1901 Remington Rolling Block 7x57

[Battis]

I annealed, trimmed and sized 14 .30-06 cases until they chambered (2.255" case length). I expanded the neck slightly to take the .285 174 gr bullets bought from bullet maker 57. The case would hold 14 grs TrailBoss, so I loaded them with approx. 10 grs to start. I also loaded 6 rounds made from older 7mm cases. At 100 yds, they gonged the gong every time, though it took some time for them to get there. No splits, no ejection problems, very little recoil (I'll increase that load or try another powder).
The bore slugged at .285. Bullet maker 57's bullets seem to be just right. Forming the cases from .30-06 isn't very hard or time consuming, plus I can get the extra case length needed. Geez, it almost looks like I know what I'm doing.
Nice rifle to shoot.

[Battis]

After the time spent forming these cases, should I buy a neck sizing die or partially resize with FL die?

[stubbicatt]

Something to consider after you get some non ruptured cases is to send 3 to C&H Tool and Die and ask them to make a custom die for you. Not terribly expensive considering.

[Buckshot]

............From the photo of your rifle, that looks like a M1897 to me. The rear sight gives it away. The barrel on mine is stamped "7mm SM" for 7mm Spanish Mauser. The barrel on mine is like new, yet the firing pin is a bit larger in OD then one might like to see in a 40K psi cartridge.

I've heard the headspace issue time and again about RB's, and the fact remains that if the case is fully supported in the chamber with the breech block closed, you're home free. Doesn't mean you'll like the looks of the empty case when you extract it You can take a fired case out of the chamber of my RB and a 30 cal jacketed slug will almost fall through the caseneck! The body of the case is pretty much as it should be. After resizing the caseneck the case slides right back into the chamber.

Due to the generous caseneck OD I make the 7x57 out of 30-06 brass as this makes the casenecks much thicker. Regardless I anneal the necks after the 3rd firing. So far I've only lost a few, but I don't shoot it a whole lot. A befits this board I use the RCBS 7mm-168 cast slug as cast with a GC seated and hand lubed. It shoots very well with 23.0 grs of IMR 4198.

..............Buckshot

[Battis]

It has the 1901 stamp on the tang. I pulled the stock and found a serial number (5348) on the tang and another 3 digit number on the stock. I've been using old 30-06 brass that works fine except for the cases that I cut too long in the neck don't eject well, or at all. A Smart Car with the doors closed just about fits into a fired case. I got a Lee neck sizing die but even neck sizing has to be done in steps - I think I need a fatter bullet (I'm using .285). I tried a chamber cast but I'm cerrosafe challenged - someday I'll get it right. I've tried 10 gr and 12 grs of Trail Boss and it's very accurate with either.
For the heck of it, I did a chamber cast with a mixture of beeswax, paraffin and Olive oil that didn't tell me much (way too much time on my hands), but when I cleaned that mixture out of the barrel with hot water, it pulled all the junk out of the rifling, junk that I didn't know was there. The barrel is amazingly clean now.

[Battis]

question deleted (the answer was right in front of me)

[EDG]

A friend of mine had one of these in very good condition.
A fired case looks like it was fired in a 7x57 Ackley improved.

When fired the heavy firing pin fall drove the loaded round forward jamming the neck into the throat.
This prevented the neck from releasing the bullet. This blew the primer pocket and the escaping gas blew back around the firing pin blowing the hammer back to full cock. The breech block blew open and the case was half ejected. The blown primer was stuck to the nose of the firing pin.

He took once fired .270 brass and cut it to the right length and then pushed the shoulder back to exactly fit the chamber. After that the old rifle shot normally. He had to neck size since the brass from his FL die did not look like the fired brass that came out of his chamber.

[Battis]

I mistakenly added overall length to the reformed 7x57 cases, then I went back over the posts
and read Leadman's post:

The extra length is most likely from the base to the datum line on the shoulder that determines headspace specs.

Even though I formed the new shoulders from the 30-06 in the correct spot, and the "longer" cases chambered, adding extra overall length to the cases caused the fired cases not to eject properly, or at all. I trimmed them to the proper length and all is good.
A chamber cast would have helped.

[Battis]

After neck sizing and reloading, some of the fired cases would not chamber. Then I remembered curator's post:

One consideration when reloading for this gun is that the breech blocks are not always exactly perpendicular to the chamber resulting in a slight angle to the case head after firing. With one of my rollers, I had to correctly orient each reloaded cartridge in order to close the breech. Marking each new case with a notch on the rim then positioning the mark at 12 o'clock, allowed me to index them correctly for subsequent firing.

I spun the cartridges in the chamber until they slid in.
Great info on this forum.

[curator]

Battis,

I am happy to have provided information of value, based on my actual experience with my personal Remington rolling block rifles of which I have an even dozen in different calibers. An interesting characteristic that seems to be linked to the "Y" chromosome is the propensity to only read the directions AFTER the thing doesn't work. To be kind, you could not have known the importance of the information until after you had the problem. Sometimes it is difficult to learn when you don't know what you don't know. My English grandfather would often say:"it is a wise man that has plumbed the depths of his own ignorance." Orienting your brass cases (I notch mine and load at 12 o'clock) and trimming them to the chamber length will allow you to shoot 175 grain/.286" boolits with excellent accuracy as long as you don't exceed your alloy's compression strength. About 1800 fps seems to be the limit for accuracy with mine with WDWW+2% tin; BHN24.

[Battis]

I'm a visual, "Ah, there it is" kind of guy. The first time I fired the gun, the cartridges chambered perfectly, though some didn't eject (too long). The second time, some of them wouldn't chamber at all until I spun them. A lot of info posted on potential possibilities hasn't happened yet (to me), and might not happen, but if it does happen to me or someone else, hopefully that little light will come on. Like you said, you don't know what you don't know, but that's what all learning is about. You can't know everything about everything.
For me, safety is everything. Safety advice I take very seriously, to the point of obsession. A case that won't chamber because of a slanted case head is not a danger, compared to a double charged case that will chamber. The "depth of ignorance" is only a factor if you don't learn from that depth.
That's why I ask a lot of questions. For example, would FL sizing of the fired cases remove the angle or slant from the case heads, and would that stress the brass too much at the case head? Thanks for the info.

[Battis]

I've fired a hundred plus reloaded rounds with no problems. Then today this happened. The case was an old 7mm - not reformed 30-06. I fired it before and neck sized it. Today, it chambered, but hard. Buzzed my forehead a little when it split. It didn't split totally until I knocked it out with a rod. 14 grs of Trail Boss. Every other round was fine.
I'm sure I missed the signs.

[ascast]

I've fired a hundred plus reloaded rounds with no problems. Then today this happened. The case was an old 7mm - not reformed 30-06. I fired it before and neck sized it. Today, it chambered, but hard. Buzzed my forehead a little when it split. It didn't split totally until I knocked it out with a rod. 14 grs of Trail Boss. Every other round was fine.
I'm sure I missed the signs.

This is the result I had as pictured after 3 full length sizings and full throttle loads. It was not a length of chamber issue but a diameter of chamber issue. It seems they were cut to a larger diameter in the base area.
Modern brass is OK as long as you do not full length size.

[Geezer in NH]

Pass at $350 if you are nut's. Worth at lest 500 IMHO even though it needs a 4473 as it is not an antique. Nice strong action for rebuilding and you can sell the rest of the parts other than the action that is worth all of the $300.

[Battis]

I made a cerrosafe chamber cast. How do I interpret the cast to determine the correct mold?

[Battis]

After a lot of thinking and measuring and re-slugging, I decided on this mold. It's on the way.
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product...oducts_id=1781