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At age 9 Julian Ricochet St.Marie began helping Grampa in the Swiss Products reloading room.
He paid close attention to everything he was told and asked for explanations about those he didn't understand.
There are a number of handguns in the Armoury reloading room, and he had his eye on a .38 Special that had been there forever and seldom ever shot. He made me painfully aware that he had his heart set on that revolver, so............. Grampa made him a deal.He was to first learn all the component parts of a cartridge, correct nomenclature and be able to explain the function of each component. As was his Father before him, he was an avid student and paid close attention. Within a month he was well versed and had directed me through the entire process for the completion of the 10 .38 cartridges........... Then came "the day".
Julian was told that he'd be given 10 unprimed, virgin cases, and....... That was it. He'd be on his own with no questions asked and without interruption from me unless I saw an error.... in which case that would end the test until another week had gone by.
He lined up his brass, took his notebook, found and noted the weight of his hard-cast projectiles, looked into his Sierra manual, determined the correct load data for the projectile weight and noted same. He then checked case lengths and found that none of those particular cases needed trimming.
Next he set up his sizing die, added 6 drops of Castor Oil to the aluminum foil sheet in the baking pan, rolled the cases around just twice and sized all of the cases having set up the press for a cam-over based on his first case being tested. (He chose the Forster co/ax Press for his test).
Then, using the Forster Primer Seater on top of the press, he installed all 10 primers.
(He periodically glanced at me for self assurance, I suppose) He then opened his powder container, double checked his charge notes and set up the RCBS powder dump for just shy of the approximate required weight. Julian selected the very ancient Pacific scale for true charge weight. The Pacific has a beam length of some 11" with 3 fine adjusters. He zeroed his scale and began checking weight against the RCBS and double checked the first one with the RCBS Electronic Scale. The Pacific is more accurate.
He then rechecked for initial dump weight. He adjusted the Redding Micro seater, set up his trickler and began reloading, double checking for OAL for the first few.
After all 10 were loaded, he passed them through a taper crimper. He hesitated for a couple of minutes and looked at me as if to ask if he'd done anything wrong. "Julian? Did I say anything or stop you?" No, Grampa. "Well then?" A huge grin. He had earned that .38 Spl.
His Dad took him outside, set up a target in the snow and Julian Ricochet St.Marie fired the first 10 of many cartridges that were to come.
He paid close attention to everything he was told and asked for explanations about those he didn't understand.
There are a number of handguns in the Armoury reloading room, and he had his eye on a .38 Special that had been there forever and seldom ever shot. He made me painfully aware that he had his heart set on that revolver, so............. Grampa made him a deal.He was to first learn all the component parts of a cartridge, correct nomenclature and be able to explain the function of each component. As was his Father before him, he was an avid student and paid close attention. Within a month he was well versed and had directed me through the entire process for the completion of the 10 .38 cartridges........... Then came "the day".
Julian was told that he'd be given 10 unprimed, virgin cases, and....... That was it. He'd be on his own with no questions asked and without interruption from me unless I saw an error.... in which case that would end the test until another week had gone by.
He lined up his brass, took his notebook, found and noted the weight of his hard-cast projectiles, looked into his Sierra manual, determined the correct load data for the projectile weight and noted same. He then checked case lengths and found that none of those particular cases needed trimming.
Next he set up his sizing die, added 6 drops of Castor Oil to the aluminum foil sheet in the baking pan, rolled the cases around just twice and sized all of the cases having set up the press for a cam-over based on his first case being tested. (He chose the Forster co/ax Press for his test).
Then, using the Forster Primer Seater on top of the press, he installed all 10 primers.
(He periodically glanced at me for self assurance, I suppose) He then opened his powder container, double checked his charge notes and set up the RCBS powder dump for just shy of the approximate required weight. Julian selected the very ancient Pacific scale for true charge weight. The Pacific has a beam length of some 11" with 3 fine adjusters. He zeroed his scale and began checking weight against the RCBS and double checked the first one with the RCBS Electronic Scale. The Pacific is more accurate.
He then rechecked for initial dump weight. He adjusted the Redding Micro seater, set up his trickler and began reloading, double checking for OAL for the first few.
After all 10 were loaded, he passed them through a taper crimper. He hesitated for a couple of minutes and looked at me as if to ask if he'd done anything wrong. "Julian? Did I say anything or stop you?" No, Grampa. "Well then?" A huge grin. He had earned that .38 Spl.
His Dad took him outside, set up a target in the snow and Julian Ricochet St.Marie fired the first 10 of many cartridges that were to come.
