reloadable .32 rimfire brass

[Chev. William]

I went back and "coined" the Rims of previously sized but not turned nor trimmed .25 Stevens size cases and found the Carbide ring did not move further back into the die body so I turned the Die bottom off slightly below the rim of the Carbide ring, leaving the ring about .003" 'proud' of the die bottom.

Post Coining the rims, I am 'turning' them down in diameter using a battery portable drill motor and a Fine cut Mill file. it is time consuming but I can do it at home rather than having to travel to my Friends Special Effects Shop and use his Lathe when it is free.

Today i talked to my Gunsmith, at his shop, and viewed the progress on one of my 1894 Stevens Favorite Actions upgrading the action strength and assembling the parts into a working Action. this entails making new pivot screws from much stronger alloys and the 'sticky point' is the unique threads Stevens used originally, None of them are exactly like modern standardized thread form nor pitch.

This Action is the one with the 'poorer' surface condition I had left with him, and will be 'bead blasted' after completion and before a new finish is applied. The other action has some of the original finish remaining and is not corroded nor scratched so we intend to leave its finish as is.

The gunsmith is still 'recovering from his first Hip surgery and says it will be about 7 more weeks before he is again allowed to drive, so he is walking and riding 'Public Transit' to and from the shop each day.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[tomsp8]

I had pretty much shelved my 32 rimfire project for a while in pursuit of other projects, but am thinking it's about time to get back to it. I will probably go back to the beginning of this long thread to refresh myself with what everyone contributed to the cause. I only have a few bullets left (299153) so will need to order more. I would like to try the 31-090s bullet, but my cases (modern 32 long colt cf) have an inside neck diameter of about
.301/.299. The case walls are very thin on these, between .006/.008 or so. The 299153 bullets i got from "Uncle Jack" have a heel of about .297/.298 which required sizing the case neck slightly for proper tension.
I think if the 31-090s bullet has a heel of .305, it may make it too difficult to seat them using what meager tools and equipment I have at my disposal?

[Chev. William]

I had pretty much shelved my 32 rimfire project for a while in pursuit of other projects, but am thinking it's about time to get back to it. I will probably go back to the beginning of this long thread to refresh myself with what everyone contributed to the cause. I only have a few bullets left (299153) so will need to order more. I would like to try the 31-090s bullet, but my cases (modern 32 long colt cf) have an inside neck diameter of about
.301/.299. The case walls are very thin on these, between .006/.008 or so. The 299153 bullets i got from "Uncle Jack" have a heel of about .297/.298 which required sizing the case neck slightly for proper tension.
I think if the 31-090s bullet has a heel of .305, it may make it too difficult to seat them using what meager tools and equipment I have at my disposal?

The "311090A" Bullets that "Matt's Bullets" made from my Mold (and has my permission to sell bullets from it to others) measures .302" heel diameter with a Driving Band diameter measurement of .312" so I believe thay would work with your 'thin wall' brass. The Major difference between the "A" style and the "S" style is the Lube Groove position(s), my 311090A mold has a single lube groove locate din the Heel. Matt is able to lube these and it leaves a thin coating on the heel that is shaved off as the bullet is seated in my cases. this in not a problem for me as I Seat and Crimp in separate operations with different dies, rather than a combination Seat/Crimp die due to the Driving Band.
I ordered the 311090A die with this slightly different Heel diameter than is cataloged to match my own cases and Chamber dimensions. I have found that I can load this bullet into cases from .912" long to .920" long, depending on the specific Barrel's chamber, as I have several .32 Long RF Stevens built Barrels for Favorites and '44' actions.

Try Matt's Bullets for some samples as cast from my mold to check before you buy a quantity, like I did. I now have about 500 bullets left of my total orders to date (slightly less than 100 are without Lube applied yet), if you would like a few samples PM me with the request and your mailing address.

Best Regards,
Chev. William.

[w30wcf]

Chev William,
Thank you again for making the 31-090A commercially available.
Like Tom, I have been persuing other projects for the past few months but I did have a chance to test the #2 for accuracy and will update the chart within the next few days with the results.

Happy 4th everbody!
w30wcf

[Chev. William]

Today's Mail brought me 200 each of Starline .327 Federal Magnum new Brass which was ordered from Amazon.com website and delivered by "The Brass Man" of Perry, GA. i have some heavy reforming ahead of me now.
Neck Diameter = .334"
Base Diameter = .336"
Neck Wall = .013"
Rim Diameter = .368"
Rim Thickness = .050"
Case Length = 1.192"
Internal Depth =1.006"

I will need to reduce, by sizing, the Diameter to .318" to .320" of the Family of .32 RF and .32 Short/ Long Colt CF cases.
This I plan to do in several steps, which usually causes a 'roll' of displaced brass at the Body rim junction.
These cases will be left temporarily untrimmed after the 'sizing' until future need for shorter than the maximum available length of the parent case.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

I spent the last few days preparing parent cases For the .25 Stevens Family of cartridges.
These latest ones are made with my Current Set of tooling and I have modified some of them to be Rimfire adapters using my new Cutters/Tooling.

1. Started out with used R-P .22 Hornet Brass, Expanded the necks and shoulders to .250" inside diameter, then used my "RC" press, the .25ACP Carbide sizing die, and the 'RCBS Primer Pocket Swaging Tool Kit', with an added Fender Washer, to form the cases Full length, including 'coining' the rims down, to .25 Stevens Case diameters and rim thickness.

2. Trimmed a group of the parent cases to .25 Stevens Length (1.125" roughly), and using a Battery Drill Motor and a Fine Single Cut Mill File, finished the Rims to thickness and diameter (.346" to .348" diameter by .060" thick) to fit my Stevens Barrels chambered for the .25 Stevens Rf cartridge.

3. I then Set up my "#8 Cap screw combination Drill and Counterbore in my Drill Press over a Machinist Vise C-Clamped to the Press table positioned so a Case clamped in the Vise "V" would be centered under the Chuck and its Tool. The Drill/Counterbore needs slow feed as it is sharpened for Steel, not Brass, cutting. The Drill Press depth stop was used to limit counterbore depth to less than the rim thickness (depth of counterbore cut was set to about .040", leaving about .010" rim metal thicknes).

4. The same setup was used with a #2 Drill to open the case hole from about .179" to about .219".

5. The Same setup was used with a "Match Grade .22LR Freeland" Chamber reamer to open the through hole in the case head to fit 'Tightly' a .22 Blank.

6. Using a separate, smaller, Machinist Vise on my Loading Bench and the same Mill file, I cut a Firing pin Clearance slot in one side of the nearly finished adapter case rim.

7. I then deburred and smoothed the the 'finished' Adapter Case base and rim before primer/load was inserted.

8. Inserted a .22 Caliber Grade 1 Power Tool Load Blank and use dmy loading press to push it home in the Adapter, using a Dummy Chamber and the Stripper cup from the Swage Kit WITHOUT the Swage Punch.

9. Polished the finished loaded Adapter using the Battery Drill motor and a Green Scotchbrite pad.

These 'loaded' Blank adapter cases have the existing Grade 1 PTL powder loading of 1.31 Grains of flake, fast burning, powder and I intend to use them to verify I have enough Firing pin clearance to set them off in a Stevens Favorite Rifle fitted with a '22LR' Breech Block and a .25 Stevens Chambered Barrel.

Later, after reloading and reassembling the Stevens Favorite with a .25 Stevens RF Breech Block and the same .25 Stevens barrel, I will check the firing pin will fire the Blank, as my measurements appear to allow.

This series of tests will verify I can fire my Stevens Favorite with either a "CF" Breech Block, a ".22RF" Breech Block, or a ".25RF" Breech Block assembled in to my action.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Spent Yesterday and this morning working to get my "PhotoBucket" account back and running again, in the process apparently lost the previously used links to the posted photos.

But I did get a new photo of my .25 Stevens RF/CF case forming project uploaded and titled so here is the link:

This photo is a cropped detail of a larger image and shows: a fired .22PTL Blank (fired in one of the Adapter Cases I made); side and bottom views of the completed .25 Stevens CF case; bottom view of pilot drilled and counterbored RF case; bottom view of #2 Wire Size Drilled RF Case; Bottom view of Match Grade .22LR 'Freeland' chamber reamed RF Adapter Case; Side and bottom view of Adapter case with PTL blank inserted; side views of, in order .22 Caliber, Grade 1 (Gray) PTL, Grade 2 (Brown) PTL, Grade 3 (Green) PTL, and Grade 4 (Yellow) PTL Unfired Blanks.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

Added 20140716: C A U T I O N ! If you reform either .25 or .32 brass to make the RF replacement cases using my techniques, be sure to use the "Fender Washer" Spacer between the 'Stripper Cup' and the case to be formed or the Swage WILL form a Deep and Champfered Primer Pocket which will allow seating a primer about .032" BELOW flush with the Case Head. I learned this "Little Detail" by accident with a .32 S&W Long case I reformed to .32 Long Colt dimensions and to allow measurements, seated a primer in the deep pocket formed.
Chev. William

[tomsp8]

Loaded up several of the 311090A boolits (Thanks Chev!) in my modified Long Colt cases that were
once fired. Did not resize them, or expand (since I currently do not have the means to crimp), only chamfered to ease bullet seating. These cases are about .299/.300 inside neck diameter. I had stated earlier that these cases are rather thin walled. The larger heel on these versus the 299153 seems to give much more neck tension. Did not notice any shaving during seating except for the red lube in the heel groove. Pulled one after seating and took much more effort. The 299153 boolit popped out with hardly any effort. Test fired two with smokeless, using 1.5 gr Titegroup and an emptied/trimmed 22 blank at 20 yards kneeling, and both hit to point of aim about an inch and a half apart, (first shot was practically dead center), fully penetrating a 2x6. With my eyes and the Favorite's sights, this is as good as I can expect. These were quick "discreet" firings in the back yard, as it is a no no here. (Safe backstop and no neighbors behind me). Looking forward to a more substantial firing session soon, as this looks very promising. Need to aquire some more 3F as well, I am out. I have some 2F, but have not used any of it. Although Titegroup has shown to work very well so far...

[Chev. William]

Sounds like you have a start on a 'winner' shooter.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Spent some time the last few evenings resizing .327 Federal Magnum (.327FM) Brass to .32 Extra Long (.32XL) diameters with some 'quirky' results. Out of a batch of 50 cases being processed in a two Stage sizing process, first to .329" and second to .317", employing my "RC" press: two cases were 'lost' to forming error, I paused while the case was part way into the first sizing die. They buckled and formed a Bulge in diameter then the forces involved swaged the head down into the Shell Holder (SH), requiring a punch and hammer to get them out of the SH.
So I then had 48 cases sized to .329" diameter. I switched to the second sizing die, a .32 Long Colt Carbide one 'customized to size to .317" to fit my Barrels.
Running the cases into this die almost to the Rim top resulted in cases of .317" diameter with a displaced Brass 'roll' just above the rim and a case mouth area that no longer was circular for about .150" down from the mouth.
I presume there is something in the Sizing die interior that is doing the mouth distortion but have been unable to figure out what so far.

I have ordered a Drill Blank of .2965" Diameter to use to 'circularize' the mouth and upper case before trim operations.

I intend to use a Lathe to remove the 'roll' of Brass from the formed cases (my Friends Special Effects Shop Lathe when available for use).

I also 'lost' two more cases in the second operation due to 'pauses'; but, I believe, also due to Temperatures of the die and cases at the time. Mid-day temperature here is higher than the late evening or early morning temp. so Brass was 'larger' and weaker when these last two were attempted in sizing operation. All the other case sof the lot were done in early morning or late evening temp. conditions.

In this exercise, the cases were removed from the second operation die using a Punch and Hammer and I noted that the Carbide sizing ring seems to move down in the body, so started 'pushing' it back up into the die body by adding two more 'Fender Washers" to the one on top of the Stripper cup covered Primer Pocket Swage punch and applying Press ram top of travel 'toggle force multiplier' repeatedly to work the Carbide ring back in to the die body.

So to date my .32XLForming Experiment has resulted in 46 'good' sized cases to this stage of preparation and 4 'lost' to errors of process operation, most likely 'operator Errors'.

The lever end Force needed to form these .32 Extra Long parent cases is greater than I found needed to form the .25 Stevens parent cases made previously, so I have ordered a replacement "Ammomaster 2" handle to retrofit my "RC" press as it is around 4" longer; and I hope the longer length will return the lever end force needed back to the level found with the .25 Stevens parent case forming.

I may also need to reinforce my Table top where I mount the press.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Thursday I received a 19/64" HSS "Jobber Length" Drill Blank and ground a short taper on one end to use in 'circularizing the mouths of the previously sized down .327 Fed. Mag. Brass. I have now fully formed parent brass for .32 RF/CF cases.

I did also run a 1/2" Drill Bit into the top of my .32 Long colt sizing Die to clean out the narrowing just above the Carbide ring insert that distorted the case mouths.

Measured some of the cases and found them to be running from 1.195" down to about 1.160" lengths possibly due to the forces involved in squeezing the brass from .337" diameter to .317" diameter (.318 is the nominal but my cases need to be slightly smaller to fit my barrels).

I will probably trim these to an initial length of 1.150" to match .32 Extra Long RF case length.
If later I need some shorter cases, I can trim them again at that time.

I will also try making some .22RF Blank Adapters to check my tooling in the process on this Starline Brass as I have not done any Starline adapters previously.

So far:
.25 Stevens Adapters work with .22 Caliber Grade 1 PTL Blanks both without a notch for firing pin clearance and with such a notch in a Stevens Favorite with a .22RF Breech Block, no extractor, and a .25 Stevens Barrel.
The .25 Stevens case does not appear to lend itself to use with .25 Caliber nor .27 Caliber Blanks due to the limited wall remaining when machined to fit the Blank.

Added 20140806: A .25 Stevens Favorite Breech Block/firing pin with extractor and a .25 Stevens Barrel sometimes work and sometimes snag the rim of the Adapter. I discovered the firing pin was too long in the nose and in the travel cut so it both extended too far when the barrel was pointed down and too far back, fouling the hammer, when pointed up. My Gunsmith is reworking this action to correct the problems. Chev. William

.32 Long Colt cases converted to .22 RF Blank Adapters may also work with a .22 RF Breech Block and firing pin without a rim notch but any other firing pin position probably will require the Notch for pin tip clearance.

Previously used R-P cases (.22 Hornet parent brass) seem to split when the neck/shoulder is expanded to .250" inside diameter, possibly due to the previous use history (unknown reload history).
New PPU cases seem to rework to .25 Stevens sizes with seldom a loss unless I am careless, The PPU cases have a Wall thickness and long taper that causes interference with Trimmer pilots after sizing down in diameter. R-P Examples also have an internal taper that 'jams' a Lee Trimmer Pilot/Gauge unless the body near the pin tip is reduced to clear the inside taper, both in nose diameter and in pilot section length (the area near the Cutter end that is nominal inside diameter of the sized case). As Lee made them the pilot diameter at the 'neck' i sabout 3/4" long, I shortened the pilot diameter section to 1/4" and worked the nose body diameter down to about .20" at the end tapering back about 1/2" to the Lee body clearance diameter.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Saturday my new, longer, handle arrived and I installed it on my "RC" press.
The added 4" of overall length is also better available as it has a Ball style handle instead of the Cylindrical handle of the original so I can put the force on the end rather than along the length of the handle.
Saturday evening I down sized 25 more .327FM cases to .32LC Diameters and I was able to do it remaining seated and only my upper body used to force the handle to full travel with a two handed grip. Much Faster than before.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Tuesday, July 29th, is a Good Day. My Gunsmith completed fitting the first 1894 Stevens favorite action with upgraded Strength screws and a new Extractor and firing pin. it fired some .25 Caliber PTL loads but required 'double strikes' (fire, cock, and refire to discharge blank) measuring the resultant firing pin strikes, it appears the blank is being moved in the adapter/chamber with the first strike and then is solid for the second strike.

I brought the action and the barrel home ($150.00 labor charge) and did some checking and measuring of the chamber. It appears that the Rim rebate is Conical from wear and corrosion from around a Century of use. A .27 Caliber PTL sits in it about .009" to .011" below the barrel breech face and a .25 Caliber PTL Blank sits about .026" to .028" below the breech face plane.

Since the test rounds he used were made up of brass tubes cut to length and a .25 PTL blank pushed into the end using a .25ACP shell holder and a blocking washer to seat it with a small space between top of rim and brass tube end to allow for the Extractor; Now I know why the 'double Strike" is needed.

I will be taking the barrel back to the Gunsmith tomorrow, along with some of my tooling, some .27 Cal PTL Blanks, some .25 PTL Blanks, and one box of Western .25 Stevens (Long) RF cartridges so he can see how the originals fit these chambers. I will also take a second .25 Stevens barrel that I have already "Squared Up" the rim rebate using a cutter in a portable drill motor (done carefully and slowly with frequent stops to check progress). the 'Squared Up" barrel now has about a .060" deep rebate and a mostly 'square corner between chamber bore to rebate bottom and rebate bottom to rebate side wall. I will let the Gunsmith put a correct radius on the Chamber to Rebate corner.

There is still a difference in seating depth between the .25 and .27 blanks.

This I will discuss with the Gunsmith, along with the 'head space' correction(s) needed.

Also Tested were .25 Stevens Adapter cases with .22 Caliber blanks and both with and without a rim notch for firing pin clearance. Unfortunately it seems a Stevens .25 RF firing pin is too far out on the edge to fire a .22 Blank nor is it useable with or without a Notch. the upward angle built into the Favorite Breech Block firing pin hole causes a side strike on the case rim or the Blank rim.

So far the only versions of .25 Stevens RF alternate that work are the .27 Blank directly (using Breech seating of bullet and blank separately) and the .25 Blank in a Tubing sleeve to hold the bullet as a cartridge for loading in one package.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

While waiting for my Gunsmith to complete the corrections to my first Strengthened 1894 Stevens Favorite Action (appropriately marked with an "X" prefix serial number) I cut some of the Hobby Shop supply of Tubing into roughly 1.125" lengths then began trimming them to a suitable length and cleaned up the ID so I could press blanks into them.

I found that TOO MUCH of a champfer on the end ID that is intended for the Blank can result in the tube end 'flaring' out and over the Blanks' Rim, a Lot of work time to correct.

Yes there needs to be a inside champfer to lead the blank nose into the tube, but it does not need to be more than about 50% of the wall thickness.

I also Champfer the inside of the end which will take a bullet to about the same amount, then expand or 'bell' it slightly so a Lead Bullet will enter without 'shaving' it smaller, it gets 'swaged' enough going into the tube anyway so they are reasonably tight.
After completing the cartridges, I wipe the dried Liquid Alox off the exposed nose and test them in a dismounted Barrels' Chamber to make sure they seat on the rim rather than 'jam' on the Chamber 'throat' and that they 'fall out' when the barrel is tipped up.

So far I have loaded and completed 20 ".25 Stevens RF" cartridges of this 'tubing' design with 5 loaded with 63 grain "Hunters Bullet Supply" Lead Bullets that swaged down to fit as they were seated (they started out .258" diameter and the tubing ID is about .246" before bullet seating).

The remaining 15 are loaded with "Carolina Cast Bullets" made 51 grain "Ranch Dog .25ACP" bullets that start out .255" to .253" diameter depending on if I use the 'as cast' or 'sized' ones (both will seat in the tubing).

There are still about 20 pieces of tubing that have Blanks pressed in and now need final trimming to case length before seating bullets.

I have been using "Ramset" .25 Caliber Grade 3 Powder Tool Load (PTL) Blanks that come in ten 'shot' plastic strips designed to fit the "Hilti DX35" Stud Gun. these are 'star' crimped straight body blanks about .395" long; .246" body diameter; .298" rim diameter; and .047" to .050" rim thickness.

Others have used them in RF rifles with Adapters and report the Grade 3 yields around 940fps to 1050fps depending upon the caliber and weight of bullets fitted mostly using 70 to 90 grain bullets in .32 Long RF rifles.
I figure my smaller lighter bullets will probably get to about 1120fps to 1160fps from my 21" Stevens Favorite barrels, just 'Sonic' speed range.

There are generally available .25 Caliber PTL: blanks in grades 2, 3, and 4; with occasional grade 5 and 6 showing up. Unfortunately I have only found Grade 1 PTL blanks in .22 Caliber (on Amazon.com labeled "Simpson Strong Tie" and manufactured by Winchester according to the box).

I plan to buy more of the basic size (9/32"x.014"wall) 'hobby' tubing to make some more of these 'reload-able .25 Stevens RF cases so I can try various Grade blanks and bullets in one range session. The tubing comes in 12" and 36" lengths as sold by a local Model Railroad Hobby Shop as part of a range of .014" wall 'Telescoping' tubing sizes carried.

My process is to cut to a useful length (1.250"), push them through a .25ACP Lee Carbide Sizing Die, then begin the trimming to near final lengths, champfering the cut ends, and pressing the PTL load into one end and then final trim to case length, Belling the 'bullet end' and then seating a lubed bullet.

For my .25 Stevens Barrels I try to trim them to 1.118" to 1.120" due to the thinner rim of the Blanks compared to the original .25 Stevens Long RF cartridges. These PTL Blanks seem to seat about .010" deeper in the Rim Rebate than the Original Cartridges; but I do not believe this will present a problem as my firing pin has enough travel to set them off.

Shorter lengths are, of course, also usable in the same chambers.


Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

DRAT! My tool for pushing the tubing sections through my Carbide Sizing Die Failed.

I ordered two stock size replacement Lee "Lube and Size Kit" punches of .284 nominal size and upon receipt, made a "split collar" holding tool to allow turning the punch to fit my Die.

Wednesday I was able to use my Friends Shop and his Lathe to turn the first punch down, it cam out 'Loose' fit in my die. I decided to see how it worked before turning the second punch down.

Today I tried it with 30 pieces of cut Bras tubing and 29 worked out as desired. the 30th piece got 'stuck' in the die and required MUCH more force to finish the pass through the sizing die. It cam out with an extruded skirt having a .004" thick wall.

This punch is useable for my purposes.

I will eventually turn the second punch for a closer fit to the die ring.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Off Subject but i think This will interest All:

I completed Trimming some of the Tubing (9/32" x .014" Wall sized down to .274" OD in a .25ACP sizing die) to length and assembled a pair of 'test' cartridges using a Grade 4 .25 Caliber PTL blank and a 63 grain .258" diameter RFN Lead Bullet.
I pressed the Blank in one end of a trimmed tube and, after belling the other end, seated the bullet using a .25ACP seat/crimp die.
I did run the case in far enough to crimp the case tube to the bullet just at the 'crimp groove' in the bullet.

Wednesday I took the test cartridges to my Gunsmith's shop and we temporarily assembled my strengthened pivots 1894 Stevens Action to a 'way to much head space old Stevens '.25 Stevens' Barrel. It ended up with about .080" head space form breech face to cartridge end when seated in the barrel.

This is a deliberate test to see if the tubing is suitable for continued use as a cartridge case.

The Cartridge was fired successfully.
The Blank moved back in the tube as both moved back in the chamber toward the Breech face.
The 'unsupported' blank body just forward of the original rim 'ballooned' out to form a second 'rim'.
The original Rim 'Ballooned out until it formed a "T" shaped vent hole in the upper section.
The Bullet exited the barrel.
The Fired tube case showed expansion to fit the Chamber, growing from a .274" OD before firing to a .282" OD after firing.
The Blank end had a slight 'Bell' to it.
The Bullet end still had the Crimp in it, so the bullet left with a reduced diameter 'heel' I presume.
In spite of the Venting, my gunsmith reported a 'loud muzzle blast' or 'report' so the venting was near the end of bullet travel within the barrel.
It appears the edges of the tear 'vent' were rolled away rather than bit being torn off.
No detectable damage was found in the 1894 Stevens Action, the Breech Block face is still perpendicular to the Barrel center line and at the same distance from breech face to Rear face of Receiver Barrel Socket, pivots are still straight and linkage is tight.

Conclusions:
The Tubing is adequate for use as an Adapter Case between .25 Cal PTL Blanks (of nominal .248" OD) to .25 Stevens rifle chambers ( the original cartridge was .276" diameter and the worn chambers about .283" to 284" diameter).
The tubing either should not be crimped to the bullet OR the tubing 'neck should be reamed to reduce the .014" wall to something around .008" to .009" thickness.
The Blank's wall failed rather than the tubing wall, and at that only after being greatly distorted due to the excess head space of the experiment.
Normal Head space provisions would most likely not have caused the blank rim to fail as it did in this experiment, since the Blank moved to the rear far enough so that the original rim was completely outside the design chamber rim rebate.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Loaded up several of the 311090A boolits (Thanks Chev!) in my modified Long Colt cases that were
once fired. Did not resize them, or expand (since I currently do not have the means to crimp), only chamfered to ease bullet seating. These cases are about .299/.300 inside neck diameter. I had stated earlier that these cases are rather thin walled. The larger heel on these versus the 299153 seems to give much more neck tension. Did not notice any shaving during seating except for the red lube in the heel groove. Pulled one after seating and took much more effort. The 299153 boolit popped out with hardly any effort. Test fired two with smokeless, using 1.5 gr Titegroup and an emptied/trimmed 22 blank at 20 yards kneeling, and both hit to point of aim about an inch and a half apart, (first shot was practically dead center), fully penetrating a 2x6. With my eyes and the Favorite's sights, this is as good as I can expect. These were quick "discreet" firings in the back yard, as it is a no no here. (Safe backstop and no neighbors behind me). Looking forward to a more substantial firing session soon, as this looks very promising. Need to aquire some more 3F as well, I am out. I have some 2F, but have not used any of it. Although Titegroup has shown to work very well so far...

Have you done any more with your rifle? done any Target shooting to verify accuracy and develop loads? 'inquiring Minds would like to know'.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[partisan39]

I picked up some Dixie 32 RF reloadable brass for an antique Lee Arms Red Jacket No.4 revolver I had but I never got around to shooting it. I sold it on auction a while back. Same story on a Colt Pocket Positive 32 Long Colt I had. I still have an full box of 50 unprimed winchester 32 Short Colt brass I picked up decades ago. I was going to tool up with dies and at least reload 32 Short Colt for this revolver. Too many projects here. My new quest is find a way to convert a Chiappa Little Badger 22 LR into 9mm Flobert rimfire. They offer them stock in Europe but no one imports them into the US. I can't get them to just sell me a new barrel in 9mm F either. The barrels on the 22's are 16 1/2" while the 9mm F is 18" 1/2 so that's an issue. Any thoughts? Thanks, Wm

[tomsp8]

Have you done any more with your rifle? done any Target shooting to verify accuracy and develop loads? 'inquiring Minds would like to know'.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

Not yet, Chev.
I am planning on going to my sisters property next weekend to attend to pre-hunting season chores and
planning on benching it there. Funny, I just made a to-do note this morning to load up a few more with Titegroup...1.5 grains worked well, so will load a few each with 1.4 and 1.3 and chrono them. Will update the results afterwards.

[Chev. William]

I picked up some Dixie 32 RF reloadable brass for an antique Lee Arms Red Jacket No.4 revolver I had but I never got around to shooting it. I sold it on auction a while back. Same story on a Colt Pocket Positive 32 Long Colt I had. I still have an full box of 50 unprimed winchester 32 Short Colt brass I picked up decades ago. I was going to tool up with dies and at least reload 32 Short Colt for this revolver. Too many projects here. My new quest is find a way to convert a Chiappa Little Badger 22 LR into 9mm Flobert rimfire. They offer them stock in Europe but no one imports them into the US. I can't get them to just sell me a new barrel in 9mm F either. The barrels on the 22's are 16 1/2" while the 9mm F is 18" 1/2 so that's an issue. Any thoughts? Thanks, Wm

Partisan39,
Have you considered buying a Barrel Blank in suitable size and then fitting it to your Action and chambering it for the 9mm Folbert Rf cartridge? I know "Lothar Walther" lists many 'stock' barrel Blanks although I have not looked at the 9mm offerings as my 'Budget' limits me to about .32 maximum sizes.
Also "Green Mountain" may list some 9mm Barrels on their Web Page.

Would you consider selling the box of 50 .32 Short Colt Empty Cases?

Best Regards,
Chev. W@illiam