Forming 7.35 carcano

[Scorpius]

So I have some 6.5 carcano should I just anneal and size in my 7.35 die or should I fireform it? Having never fireformed not sure what powders I can use or how much.
How would I learn this art and educate myself?


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[EDG]

You could sell or swap the 6.5 for 7.35. I think Grafs has 7.35.

Otherwise you can get a tapered expander for a .308 cal cartridge and polish it down to to .298,
Lee makes nice long tapered expanders for their 7.35 dies too.
Take the tapered expander and expand your brass. Then
Then lightly anneal the necks and FL size it.

The load and shoot.

You can fire form if you want but it takes powder, primers and a place to do it. For this simple neck up just expand the necks.

[Brasso]

7.35X51mm vs. 6.5X52mm. You might have to trim before fire forming.

[ukrifleman]

Basically, 7.35x51 Carcano brass is just necked up 6.5x52, they both have identical case head and body diameters and use the same chargers.

I just ran some new PPU 6.5 brass through my Lee 7.35 sizing die trimmed them to length and they worked just fine.

I found no need to anneal or fire form first.

ukrifleman

[Scorpius]

Yea I have the 7.35 die, and giraud annealer so figured I could just size me in my die. But was sorta curious on learning the fire forming part just for something new to add experience


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[mac60]

Scorpius - I am commenting here because I have done this. If you're that curious, you should give it a go. There's not much to it. Here's how I do it;

1. Prime your 6.5 Carcano brass - standard LR primer.
2. Charge the case with a fast burning powder - I used 10.0 gr. of Unique.
3. Over the powder I put 1/4 square of tp - not compressed, just tamped down lightly.
4. Fill the case just slightly short of the mouth with cream of wheat.
5. Press a block of paraffin (canning wax) over the case mouth leaving a plug of it in the case.

Now, after saying all that - I'll admit that ukrifleman is absolutely right. A 6.5 case can be simply run through a 7.35 die producing roughly the same results. I've done that too.

Find a safe place to fire it off, keeping in mind that plug of wax can certainly do some damage. The result should be a well formed case ready to be trimmed to length. This is where the drama comes in. At this point I realized I needed a custom mandrel for my Forster trimmer. Deciding from the get-go that I wanted to shoot cast - I needed a boolit of .301-.302" dia. Forum member and Moderator Buckshot has done everyone's homework on loading cast for the 7.35 Carcano and I followed his lead in doing so. One thing he has commented on is using the Lee C309-120R. I did so - first sizing it to .308" in a Lyman 450. Then I used a custom push through sizer to bring it down to .302". Firing this over 8.0 gr. Unique as recommended by Buckshot. In addition, I found a Lyman mould that was dropping WAY under size boolits and used the same basic procedure to get them to .302". The results were gratifying. I freely admit that's a lot of trouble to go through to shoot a $70.00 rifle from Bubba's shop, but I enjoyed every second of it.

[Scorpius]

Scorpius - I am commenting here because I have done this. If you're that curious, you should give it a go. There's not much to it. Here's how I do it;

1. Prime your 6.5 Carcano brass - standard LR primer.
2. Charge the case with a fast burning powder - I used 10.0 gr. of Unique.
3. Over the powder I put 1/4 square of tp - not compressed, just tamped down lightly.
4. Fill the case just slightly short of the mouth with cream of wheat.
5. Press a block of paraffin (canning wax) over the case mouth leaving a plug of it in the case.

Now, after saying all that - I'll admit that ukrifleman is absolutely right. A 6.5 case can be simply run through a 7.35 die producing roughly the same results. I've done that too.

Find a safe place to fire it off, keeping in mind that plug of wax can certainly do some damage. The result should be a well formed case ready to be trimmed to length. This is where the drama comes in. At this point I realized I needed a custom mandrel for my Forster trimmer. Deciding from the get-go that I wanted to shoot cast - I needed a boolit of .301-.302" dia. Forum member and Moderator Buckshot has done everyone's homework on loading cast for the 7.35 Carcano and I followed his lead in doing so. One thing he has commented on is using the Lee C309-120R. I did so - first sizing it to .308" in a Lyman 450. Then I used a custom push through sizer to bring it down to .302". Firing this over 8.0 gr. Unique as recommended by Buckshot. In addition, I found a Lyman mould that was dropping WAY under size boolits and used the same basic procedure to get them to .302". The results were gratifying. I freely admit that's a lot of trouble to go through to shoot a $70.00 rifle from Bubba's shop, but I enjoyed every second of it.

This is awesome. I've not shot in awhile and spent the last few weekends cleaning every brass I have and getting it to ready to load point, so I just sized the 6.5 and it went well. Once I get more 6.5 I'll try the fire forming.
I have more pulls of the original bullet than I'll likely shoot in decades but the information you provided will make an awesome addition to my lead casting information.
Thank you for taking the time to provide the information it's appreciated!


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[mac60]

You're very welcome. I hope it works out well for you.