Product Reviews

RCBS Pro Melt-2 Electric Lead Furnace

I would like to submit a Product Report on the RCBS Pro Melt-2 Electric Lead Furnace. This product provides an important safety aspect, in addition to several convenience attributes that help make bullet casting somewhat more enjoyable!

In the mid-1980s, I started shooting BPCR Silhouette matches and that is when I became a serious bullet caster. I was always instructed not to use a “bottom pour” lead furnace, as the bullets cast from such a contrivance, were of such poor quality they will not have any semblance of accuracy. Some experienced casters even took it to another level, saying that fishing sinkers made from bottom pour furnaces were so bad they scared the fish! With this knowledge, I purchased a Lyman Mag 20 furnace and dipper, and off I went on this adventure. The old Lyman gave up the ghost about five years ago. After 35 years of service, the old pot didn’t owe me a dime! So, I replaced it with an RCBS Easy Melt with Digital Temperature Control. Everything went smoothly – until late last summer. I have a medical condition called “Dry Eye,” which is about the biggest oxymoron going, because your eyes literally flood! When I was casting bullets, I somehow managed to get a tear drop into the molten lead. I had heard of such phenomena but had never experienced this until now, and consequently, I had molten lead everywhere. Luckily, it was not in my “Dry Eyes” but it was a wake-up call! With safety in mind, I began to look for something that provided more protection and naturally turned to RCBS. Their Pro Melt-2 Electric Lead Furnace has a swing lid that covers almost all of the molten lead while you cast, and a Digital Temperature Control – something I will not be without. The only problem was, it has the dreaded “fish scaring” bottom pour! Again, I consulted with experienced casters and received the same message, as I did 40 years ago, “Do not buy a bottom pour furnace!” Well, in defiance, I did!

So far, I have only cast a couple of hundred, .45-caliber bullets in it, but I really love this unit. I cannot tell any difference in the quality of match-grade bullets that were dipped or bottom poured. However, here are some things I can tell you about the RCBS Pro Melt-2:

1. You will really have to work to get a tear drop or anything else into the pot while casting.

2. There is virtually no dross on the surface of the molten lead after casting 100 bullets.

3. The fatigue factor after casting 100 bullets is significantly and surprisingly less.

4. There is less mess around the furnace that has to be cleaned up.

5. It is really easy to unload the pot, through the bottom, to change alloys.

6. In my opinion, RCBS, has improved the quality of the Temperature Control, as mine is more accurate than the one on my Easy Melt. Using a Lyman Digital Lead Thermometer, the temperature of the molten lead from the beginning of the casting session to the end, was within five degrees.

I am truly impressed with the RCBS PRO Melt 2 and recommend it to anyone looking to replace or change to a new furnace for safety and/or convenience reasons. Who knows, I might take up ice fishing in the off-season!

The Pro-Melt 2 retails for $349.99 and can be ordered directly from their website: rcbs.com. Their website is very simple and straight forward to use and even a digital dinosaur like myself had no problem navigating it. For those who like to do business the old-fashioned way, contact RCBS at 530-538-2699. – Lon Morris

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Maynard Centerfire Rifles

Maynard rifles, in the single shot rifle world, are a bit like fine Scotch; namely, an acquired taste. The Maynard action patent is of the “tip-up” single shot variety and by virtue of its somewhat unique design, lends itself to being fit with multiple barrels. The Maynard stands apart from many of the typical single-shots that one encounters today that are of the falling block or rolling block design. Excellent barrels and fine fit and finish are the hallmarks of the Maynard single shot rifle; those riflemen who have “acquired a taste” for them treasure their Maynards. No less than extraordinary rifleman C.W. Rowland, used and liked the Maynard rifle, reporting on using a 1873 Model in 32-35 with both telescopic and iron sights in 1887.

If all of this has piqued your interest in the Maynard single shot rifle, then there’s a new book out that you simply must have. Authored by Leo Remiger, Wayne Miller and Tom Rowe, Maynard Centerfire Rifles is really the first extensive reference work on this great old single shot rifle. 

In many other books on single shots, Maynards at best, get minimal mention. Not so here, this book is strictly about the fine Maynard rifles produced by the Massachusetts Arms Company, including as the numerous accoutrements, cartridges (both 1873 and 1882 versions) and sights, as well as, advertising flyers and catalogs. If you desire to become knowledgeable on everything “Maynard” then this book is the one you want. The photography is excellent and packed with 250 pages of information, making this new hardcover book extremely good value for the money. It’s more than just something to enjoy over coffee, Maynard Centerfire Rifles will be an important reference work in your gun library.

I have always been interested in heavy benchrest, single shot rifles and I wasn’t disappointed when reading this new book. On page 230 is a special order, heavy benchrest Maynard that really warms my heart! 

For contact information: Tom Rowe, Rowe Publications, P.O. Box 207, Sugar Grove, Virginia 24375. Phone: 865-207-6026 or email him at Rowebooks1@gmail.com. These are in stock and ready to deliver. The price is $100 plus $7 shipping. Please send a check only, as Tom is not set up for credit cards. However, I warn you…reading this book will most likely have you haunting the gun shows to find your own Maynard rifle! – Steve Garbe

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The History of Rimfire Cartridges in America 1852-2022 
Volume I & II

 Of all the firearms I own, I freely admit that my .22 rimfire rifles are my favorites and the most numerous. If I was limited to one type of firearm, it would be a .22 rimfire simply because they are the most practical and useful. You don’t necessarily have to agree, but you do have to recognize that because of my fondness for the

Boy, was I wrong! A good friend lent me his two-volume set of The History of Rimfire Cartridges in America 1852-2022, and I soon came to realize that I knew comparatively little about not only .22 rimfires, but even less about rimfire ammunition in general. In going through these two volumes and looking at all the information presented on the development, history and many variations of rimfire ammunition, I soon concluded that my knowledge on the topic was very superficial.

Author Lou Behling, together with designer and photographer Ron Paxton, have gathered together an astounding amount of information on rimfire ammunition, from the 10 Eichelberger Long Rifle, .17 caliber modern variations such as the 17 HMR and 5MM Remington Magnum, the myriad of .22 caliber rimfire cartridges and on to the wide assortment of large caliber rimfire cartridges developed pre and post-Civil War. It is simply amazing how many different rimfire cartridges were, and still are being developed. There is so much information presented that you can forget reading these volumes just once; repeated readings are required and then the books will be an oft-used reference work. If you happen to come up with some rimfire ammunition at your next gun show that is out of the ordinary, I’ll bet that it will be identified and discussed in History of Rimfire Cartridges.

There are so many unusual and different rimfire cartridges presented (over 2000) in these books that it is impossible to list them all here. One of my favorites that I had never even dreamed about, is the “Frankford Arsenal Mass Stabilized .22 Cartridge”. Here’s a view of page 89, Volume I, to give you an idea of what is contained.

Let’s go to the other end of the scale and look at what has to be in my opinion the largest and probably rarest rimfire cartridge ever made; the one-inch Rimfire, experimentally made for the Gatling gun.

Along with all the excellent photography and listing of cartridge variations (and their factory boxes) there is also an extensive text on the military tests, patents, production machinery and the companies engaged in producing rimfire ammunition. I’ll go out on a limb and say that if there is some information out there on rimfire cartridges that is not contained in these volumes, you don’t need to know about it.

Contact and purchase information for The History of Rimfire Cartridges in America 1852-2022 by Lou Behling and Ron Paxton is: Lou Behling, P.O. Box 610, Darby, MT 59829. Phone: 406-821-4662 or email: rimfirepubs@gmail.com. Please make checks payable to: Rimfire Publications for the amount of $140, postage included. There are only 500 of these two-volume sets printed, so don’t delay placing your order. I promise that you won’t be disappointed in the amount of information presented in the 916 pages. This is definitely a reference work that needs to be in your library. – Steve Garbe