| Posted: Sat Jun 6th, 2009 12:53 PM |
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Rockydog
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I'd like to see some posts about toughest cartridge you've loaded for from some of the seriously addicted guys on here. It might be a wildcat, an obsolete military cartridge or just a plain jane factory round that you just couldn't find the right load for. Be they successful or miserable failures. Solutions, tips, and tricks to help others would be great.
Right now I'm working on a 6mm TCU for a Contender. Most of my frustrations have been revealed in other posts, easily searchable, so I won't go into them here. Let's just say that I'm finding that reloading a round with rather straight walls and a flat shoulder, reforming brass etc. is doable but has it's challenges. Thanks, in a large part, to some simple advice from this site it's coming together. (I now worship at the altar of Imperial Sizing Die Wax.)
So, what's been your biggest challenge?
Last edited on Sat Jun 6th, 2009 12:55 PM by Rockydog
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| Posted: Sat Jun 6th, 2009 02:26 PM |
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klallen
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for me it's a dan wesson revolver in .375 supermag. i bought the gun at our fall gun show in 2003. it's been a challenge ever since.
wasn't so much the cartridge and its reloading in the beginning. rough chambers in the cylinder. stuck cases before top performance was achieved. settled on a light-loaded cartridge attempting to lessen the problem.
sent off to d w for a face lift. new barrel, cylinder, factory wood grips to replace the old cracked ones. of course the cartridge hadn't been a regularly chambered option for years so some of these parts had been sitting on the back shelf for a good long time and "hopes" were these would remedy the problem.
lol. now, it's a reloading problem. more specifically, a sizing problem. after that, the cartridge is cake to load for and a great shooter. but it seems like the chambers in this new cylinder are very loose now. cases are expanded to a point where resizing them is indeed a chore and i'm working the hell out of them. much lube is needed and a considerable heft of pressure to run'm down.
in the beginning i considered many times simply getting out from under the rig and letting it be someone elses headache. it's gotten to a point though where it is now me against it. who's going to win?
it's a pretty revolver. a good shooter. and a cartridge seldom seen. all things making the work needed to make it function very much worth my time and effort but compared to all the other things i've worked with over the years, this is the one handgun / cartridge combo i've had to work at the most.
it is very much a love / hate relationship.
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| Posted: Tue Jun 9th, 2009 12:15 AM |
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RaySendero
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Rockydog wrote: I'd like to see some posts about toughest cartridge you've loaded for from some of the seriously addicted guys on here. It might be a wildcat, an obsolete military cartridge or just a plain jane factory round that you just couldn't find the right load for. Be they successful or miserable failures. Solutions, tips, and tricks to help others would be great.
.....
So, what's been your biggest challenge?
Rocky,
My biggest challenge was an old Vz-24 Mauser in 8x57!
Started with a 220 SGK - big mistake. Could not get that bullet to expand at any velocity I could ream from that 8mm. Lost a nice 8pt and 2 hogs before I figured out my mistake. Seems that bullet is designed for the 8mm Rem Mag velocities NOT the 8x57. To make matters worst the rifle had a SLOW barrel due to some pitting. Spend some alone time tracking and cussing that load!
That wasn't all - I collected (picked-up) a lot of range brass for that rifle. Seems there is a BIG difference in 8x57 case volume between different brass manufacturers. Even to the point that some starting loads I found were dangerous in the higher volume cases as several did not expand the case enough to seal the gas when fired. I had to add 2 grains to starting loads in the higher volume cases. Think the Amer ammo manufacturers have down loaded the 8x57 to "Safe" velocities to the point that they purposely make their cases with a lower volume.
Finially figured out, The European brand cases were the larger capacity and Amer cases had a lower volume (1.5 grains different) - BUT only after I had bought a 100 Rems and 100 Wins!!! No telling how much $ I spend experimenting with that 8x57 rifle to get a hunting load. Did finally get a 200 gr Spear HC and a 185 Rem CL to hunt with in a S&B case. But was never satisfied with the rifle's accuracy so ...
Rebarreled it to 9,3x62 and have never looked back!
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| Posted: Tue Jun 9th, 2009 02:25 AM |
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Rockydog
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Korey, Are the dies carbide? If not, could they be opened up a few thousands to match the cylinder? Don't know as I've ever heard of that being done but it would certainly work the brass less than squeezing them down and blowing them out. I can't imagine that brass is cheap either. Are they formed from something else or out there on their own? RD
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| Posted: Tue Jun 9th, 2009 02:33 AM |
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Rockydog
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Ray, I actually had some challenges with my 8mm when I first got it too. About the exact opposite of yours but with the same effect. I was loading some old Hornady 170 Gr roundnoses. They were very accurate but were designed for way lower velocities than I was using. They were like using a varmit grenade on deer. Either blew them all to hell or exploded on shoulder bone and the deer kept going. Either way when I recovered the deer there was shrapnel every where. I've kept the empty jackets and shot sized lead pieces as a reminder to match bullets to applications. If these were loaded to factory ammo specs or been the newer bonded RN they probably would have worked well. Now I feed it 195 Gr. Hornady cup and cores. A little heavy for deer but the expansion is just right. RD
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| Posted: Tue Jun 9th, 2009 11:37 PM |
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72coupe
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A friend asked me to load some 44/40 with black powder for a Belgiun copy of a Schofield.
I don't have dies for 44/40 but used 44 mag dies. The brass was new so didn't need to be sized but loading .430 lead bullets into those thin cases was a chore. I ruined 3 cases before I got the process down.
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| Posted: Wed Jun 10th, 2009 01:06 AM |
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choppersdad
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My .12 Walker on a shortened hornet case can be........perplexing at times. It's a damn good thing that I have a bullet seating die that was made for a Lyman 310 tong tool...Thats how old I am...LOL
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| Posted: Wed Jun 10th, 2009 01:24 AM |
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Rockydog
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Choppersdad, Do you ever go over to Saubier.com? That's where all the sub caliber guys hang out. How about some pics of that .12 Walker alongside a .308 or something for reference. Maybe alongside one of those comparitively massive .22 Magnums.  RD
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| Posted: Wed Jun 10th, 2009 12:52 PM |
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klallen
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Rockydog wrote: Korey, Are the dies carbide? If not, could they be opened up a few thousands to match the cylinder? Don't know as I've ever heard of that being done but it would certainly work the brass less than squeezing them down and blowing them out. I can't imagine that brass is cheap either. Are they formed from something else or out there on their own? RD
the sizing dies is not carbide. from what i understand, machining one of these dies is difficult, if not impossible. i've already talked with kirby about it on a couple previous projects. his explaination to me was that these dies are heat treated and have extremely hard shells. he said his chamber reamers would snap the moment they came into contact with the hardened steel. now, i don't know if there's carbide type drill bits that could do the job. i would suspect there's something out there that could do it but to get chamber quality finish, it don't really know if it'd be worth it. i'll get kirby's opinion on the suggestion, though. 
as long as i can get my hands on some .375win brass, i'll always have means to make brass for the .375supermag. it's also been reported of folks making their brass from trimmed .30-30 cases, but that's warned against. as far as ready made .375supermag brass, since i bought the gun and all the brass that came with it at that time, i've not seen any .375supermag brass at any of our local shows. i've got a good supply (with means to make more) so i'm not to worried.
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| Posted: Wed Jun 10th, 2009 01:14 PM |
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72coupe
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For a hole that big just use a brake hone.
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| Posted: Wed Jun 10th, 2009 11:03 PM |
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miestro_jerry
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For me it is 7 TCU, changing the case from 223 to 7 TCU, then fire forming it. I have a few casualties doing this process.
I gave up on many of the wildcats a few years ago, the factory guns are becoming more available in useful calibers that fill the needs where only wildcats could shoot.
Jerry
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| Posted: Thu Jun 11th, 2009 08:16 AM |
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Paul Tummers
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Most of my loads are calculated by the Quick-load cumputer programme to start with- with a measured case volume I can compose a load within 10% of the measured velocity on my computer, but the 5,6 x 50 R Magnum is the trickiest load I ever dealt with.
Because the lack of powder choise I can calculate its velocity perfectly for the powder available, but getting it shooting accurate takes away a lot of velocity by powder charge reduction, in such a way, the round is no more than a .222 in a different case.
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| Posted: Thu Jun 11th, 2009 03:10 PM |
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DKA
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Had a 7mm WSM and never did find a load that would group very good, so did the most economical thing, got rid of it.
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| Posted: Sun Jun 14th, 2009 12:55 PM |
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Timberghozt
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Danged 32-20 in a 1892 Win lever gun.Derned thing kept backing out primers,splitting cases till I figured out what was wrong.
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| Posted: Sun Jun 14th, 2009 04:21 PM |
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miestro_jerry
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Timber,
Try Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails on the primers and anneal the neck of the case every timeyou are getting ready to reload them.
Jerry
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| Posted: Sun Jun 14th, 2009 06:40 PM |
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Charley
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I never answered this one because I can't think of any cartridge I've had real problems with. Granted, some have taken more work and experiemntation than others, but nothing has been a huge PITA.
I did try reforming .45/70 brass to 7.62x54R, because some "authority" said it could be done. I did give up on that one.
Most of my reforms have been straightforward....357 Max to .351 WSL, .348 to 10.4 Swiss, 9x19 to 9x18, .44 Special to 10.4 Italian. Shorten, refrom, and maybe turn down a rim or base, but no real problems.
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