I went to Van Horns(VH)place yesterday. I'D say he had over 100 Contender barrels on hand. Some I looked at: 6tcu, 6/225, 6/225Imp, 25/225Imp, 6x47, 375/444, 7-30, 7-30Imp. It was terrible trying to decide which to get. I ended up with a 10" .256 Super Mag, I already have an Encore carbine in that caliber. He added a second dovetail while I waited. It was a pleasant experience. Now I have to shoot it, although I am short one scope. I guess I'll hav to take it ogg another.

Verno,
Do you know if he carries the dies for the wildcats?

Jules, he has some, but not many. He is not in that business. He does have some ideas about loading which we did not discuss in detail because I did not need any dies at this time.

Thanks Verno,
I didn't think he carried many, if any at all. I think i'll be lookin for something in 7mm or 6.5mm in the next barrel I get.

Julius,

Maybe he makes his own dies with the same reamers, a number of smiths used to do that with wildcats in the past when they were chambering a barrel.

Ray....You called me Julius I can't remember the last time someone called me by that name....that is my 1st name for real.

It would be really nice if he cut his own dies with the chambers he cuts. I'll have to give him a ring and find out.

You're right Sean. I mispoke as I should have been clearer in that a number of smiths used to make custom dies for the particular wildcat to match the chambering albiet with a smaller reamer I'm sure.

I bought a sizer die from Mike about 2 months or so ago for that 7mm-30/30 IMP barrel he made back in the 80's to match the chambering. He had one left over, made by himself from those days. Really nice die, hardened and blued.

Jules, I happen to know you were named after the singer on the old Arthur Godfrey show too.

Regards

[ 09-12-2002, 23:32: Message edited by: Headstamp ]

Busted again

I purchased a barrel from Van Horn and was sure pissed at him when it came as a pistol barrel instead of the carbine barrel I ordered.
However, even the fire form groups shot under MOA and the barrel has a habit of putting 3 shots in the same hole at 100 yards.
Needless to say, no longer pissed.

Oldfart, what caliber is that barrel?

As far as I know all the dies DVH has shipped recently were marked RCBS and came WITHOUT the box.

Commenting on dies, it has always made me a bit "bilious" over the years when folks ask me to cut dies with the same reamer as the chamber. Sean is right. It does not work that way.

The size die reamer has to be a few thous. smaller than all dimensions in the chamber. Otherwise, how is it going to make a die that will make the fired cases smaller so they go back into the chamber freely? This is one of those perennial "Duh?" questions that has to be politely explained.

Seat dies are cut with the same reamer as the chamber ok though. However, the "throat" section of the seat die normally needs to be cut longer, on through the die for a much longer distance than the throat in the barrel. Some dies are made with no throat section in them, relying only on the seat plug to center the bullet, which imho is less desireable than one with a throat in it.

It has often been tempting to go into the custom die business since I have a lot of size die reamers, both all of Ackley's old size die reamers and size die reamers for sets I procured or made since I bought P.O.'s equipment and tooling. The reason I have not gotten into it more heavily is that witout at least a turret lathe, it is not cost effective to make dies. I have made enough dies on a conventional lathe to realize how inefficient it is.

HOWEVER, I am hanging onto the writeup on a little turret lathe for about $6K that would be just handier than the pocket in one's shorts for making small runs of custom dies. Present circumstances have things like this on hold, but in time I will be able to branch out and do more ambitious projects than I can now. Custom dies are one of them.

I keep saying that I do not want to be an employer, but may have to wear that hat again anyway, hopefully more wisely than I have in the past.

Mike