captain awesome
Member
If any of you peruse the reloading section I had a thread up about center pieces at my wedding. She didn't leave me at the alter, and we are six months into our wedded bliss and I just thought I would follow up with it and show you the results!(of the center pieces)
I used and tested a variety of projectiles and we were so please with how they came out that we decided to keep one of them and put it on our mantle. So here it is;
The process;
It took some time to get the loads right for the various projectiles I used, I got some in .40 cal and .45 cal. My favorites were the HST's, but I also used hydra shocks and another one which I have forgotten what it was.
I used a 55 gallon blue barrel in my reloading room, full of water, with a steel gong at the bottom laying flat to protect the bottom of the barrel. I used a galvanize steel mesh trap to pull the bullets out, attached to some twine and with paper clip "hooks" to keep the twine attached to the rim of the barrel to pull the trap out during the testing phases. I had a trash can lid with a small hole the size of a nickel cut in the middle resting on top with a rag spread out over the hole, weighted down by some lead ingots I had on hand and a five gallon bucket with the bottom cut out over that...which still wasn't enough to keep me dry. I used my 10 mm EAA witness match Elite and my stainless steel Para USA p14/45. The barrel walked all over the place from the shock of the bullets expanding in the water, and it was a good thing I had the gong at the bottom because the ones that didn't expand (the lower velocity ones mostly) smacked the bottom hard enough to flatten them out. Full 10mm loads were way too much and the bullets blew apart. I had to down load both 45s and the 10mms to get the look I wanted, and even then the only ones that reliably held the jacket on were the HSTs.
Once I had the projectiles expanded I drilled holes in the bottom of each one and put copper wire in and soldered it. Then sprayed them with clear coat.
If I were to do it again, I would have done small batches at a time and clear coated them quickly, the metal oxidizes and fades and they aren't as shiny after a few days. I also wouldn't make the mistake of trying to tumble them to shine them up. It doesn't work and I had to redo some, because it has the opposite effect on the exposed lead. All in all I was pleased though and had a lot of fun doing it.
I used and tested a variety of projectiles and we were so please with how they came out that we decided to keep one of them and put it on our mantle. So here it is;
The process;
It took some time to get the loads right for the various projectiles I used, I got some in .40 cal and .45 cal. My favorites were the HST's, but I also used hydra shocks and another one which I have forgotten what it was.
I used a 55 gallon blue barrel in my reloading room, full of water, with a steel gong at the bottom laying flat to protect the bottom of the barrel. I used a galvanize steel mesh trap to pull the bullets out, attached to some twine and with paper clip "hooks" to keep the twine attached to the rim of the barrel to pull the trap out during the testing phases. I had a trash can lid with a small hole the size of a nickel cut in the middle resting on top with a rag spread out over the hole, weighted down by some lead ingots I had on hand and a five gallon bucket with the bottom cut out over that...which still wasn't enough to keep me dry. I used my 10 mm EAA witness match Elite and my stainless steel Para USA p14/45. The barrel walked all over the place from the shock of the bullets expanding in the water, and it was a good thing I had the gong at the bottom because the ones that didn't expand (the lower velocity ones mostly) smacked the bottom hard enough to flatten them out. Full 10mm loads were way too much and the bullets blew apart. I had to down load both 45s and the 10mms to get the look I wanted, and even then the only ones that reliably held the jacket on were the HSTs.
Once I had the projectiles expanded I drilled holes in the bottom of each one and put copper wire in and soldered it. Then sprayed them with clear coat.
If I were to do it again, I would have done small batches at a time and clear coated them quickly, the metal oxidizes and fades and they aren't as shiny after a few days. I also wouldn't make the mistake of trying to tumble them to shine them up. It doesn't work and I had to redo some, because it has the opposite effect on the exposed lead. All in all I was pleased though and had a lot of fun doing it.
Last edited: