Making big ones into little ones...

[rintinglen]

No, not rock piles and chain gangs.

What I am contemplating is using the excellent 358-200 RCBS mold to make boolits and then size them down to fit my just-purchased-still-not-delivered WinchesterModel 71 .348 Winchester.

I have the mold, already, and will soon have an RCBS .349 sizer die. What I am contemplating is drawing the temper from some 357 gas checks, lubing, sizing and seating the gas checks in a 357 sizer die, then running the lubed boolit through the .349 sizer. I have made .458 's into .452's before, but plain based, not gas checked, and here we are going smaller on a boolit with a smaller diameter to begin with.

While I eventually plan on getting a mold for this gun, right now, I am over-budget already on this project, so unless I got one for beer money, that purchase will be several months down the road.

Has anybody tried this or something similar [carcano boolits out of 30 cal, perhaps]?
How did it work? What pitfalls should I be aware of? Your input is greatly desired and will be greatly appreciated.

[Larry Gibson]

I have regularly sized .326 - .326 cast bullets down to .314, .316 and .318. I used regular Hornady .32 cal GCs w/o annealing them, sized and lube th bullets at .325 and then push sized through a Lee Sizer. Going from .325 through a .314 is no problem as was done in the picture. Pictured is a 323471 and a GB C325-190-FN sized down to .314.

I surmised if your .357 35-200-FNs at lubed and GC'd they to can be sized down for the 348. Only potential problem I see is the nose of the 35-200-FN still being too large. Does the nose of the 35-2-- fit in the muzzle of the 348?

Larry Gibson

[rintinglen]

Haven't tried it yet because I am still 10 days from reciept of the firearm [thank you, California Commie Legislature], but that is a consideration I had not thought of. I am not adverse to a bit of pre-engraving, but if the nose is too large, I'll be in trouble. Sunday I'll get some cast up and measure the nose.

[williamwaco]

I have sized bullets down that much before but never gas checks.

Please remember to let us know how it works out.

.

[youngda9]

Won't that essentially wipeout the lube carrying capability of the bullet...interested to see how this works as well.

[bobthenailer]

I measured my RCBS 200gr fn bullets nose diameter and with WW alloy the nose measures .352 dia so IMO you would also have to size the nose down some !

Its easier to buy a mould

[waksupi]

The boolits must be lubed before being sized down. Liquid does not compress.

[geargnasher]

What Waksupi said. Apply gas checks and lube first, preferably in a "normal" size die for the caliber (i.e. .357-8"), and then whang it through the smaller push-through die to fit the rifle. Hydraulic pressure will keep the grooves open, since the lead has somewhere to go and the lube doesn't. If you want to preserve any crimp grooves, lube them too and wipe them out before loading. As far as the nose goes, you'll just have to see how it fits.

Gear

[williamwaco]

The boolits must be lubed before being sized down. Liquid does not compress.


You can also use this trick for swaging bullets.

I swage 148 grain .357 hollowpoints by first running them through a 4500 to fill the grooves then pop them into a BTSniper die to make a hollowpoint. They shoot great.


.

[rintinglen]

Its a .349 sizer, if need be,I'll run the boolit through the die, that should cure the nose problem. Re buying another mold. That's on my to do list--as soon as I finish paying off the wife's car, and paying back the house for what I spent on the rifle. I sometimes have issues with my allowance...
a problem that manifested itself early in life and remains troublesome to this day.

[rintinglen]

A tip of the hat to Larry for his useful information. Not annealing the gas checks saved me a bit of time.

This afternoon I was able to sit down at the pot and run off a few score 35-200'S, as well as a few hundred MP432-640 hps. Sizing and lubing in a .358 die yielded fine looking boolits that slid through the .349 die easily. The nose sized down with out effort. However, a minor problem arose in that I was depending on the Lube to maintain the lube groove as the boolit compressed.

I fear that the Lube was bled off into the lube reservoir of the trusty Lyman 450 via the lube ports, as the resulting boolits are not quite what I had hoped, but they may still be fine for some short (50 yard) practice. I will have to see about getting a custom Lee push-through die made when I get a little money saved up.

The first pic shows three un-sized, as-cast boolits next to three sized .358 and driven deep into the die. The second shows the .350 result from driving the .358 boolit into the smaller die. Note that most of the surplus lube seen on the nose was scraped off and looh at the tiny crimp groove.

Next I'll make up a dummy round, then go back to waiting for my delivery date to arrive.

[williamwaco]

A tip of the hat to Larry for his useful information. Not annealing the gas checks saved me a bit of time.

This afternoon I was able to sit down at the pot and run off a few score 35-200'S, as well as a few hundred MP432-640 hps. Sizing and lubing in a .358 die yielded fine looking boolits that slid through the .349 die easily. The nose sized down with out effort. However, a minor problem arose in that I was depending on the Lube to maintain the lube groove as the boolit compressed.

I fear that the Lube was bled off into the lube reservoir of the trusty Lyman 450 via the lube ports, as the resulting boolits are not quite what I had hoped, but they may still be fine for some short (50 yard) practice. I will have to see about getting a custom Lee push-through die made when I get a little money saved up.

The first pic shows three un-sized, as-cast boolits next to three sized .358 and driven deep into the die. The second shows the .350 result from driving the .358 boolit into the smaller die. Note that most of the surplus lube seen on the nose was scraped off and looh at the tiny crimp groove.

Next I'll make up a dummy round, then go back to waiting for my delivery date to arrive.

That is a good idea. The lube will then have no place to go.

[rintinglen]

Well, sucess, sort of. By seating the boolits very deeply I was able to make cartridges that will chamber. I ran the boolets all the way through the sizer die, but the .350 nose diameter was still too large to easily chamber. I'll go out to the range tomorrow to test a few and see how they shoot. I have loaded a dozen over 18 grains of 2400, just for funsies.
I have also loaded a few 358=311 sized .350 over 13 grains of red dot.

[rintinglen]

Well that was better than I had hoped.

They actually grouped about as well as the Jacketed loads I had put up. They shot about a foot low though. They are a bit too much trouble for regular use, but they'll do til I can get a .348 mold...

And just for grins, I loaded some .350 358-311s and 358-429s. They both shot reasonably well over 13 grains of reddot. In fact, I have run up a bunch of the 429's for further experimentation. They seem to work very well with no leading. I only loaded 5 rounds of each, but they both shot into 3 inches at 50 yards with the factory buckhorns. I'll put a Williams FP on my rifle and give 'em a better work out.