Rimfire ammunition

[cwtebay]

This is something that I have thought about and even messed around with a bit.
How difficult would it be to make a reasonable number of rimfire cartridges? I truly enjoy obsolete cartridges, and enjoy shooting them more. I would love to shoot my 1866 before I die +with something other than chamber adaptors and single shot loading. And without trying to shoot antique ammunition with a 60% failure rate (yes....did that...))
I have made the cups from copper, have the primer compound and procedures - the 'pinching" of the rim is where I get lost / nervous. Anyone else try this? Any knowledge out there?
Once again.... not interested in manufacturing beyond my own needs, more interested than practical.

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[AntiqueSledMan]

Hello cwtebay,

It would be easier to convert your 1866 to center fire.
Here's how to do it without any damage to your rifle.
https://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php?topic=60404.0

AntiqueSledMan.

[cwtebay]

I appreciate the information, and I have converted 32 and 25 rimfire to center fire - but I've got my heels dug in with trying to get going with making a little correct ammunition.

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[Wayne Smith]

Are you talking about crimping a heeled boolit? Or crimping the rim of the rimfire when making it? Bernie at Old West Molds has what you need or can make it to crimp a heeled boolit. Would need to know a lot more about your case making process for one of our experts to advise you if you are talking of the bottom rim of the rimfire case. I assume you know you are making extremely low pressure cases?

[cwtebay]

Are you talking about crimping a heeled boolit? Or crimping the rim of the rimfire when making it? Bernie at Old West Molds has what you need or can make it to crimp a heeled boolit. Would need to know a lot more about your case making process for one of our experts to advise you if you are talking of the bottom rim of the rimfire case. I assume you know you are making extremely low pressure cases?No, pinching the priming compound into the rim. Bernie made my mould quite a while ago.
The cups are made from a copper alloy, drawn by a machinist and a press to arrive at the "T" shaped pre primed appearance.
With black powder, the load I was planning on is in the range of 19,000psi - I took a couple of prototypes to a metalurgist who estimated that the case should be tolerant of 30,00psi +/-.
Thank you in advance.

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[Bazoo]

Had a thought you might not have had. Those failures of original ammo, why not reload them? The case is already made, so the hard part is done. Might not be an answer to your problem but could be an interim solution.

[cwtebay]

Had a thought you might not have had. Those failures of original ammo, why not reload them? The case is already made, so the hard part is done. Might not be an asset to your problem but could be an interim solution.Great plan! Unfortunately, that was more than a few years ago when my grandfather had the rifle. My uncle and I thought it would be a great idea to shoot that old ratty looking ammo. I believe that was 1984?

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[perotter]

1. Form the basic case(closed tube when this is done) with the metal spinning method on a lathe. Could be done on a drill press, etc in a pinch. The basic case/tube should look like what people have when they derim .22 cases to use as swaging jackets. Maybe look in the the swaging section of the forum here.
2. Cut to length.
3. Remove from lathe.
4. Head the tube in a single stage press. Have a flat where the die would normally be and where the shell holder goes a post of 2 different diameter. The top diameter part of the post is of a size that just allows for tube to just slip over. This diameter's length critical as it sets the depth of the head and the head having the correct gap for primer mix. The lower diameter is as least as large as the OD of the case tube. See G. Frost's book 'Ammunition Making' section on .22 rimfire if this isn't clear(I'm not a great tech writer).
5. Wash/clean the case.
6. Primer the case.
7. Load powder, bullet, etc

G. Frost's book would also give one an idea of at what points to anneal. But I don't have a copy handy right now.

Some you can give some thought to. I haven't come up with simpler way the didn't need special equipment or a big tooling investment.

This should cost maybe $10 or $20 dollars for materials to make this setup. So if only used to make up a few dozen or a few hundred it won't break the bank. This would also work for making what we normally(mistakenly?) call balloon head center fire cases, but of course would need to allow for the primer mix to be centered.

It's been a long time since I've done this and only for a few cases just for fun. But when I get my shop all moved and the smoke clears, I have a rifle that needs rimfire cases made. Likely won't be until next fall/winter.

FWIW. The reason manufacture of cases draw them is because they will be or hope to make millions of them. But even some of them don't draw them for very limited production, but that's another topic.

[ulav8r]

No, pinching the priming compound into the rim. SNIP to reduce size.

The priming compound is not "pinched" into the rim. The rim is formed as described by perotter in post #8, the the liquid primer compound is placed into the case where it dries. In a production situation the primer compound gets into the rim by spinning the case at enough speed to cause the compound to flow outward into the rim. In your case, just add enough compound to cover the entire bottom of the case. The larger amount of priming compound will allow using less powder. Main issue is apt to be ensuring the amount of priming compound is consistent from case to case. Might not be too crucial since you will not be trying to set any benchrest records, although the first group you fire will be a record for that rifle and ammunition.

[NyFirefighter357]

https://youtu.be/jA7mirwyjX0

https://youtu.be/ZENTes2jZQc
https://youtu.be/ZENTes2jZQc

[GONRA]

GONRA's suggests warming up yer wallet - get Corbin to womp up a set of dies to form
any rimfire case you want from Cu sheet. Dig out yer Boyhood Gilbert Chemistry Set
and womp up wet priming mix. Spin it into the rim..... Dry. WOW! Primed Cases!
Expensive - but GREAT for some Chemist / Machinist
with a rifle using a Big Phat Rimfire cartridge case.

[ndnchf]

I'm intrigued by the idea of reloading an original rimfire round. Not that I see it as a viable way to reload in volume. But it would be interesting to take one original cartridge and pull it apart. Clean it out thoroughly, reprime the rim using the Prime-All kit, spinning it into the rim, then reload with the original black powder and bullet with fresh bullet lube applied. I wouldn't do this with valuable collector grade ammunition. But with an average round commonly found at a gun show. The hardest part may be getting the case thoroughly cleaned out. I'm thinking an ultrasonic cleaner may be the way to do it.

[3006guns]

I watched the video on re-priming. It's clever to say the least, but he overlooked a simple step........if the case with liquid priming compound is inserted in an electric drill (via something like a rubber holder) and spun, the compound will evenly distribute itself in the rim. The point is to speed up the process a bit and get more uniform results.

Let's not forget something else.........toy caps are corrosive as all get out. Don't believe me? Just take a look at any toy cap pistol's hammer face and the area where it strikes. Always badly pitted. The answer is simple of course, just clean your gun with any aqueous solution like you would for surplus corrosive ammo.

The only question I have is.........what's a "teeny bit" of Pyrodex? Is that like a "little bit", "just a skoche" or maybe "a smidgen"? In other words, a more accurate measure is needed. I think I'd use something like 4fg black myself. Ought to be a hoot in an early .22 cartridge revolver!

[ndnchf]

I ordered a prime-all kit for $20. It will be fun to try it. I have an empty .38 rimfire case. I ran it through 2 cycles in an ultrasonic tank to clean it out. It did a pretty good job. I will try to reprime it and see if it will fire. I don't have a 38 rimfire gun, so I'll have to come up with a way to hold it. It should be interesting :-)

[Mk42gunner]

Just for testing priming; drill a hole in a piece of steel, insert case, hit with a hammer. If sparks result, it worked.

Robert