Took my 71/84 out yesterday. Rifle shot a foot high and slightly left. Load: 26 grains of Imr 4198. Rcbs 44-370. Drops at 393 grains. 3.5" 5 shot group at 100 yards. 4 were in 2 inches.
I used 45-90 brass, and fl sized then trimmed. Rims had to be turned down a bit to fit bolt face. Primers backed out halfway. That is to be understood because of the difference in the rims.
Upon reloading the cases back up, I discovered I could use a 45 acp carbide sizing die to neck size the case. Works great. Thought I would pass along this info to those working with these neat old rifles.
That's good to know information. Thanks, iron brigade.
Iron Brigade, I also had had your problem with excessive headspace with 45-90 brass,having misfires with shallow F-pin strikes. I clamped a steel rod in a vice, slid the case over it and used a small brass hammer to tap around the rim turning it downward , thereby increasing rim headspace. It worked well so I later made a simple little die to do all my cases. I never thought to use .45 die, a good idea as my Lee set of dies are kind of hard on my brass.
What a great idea, could you make me one of those dies? I would gladly pay you for it.
I will be making a new thread here when the base forming die for the brass gets here, I will post pictures of how to convert the 45-90 over to 43 Mauser using the die and of course where to buy the die from if he wants to make more for others. I'll put some pics of the rifle up too of course, and eventually a range report.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." -Thomas Jefferson
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." -Thomas Jefferson
I just slid an O-ring in front of the rim the first time i fired my cases and has had no problems with headspace and/or primers backing out. That way the shoulder moves forward to where the case lies against the bolt. Then again sizing/forming the case the first time you could just size short and check until the case will barely ckamber and call that your sizing deapth.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |