Camping Trip AAR

This weekend a couple friends and I went on a camping trip to Tioga County, PA. The main activity this time was ham radio. We went up on Friday and came home today.

I had to work on Friday but was able to cut out a little early. By the time I got on the road it was rush hour, so it took me a full four hours to get to my friend's land. By the time I arrived it was 9:30 PM. Before I got there, he'd put up an 80M dipole antenna made from aluminum welding wire, electric fence insulators, and some electric fence posts from Tractor Supply. The feed line was the welding wire, formed into an open ladder line held apart with pink duct tape.

This dipole worked well and pulling in signals on 20M, 40M, and 80M. A number of the calls we logged were from within Pennsylvania, demonstrating the viability of NVIS communications.

We're fans of the digital modes. He has an Icom 718 with which he uses a Donner Digital Interface at home. Since he's not going to schlepp a desktop PC with him, he used PSKdroid running on an LG Android tablet, using audio coupling. I also setup my Apple iPad Mini 2 running PSKer to try and pull some signals from the aether.

We were able to copy quite a few transmissions even without a digital interface between the tablets and the rig. We probably would've copied some more, but for the bourbon. ;)

On Saturday I setup my portable vertical antenna, Yaesu FT-817ND, and iPad.

As you can see, we setup inside his 16' x 24' pavilion, which was a godsend this weekend due to the weather. It rained on and off all weekend. There was little to no wind, so the open ends weren't a problem. We even setup my tent underneath the roof so it stayed mostly dry.

As you can see, I have my antenna feedline connected via the FT-817ND's front, BNC connector. As I understand it, using this instead of the SO-239 on the back reduces power consumption.  Also note that the feedline is connected straight to the rig, with no tuner. The vertical is resonant on 20M. Using a resonant antenna instead of one connected through a tuner increases your effective radiated power, and when operating QRP, every little bit helps.

The iPad is connected to the rig with one of KF5INZ's Easy Digi interfaces.

Pic of my vertical antenna:

The objects to the right of the antenna are steel gong targets set out at about 25 yards.

I mostly operated PSK31 and using the antenna above was able to reach the west coast.

I grabbed the above from pskreporter.info using my iPhone. Later, my signal was also reported in Washington state, but I forgot to get a screen shot.

After doing PSK31 for awhile I changed over to WSPR, using iWSPR. This was my first time trying this digital mode and it's amazing. The signal reports below are after transmitting for awhile on 5 watts.

Numerous hits in Great Britain, Western Europe, and Germany. WSPR basically acts like a beacon, transmitting your callsign so that other hams with Internet-connected rigs can upload signal reports. With some creativity I think it could have other applications.

We took time off from the radio to have a nice lunch of venison sausage and onions, sauteed in a red wine reduction. Yeah, we eat good when we go camping.

Saturday night's dinner was venison chili washed down with Yuengling Lager or Guiness Stout.

I also took a break from radio in the afternoon to do a little shooting. I first shot my Cowboy Pimp Gun, AKA a Ruger Single Six in .32 H&R Magnum which has a color case hardened frame and faux ivory grips. It's a fun little blaster but needs a trigger job. I put a bunch of Prvi Partizan .32 S&W Longs through it, which made a nice little tink when they hit our steel gongs.

I also put 70 rounds of .44-40 through my Cimarron 1873 Sporting Rifle.

Fifty of those were black powder loads with 35 grains of Goex 3Fg under a bullet cast in my Accurate Molds 43-215C bullet mold, and they really smacked the gongs around. If you click on the picture to view the full sized version, you can see some smoke coming out of the rifle's ejection port. I was doing an 1870s-style mag dump. Off to the left, you can also see the gong that I just shot swinging from the impact.

After I finished shooting my other friend put up about 500 feet of aluminum welding wire in a loop, all around our campsite. We got back to radio after nightfall and the loop turned out to work well for receiving 80M and 160M, and they both wound up getting 160M phone QSOs. Because the antenna height ranged from only a couple feet to a max of 5 feet, they were NVIS to other hams in northern PA and southern NY.

Finally, I took this picture of my iPad which looked like it was detecting Space Invaders on the waterfall.

Even though the weather this weekend was crappy we had a great trip. We got some good field radio practice in, plus a bit of fun shooting.

Rereading Sixguns by Keith

Over on Survivalpreps, I put up a post, "Old School Shooting and Reloading," in which I discuss the value of having guns chambered for cartridges that are suited for loading with black powder and cast bullets. This was prompted in part by my recent experiences handloading .44-40 WCF for my Cimarron 1873 Sporting Rifle. The other impetus for the piece was of course this year's election, which is turning out to be the shit show of all shit shows.

In tune with this, I'm rereading Elmer Keith's seminal work, Sixguns. My father has owned a hard cover copy of the 1961 edition for several decades but I decided to get my own, this time in Kindle format for convenience. Note that in this version the images were all moved to the end of the book in order, rather than remaining inline with the text.

Sixguns is over 50 years old at this point but still contains a lot of worthwhile information on shooting revolvers. Some, of course is dated, but if you want to get into handloading with cast bullets and shooting wheelguns at long range, it's worth reading. The Kindle version is only $9.99, so it's a good value IMO.

Loaded Black Powder .44-40s With Accurate Molds 43-215C Bullets

Yesterday I cast some more bullets in the Accurate Molds 43-215C mold, and then lubed and sized them. I'm pan lubing them with a homebrew mix of beeswax, mutton tallow, and a little paraffin wax. Here's my setup:

On the left is a hot plate with a tin in which I mix the lube. On the sheet of foil is my lube pan: a tin from a some kippered herring. To the right of that is the lid for the mixing tin on which is a .44-40 case that I drilled out the flash hole, which I use to cut the lubed bullets from the hardened lube. I push the bullets out of the case with a 9/64" Allen wrench.

After I cut a batch of bullets from the lube I put another batch in the holes left behind, then reheat the lube pan on the hot plate, then take it off to cool and harden. Like so:

I can fit twenty-two .44 caliber bullets in this pan, so the next time I eat a can of kippered herring I'll save its tin, so I can speed things up. Here's a closeup of an unlubed and a lubed bullet:

I wound up with around 120 bullets lubed and sized when I wrapped up last night.

Tonight, I loaded up two boxes of ammo: 50 rounds each using Swiss 3Fg and Goex 3Fg; 2.2cc of powder for both, which is about 35 grains.

I should get the chance to try them out next weekend on a camping trip.

Got My New Bullet Mold

Accurate Molds advertised a 3 week turnaround time but the 43-215C mold I ordered for loading black powder .44-40 ammunition got here in less than 2 weeks. The mold is nicely machined and overall feels like a quality piece.

I cast my first bullets with it tonight. I'll probably cull a few of these but most of them look good. I'm going to have to pin the Lee handles because the wood part started slipping off one handle. (At least they were cheap.)

They are supposed to drop at .430 when cast in 20:1 alloy. I'll measure them tomorrow.

Range Day

The past few weeks have been more stressful than normal so last Thursday I put in to get today off and hit the range. I lucked out with the weather and was able to get in some quality, relaxing time on my club's 50 yard range with my Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle and Claudia, my Cimarron Firearms 1873 Sporting Rifle.

Note: This post contains reloading data that is safe in my rifles. It may not be safe in yours. Check multiple sources for data when reloading ammo. I'm not responsible if you blow up your gun and hurt yourself.

First up was the Ruger. I wanted to fine tune the 50 yard zero with "The Load," C.E. Harris's recipe for a mild shooting target load in .30 caliber cartridges. (Go read the whole article for safety guidelines when using The Load.) My .308 ammo today was a 152 grain .30 M2 projectile on top of 13 grains of Alliant Red Dot, ignited by a Federal large rifle primer. Brass was from a bunch of once-fired Hornady given to me by a friend.

The rifle shoots pretty good with this combo. Using the Ruger's factory peep sight I am able to keep them inside about 2" at 50 yards from the bench. Recoil is very mild, probably about like 7.62x39 from an SKS. I could shoot it all day without getting beat up, unlike full power .308s with a 150 grain bullet at about 2700 FPS.

For some reason the Ruger doesn't like the Hornady brass. When I got the rifle and shot it with IMI and Prvi Partisan factory ammunition it functioned just fine. However, the extractor frequently slips over the rim on the Hornady brass after it extracts from the chamber, requiring me to pick the spent case out of the action. The next time I load up a batch of ammo I'll use some once fired USGI brass.

Next up was Claudia, with a variety of handloads, some using Alliant Unique and others using Alliant Reloder 7. The first load I tried was some old Lyman 200 grain, .429 diameter hard cast bullets on top of 8.5 grains of Unique. This is a reduced power load in .44-40, though not a cowboy action shooting mousefart level load.

Accuracy was poor, about 6" at 50 yards. I had another batch of ammo with the same powder charge but a soft cast 200 grain, .428 bullet from Desperado Cowboy Bullets. Accuracy and POI with this was about the same.

Below is a group shot with the Lyman bullets. POA was 6 o'clock on the bullseye.

Next, we have two groups. The one on the orange target in the center was with the 200 grain .428 DCB on top of 8.5 grains of Unique. POA was 6 0'clock on the bull. The group in the head was shot with the load described below the picture. POA was at the base of the neck.

The final load I put through the '73 was the same 200 grain DCB bullet, but I'd bought these at .430 then sized them down to .429. These were loaded on top of 23.5 grains of Reloder 7. The muzzle velocity of this load should be around 1200 - 1300 FPS, i.e., very similar to the original black powder .44 factory ammunition. POA was 6 o'clock on the bull.

Accuracy with this load was good, decent, about 2.5" to 3" 2" at 50 yards except for the flier, and functioning was perfect. The sights on the rifle make it difficult to shoot better, for me anyway.

Back when I first got the rifle I shot two kinds of ammo through it the first time I took it out. The first was a box of Black Hills CAS ammo, while the other was 5 rounds of Winchester 200 grain jacketed soft points, which were a lot more accurate. The rifle seems to prefer full power ammo.

I'd hoped to be able to use my brother's chronograph today but he couldn't make it, so that'll have to wait.

I now need to load up some more rounds with Reloder 7 and this bullet, and then fine tune Claudia's zero at 100 yards.

Slow Motion Video of Rogers & Spencer Being Fired

Dad took some slow motion video of me shooting the Rogers & Spencer percussion revolver last night. I edited it down to one shot.

The load was a .454" round ball, lubed felt wad, 30 grains of 3Fg Olde Eynsford black powder, and a Remington No.10 cap.

First Shots with Goex Olde Eynsford Black Powder

Yesterday I went up to Cabela's to put my Cabela's Bucks towards some primers before election year buying goes full derp. I bought 1K each of CCI Large Rifle and Large Pistol primers, and 1K of Sellier & Bellot Small Pistol primers. (They were out of CCI SPPs.)

Ammo and powder stocks were in pretty good shape, they even had several kinds of pistol powder, which has been absent there for the past several years.

On the way home I stopped at Dixon's Muzzleloading Shop where I got a set of Lee commercial mold handles for the Accurate Molds 43-215C I have on order, and a pound each of Swiss and Olde Eynsford 3Fg black powder.

If you have to buy black powder in a shop rather than doing a bulk mail order, the price per pound is high. The Swiss was $32, Olde Eynsford was $29, and plain old Goex was $27. If you're willing to order a 25 pound case, Graf's has OE at $18.99/pound, only $1/pound more than Goex. Swiss is $24.99/pound in a case from Graf's.

Note: Graf's also carries their house brand BP made by Wano Schwartzpulver in Germany for $14.99/pound in a case lot. I've never tried it myself.

Swiss powder is a known-good quantity. I.e., it burns cleanly for BP and is more energetic than Goex. I wanted to get some OE to compare.

Olde Eynsford was introduced by the Goex company back in 2012 or 2013, IIRC. It's designed to compete against the high quality Swiss powder. The reports I've read on various sites like THR, cascity.com, and castboolits.gunloads.com indicate that they succeeded.

After a two hour long drive home due to an accident on I-476S, last night I went with my dad to his indoor range. I brought my Euroarms Rogers & Spencer percussion revolver.

My load consisted of a Remington No.10 cap, 30 grains of Olde Eynsford 3Fg, a home made lubricated felt wad, and a Hornady .454" lead ball. I put 7 cylinders -- 42 shots -- through the R&S.

We shot at only 7 yards but accuracy was good. The only shots which left a ~2.5" - 3" group were fliers caused by me. That's as good as I can shoot one handed.

Recoil felt like I was shooting Swiss powder, while the fouling was also similar to that left behind by Swiss. I.e., surprisingly little if you're used to shooting regular Goex, and easy to clean up. I'd forgot my .44 caliber cleaning jag so I had to use a brush, then a patch over the brush to clean the bore and chambers. The fouling inside the frame wiped off easily using a patch wet with MPro-7.

My next test of Olde Eynsford will be in loading .44-40 WCF cartridges. When shooting BP .44-40s using a bullet cast in the original Winchester mold I can shoot at least 50 rounds without fouling out. I expect that cartridges loaded with OE will behave similarly.

Ordered an Accurate Molds 43-215C

Today I ordered a custom bullet mold from Accurate Molds, the 43-215C. It will be a dual cavity aluminum mold that I specced to drop bullets at .430" +/- 0.002", when using 1:20 tin:lead alloy.

(Pictures borrowed from accuratemolds.com.)

This bullet was designed specifically to carry enough lubricant so that when fired in a 24" barrel and propelled by Goex black powder, the rifle doesn't "foul out." I.e., it won't develop an accuracy destroying ring of fouling for a few inches back from the muzzle.

Bullets of the original design, such as those cast in my original Winchester mold, or the similar Lyman 427098 carry enough lube for use with Swiss black powder, but not the dirtier burning Goex. Since I have plenty of Goex, I wanted a mold to cast bullets useful with it.

Accurate Molds bores their bullet molds on a CNC lathe and from what I've read over on Castboolits, they are very nice. Mold handles aren't included so I'll need to order a set. I'm expecting about a three week turnaround for the mold.

Loaded Some .44-40 Cartridges to Chronograph

While drinking some Tennessee sour mash last night with my brother, I learned that he has a Shooting Crony Beta Master chronograph. Well, that's one less thing I need to buy.

This morning I loaded up the last 7 bullets that I cast in my original Winchester mold. Powder charge was 2.2cc (about 35 grains) of Swiss 3Fg. I also resized some of the .430 200 grainers that I bought from cowboybullets.com down to .429, and loaded 25 of them them on top of 23.5 grains of Alliant Reloder 7.

I'm not sure if you can see it but the Reloder 7 fills the case up nearly to the bottom of the neck. My choice of this powder stems from this thread on cascity.com, along with some other discussions found online. Note that in the CAS City thread, the author used 240 grain bullets, while I loaded 200 grain bullets.

Because of Reloder 7's relatively slow burn rate, it offers the potential of duplicating or bettering the original ballistics while keeping pressures within the limits of the 1873's toggle link action. If accuracy is acceptable this should make a good hunting load.

On the other hand, Reloder 7's slow burning rate means that it's probably not a good choice if you're loading cartridges to be shot in revolvers.

I'm hoping to chronograph both loads, along with some of my handloads with 8.6 grains of Unique next weekend.

While I was in reloading mode, I decided to get myself a digital scale, a Frankford Arsenal DS-750. It will be verified with my Lyman calibration weights and checked against my Redding No.2, which is a great piece of equipment. The digital scale will be easier to read and take up less room on my bench, however.

More Handload Testing in the Cimarron Uberti 1873

Today I shot my .44 WCF Cimarron Uberti 1873 Sporting Rifle with two variants of smokeless loads and then with black powder cartridges.

The two batches of smokeless loads were shot first. Both were loaded with 8.5 grains of Alliant Unique and 200 grain cast bullets. The first batch were from an old box of Lyman .429 hard cast with a moly lube, while the second batch were .428 soft cast from Desperado Cowboy Bullets. Both loads shot to the same point of aim and grouped about the same. Either would hold the black of an SR-1 target at 50 yards offhand. Recoil was very mild, similar to the low power commercial cowboy action shooting loads.

After cleaning the bore of the smokeless lube residue, I put 50 rounds of black powder cartridges through the rifle. They were loaded with 35 grains of Swiss 3Fg with a 200 grain soft lead bullet cast in an original Winchester mold. The bullets were lubed with a mix of beeswax and mutton tallow with a little canning paraffin.

The bullets in the black powder rounds dropped from the mold undersized, at about .425 - .426. I was hoping that the soft lead would bump up but based on my group at 50 yards, they didn't bump up enough. The group was about 8" offhand, not particularly good. I'm looking to develop a hunting load that will do 4" or less at 100 yards from a bench.

However, I was very pleased with the minimal amount of fouling in the bore and on the cases. Even after 50 black powder rounds there was no crud buildup in the bore, and no sudden deterioration in accuracy (such as it was). When I cleaned the rifle afterwards with MPro-7, all it took was two wet patches (running both sides through the bore). When I ran the first side of the third wet patch through it came out clean. With this bullet style, lube, and Swiss powder, I could probably shoot 100 rounds without it fouling out.

Before I cleaned the rifle I took a picture of the muzzle, showing the nice "lube star," indicating that the bullets carried enough lube for the length of the barrel.

(I'd placed a cleaning patch in the open breech to reflect light up the bore. I couldn't capture the state of the bore but it was a lot cleaner than I'd expected.)

The rifle's action stayed clean. The thin .44 WCF brass expands under the pressure of the full load to seal the chamber and prevent fouling from getting back into the action.

One problem I ran into today was that about 1/3 of the BP rounds didn't feed smoothly into the chamber. They seemed to hang up on the case mouth, indicating that the crimp wasn't uniform or deep enough. All the BP loads were assembled using the Winchester Model 1882 tool, while the smokeless rounds were loaded on my Lee Classic Turret press. All the smokeless rounds fed smoothly. The next time I use the Winchester tool I'll need to pay more attention to the crimping operation.

Even though the accuracy of the BP loads wasn't acceptable they were a good proof of concept, in that I've found a style of bullet that with the right lube will allow me to shoot at least 50 rounds without the bore fouling out. Also, the smokeless loads will make for good plinking rounds when I'm feeling lazy about cleaning the rifle the same day I shoot it. My club is having a lever action match next month and I'll probably use the remaining smokeless rounds in it.

Loaded Up Some More Smokeless .44-40s

Well, not really "smokeless," since I used Alliant Unique, and anyone who's ever loaded cast bullets on top of it knows that's it's relatively dirty for a smokeless powder. Between the powder and bullet lube there's a fair amount of smoke. Anyway, tonight I loaded up the 45 remaining 200 grain .428" cowboybullets.com projectiles on top of ~8.5 grains of Unique.

Last night I'd setup my Lee Perfect Powder Measure by mounting it to a piece of scrap 1x4. I was going to load up some rounds after that, but my brother came over and we wound up in my living room with some sour mash. And of course, alcohol and reloading is a bad combination, so I didn't load any rounds until tonight.

After setting the measure I weighed every 10th charge or so. I need to work on my technique but I figure the loads are consistent enough for plinking. Using the Lee powder measure is a lot faster than an undersized dipper or RCBS Little Dandy rotor and then bringing the charge up to weight with a powder trickler.

Once I finished loading those rounds I primed another 50 cases using the Winchester Model 1882 tool. I've come to really like the Winchester tool for priming because it gives a great feel for how the primer is being seated. The only downside to it for this is that it's slow, compared with using a Lee hand primer.

I also received a few things today: 10 pounds of 20:1 alloy and 2 pounds of tin wire cut into chunks, from Rotometals, and a Lee .429 sizing kit. Before I cast up my next batch of .44 WCF bullets I'm going to add some tin to my soft lead, to get it to fill out the mold better and shrink less after casting. After I go through the soft lead I'll try the 20:1 alloy.

Tomorrow I'm expecting another package from cowboybullets.com, with 500 of the same 200 grain bullets I'd ordered before, but this time sized to .430. If they'll chamber in my Cimarron 1873 rifle, great, otherwise, I'll size them down to .429. These will be reserved for smokeless loads.

Apple Discontinuing Support for QuickTime for Windows

Windows users should be aware of is the fact that Apple is discontinuing development of QuickTime for Windows, so it's time to uninstall it. There are known vulnerabilities that will not be patched. 

QuickTime .MOV files can be played in iTunes or VLC.

Link.

Pulled My Goex .44 WCF Loads

A few weeks ago when I shot my Cimarron 1873 Sporting Rifle with black powder loads I discovered that the bullets I'd used from cowboybullets.com didn't carry enough lube to keep the fouling soft in my rifle's 24" barrel. I was able to get about 15 to 20 shots between cleanings with the ammo loaded with Swiss powder, but the cartridges loaded with Goex fouled out in about 10.

Tonight I pulled the bullets from the 40 remaining rounds loaded with Goex. I pulled the first one or two with a RCBS collet bullet puller but then switched to a Frankford Arsenal impact puller, which uses the momentum of the bullet when you hit the unit against a hard surface. The impact puller was easier to use with the .44-40 rounds because there isn't much straight area on the bullet for a collet to grab onto.

After pulling the bullets and returning the powder back to the Goex can, I belled the case mouths in preparation for loading them. I have 45 bullets of the original batch left, and I'll probably load them on top of ~8.5 grains of Unique.

This coming Saturday I'm planning to shoot the rifle again with a previous batch of Unique loads and the 50 rounds I finished loading last night, using bullets cast from the original Winchester mold and 35 grains of Swiss 3Fg.

Range report to follow.

First .44 WCF Rounds Loaded With The Winchester Tool

Today I loaded my first .44 WCF rounds with the Winchester Model 1882 tool. Since I'll be shooting the bullets I cast yesterday unsized, I pan lubed them with my homebrew mix of beeswax, mutton tallow, and a little canning paraffin. An electric hotplate was used to melt the lube.

In the picture above, the lube in the top pan has mostly cooled while the lower pan still has some liquid lube in the center. Once the lube solidified I used needle nose pliers to pick out the bullets.

In the picture below, you can see the loading tool with a cartridge in the seating chamber, a complete cartridge, a round with the bullet waiting to be seated, and a lubed bullet.

When used with the components it was designed for -- .44 WCF case, black powder, and a bullet cast from the Winchester mold -- this tool is very easy to use. Because the seating chamber is not adjustable, it has to be used with bullets cast from the matching mold in order for the cartridge to have the correct overall length. Also, because the bullet doesn't have a crimp groove, it needs to be supported by a full case of powder or powder plus a filler, to prevent it from telescoping into the case under the pressure of the magazine spring.

I only had time to load 15 rounds today but plan to finish up a box of 50 later this week. I'm hoping to get a chance to try them next weekend.

Casting Bullets for .44-40 WCF in an Antique Mold

This morning I cast some bullets to load in .44-40 WCF cartridges for my Cimarron Firearms Uberti 1873 Sporting Rifle. The mold I used was the antique Winchester mold that I got off eBay a few weeks ago along with a Model 1882 loading tool. The tool and mold were made between 1882 and 1914.

To melt the lead I used a Lyman Big Dipper furnace, which I got as part of a kit that also included a lead dipper, an ingot mold, a copy of the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, 4th ed., and three kinds of bullet lube. (Right now the only lube from the kit that I have a use for is the Alox, which I used for fluxing the lead. I gave the Orange Magic lube to my brother, while I'll give the moly lube to a friend.)

The furnace is sitting on a couple disposable cookie sheets to catch any spills. The lead was purchased on eBay. It's dead soft so it is probably reclaimed plumber's lead. According to information I've read online, original 19th Century black powder .44 WCF cartridges were loaded with pure lead bullets.

The mold is in good condition for its age but when I got it the sprue plate retaining screw was stuck. After a few weeks soaking in Kroil I was able to remove it this morning without too much effort. I think it was just a crud buildup because there didn't seem to be any rust on it or in the hole in the mold block when I removed it.

To warm the mold I let it sit on the pot as shown above, while the lead was melting. I then got it up to a good temp by casting some bullets, which wound up back in the pot.

This was the first time I'd cast bullets in a couple decades, so I'm pleased with today's output. Before taking the picture a bunch of wrinkled bullets from when the mold was too cool had gone back into the pot.

And a closeup:

I measured a few with a digital caliper and they seem to be dropping at about .425 to .426, which is on the small side. However, they may still be usable in my rifle when loaded on top of black powder. Because they are soft, the sudden jolt from the black powder charge may bump them up to fill the throat and grooves. The only way to know for sure will be to load them up and try them.

However, I suspect that I will need to add some tin to my lead. All cast lead bullets shrink a bit when they cool but adding tin not only hardens the lead, it reduces shrinkage.

Using 19th Century Reloading Tools

As mentioned in previous posts, I picked up a couple 19th Century reloading tools to load ammunition for my .44-40 WCF Cimarron Firearms Uberti 1873 Sporting Rifle. Tonight I gave them their first use in my hands by priming 50 cases. I primed 25 each in the Ideal Number 6 and the Winchester Model 1882. The cases were new Starlines which I'd previously belled the case mouths on my Lee Classic Turret press.

The first tool I used was the Ideal. Here's a case just after priming.

And here's a similar shot of the Winchester. (The gray color of the tool is due to an overnight soak in Evap-O-Rust, to remove a century-plus of surface rust and crud. Originally it was blued.)

This one shows how a small rod is used to press the primer into its pocket. The Ideal seats primers in the same way.

There wasn't much difference between the tools. The Ideal is a little heavier because it has a built-in bullet mold. Both give you a good feel of how the primer is being seated.

I didn't time myself but it probably took about 20 - 30 minutes to prime 50 cases.

Now I need to cast some bullets using the original molds and load up some more black powder cartridges.

Check your powder measures!

Always double check the charges thrown by your powder measures!

Today I wanted to load up some smokeless rounds for my .44-40. According to this manufacturer's chart (PDF), the Number 16 rotor for the RCBS Little Dandy powder measure throws 8.4 grains of Alliant Unique. Well, with my rotor and the particular can of Unique that I have, it throws only 7.6 grains, as checked on two different scales. That's quite a discrepancy. If it went in the other direction, i.e., throwing a heavier charge, it could damage my rifle.

I wound up putting together 50 rounds of .44-40 with 8.5 grains of Unique and a Lyman 200 grain RNFP with moly lube. 8.0 grains is a pretty standard CAS load, while 9.0 grains would be max. Splitting the difference should give me a good plinking round for the Uberti 1873 Sporting Rifle.

On the other hand, 7.6 grains of Unique under a 158 grain bullet appears to be a middle of the road charge for .357 Magnum. I'll load some up and see how they do in my Rossi 92 and perhaps one of my .357 revolvers.

19th Century Reloading Tools

As mentioned in my earlier post, I won an eBay auction for a Winchester Model 1882 reloading tool and matching bullet mold. Winchester made these tools between 1882 and 1914, so they are bonafide antiques.

After getting them I found them to be in good condition, but they had a solid covering of dirt and surface rust, including some minor rust in the mold's cavity. This is what the reloading tool looked like after soaking in Kroil and being scrubbed with some fine steel wool.

Still rather grungy, and I wanted to stop the rust, which otherwise would eventually severely damage the tool. So, I soaked both it and the mold sans wooden handles in Evapo-Rust. This removed what little remained of the original blueing but it got rid of the rust.

I may reblue the reloading tool, but the mold will probably take on a blue color with use. The screw retaining the sprue plate is frozen in place, so I may take the handles off again and soak the whole thing for a week in a penetrant to try to free it.

Today I made another score at a gun show. I found an Ideal Number 4 reloading tool for .44-40, for $80. Like the Winchester set it's missing the decapping pin and powder measure but still has some of the original nickel plating over the steel. I was able to remove the sprue plate screw without much effort.

This design was made from the mid-1880s up until the 1930s. It is the ancestor of the Lyman 310 tong tool, which is still manufactured to this day.

I gave it a wipe down with some WD40, Kroil, and steel wool and got off some of the rust. The mold cavity had a little rust inside but it seems to have wiped out.

Combining the reloading tool and mold into one unit makes sense for a tool that will see use on the frontier. The tool also incorporates a bullet sizer. The large pin sticking out from the inside on the handle is used to push a bullet through a properly-sized hole in the opposite handle.

The bullets cast in both the Winchester and Ideal molds look to be virtually identical. This makes sense, since they both are designed to duplicate the original factory bullet used in .44-40 cartridges. Lyman, which purchased the Ideal Tool Company, sells molds for the same design today, as their #427098.

One thing to note with the original bullet design is that is lacks a good crimping groove. It was designed to be supported on a case full of black powder, to prevent it from being forced back into the case when loaded in a tubular magazine rifle. The bullet doesn't get that support when loaded over less-bulky smokeless powder.

Another thing to note is that neither the Winchester nor the Ideal tool resize spent brass. So, while cartridges loaded in one of these will work in the same gun in which they were fired, they may not fit easily into the chamber of another rifle.

Both of these tools are somewhat limited, in that because the bullet seating/crimping chamber is nonadjustable, you can use them to load ammunition only with bullets cast in their molds. Also, they are cartridge-specific, unlike the Lyman 310 tool or modern reloading presses, in which you can get different dies for different calibers.

On YouTube, Joe Russo posted a good video on how to reload ammunition with the Winchester tool:

And Capandball posted one for the Ideal tool:

These tools are interesting pieces of history that can still be used. I do plan to try reloading with them, and will post follow up reports when I do.

Pietta Remington 1858 New Model Army With Kirst Konverter

 

Shooting the Uberti 1873 With Black Powder Loads

Today I put 60 rounds of black powder .44-40s through my Uberti 1873 Sporting Rifle.

Fifty were loaded with Swiss 3Fg while the remaining 10 were loaded with Goex 3Fg. Either the bullets I used do not carry enough lube for a 24" barrel, or cowboybullets.com's lube isn't good enough for BP. (It's advertised as being suitable for BP or smokeless.) I got a bad ring of crud for a few inches back from the muzzle. Accuracy went to hell after about 15 rounds. For the first 15 rounds I could easily hold the black of an SR-1 target offhand at about 25 to 40 yards. After 15 rounds the bullets impacted all over the paper.

Shooting the rounds with Swiss powder and Goex side by side reinforced how much better the Swiss is. It fouled noticeably less, and judging by the recoil and boom, was a more powerful load. Frankly, Goex is crap in comparison with Swiss powder. Goex Olde Eynsford is supposed to be comparable with Swiss but at a lower price. The next time I'm up at Dixon's I'll pick up a pound to try out.

I have an antique Winchester mold and tong-type loading tool on the way, that I bought on eBay. They were made in the late 19th/early 20th Century. We'll see how bullets cast in that mold do using my homebrew lube based on the Gatofeo Number 1 lube.

(Picture from the eBay auction. I'm hoping to get them in hand on Monday.)

If the bullets from the Winchester mold don't shoot well, I'm going to get a more modern design that holds more lubricant.

Either way, it's fun experimenting.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I removed the rifle's sideplate and found very little fouling inside in the action. The little that was there was on the bolt, and no doubt to my cleaning the rifle in the field, and running down. The thin .44-40 brass sealed the chamber very well.

First Batch of Black Powder .44-40 WCF Handloads

Tonight I loaded up my first batch (hopefully of many) of black powder .44-40 handloads for my Cimarron Uberti 1873 Sporting Rifle.

Here are a bunch of charged cases in the loading block:

Black powder is usually measured by volume, and that's what I did. I used the same volumetric measure I use for my muzzleloaders, set to 35 grains.

A lot of guys who load black powder cartridges use a drop tube to allow the powder to fill the case slowly and take up less room. I don't have a drop tube, but if you look in the picture above, you can see that the funnel I'm using is a couple inches long. It's actually a powder flask filling funnel from Ted Cash. I can pour the powder from my measure from a few inches above the funnel and have it all go down into the case, so it's almost as if I have a short drop tube.

This resulted in a slightly compressed charge, which is what you want with black powder.

And here's 50 loaded rounds, with an unloaded bullet:

My recipe consists of:

• Virgin Starline brass
• Federal Number 150 large pistol primer
• 200 grain .428" RNFP soft cast bullet from Desperado Cowboy Bullets
• 35 grains by volume of Swiss 3Fg black powder

I got a sample pack of 100 of the bullets to try out. Most commercially cast bullets are hard, with a BHN in the high teens to 20 or more. However, these are around 8 to 9 BHN. At .428" they may be a little undersized for the Uberti's barrel but I'm hoping they'll bump up due to being soft and using black powder. One thing I'm concerned about is if they'll carry enough lube for my rifle's 24.25" barrel. If not, I'll see a fouling buildup towards the muzzle. I have another 50 of these bullets. If it turns out they don't carry enough lube I'll load the remainders on top of some Unique.

Aside from the sample pack of .44-40 projectiles, I also got a 100 count sample pack of .358" 158 grain RNFP bullets to load in my Rossi 92 .357 Magnum. Yup, I plan to load up some black powder .357s, just because.

I have a good stash of Goex 2Fg and 3Fg, and some Swiss 3Fg. The Swiss powder is much cleaner burning and more energetic than Goex (and this is reflected in its price). For shooting Goex loads in my rifle I think I'm going to want either a bullet with a larger grease groove, or use a bit less powder plus a lubed wad under the bullet.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to get out this weekend to make some smoke. I'll follow up with a range report on how these cartridges worked out.

How a Winchester Toggle Link Lever Action Works

I found this on Imgur, it isn't mine:

This is a Winchester 1866 (note the bronze receiver). However, the basic locking mechanism dates from the Volcanic, and was used in the Henry rifle made famous in the Civil War, then used in the Winchester 1873 and 1876.

Today, the toggle link locking mechanism is considered to be relatively weak, especially when compared with the later Winchester 1886, 1892, and 1894. However, Uberti currently chambers Winchester 1873 replicas in .357 and .44 Magnum. Further, the Maxim machinegun used a toggle link locking mechanism, and was chambered in several full power smokeless rounds like .303 British, 7.92x57 Mauser, .30-06, and 7.62x54R. Metallurgy makes a difference.

Stupid Soft Uberti Screws

Uberti builds beautiful firearms but they use screws with the same hardness as used chewing gum, and then have some gorilla crank them down. I want to be able to shoot black powder loads in my Uberti 1873 Sporting Rifle so I need to be able to access the inside of the receiver.

After a week and a half soaking in Kroil, and the application of heat with a soldering iron and then with a torch, I still couldn't budge the sideplate screw. The more I tried the more the head got boogered. Yes, I used properly fitting hollow ground screwdrivers.

So, I drilled out both ends with my mill and used a screw extractor held in a tap wrench to remove it. I replaced it with a properly hardened screw and put anti-sieze on the threads.

What a PITA.

I installed a properly hardened replacement from VTI Gun Parts and made sure to put a little SuperLube grease on the threads as an anti-sieze. I actually bought a complete set of replacement screws but I'm haven't replaced the rest of them yet. The factory screws have a nice, deep blue while the replacements are matte. I'll replace them as needed. In the meantime I have applied Kroil to all of them.

More Range Time This Weekend

Aside from shooting my new Cimarron Firearms 1873 yesterday, I also got in some range time Saturday night, and shot my Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle yesterday.

Saturday night I shot my S&W Model 10-4 .38 Special and my Pietta 1873 Millenium copy of the Colt Single Action Army, in .45 Colt.

The Model 10 has a 4" pencil barrel, Magna stocks, and a Pachmayr grip adapter. With 125 grain CCI Blazer Brass loads it was very pleasant to drill out the center of the target with.

I brought two kinds of ammo for the Pietta, both Black Hills cowboy loads. First was a box of 250 grain .45 Colt LRNFP, and second was a box of .45 S&W Schofield 230 grain RNFP. The Pietta is fairly light and I find that even with the CAS .45 Colts (250 grain bullet at 750 FPS) my middle finger gets whacked by the trigger guards. The .45 Schofields (230 grain bullet at 730 FPS) are more pleasant to shoot in this gun. Full power .45 Colts would be no fun, IMO.

On Sunday after getting in some time with the Uberti '73, we put about 30 rounds through the Ruger Gunsite Scout. Like the previous weekend, they were "The Load," 13 grains of Red Dot, but this time under a 152 grain FMJ M2 projectile. The GSR likes this combination a lot better than the cast bullets I shot last time, giving me a tight group at 25 yards offhand. I have close to 1,000 more of these bullets, more Red Dot, and plenty of empty brass, so I'll need to load up a bunch more and get the rifle zeroed.

Cimarron Firearms Uberti 1873 Sporting Rifle

Meet Claudia -- as in Cardinale -- my new Cimarron Firearms Uberti 1873 Sporting Rifle in .44-40 WCF. (Can you tell I watched a few 1960s vintage westerns last week?) I ordered her from Buffalo Arms in Idaho on March third, and she arrived at my FFL one week later. I picked her up the next day.

She has a 24-1/4" octagonal barrel and the wood is are walnut. Cimarron lists the weight at 8.6 lbs. and it feels about like that. Even when shooting original spec loads -- a 200 grain bullet at about 1200 - 1300 FPS -- recoil is very mild. The modern neutered cowboy action shooting (CAS) loads are milder still.

In person the blueing, color case hardening, and wood finish are even better than in the pictures. The wood to metal fit is generally very good, although where the forearm meets the receiver the wood stands a little proud.

One thing Uberti still needs to work on is their screws. They aren't properly hardened at the factory and they over tighten them. I've experienced this with other Uberti Firearms. I'm trying to get the side plates off the '73 but so far the screw won't budge and even using a correct screwdriver, I boogered the head. VTI Gun Parts sells replacements but this is damn annoying on a rifle that I just dropped $1200 on. In the meantime, I'm hitting the screws with Kroil everyday and I hope that after a week, I can remove the side plates without drilling.

Today I took Claudia up to my friend's place and we put 55 rounds through her -- one 50 round box of Black Hills 200 grain lead CAS loads, and 5 rounds of Winchester 200 grain JSPs that I had left from the Navy Arms Uberti 1873 Carbine I used to own. It was drizzling and eventually began to rain, so we only had the chance to shoot offhand at about 25 yards. IOW, no serious accuracy testing. However, the rifle functioned perfectly and I noticed that the Winchester jacketed loads printed smaller groups than the lead CAS ammunition.

One thing that was evident was how much smoother the 1873 action is than my Rossi 92, Marlin 1894, or Marlin 336. The straight-line feed of the '73 allows the cartridges to slide right into the chamber, compared with the angled feed on the other rifles. I can see why the '73s, and similar 1866 Winchester replicas are the preferred rifles for CAS.

I have no plans to install a short-stroke kit it but I need to do something about the sights. They are authentic. I.e., hard to see except against a nice, bright target. I'm looking at replacing the front with a brass or ivory-colored bead, and the rear buckhorn with a flat top open sight. Cap and Ball on Youtube installed a ladder rear sight for a Henry rifle on his Uberti 1873 rifle. That's an interesting option. I'm also interested in maybe installing a tang sight, in which case I'd want a folding leaf rear sight, so it's not in the way.

Uberti and Cimarron list the capacity as 13 rounds in the magazine plus one in the chamber. However, I found that I was able to load 14 in the magazine. Truly, the Winchester '73 was as close as you could get to an assault rifle when it was introduced.

Last night I went out to my shop and found my .44-40 dies and a box of 100 Lyman 200 grain lead RNFP bullets lubed with some kind of moly. I'm going to research smokeless loads to duplicate the original BP ballistics, but I want to start loading ammo with BP for the gun. After I slug the bore I'll order some suitably-sized and lubed bullets for it.

Except for the screw issue I am very happy with the rifle. It's beautiful to look at and fun to shoot.

Got in some range time, plus a new toy on the way

Yesterday I went out to a friend's place and did some shooting with my Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle .308 and Rossi 92 carbine in .357 Magnum.

First up was the Ruger GSR. I brought along a Ziploc bag of handloads consisting of Laser Cast 165 grain bullets on top of 13 grains of Alliant Red Dot, AKA "The Load" as described by C.E. Harris. The good news is that recoil was very mild, about like shooting an M1 Carbine. I could shoot them all day.

The bad news is that from 50 yards my "group" looked like I blasted the target with a few rounds of buckshot from my Mossberg 500. The group was about 18".  IIRC, these bullets were sized .309 and the Ruger may need .310s when shooting cast bullets. I have to get ahold of a .32 caliber bullet and slug the bore. I have another batch of "The Load," but tipped with 152 grain .30 M2 Ball projectiles. I'm hoping they shoot acceptably.

Before heading out this morning I stopped at Dick's and picked up two boxes of CCI Blazer Brass .38 Special ammo loaded with 125 grain FMJ RNFP bullets. I wanted to see if the Rossi would feed them reliably, for use in training my 11 year old daughter, and general plinking.

It turns out that the Rossi is sensitive to cartridge OAL, which was not unexpected. I've read that some Rossi 92 .357s don't like to feed .38 Specials. (The .357 was developed from the .38 Special by lengthening the case by 1/10 of an inch, and loading to higher pressure. .38s are perfectly safe to shoot in .357s but not vice-versa. Also, the .38 Special's actual bullet diameter is .357, or .358 if shooting cast bullets.)

If we worked the Rossi's lever too briskly, the round on the cartridge elevator would fly out the top of the rifle when the lever hit the bottom of the downstroke. If we worked it a little more gently it functioned OK. In contrast, when shooting .357s the rifle functions fine no matter how fast you run it.

In the 20" barrel of the Rossi, the .38s recoil like and sound like .22 LR highspeed ammo, but with a little deeper tone.

Shooting the .38s in the Rossi was a lot of fun, so I think I'm going to load some similar rounds in .357 cases, for better functioning. I'll probably pick up some cast RNFP bullets and may use this as an opportunity to try powder coated bullets.

I'm hoping to get back out to my friend's next week with the second batch of .308 handloads, and a rifle I should take delivery of next Friday: a Cimarron Firearms 1873 Sporting Rifle in .44-40 WCF. The 1873 was made in Italy by Uberti. I ordered it last week from Buffalo Arms and it's scheduled for delivery to my local FFL this coming Thursday.

This will be my second replica of a Winchester 1873. Back in 1991 I got an Navy Arms/Uberti '73 Carbine in .44-40, but eventually traded it off. Naturally, I came to regret that. I decided it was finally time to replace it but this time I chose a rifle length version with a 24.25" barrel. My old 19" barreled carbine had a capacity of 10 + 1, while the rifle will hold 13 + 1. Not too shabby for a 143 year old design. The Winchester was the Evil Black Rifle of its day.

I still have my .44-40 loading dies from 20 years ago but only 15 rounds of ammo left. So, I also ordered three boxes of Black Hill cowboy action shooting ammo and 500 pieces of Starline brass, which was on sale at MidwayUSA. Incidentally, my old box of Winchester 200 grain JSP .44-40 ammo has a price tag of $21.95. The same load now retails for about $70!!! The Black Hills ammo was about $40/box at MidwayUSA.

I haven't ordered any projectiles for the new rifle yet since I want to slug the bore first. After doing so, I'll order suitable cast lead bullets with black powder-compatible lube, since that's what I want to shoot in it. With 35 grains of Swiss BP I should be able to get abut 1300 FPS with a 200 grain bullet, to duplicate the original .44 WCF load. Goex will probably provide a bit less velocity and more fouling. I may also try Hodgdon Triple 7 BP substitute, which is a bit more energetic than Swiss, and very clean burning in my experience.

Hill People Gear Kit Bag Loadout - Pictures

In my previous post (q.v.), I listed the contents of each pocket of my Hill People Gear Original Kit Bag. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, this post should be worth about 6,000 and change.

First, the zipped up Kit Bag and then the back compartment with my S&W M&P Shield 9 and a spare magazine. When worn, the pistol doesn't move at all, but I will probably buy a kydex holster that covers the trigger guard.

If you click on each pic you should get a full sized version.

Next we have the middle compartment with an assortment of survival gear.

Finally, the outer compartment with a few more items. This is where I stow my keys and iPhone. It provides easy access to the phone without having to worry about everything falling out when I'm consulting the phone's GPS.

Hill People Gear Kit Bag Loadout

A couple years ago I bought a Hill People Gear Original Kit Bag. This is the gear that lives in it 24x7. I use the bag on day hikes and overnighters. I have found the Kit Bag to be the most comfortable way to carry a pistol while hiking when carrying a pack. It also provides a very convenient and comfortable means of carrying a basic survival kit, and an easily accessible but secure way to carry my car keys and phone when off-pavement.

I augment the contents as dictated by the particular trip. E.g., add a Cliff bar or two.

Rear compartment:

• Smith & Wesson M&P Shield 9 with 8 round magazine
• One spare 8 round magazine, held in place with a Maxpedition Universal Holster

(The gun and spare magazine are loaded with Federal XM9001 9mm 115 grain JHP. In PA, I'm not worried about wild animals larger than dogs. The gun is there for defense against people. I've also carried a Beretta M9 and a CZ P-09 but switched to the Shield to reduce weight.)

Middle compartment:

• Princeton Tec Remix LED headlamp
• Adventure Medical Kits SOL Heatsheet survival blanket
• USGI olive drab triangular bandage, with edges hemmed to prevent fraying
• Safety pin on one of the sewn-in loops
• Woodsknife Reindeer Puukko knife in homemade LH sheath
• GI type match safe with strike-anywhere matches, and some sandpaper taped to the outside
• Three Esbit hexamine fuel tablets (Great fire starters.)
• BIC lighter in Exotac fireSLEEVE
• 0.5L Platypus water bag (Empty. Stole this idea from the Hill brothers.)
• Potable Aqua iodine-based water purification tablets

Outside compartment:

• Three AAA batteries in a small Ziploc bag
• Map of where I'm hiking
• Fox 40 micro whistle*
• REI zipper pull compass*
• Nitecore T0 flashlight* (This may get replaced with a single-AA Cree light, which has a button switch rather than a twist switch.)
• REI zipper pull thermometer*
• About ten feet of 550 cord

Items marked with an asterisk are dummy corded to light aluminum caribiners with bank line. I replaced the Slick Clips that came with the KB with the 'biners because they are easier for me to open and close.

Once I get to the trail, I'll stow my car keys and iPhone 6 in the outside compartment. Depending on the trip I may also bring a larger compass and a Garmin GPSMAP 62 GPS unit, but not necessarily in the KB.

Also, I removed the Grimlocks from the outside of the KB, since I don't use them.

MacBook Pro Performance

Every so often you'll read comments from Windows fanboys that Macs are good only for Facebook or graphic artists. Well, this is what I had running on my late-2013 13" Retina display MacBook Pro (2.8 GHz Core i7 CPU, 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB SSD) as of a little while ago:

• Safari web browser with multiple tabs.
• Thunderbird for 2 personal email accounts.
• MS Outlook for work email and calendar.
• MS Lync for work IM.
• Slack for work IM/file sharing.
• Textwrangler text editor for a scratchpad.
• Evernote for note taking.
• OS X Terminal.app running SSH tunnel to a Linux server.
• OS X Terminal.app for ping and traceroute to troubleshoot connection to a vSphere server.
• ZOC for SSH connections to multiple Linux servers.
• MS Remote Desktop Client with connections to 2 VMware vCenter servers.
• MS Excel with two spreadsheets open for looking up server IPs.
• MS Word to review a quote I got on some electrical work in my data center.

And...

• Windows 7 Professional running in Parallels Desktop, so I could run Internet Explorer and the HP .NET iLO remote console for a VMware vSphere server that is acting up.

I have the application windows spread out across multiple virtual desktops on my 27" Apple Thunderbolt display. It's perfectly stable and responsive.

Saturday Night Range Report

I hit the range last night with my dad, and got to put some rounds downrange through my S&W M&P Shield 9 and CZ P-09.

I was testing two new magazines for the Shield and one of them needs some work. It's an eight round magazine but even with the aid of an UpLULA, I can only load six into it. I'm hoping it's just a burr causing the follower to hang up.

The CZ just worked, as usual, shooting a mix of American Eagle 147 grain FMJ-FP and Herters (Sellier & Bellot) 115 grain FMJ. I have about 500 rounds through it so far with zero issues. Since it's a full sized 9mm with a low bore axis the recoil and muzzle flip is very mild. Recoil with the 147 grain loads feels like you're shooting a K-Frame .38.

Dad brought a new-to-him Beretta PX-4 Storm in 9mm and his S&W M&P 22 in .22 LR. I shot the latter and liked it a lot. The trigger was good and even for a .22, recoil is mild and muzzle flip is minimal.

The PX4 Storm is an interesting design. Rather than using the common tilting barrel lockup, it has a rotating barrel. Dad put the first 50 shots through it  into 1 ragged hole at 7 yards with no malfunctions. I didn't get to shoot the Storm but it feels good in my hands. The DA pull is long and not especially smooth but the pistol appears to have been hardly shot.

For me, though, the highlight of the night was getting to put a magazine through another shooter's S&W Model 52-2. The Model 52 was a specialized semiautomatic target pistol chambered for .38 Special cartridges with flush-seated wadcutter loads, intended for bullseye shooting.  Not only had I never handled a Model 52 before, I don't recall ever seeing one in person. The sights are excellent, the trigger was fantastic, and recoil with the .38 midrange loads felt like a .22. S&W made the Model 52 from 1961 up until 1992, when the machinery needed replacement but they deemed it too expensive to do so.

Afterwards, we capped off the night back at Dad's house with a bit of Woodford Reserve Double Oaked bourbon.

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K-E-U-R-I-G Spells Expensive, Bad Coffee

Yesterday the wife unit decided that she wanted to replace her 7 year old (but perfectly functional) Bosch Tassimo single cup coffee maker with a Keurig. The reasons she gave were the wider variety of K-cups vs. the Tassimo cups, and that she could get a unit that would dispense hot water so our girls could more easily make hot tea or chocolate. She also bought a refillable K-cup so that I could continue to use my preferred brand, Chock Full O'Nuts. (Strangely enough, it has no nuts. But I digress.)

What a goatfuck. She wound up getting a Keurig 2.0 unit, which is infested with their DRM. That means you can only use "approved" K-cups unless you hack the DRM sensor.

Likewise, you cannot use refillable K-cups unless you buy Keurig's -- as opposed to the 3rd party one sold right next to the coffee maker, like my wife bought -- unless you engage in some hacking. (For some reason, the incompatible refillable cup worked the first time I tried it, but was rejected the second time. That tells me the DRM sensor is flakey.)

I just love the error message that you get on the touchscreen when you insert an incompatible cup: "Oops!" To be more accurate, it should read, "Ha ha!" while showing a picture of the Keurig CEO grabbing his crotch at you.

Now, being a tech professional I'd heard of this Keurig DRM, and knew that it went over like a wet fart in church. However, an awful lot of consumers haven't. If I'd been with my wife when she bought it, I would have pointed her elsewhere.

I do not want to motherfucking hack my damn coffee maker so that I can brew my choice of coffee. That's as idiotic as having to buy Calphalon-brand eggs to use in a Calphalon frying pan.

This is a perfect example of a corporate greed overcoming good sense, and telling its customers, "Do it our way, or fuck off." The best way to fight this sort of thing is to tell them to fuck right off back, and spend our money with someone else. No, I do not support government regulation. Let the free market work.

On top of the DRM derp, frankly the coffee that comes from a Keurig sucks. Compared with a French press, my old Mr. Coffee drip brewer, or even a percolator it's thin.

We've decided to return the Keurig, keep the Tassimo and replace the Mr. Coffee with another drip brewer because it doesn't keep a pot hot enough after being brewed. For hot water, we'll rely on the good old tea kettle.

Edit: The wife decided not to buy a new drip coffee maker. I don't have a problem with our old one and since I'm the one who mostly uses it, we'll keep it until it dies.