Tuesday, February 8, 2022

An unexpected grace and problems casting pewter

 

Yesterday I had the rare, good fortune to run into a mature gentleman who was a fellow enthusiast for the finer things in life.

He sold me some pewter to feed my hobby of casting artifacts and curiosities. As a young pup he raced vehicles and there was a minimum weight requirement. So they would build them light and ballast the left body rail to meet the requirement. Now in his mid-70s, with inflation roaring, money is a little bit tight and he is selling excess "stuff".

He has been selling a couple of his beloved firearms every three months to make ends meet.

A couple of months ago he sold the scary looking assault-rifle pictured above. It was chambered in .300 Savage (now that is a SCARY name). 

Does anybody want to hazard a guess regarding the model and the year that model was first manufactured? Even more challenging, this firearm was a minor improvement on a previous model. Extra bonus points for anybody who can identify the original model and when it was first manufactured.

The good news is that somebody volunteered to pay his full asking-price shortly after he put it up for sale.

He asked me if I was looking for any firearms.

Well, of course I am always looking but that canoe accident has me spooked. I know it is totally irrational but I have a hankering for a .38 Special revolver with a 4" barrel. Certainly not a great firearm for concealed carry but an easy firearm to feed, adequate for most tasks one could reasonably ask a handgun to handle and fun to shoot.

Curio casting

I ran into a problem with the spout of my pewter-pot clogging. I had finished a production run of 11.0mm rivets and switched to a mold with fewer cavities of 11.5mm rivets when the problem reared its ugly head.

I suspect Cu-Pb intermetallic compounds precipitating out as the spout is cooler than the body of the pot. That is one of the risks of using "tramp" pewter and casting in sub-freezing weather.

I am open to any ideas regarding ways to address the issue.

9 comments:

  1. You have a Remington Model 80 from the 30s or 40s (?) An upgrade from the Model 8 from WWI era(?)Generally the Model 8 came in 351 Rem which was ballistically similar to the 350 Lgnd

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    1. You are quick!

      Remington introduced its first, high-power, semi-automatic rifle in 1906 and renamed it the Model 8 in 1911.

      Steve Timm, a very fine guy from Oregon tells a story of his grandfather hunting in the late winter when meat was scarce. He saw the head of a mountain goat and he shot at it. Then, seconds later it popped his head up again. Steve's grandfather fired again.

      This went on until Steve had emptied the magazine. Unhappy that he had fired so many rounds and not killed anything, Steve's grandfather continued another 150 yards up the mountain trail and found five dead mountain goats littering the ground.

      That firearm was in the .351 Rem you mentioned.

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  2. Can you use a flux to get the impurities out, or is it other impurities that you can't turn into dross?

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    1. Flux is useful for disolving oxides and impurities floating on the surface.

      I think I can wait for a warm day, set the pot for max temperature and let it stew for half an hour. Then I might be able to disolve the crystals with a wash of hot, molten metal.

      One friend suggested that I do something similar but tip the pot over (collecting the molten metal) and gravity might remove the precipitate.

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  4. Guns.com has a bunch of police turn ins of S&W model 64's and 65's.
    Price $450 to $500. Stainless. 4 inch barrels.
    I am sorely tempted

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    1. And I had to go look. They have a 65-6, and my 65-6 has been looking for a mate since I bought it. Must. Not. Yield. To. Temptation...

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  5. If he was selling that, I hope you bought it from him. It deserves to be in a worthy home where it will be well cared for.

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