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Post by needsmostuff on Jul 19, 2011 19:23:47 GMT -5
As I usually hold my self guiltless in these kind of questionable dealings, and my wife wasn't around (she unknowingly usually takes the blame for most things) . I guess I can only blame you guys.
I traded a perfectly good ,easy to feed 44mag that shot much better than expected for unknown .401 powermag.
So now what. I do not know anything about the care and feeding or a safe way to extract cool fireballs.
I do have 41mag brass and I do have 10mm dies. Am I getting close? It came with 9 loaded rounds of shortened 401 self loader brass but I am afraid a stash of that is worth more than the gun.
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Post by Lee Martin on Jul 19, 2011 20:24:12 GMT -5
If you go to the Articles section of my website there's a piece on how to form the brass. Dies are available thru RCBS but they aren't cheap. Good luck and drop me a line at lee@singleactions.com if you have questions. -Lee www.singleactions.com |
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Post by needsmostuff on Jul 21, 2011 13:05:44 GMT -5
Hey Lee ,I have found lots of of your info and have started mucking my way through the construction part. Of course that involves reinventing the wheel at each turn to get back to the place you said we should start at.  . So far I have sized .41 mag brass in a 41 die (not quite small enough)and the same brass in a 10mm sizer(a little too small and it will not do the web). But with a spin on the drill press a little file /sandpaper on the web they will fit in the chamber. Moving on to plan B involves cutting off a 30/30(an easy fit cuz the diameter is smaller) then trimming the base to fit in the recessed cylinder. This one looks kind of silly after using the 10mm expander but I will reserve judgment till after doing some low pressure fire forming. After putzing with this I see the wisdom of the .426 die you use and believe you would have a small , captive cottage industry If you chose to crank a few out  OK, Presses. Could not get a good look at yours but is hydraulic necessary or would arbor do. I know my alloy RCBS is not the answer. Time to find some bullets and crank out about 20 of each .O Yeah |
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Post by vonfatman on Jul 21, 2011 14:57:36 GMT -5
Sounds like a great learning process. When my brass and dies arrive....I will know what direction I need to go. I have a bunch of .41 Magnum brass already so I suspect that will be the way my reloading will go. If I end up with some honest-to-goodness "Herter's" .401 brass when the box arrives...I doubt I will load any of that brass....it's fairly uncommon around these parts.
Bob
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Post by needsmostuff on Jul 24, 2011 14:05:05 GMT -5
Progress.
Good news/bad news.
Good news ,got some grips knocked out as the plastic factory one were on the verge of failing. They can be reinforced but why ,their UGLY.
Bad news, discovered while taping out the brass from the .41 mag sizer you can remove the carbide ring. It went back in this time but that is another prompt for the Lee type .426 die.
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Post by needsmostuff on Aug 1, 2011 21:46:25 GMT -5
:)More Progress  :)Took it out for a smoke test and survived. I had made up about 12 rounds of the .41 mag style and 20 rounds of the 30-30 flavor. Both were stoked with mild 5.5 gr TRAILBOSS and 185 gr rnfp loads mostly as a fireforming load. I had no real expectations of any quality results, just getting the baby steps done. Ooops. Dead center point of aim cloverleafs. True , ballistically underwhelming but no preference to cases with poor chamber fit or internal capacity and a magnificent training round for kids or single action newbies. Next step is moving up to 6.5 gr of TRAILBOSS and search for different bullets . Also keeping my eyes peeled for a non carbide .40 sizer to resume the .41 transformation. but for now I am well pleased with the converted 30-30s and will crop a few more of them. |
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Post by vonfatman on Aug 2, 2011 7:17:28 GMT -5
Nice. All fingers still accounted for! Good deal. I have not made time to load up any yet. I have .41 Mag brass that's been transformed into .401...I will use it to start and avoid having to form new brass.
Trailboss and 185s sit on the reloading bench.
Thanks for the followup.
Bob
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Post by Lee Martin on Aug 2, 2011 8:11:00 GMT -5
Speaking of 401 Powermags, two very rare variants supposedly exist. The first was a double action prototype. Never seen a photo or know what platform was used, but George Herter had at least one built. It was going to be offered thru their catalog, but never materialized. The second is a stainless prototype built in the early 1970s. A Herters expert I know claims he's seen photos of it, but I'm skeptical on this one. -Lee www.singleactions.com |
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Post by CraigC on Aug 2, 2011 8:56:40 GMT -5
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