I spent the better part of several months conducting a series of experiments aimed at improving the quality of my home-cast lead bullets and identifying which parameters of bullet casting actually have the greatest impact on bullet performance. I wrote up the results of my experimentation in the following document: A Bullet Casting Journey .pdf […]

In this episode, the Idahoan machines a .45 ACP barrel out of 7075 aluminum and tests it in his UTAH pistol.

This video provides a summary of a series of experiments that I conducted in order to gain a better understanding of what kinds of scrap materials might realistically provide some level of ballistic protection. TheIdahoanShowIdaho was one of the last continental US states to be settled and, more so than some parts of the US, […]

In this video, the Idahoan fires muzzleloader barrels of different lengths across a chronograph and compares the average velocity.

In this video, I subjected a prototype muzzleloader to a series of overload scenarios to see what would happen and determine the margin of safety on the recommended loads. TheIdahoanShowIdaho was one of the last continental US states to be settled and, more so than some parts of the US, the culture of Idaho still […]

I was thinking about building an “Arc-Lock Rifle,” or electrically ignited muzzleloader. However, it turns out that gunpowder is surprisingly insensitive to electrical sparks, as demonstrated by the initial scoping experiment that I documented in this video. TheIdahoanShowIdaho was one of the last continental US states to be settled and, more so than some parts […]

As a follow-up to my oval-choke experiment, I tried making a shotgun barrel that tapers from a circular cross-section to a cross-shaped bore at the muzzle, as documented in this video. It didn’t end up working very well, but it was still an interesting experiment. TheIdahoanShowIdaho was one of the last continental US states to […]

This was the first iteration on my experimental “shooting star” shotgun slug design. It didn’t work very well, but it was still an interesting experiment. TheIdahoanShowIdaho was one of the last continental US states to be settled and, more so than some parts of the US, the culture of Idaho still retains a frontier spirit […]

How much does Quenching increase Cast Bullet Hardness? If you’ve been following my articles for any length of time, chances are you already know I water-quench virtually all my cast bullets.  While the fact that quenching increases hardness is fairly well known and agreed upon, I’ve always wondered just how effective it really is.  Over […]

In this video, I experimented with making a 12-gauge shotgun barrel out of EMT conduit. I wouldn’t go so far as to claim this is a good material for making barrels out of in general, but it worked well enough to be something worth considering as an improvised or expedient barrel. TheIdahoanShowIdaho was one of […]

I modified my original “shooting star” slug mold in hopes of improving performance, and made a video about testing the modified slugs. TheIdahoanShowIdaho was one of the last continental US states to be settled and, more so than some parts of the US, the culture of Idaho still retains a frontier spirit of self-reliance.  As […]

This video shows my third iteration on the “shooting star” shotgun slug concept. TheIdahoanShowIdaho was one of the last continental US states to be settled and, more so than some parts of the US, the culture of Idaho still retains a frontier spirit of self-reliance.  As host of TheIdahoanShow on YouTube, I endeavor to produce […]

I recently retired another pair of steel-toe boots, and, as is my custom, decided to give them a ballistic send-off. I’ve shot these with a variety of handgun and rifle rounds in previous videos, so this time I decided to try some shotgun rounds. TheIdahoanShowIdaho was one of the last continental US states to be […]

I had some worn-out ANSI-approved Steel-toed work boots that I decided to try shooting before I threw them away. This video documents the test and the results. TheIdahoanShowIdaho was one of the last continental US states to be settled and, more so than some parts of the US, the culture of Idaho still retains a […]

This video presents an idea I had for a new shotgun slug that might have offered some advantages if it could be produced, but turned out to be impractical to cast. TheIdahoanShowIdaho was one of the last continental US states to be settled and, more so than some parts of the US, the culture of […]

This video documents another experimental shotgun slug I came up with. I thought the flared base of the slug would provide stabilization, both from air drag and by acting as a flywheel when the round was fired through a rifled barrel or rifled choke tube, while the narrow core would provide low drag and good […]