WTB WTT 7.65 argentine form / trim die

[Drm50]

I’ve got set of Bonanza 7.65 dies like new I don’t need any more.

[Antietamgw]

Stick with shooting! There are already enough Crazy Chicken Gals

[azrednek]

When I was reforming 06 blanks into 7.65, 7.7, 7 and 8MM Mauser. I started with a 8X57 trim and form die for all the different cartridges. After hack sawing the excess I then trimmed the brass to the apx length. After a trip through a full length sizing die, it was back in the trimmer to the correct length. I learned to trim the brass just slightly short as it grows a bit when fire formed. When I sized the brass I backed off the sizing die slightly bumping the brass’ shoulder just enough so it would be jammed tightly against the rifle chamber’s wall. I fire formed brass loaded to apx 90% of max.

Military chambers are a bit more generous than commercial. Best I recall I rarely had to reduce the neck’s thickness. Just for the heck of it I also reformed some other calibers like 243 and 22-250 and discovered the neck’s thickness could be critical. I simply put the cartridge in a drill, used sand paper to thin out the neck then another trip through FL die. The internal neck trimmers as far as I was concerned was a waste of money and time. Might be different if I was shooting in bench rest matches but I achieved about the best accuracy one might expect from military rifles.

The US and Canadian 06 blanks I was using were mostly dated late 50 and early 60’s. The questionable brass from war time production might be for the lack of a better description “iffy”. The only big problem I had was due to my believing the gun show vendor’s clams the 1960’s Canadian blanks were not corrosive. After I fire formed about 100 7.7 Jap I loaded the brass again. After shooting about half I stuck the rest aside. A few years later I discovered the brass was corroding internally and the corrosion was bleeding through. I salvaged the expensive Hornady .313 J-words and tossed the brass and powder. I also discarded and salvaged some 7.65 and 8MM that was fire formed with the corrosive primers. The US blanks I knew were corrosive and re-primed before fire forming.

I saved the blank’s powder from apx a thousand rds, a friend took it and used it to load 38 Special. I wasn’t around when he shot it but he claimed it worked. I have no idea how much was used in each round. He claimed he gradually increased the load until it showed signs of over pressure then backed off. To risky for me but my friend was the type that started at published max then worked his way up.

I trimmed and de-primed several hundred using the 8MM trim die. Planning later to use them for other calibers as the Turk surplus 8X57 ammo hit the market and was dirt cheap. Guess luck wasn’t on my side as I lost them along with other brass, loaded ammo and components in a house fire. To top it off before I could salvage the mess. Some kids broke into the burned out house and dumped a bunch of ammo, components, furniture etc and even a motorcycle in my swimming pool.

[Phat Man Mike]

Well this afternoon the file/forming die showed up. The Girlfriend has been sizing and trimming brass already.

[cwlongshot]

Woohoo

I made 50 more today myself.

Annealed the cases, lubed, then ran thru sizer die. Trimmed to length. Turned necks. Then completed my case prep. Flash holes crimps and debur. They are in tumbler now to remove all lube.

Then size and prime and put up on shelf.

CW

[azrednek]

I used and tested various lubes for reforming. I don’t want to open the best lube can of worms but I had the best luck using STP lube in a tube. It used to be sold in bicycle shops for chain lube. Basically the old thick and gooey lubes worked the best. One has to use a minimal amount of any lube as just a tad to much will leave dimples and worse case scenario dents or wrinkles in the critical shoulder area. Dimples will usually iron out fire forming. Don’t push your luck though with dents in the shoulder as some of the hot gas will sneak by. Be advised that reforming with the thin spray on lubes like One Shot. Keep your stuck cartridge removal tool handy as you will need it.

Be especially careful with 7.65 Argie fire formed in a 91 action. There is no vent hole for escaping gas and it blows back into your face. As I went through the learning curve I was very lucky fire forming in a 91 Argentine. Cost me a set of safety glasses. Had I not been wearing the glasses it would have been a toasted eyeball. I also learned from a conversation with Steve Hornady. To load at 90% of published max. Following bad advice I read in a late 70’s or early 80’s gun rag to fire form using mild loads. Best I recall the gun rag author was using fairly mild loads of 2400 fire forming rifle brass. Best I remember and please keep in mind my conversation with Steve Hornady was in the early 80’s in the show room at the NRA Convention in Phoenix. The stout hand loads were not needed when fire forming rimmed cartridges like 303 Brit, 444 Marlin, 45/70 or 30/40 Krag into some of the wildcat cartridges of that era.