Creating cases from parent cases

[bearskinner]

Cutting down brass used as parent cases is sometimes the only way to have cases to load and fire. The thread on 475/480 got me thinking about all the loads that must be created by other parent brass to make old, obsolete, or wildcats. 

[bearskinner]

I lightly shoot a family rifle, due to age and lineage. It’s an 1876 Winchester ( manufactured in 1876) Big Bore in 45-75. Brass can’t be found, so after trying multiple parent cases, I settled on Starline 50 Alaskan, chopped down, run thru a sizer to get correct shoulder and shrinkage, final trimmed to 1.880. It’s Extremely satisfying to start from scratch, load and shoot. As we are the second family in 148 years to own this museum piece, and it’s been with us for about the last 80 years.

[bearskinner]

Got to shoot it with great friends. Memories made.

[sharps4590]

Some I shoot: 9 X 71 Peterlongo, 10.5 X 47R, 44 Colt, 8 X 58R Danish Krag, 8.7 X 55R, 9.3 X 57R/360D and 9.3 X 75R Nimrod. Those I've made from 30-06 brass: 8 X 56 Mannlicher/Schoenauer, 9 X 57 Mauser, 9.3 X 57 Mauser and 7 X 64 Brenneke. I make 8 X 65R Brenneke and 8 X 60R Mauser Magnum from 30R Blaser. I have one cartridge for a drilling that I don't believe was ever a factory round. It is a war trophy and I believe a reamer was made to re-cut the chamber to a cartridge that could be formed from 30-40 Krag and was done stateside. It IS NOT the cartridge for which it was originally proofed and does not have a "Crown over R" stamp for a re-proof, which would be required had it been done in Germany.

Some require lathe work, neck thinning, turning the rim off, re-cutting the extractor groove and maybe just a little off the head/base. All require reforming in a die and usually fireforming.

When purchasing a new to me firearm, if the cartridge is obsolete and has to be formed or altered from something else, that's all the better. Reforming/remaking the case gives me great pleasure.

[z1r]

Yeah, my 10,75x68 is fun when you have to turn the belts off magnum cases. Forming .256 Win cases without the proper forming dies, also an adventure. Kudo's on keeping the old Winchester shooting!!!

[gnappi]

I've made / formed brass for .30 and .357 Herrett from 30/30, .45 Win mag from .308, .222 from .223, 7BR from .308, 9x25 from 10mm, and other straight walled cartridges like .480 from .475 and .38 Nappi a .38 special case cut to ~9mm length so I could shoot round nosed bullets in a S&W Model 52 .38 special chambered automatic. The Nappi never took off beyond a few fellow shooters :-(

Nowadays I won't buy a launching platform unless it shoots ammo that has a parent cartridge, or unique brass is readily available like the .41 Magnum. Guns may look good as a paper weight but they're an expensive and wasteful one!

Since I load .50 Beowulf I've considered a .500 JRH and only use 500 S&W special brass in it because it's available (or will be) and I cast my own bullets.

After I started reading Donnelly's "A Handloader's Manual of Cartridge Conversions" it opened a world of possible firearm ownership.

[sharps4590]

Donnely's is a good one. So is George Nonte's.

[bigbrowndog]

Sharps4590, you should be able to substitute 9.3x74r brass for the 30r Blaser, in case the Blaser is more expensive or harder to find. I have both in Merkel guns, and memory says the Blaser is derived from a 9.3x74r case.

Trapr

[revolvercranker]

Jan 19, 2024 20:46:29 GMT -5 gnappi said:

I've made / formed brass for .30 and .357 Herrett from 30/30, .45 Win mag from .308, .222 from .223, 7BR from .308, 9x25 from 10mm, and other straight walled cartridges like .480 from .475 and .38 Nappi a .38 special case cut to ~9mm length so I could shoot round nosed bullets in a S&W Model 52 .38 special chambered automatic. The Nappi never took off beyond a few fellow shooters :-(

Nowadays I won't buy a launching platform unless it shoots ammo that has a parent cartridge, or unique brass is readily available like the .41 Magnum. Guns may look good as a paper weight but they're an expensive and wasteful one!

Since I load .50 Beowulf I've considered a .500 JRH and only use 500 S&W special brass in it because it's available (or will be) and I cast my own bullets.

After I started reading Donnelly's "A Handloader's Manual of Cartridge Conversions" it opened a world of possible firearm ownership.

gnappi, I know Bill Alexander. Because he ripped off so many vendor the dealt with they caught on to him and kind of quit dealing with him. He's no longer with Alexander arms. He ripped Lothar Walter barrel company in Atantla, GA for little over $200,000. I was told he ripped off Pacific Gage and Tool for something like $170,000. Les Baer company off by have Lex make the 6.5 Grendels barrel and Alexander Arms was suppose to supply the bolts I believe it was and Bill Alexander told him that he was out of bolts at the time when actaully he did have and was sending to other vendor he favored more. Thus the reason why Les renamed his barrels 6.5 Les Baer. Alexander also stuck Lapua Brass Company. So I can see why 50 Beowulf isn't exactly plentiful. I know the ENTIRE history of Bill Alexander and his company as I was partially involved in it. 

