Rim turning lathe

[junkbug]

Hey guys:
Do any of you have experience turning down case rims, to make cases for difficult to find cases out of more common ones? What equipment would I need to trim the rims, and perhaps slightly deepen the extractror groove, on a 30-30 Winchester case, to make it suitable to use in a 30 Remington. I do not need a high speed super volume set-up. Can this be done with additional attachments to a Forester case trimming tool?

Thanks for all the help.

[MtGun44]

Collets. Make it easy.

I think the Forster would be too flimsy, but sometimes a tricky amateur can do
things with the equipment that he has.

Bill

[selmerfan]

This sounds like a recipe for disaster. I don't have all the details, but I would wager that if you try to turn an extractor groove in a piece of .30-30 brass you will sufficiently weaken the brass enough to get you hurt bad.

[selmerfan]

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=1601217481

[rbuck351]

I made up 50 30Rem cases from 30/30 cases and they work fine. You are only cutting on the thickest part of the case head and won't thin it enough to worry about. I use one of the HF 7x10 mini lathes. It's a little expensive for just this project but I have also made several gas check makers, boolit sizing dies. I even made and chambered a barrel insert in 22KH to fit my TC 44mag barrel.It's one of the handiest tools on my loading bench.

[Alan in Vermont]

This sounds like a recipe for disaster. I don't have all the details, but I would wager that if you try to turn an extractor groove in a piece of .30-30 brass you will sufficiently weaken the brass enough to get you hurt bad.

You would lose! There are a lot of old calibers, that brass is no longer made for, that go bang using cases that are made by remodeling something else. It's pretty common to turn new extractor grooves ahead of turned down rims. There's a lot of solid brass in the case head that isn't affected by the extractor groove. Section a 30-30 case sometime and you will see what I'm talking about.

[junkbug]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I do not have the money, experience or room for a full blown machinist's lathe. Maybe if I saw a little one at Harbor Freight, I might buy one.

Midway is out of brass right now. that will change eventually, though.

Thanks again.

[Pressman]

When turing 41 Mag rims to fit Herter's 401 Power Mag cylinders I chucked the cases in a drill press and a lathe bit in the drill press vise. Set the vise to the correct position to remove the desired amount of brass then it was simple to chuck a case, lower it onto the cutter and it wa finished.
Simple,
Ken

[MtGun44]

Turning a groove in the thick, solid part of case head should be no issue at all. How about all
the cases with grooves turned in the solid part of the head - AT THE FACTORY?

Bill

[Gswain]

you could get a fine tooth hacksaw blade, and clamp 2 wooden blocks on either side of it for a depth control, then secure it to a bench. chuck your brass in a drill motor, and spin it on the blade where you want to deepen the rim.

[rbuck351]

Removing the rim can be done with a variaty of bubba techniques. Cutting the extractor groove in the right place, depth, rim thickness needs to be done with a sharp tool bit held in a very rigid controlable tool holder. I ground a HSS tool bit to match the extractor groove of the case I'm trying to match, trim the rim off and plunge straight in to a preset depth. I have made both 30 Rem from 30/30 and 7.62 x 25 from 38spl before you could get commercial cases. This does work quite well but it will be hard to do with out a lathe.

[scrapcan]

look around for a used unimat lathe. They are small and if you fidn one where no one knows what it is it will fairly inexpensive.

Or if you know a watch repair man, they might turn some cases for you. Or you might be able to buy custom brass from grayback brass.

[Catshooter]

junk,

This is what I use for this sort of task; http://sherline.com

I've been told it's too small for gun/loading work but I've used it for years, both the lathe and the mill and am very happy. These dudes are quite small and you can even set them up to store in a cabinet or draw. I'm very limited in shop space and they work very well.


Cat

[MtGun44]

Pretty cool, Cat. I have a bench mill, about 4 times that size, but still reasonably small,
and it is plenty for all the gun work I have ever tried. Looks like it would do a lot of mold
and pistol work.

Bill

[Artful]

Pretty cute there Catshooter, I think that's got to be closest to the smallest I've seen.
http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/Clarke-CL250M-Variable-Speed-Metal-Lathe--9492.html
http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/cl250ml.jpg

[kywoodwrkr]

junk,

This is what I use for this sort of task; http://sherline.com

I've been told it's too small for gun/loading work but I've used it for years, both the lathe and the mill and am very happy. These dudes are quite small and you can even set them up to store in a cabinet or draw. I'm very limited in shop space and they work very well.


Cat
One of my instructors gave me a Denford MicroMill(Looks just like the Sherline) this last year.
Has the software with it but didn't have computer.
Got computer(s) this last week for it so should be metal borne before long.
The Denford is in a cabinet with a clear plastic face.
Usually relegated to engraving, which I had been doing on a Haas CNC mill.
Spindle is not as rigid as needed for any fairly heavy work in my opinion.
I've enjoyed making various little jigs for it as well as custom T-nuts and etc.
My adult day care center is so much fun![smilie=l:
Heck, may even get to teach there this next fall.
Huum, get to use the equipment and get paid too.
As Peppard would say, I love it when a plan comes together.:p

[selmerfan]

Well, this goes to show that I'm not a machinist! :) If others have done it, it obviously can be done. I stand corrected.

[Clark]

This week I have been working on getting a machine gun barrel to fit on a rimmed bolt action rifle.

I cut off the rim on a case by putting the case in a collet in the mill and a lathe tool in the mill vise.

I also made a headspace gauge that has a rim that is one thread turn thicker than the usual case rim. This allows me to check headpace vs clocking without the extractor interfering with the asymmetrical extractor relief cut on the barrel breech.
I milled out a mini rim for the extractor to grip the headspace gauge.

In my case, 16TPI = .0625"

[Catshooter]

One thing I really appreciate about the Sherline is all the tooling you can get for it. A lathe or mill without any tooling isn't gonna do much work.

The man behind the Sherline company has said that if he markets a piece of tooling and you have to modify your machine to make it work then he has failed as a designer.

Except for painting, anodizing and casting they do everything in house, which I also like. Nothing overseas!

They will sell you every single part you can possibly need to repair your machine, or you can send it to them and they'll fix it.


Cat