I need some info on dies from Frankford Arsenal

[Gerry N.]

I need some info on dies from Frankford Arsenal.............

The real Frankford Arsenal. I recently acquired a partial die set. One die is 1" OD by 2.117" long marked in all caps: "RESIZING DIE" over "FRANKFORD ARSENAL" over "JMG 1905". The head end is .467" ID, the muzzle end is .329" ID.

The other is .750" OD by 1.232" including a .324" dia spud, half of which is tapered to approximately .285" and is .250" long. It is marked: "RESIZING PUNCH" over "F.A. SH" over "1905"

Both pieces are made of what appears to be cold rolled steel with the mill scale present. The machining is exquisite.

I shoved a scrap .30-40 case into it in my vice, shoving the shoulder back about a tenth of an inch. Then I had an idea. I tried a fired Bulgarian 7.62x54mm Russian case. It sized perfectly.

So, I seem to have a US Army issue 7.62x54mm R resizing die and resizing punch. Waddinell was going on anyway? Why would the US Army want or need this caliber hand dies?

Does anyone have any idea what if any value these things may have other than really cool paperweights?

Gerry N.

[Bent Ramrod]

Gerry,

You ought to pose this question on the Antique Reloading Tool Collectors' web site. Somebody there is bound to know. FA did offer some reloading equipment so local military organizations could keep their soldiers in practice. I've seen sizing dies for the Krag and a re/decapper, but your items are a new one on me.

[glicerin]

Gerry: when USA was preparing for ww1, there was a serious shortage of rifles and mosin-nagant 1891(7.62X54R) were pressed into service. Westinghouse manufactured some of these for the czars, and would not deliver when the bolsheviks took over, hence availability for training troops. I understand CMP released some . This is American history so maybe someone else can correct my errors.

[TAWILDCATT]

also US troops in the Murmask area used those rifles against the reds.after WW1.
DCM sold them for?$1.50 and $3.00 for case of ammo. :coffee:[smilie=1: