I gave up on loading and casting a long time ago.
@SOCOM42, technically, I'm with you. They say that the cowboys who tried to kill Elfego Baca fired over
4,000 rounds into the little cottage where he sought refuge. I doubt I have as many enemies and Senior Baca, but during my "paranoid biker" spate I cast and reloaded enough ammunition to fill my firearms workshop, a space the size of a large, two-man bedroom.
I did not count ammunition by "the Baca thousand," but rather by
the bucket. That was about +ten years of a single stage press. I finally found a multi-stage powder measure and reloading press--just pull the handle, all four stations do their job, and then the stations automatically advance. It was like cheating!
Now here's were my love for Disney TV shows started to slip. I was grinding out ammunition one night, when my friend 'Ralphie' dropped by. He questioned me on why I was making so many reloads, and I told him the Baca story. I projected that I wanted to fill my "little room" with the same number of rounds testified in the story. I had a few coffee cans already filled.
Then Ralphie said, "
Well, Gumba, if you're going to press more than 4,000 rounds, you'll need more than those three coffee cans. How much do you think you have?"
I figured a few hundred, because .45 ACP cases were short and dumpy, and they would tightly stack inside the coffee cans. Our first count
was over 2,000. Just within the distance I could extend my arms I would have had more ammunition than Baca. In other words, the cartridges, and damage from the supposed fire-fight used up
the entire building Baca had taken his refuge. For me, that same count took up
just the top of my bench. So much for reality TV!
During that summer I decided to cast again. I cast a few hundred and then looked inside the pail. It didn't even look like
one-third…
Now, a SAA usually fires five shots, leaving the number six chamber empty for the firing pin. So if you had the supposed six cowboys you would have needed a Gatling Gun to fire the requisite rounds to perforate the Baca refuge house.
...oh, and I also know the story of James Bowie at The Great Sandbar Fight...