One of my latest acquisitions. A Glisenti 1889 Bodeo officer's revolver in 10.4 mm.
Of course I want to shoot it. A little research and here is what I came up with. The .44 special brass makes a good parent brass for the 10.4 mm and I have literally hundreds of .44 special cases. The case needs to be shortened from 1.16" to .89". The rim diameter on the .44 is .514 and on the 10.4mm it is .505. However for whatever reason the rim of the .44 fits perfectly in the Bodeo cylinder. So no need to reduce the rim diameter. Usually I use a small chop saw to reduce substantial brass length followed by a trimmer, but on this one I skipped the saw and went straight to trimming. I bought a drill power adapter for my Forster trimmer and it works great.
Here is the result:
I have my brass and now I need a bullet. Tom from Accurate Molds (I will plug him and his company at every opportunity) made me a 4 cavity aluminum mold that throws a 175 gr. .424 bullet and Buffalo Arms Co. was the source for a .424 sizing die that would fit my Lyman Lubrisizer. The bullet is fairly close to the original. I used Sagebrush black powder lube.
A used a .303 British sizing die which provided just the right shape and a large magnum pistol primer. The expander die was a bit tricky. The case was too short for the Lee .44 special expander die that I already had. However the expander plug on the Lee die moves up and down so I unscrewed the top of the die and but a nut that fit on top of the expander plug and put it back together. This held the plug low enough to flare the 10.4mm case mouth. Also the Lee powder through expander dies are awesome for loading black powder because I can put a metal funnel in the top and expand and charge in one step. I do not use a drop tube for blackpowder pistol cases. I find it makes little difference. I used 18 grs. of Goex 3F blackpowder.
I was able to use the .44 special seating die and factory crimp die. Here are 6 loaded rounds in the cylinder:
I will post a range report once I get to shoot it. This cold weather has lead me to doing mostly indoor projects. I am expecting decent results within the limitations of a 125 year old revolver with a HEAVY trigger. The gun is built like a tank and will certainly shoot safely with blackpowder. We will see about accuracy. Being able to hit what I aim at is definitely a plus, but the real thrill for me is bringing these old guns back to life.