Just finished loading 250 - 40 s&w with 180gr x-treme bullets and 6.6gr power pistol powder.
On a single stage.
Just finished loading 250 - 40 s&w with 180gr x-treme bullets and 6.6gr power pistol powder.
On a single stage.
Cast 200 9mm.....now I'm trying my hand at powder coating. If I'm not embarrassed with the outcome I'll post pics tomorrow. If I am, you'll have to wait until I get it right.
What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked GOD for yesterday?
I managed to load 25 rounds of .44 Magnum this evening. I loaded 240 gr. LSWC bullets over mostly W231, but a few I loaded over some Red Dot. These are pretty low velocity rounds (should all be under 1000 fps), trying to develop a good plinking load.
That reminds me, I have some .44 special to load up. That's my low recoil .44 magnum gun practice load.
Self explanatory, I think.
DSC_0130.jpg
Load and shoot: 6.5mm (Dutch, Jap., Carcano, Swede), 7x57, 7.35 Carcano, 7.5mm (Mas, Swiss), 303 British, 7.65x53, 7.7 Jap, 7.62x51, 30-06, 8x50R & 8x52R Siamese, 30-40 Krag, 8x57, 7.62x39, 7.62x54R, 8x 56R, 30 Carbine, 450/577 Martini, 300 Win Mag, 45 LC.
LEP Ok, I'm a little slow, what are they 25/20? Need something to compare size with.
Sorry, thought the propane bottle was a good size reference. Those are Martini 450/577 cases being formed from 24 gauge brass shot shells.
Load and shoot: 6.5mm (Dutch, Jap., Carcano, Swede), 7x57, 7.35 Carcano, 7.5mm (Mas, Swiss), 303 British, 7.65x53, 7.7 Jap, 7.62x51, 30-06, 8x50R & 8x52R Siamese, 30-40 Krag, 8x57, 7.62x39, 7.62x54R, 8x 56R, 30 Carbine, 450/577 Martini, 300 Win Mag, 45 LC.
Well the proportions are close to 25/20 but wow was I off on size. Good job, they look great.
It's raining, I have nothing else to do, so I just gathered up all my 10mm and 40 cal empties and put them in the wet rotary tumbler. When they are clean I will size them all, run them through my Lee bulgebuster set up. and sort 'em all by headstamp. No need to reload any yet, I have a ton already done. But just found a box of .38 158 grain copper plated HP's, and I do have some .357 mag brass ready....hmmmmmmmmmmm.
Last edited by gandog56; 11-03-2015 at 07:13 AM.
Its wet here to. Decided to get back to my 7.7x58 Arisaka. Gave up on the 30-06 HXP 77 brass to convert. I have hundreds of 270 and no rifle to use it in. Started with 150 but lost 4 because I trimmed them to short in the first cut . The 20 in the back are from a previous batch.
Does that mean I should stop saving you all my HXP 77 brass? If you are converting .270 to 7.7 I have some nickel plated 270 you could convert that may help you in keeping them separate from your regular .270.
Thanks gandog56 looks like I`m good on the 7.7 . I have hundreds of 270 once fired and I gave my son the only 270 rifle I had.I also have hundreds of 30-06 I could use. The 270`s work good to make 8mm or 7.7. I paint the head stamp of the 7.7 yellow and the 8mm green. I have accumulated a good many .303s , but always on the lookout for more. I just haven`t broke down and bought any 8x56r yet. Thinking about converting 8x56r berdan brass to use 209 shot shell primers .
LEP,
I finally got to shoot the 7.5 loads. You were interested in the results, here they are. I loaded 40 grs. of IMR 3031 with 150 gr. Sierra FMJ GameKings using reformed 30-06 mil. match brass. My Crony showed an average of 2630 fps. The primers were flattened but with no cratering. I've read that 2500 fps is what the MAS 36 should shoot at. I'm going to reduce the load down a grain or two to try to get 2500 fps. and less flattening of the primers. At this range session I wasn't shooting for accuracy, I was more interested in whether or not the '06 cases would fit, function and extract correctly. Everything worked well. They extracted just fine (I read that '06 cases weren't the best choice because of a smaller rim dia) except they do bulge quite a bit at the base. I haven't ran any of the fired cases through my sizing die yet but I expect that the case life may be limited and case head separations will happen more often. But it's still better than around a buck a round for new brass. The groups were averaging 1 1/2 to 2 inches but as I said that wasn't the main concern.
It may be a while before I get a chance to go further with this load work-up but I will post any further results I come up with when I do get the chance.
HTH,
Dave
Dave, thanks for the info. I'll probably have to adjust since I'll be using Mas Berdan cases, but charging them with the 3031 sounds like a plan.
Personally, I would have fire formed those cases with other than full power loads which may give some misleading over pressure signs. That's just me, tho
Load and shoot: 6.5mm (Dutch, Jap., Carcano, Swede), 7x57, 7.35 Carcano, 7.5mm (Mas, Swiss), 303 British, 7.65x53, 7.7 Jap, 7.62x51, 30-06, 8x50R & 8x52R Siamese, 30-40 Krag, 8x57, 7.62x39, 7.62x54R, 8x 56R, 30 Carbine, 450/577 Martini, 300 Win Mag, 45 LC.
I just broke down and bourght a couple hundred new Prvi Partzan cases of 5X56R from Graf and Sons to start, so I am good there. I also broke down and bought 100 7.7 Jap cases from them when I got my Arisaka........which reminds me. I haven't shot that bad bay lately....hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
I haven't done anything on the bench for over a week as I just got back from the Caribbean. I took the wife on a 7 night cruise for our 15th anniversary.
I'm ready to get back to the bench though...
LEP,
I used to think the way you do about fire forming with reduced loads and have no problem with anyone who uses that method. But over the 45 years I've been reloading, I've done quite a bit of case forming for hard to find and wildcat cartridges. Like 458 win. to 416 Taylor, '06 to 7.7 jap, '06 to 8mm mauser, '06 to 7.5 French, 223 to 300 Blackout and a few more. When I started fire forming years ago, I used corn starch with cardboard wads with a small charge of fast pistol powder and no bullet to fire form reformed cases. That's what everyone said at the time was the way to go. Well, I wasn't satisfied with the results as the cases didn't fully form and the gun was a real mess to clean up. Not enough pressure I guess. So I went to starting loads with light for caliber bullets. That worked good but it meant I had to buy bullets I would not normally shoot in that caliber, which is not an option with 416 Taylor for instance. The 416 normally fires a 400 gr. bullet and the lightest bullet for it is 350grs. and they are just as expensive as the 400s, just over $1.00 each. Not to mention 50 to 70 grains of powder per case. Pretty expensive fire forming. So I went to full power loads with die formed cases and saw no difference in crony data, pressure signs, or accuracy with those cases as opposed to already fire formed cases. No difference. So now I go right to full power loads to form cases and haven't look back since. In doing that, I can get started on working up an accuracy load at the same time and not use twice the amount of $1.00 apiece bullets and lots of powder.
JMHO
Dave
Dave, wasn't sure, but I don't waste powder on other than loaded ammo, either. All I wanted to make clear was that blowing a .470 case to .480 may give misleading indications on your brass. A fully formed case would have grabbed the chamber wall better and not exerted excessive force to the rear, possibly giving the flattened primer indicator.
Otherwise, no problem with your method. I'm guessing you will neck size the brass and go for it
Personally, I use cast bullet loads for converted cases. It tends not to destroy those precious cases, give me an indicator of the rifle shoot-ability, and gives me problem indicators without destroying anything. Plus, the components are cheaper
Load and shoot: 6.5mm (Dutch, Jap., Carcano, Swede), 7x57, 7.35 Carcano, 7.5mm (Mas, Swiss), 303 British, 7.65x53, 7.7 Jap, 7.62x51, 30-06, 8x50R & 8x52R Siamese, 30-40 Krag, 8x57, 7.62x39, 7.62x54R, 8x 56R, 30 Carbine, 450/577 Martini, 300 Win Mag, 45 LC.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |