t if someone told me! But, I was there, it’s unbelievably still, reality! 

Now, I loaned my book that has that story in it several years ago to a relative. I need get it back to read again! It’s like the Andy Griffith Show, it never gets old!

But while we’re on subject? Ive asked, asked, searched, other forums, elsewhere? I tried to find any details about Bones Andrew’s, after his hunts with Whelen? Anything about him, his history,  and what happened to him afterwards?

Only things I learned, and it’s mostly me putting 2&2 together? In any of Whelen books ive read, by memory? I don’t even remember him really including him? Yes, in other writers telling of Whelen first trip to BC, they mentioned him, rightfully so!

But for instance in his later books, Whelen often mentioned Stanley Clark, his later hunting buddy in the NW! And another guy whom Whelen mentioned, especiallypertainingto Moose Hunting, name?I forget now?, and in book summaries he mentions all names contributions to the books subjects & stories.

Forgive my long posts, but maybe you know some answers?

But in I’m fairly sure,  “The Hunting Rifle” and maybe “Wilderness Hunting and Wildcraft” combined, i kinda put together from info in these, obviously he was talking of that specific 1st hunt with Andrew’s, things he didn’t include in RLDIBC! 

It’s been few years since I read these, so my memory is foggy? But Andrew’s took a native Indian Woman with them on that 1st hunt! He described the Goat he shot straight above him, that landed at his feet, along with the story in the book including her.

But there was more, clues, that I thought you might know about, or what ever happened to Andrew’s??

Obviously RLDIBC, was his first venture to BC, and first acquaintance with Andrew’s,  but probably not his last? But he seemed to never include him in future writings?

Andrew’s obviously a very capable and interesting man in that world, be interesting to know of his future!

One thing Whelen made clear in his 1957 article in NRA Magazine,  “Only Accurate Rifles Are Interesting” was, on that first hunt, it didn’t take him long to figure out, that in the steepness and open terrain, he did far better with his Mod 94 30-30 much more accurate and flatter trajectory,  and very successfully, and out to past 200 yards, only 2nd shots needed where on running deer, and shots at or near 200 yds only ones he needed a 2nd shot on! These included mule deer, goats, and sheep. Caribou maybe, I forget?

And i love them rifles and the sights!