Lathe Mounting 348 Brass for reforming to 43 Spanish

[DonMountain]

I have an old Remington Rolling Block rifle I bought 20 or 30 years ago at a gun show. I bought a box of 20 reformed cartridges for it (made out of 348 Winchester casings) and an RCBS boolit mold and the rifle shoots pretty well. And about 20 years ago I bought a bag of 348 brass with the intention of reforming it into 43 Spanish. As part of this process, the base of the casing has to be turned down in a lathe some along with some of the sides of the casing down near the base. My question is, what is the best way to mount these casings in the small lathe I have to do this turning? I am not highly experienced in running this lathe my brother gave me. It has a 4 jaw chuck and centers and stuff like that.

[45 2.1]

Cut a stepped rod about the size of the case head so that the step fits very closely in the primer pocket. Center drill that loosely for a decapping pin. Turn a rod slightly smaller than the neck ID and center drill one end so you can heat it and drive in a decapping pin some and center drill the other end for a live center. Put the big one in the chuck all centered up, insert the pin end of the rod into the case mouth thru the flash hole, place the case head on the stepped rod so that the pin goes in it's hole and put the other end on a live center.... tighten it up and spin and cut. Works very well.................

[Bent Ramrod]

If you're careful, it's possible to indicate your .43 Spanish sizing die to zero runout in your 4-jaw chuck and tap the case in for a friction fit. You can support the primer pocket end with a light pressure with your live center, or almost none with the dead center. You won't be taking much more than a shave off the base of the case, so it shouldn't loosen up with light cuts. Leave the decapping pin out of the die and you can tap the case back out with a rod through the headstock. Replace with another .348 case and repeat.

[EDG]

One of the easiest ways is to get a Wilson case holder for the Wilson case trimmer.
The case holder is reamed to match the case body on the inside and is 1" diameter straight on the OD.
Chuck it in a 1" 5C collet for effortless case holding or use a 3 jaw if you have a good one.
To hold a case just tap it into the holder until the taper od the case body locks it in place.
To remove after machining knock out with a rod.

[frnkeore]

I'm a retired machinist of 45 years and I would do it similar to 45 2.1, my method will be more rigid. First expand the neck to to 43 cal in your die and you'll have a larger more rigid area to work with. Turn a piece that will be a very close fit in all the necks and face it off. Drill a decapping pin hole in it, it only has to be a close fit and you don't need to press it in, it won't be able to go anywhere and it's only to keep this piece centered. You will have to turn it around and indicate it to drill a center hole for the tail stock center. Use a "live" (one that turns with the work) center if you have one but, if you only have a "dead" center you can grease it and it will be fine.

Chuck a piece of 1" stock and turn a recess to just fit the rim. Drill a hole for a decapping pin.

This fixture will act as a clutch to hold the case to the rim recess and allow the spindle to spin it. The pin aligns the piece that goes through the neck with the center. The flat face on that piece pushs the case head against the recess on the chuck side to act as a clutch.

Make each of these items accurately and the job will turn out as good as a factory case.

Frank

[curator]

The Buffalo Arms .348-.43 Spanish cases had both the case rim and head swaged to the correct size, retaining the brass thickness at the base and creating the correct rim thickness for proper head-space. .43 Spanish cases made by thinning the case head diameter are very prone to case head separations after only a few reloadings. I turned my .348 cases to match my large chamber diameter not the smaller COTW specs. Even with careful fire-forming and no resizing whatever I never got more than a couple of loadings from the ones I made. A lot of work expended for poor results. My BuffaloArms cases are going strong after 20+ reloads. Of course, YMMV.

[leadman]

Maybe Buffalo Arms would reform your brass for a price. Can't hurt to call them. I have some 45-70 that was stretched and made into 8X58RD by them and it works very well.

[45 2.1]

I'm a retired machinist of 45 years and I would do it similar to 45 2.1, my method will be more rigid. Frank

Same results Frank..... I've altered well over two thousand cases that way with uniform results. The only problem with what you've said is the rim couldn't be reduced easily if necessary. I reduce rims, cut new larger extractor grooves and thin/uniform case heads and walls like this. Some folks uniform cases with an arbor also.

[bigted]

in my experience the Bertram cases ...[even tho they are a bit spendy]... work the best. I have some 44-90 cases that I trimmed to fill the whole chamber but they are around .015 thinner then the Bertram cases and the 44 cases allow the headspace to be enough to back out the primers upon firing. I paid a bit more for those Bertram cases but I have loaded them numerous times with no failing yet and im bettin that the 20 cases I bought have been loaded at least 20 times with both smokless and blackpowder.

my old military Remington rifle shoots very well and I am re-tickled everytime I take it out for an afternoon of exercise.

the Bertram cases are well worth the higher cost in my opinion. however this does not allow foolin with the lathe and the satisfaction of a "done em myself" thing.