[cas]

For years at work on the door of my tool locker, I had a long cord tied in a loop, that was sort of a giant necklace of cut off .22 Hornet necks. But for the life of me I could never remember if they were from making .22 Long Snapper or .270 REN brass, one of which I cut down in my spare time at work years before.



.310 cadet brass made from .32-20 brass with the rim turned down thinner. Made by someone else mercifully.




My most recent reforming is turning .338 Lapua brass into .510 Whisper.
Cut to length and turn a shoulder into them. Not having a lathe, I bought the tooling to do it by hand. I think I've made a grand total of one or two. lol Got busy with other things and said "Oh I'll just buy s few more cases for now."

[sixshot]

It's fascinating what a good gunsmith with a lathe & some patience can do with some of these old, other wise obsolete calibers. That old lever gun of Mike's (Bearskinners) was a real beaut!!

Dick

[lar4570]

Recently I've been playing with the idea of a .358 AR15 to hunt Pigs with.
There are a few options out there, but I decided to try and make my own. basically it's a 358 Win cut down to 1.660". I'll load with 180-200gn bullets. I should be able to get the 180 Speer up to 2400fps safely. We'll see once the barrel gets here.

Instead of going with a cu$tom reamer and cu$tom dies, I decided to use a stock 358Win reamer and modified stock 358Win dies. The barrel was made by Deadshot Barrels out of Oregon. They make 358Win AR10 barrels. So I asked if they could turn one of their 358 blanks down to AR15 size and run a 358Win reamer in partway to cut the chamber. I sent them a 450 Bushmaster bolt and a formed case to set the headspace on. It took them only 3 weeks for it's turn to come up and now it's in route to me.

I start with 308 brass and cut the neck off at the neck shoulder junction, then stuff up into a 358 sizer die to set the shoulder and reduce the diameter at the base also. Next it's onto the trimmer, then the neck turner...
I think I'll call it the 358 Razorback.




Yesterday I built a jig to hold the brass in a Harbor Freight mini chop saw. It's a straight rip off of the Squirrel Daddy 300 black Out jig, only scaled up to hold a 308 case.








Palmetto State Armory made a run of BoarHunter-15 Lowers that I thought might be appropriate


After building the lower, I had some time to kill, so I had a friend at Malcom Ballistic Tool Laser engrave the dust cover for me.

[45MAN]

MOSTLY GREEK TO ME BUT I ENJOY SEEING/READING ABOUT IT.

MY FATHER HAD A 8MM JAP NAMBU (I HAVE IT NOW), AND WAY BACK WHEN AMMO WAS NOT OBTAINABLE, IIRC, THE 30 REMINGTON CASE WAS A PARENT CASE, NOW YOU CAN'T HARDLY GET ANY 30 REMINGTON BRASS OR AMMO.

[sharps4590]

Jan 19, 2024 21:21:03 GMT -5 bigbrowndog said:

Sharps4590, you should be able to substitute 9.3x74r brass for the 30r Blaser, in case the Blaser is more expensive or harder to find. I have both in Merkel guns, and memory says the Blaser is derived from a 9.3x74r case.

Trapr

Hmm...When I was looking for a donor case I must have missed that.  I have a surfeit of 9.3 X 74R brass, A) to make the 9 X 71 Peterlongo and B) because I jumped too quick when looking for some 9.3 X 72R brass and C), in hopes of some day acquiring a double in 9.3 X 74R.

I believe I have plenty for both rifles as I did both before the Fauci-Wuhan flu was turned loose on us and things were more or less normal but, thank you.  One never knows what can happen.  I'll check that out later this morning, for certain.

[bigbrowndog]

Jan 20, 2024 9:09:23 GMT -5 sharps4590 said:

Jan 19, 2024 21:21:03 GMT -5 bigbrowndog said:

Sharps4590, you should be able to substitute 9.3x74r brass for the 30r Blaser, in case the Blaser is more expensive or harder to find. I have both in Merkel guns, and memory says the Blaser is derived from a 9.3x74r case.

Trapr

Hmm...When I was looking for a donor case I must have missed that.  I have a surfeit of 9.3 X 74R brass, A) to make the 9 X 71 Peterlongo and B) because I jumped too quick when looking for some 9.3 X 72R brass and C), in hopes of some day acquiring a double in 9.3 X 74R.

I believe I have plenty for both rifles as I did both before the Fauci-Wuhan flu was turned loose on us and things were more or less normal but, thank you.  One never knows what can happen.  I'll check that out later this morning, for certain.

If you have extra 9.3x74r and don’t mind parting with some let me know, I could use 40 more, I’m down to 60.

trapr