forming 7.5 french

[james23]

has anyone made 7.5 French brass out of 30/06 or anything else?
thanks

[OptimusPanda]

I looked into it once and the case head is too small for the extractor to grab. I think the normal way to make 7.5 French is to use 6.5 Swedish.

[DonMountain]

I looked into it once and the case head is too small for the extractor to grab. I think the normal way to make 7.5 French is to use 6.5 Swedish.

I use a French MAS 36/51 for hunting deer with converted cases from Remington 6.5x55 Swedish brass. Its pretty obvious that the French copied the 6.5x55 cartridge and just wanted a little larger bullet diameter as they are almost identical. And the conversion is easy and the finished cases come out within thousanths of the correct length. And I shoot the same 0.309 lead boolets for deer hunting with it as I do with my 30-40 Krag and my 308's and my 30-06's. But I could probably get by with a 0.308 sized boolet in that rifle since the bore is a really tight 308.

[EDG]

I have used both 6.5X55 Swedish Mauser and 7.5X55 Schmidt Rubin.
I have some candidates that might be good material for forming. 6.5X55 brass made by PPU that was trimmed a little bit too much.

The head of the Schmidt Rubin is too large as is so I forced it into a large heavy wall drill bushing with a hydraulic press.

[DonMountain]

The head of the Schmidt Rubin is too large as is so I forced it into a large heavy wall drill bushing with a hydraulic press.

When I do a case conversion, I look through my reloading manuals for a case with similar dimensions that are long enough to form the final product. And also look at the many operations that it will take to do the forming of the new case. So I would suggest looking up the dimensions of the French 7.5 x 54 cartridge and then look through your books for a possible case to perform the conversion on that is cheap, available, and within easy resizing dimensions. Meaning that the case head has to be very close, the shoulder should be long enough, and the case mouth should be a little smaller. So, your obvious pick for a parent cartridge to form the French cartridge is what?

[EDG]

Have fun with your books.
Your books do not tell you the exact the size of your chamber at the case head does it?
Your books do not tell you the exact size of the brass at the head does it? No it is only a book with reference dimensions.
The only way to find out the real dimensions is measure the real item.
You will note that the real item for 6.5X55 brass for both RP and WW brass are under size to CIP specifications so that means the book might be off if you use those 2 sources of 6.5X55 brass.
European and Scandinavian made brass are both larger than the RP and WW brass and meet the CIP spec.
You might have to check Federal brass to find out that it is also the same size as the CIP specification.

Now you don't the size of my chamber.
You don't know the head size of the PMC 6.5X55 brass that I reformed nor the head size of the Norma 7.5X55 brass that I reformed.
So you tell me what you think worked best?
It is not so obvious is it...
Is all of that in your reference book?
I would suggest that you add some more steps to your process.

Don't rely on the books for more than reference dimensions.
You have to check the actual brass you plan on using and the chamber of the rifle you are going to shoot it in.

BTW what brass would you recommend for long lasting .303 British brass or for making 6.5 Jap brass that does not bulge.?
It is a trick question of a sort.

When I do a case conversion, I look through my reloading manuals for a case with similar dimensions that are long enough to form the final product. And also look at the many operations that it will take to do the forming of the new case. So I would suggest looking up the dimensions of the French 7.5 x 54 cartridge and then look through your books for a possible case to perform the conversion on that is cheap, available, and within easy resizing dimensions. Meaning that the case head has to be very close, the shoulder should be long enough, and the case mouth should be a little smaller. So, your obvious pick for a parent cartridge to form the French cartridge is what?

[james23]

Thanks guys, I'm good now as I bought 268 PPU 7.5 French brass from a guy who sold a rifle. Found the ad just after I made the first post. Good to know about the 6.5 x 55 brass though but that brass is dear to me for my Swedes.

[DonMountain]

Have fun with your books.
Your books do not tell you the exact the size of your chamber at the case head does it?
Your books do not tell you the exact size of the brass at the head does it? No it is only a book with reference dimensions.
The only way to find out the real dimensions is measure the real item.

Now you don't the size of my chamber.
You don't know the head size of the PMC 6.5X55 brass that I reformed nor the head size of the Norma 7.5X55 brass that I reformed.
So you tell me what you think worked best?

Is all of that in your reference book?
I would suggest that you add some more steps to your process.

Don't rely on the books for more than reference dimensions.

BTW what brass would you recommend for long lasting .303 British brass or for making 6.5 Jap brass that does not bulge.?
It is a trick question of a sort.

I apologize for trying to help someone else out on this web site with my experiences. I think I need to be somewhere else.

[Ed in North Texas]

I apologize for trying to help someone else out on this web site with my experiences. I think I need to be somewhere else.

Personally, I've found The Handloaders Manual of Cartridge Conversions, Donnelly & Donnelly, to be my first go-to for recommendations for donor cartridges. Not perfect, but a good start. Also Cartridges of the World, (which Donnelly is alleged to have copied cartridge dimensions from).

That being said, if I hadn't loaded up on new primed* cases a few years ago when they were being sold off by the French, I'd buy 1 or 200 Prvi Partizan new Boxer cases @ $0.58 each (Graf's). Even being retired, I have only so many hours in a day (and in my 7th decade I'm getting lazy). And reading on, I find that the OP did get some.

Hang in there, people are people and we have a better than average group here on Cast Boolits. Reminds me of a sign at a town I used to pass through on my way home "Welcome to __, home of 1000 friendly people and a few old grouches."

* Berdan, Corrosive - but I never let a weapon fired with corrosive ammo sit without cleaning past getting home from the range

[bouncer50]

I have 3 French rifles. The best to use beside factory 7.5 French reloadable case is the 6.5x55 Swed. Next would be the 30-06 or 270 or 25-06 family of brass. The 30-06 brass will swell some in the chamber. Like making 30-06 to 7.7 Jap which i do. The 7.5 and 7.7 Jap the factory chamber pressure is low like around 40,000 pounds. As long as the extracter can catch the rim it good to go. Both the 7.5 F and the 7.7 Jap early model can be rechamber to 308 which have been done and are strong enough for higher pressure rounds. But i have no problems using the 30-06 family of brass for making ammo for either rifles.

[Expat74]

I would advise against using .30-06 simply because it's too much of a swell the brass has to do. Mine always cracked along the body of the case sending a gas storm in my face. Not pleasant at all. I'd go with 7.5 Swiss cases.

[KenT7021]

The US branded 6.5x55 brass is not really suitable for 7.5x55 French since it's head size is the same as .30-06.I formed some cases a number of years ago and fired it thru a MAS49/56.It worked but there was considerable swelling of the cases.I just started buying PPU brass when it became available.