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Took the dies, casting, and formed cases to my lgs for advice. After a bit of discussion and measuring he gave me a few loose unfired 7.62x54R Winchester brass he had laying around to experiment...

On suggestion of a member I tried taking a formed case, removing the decapping pin, and pressing it back on the die on top of the shell holder. This helped, but a dummy round still won’t quite fully...

Bottom of the ocean? They might be in better condition than most of the KNIL carbines currently on the market!

Also, going over this thread I realized that I haven't posted photos since I...

There was probably already a post about this a few weeks ago when it was proposed, but Minnesota is proposing something similar. Except in the case of Minnesota (to my understanding), the ban would...

Alternately, I think this might be a good opportunity (along with my Krag and my long Carcano) to begin experimenting with paper-patched cartridges. Anyone load a Dutch M95 with paper-patched bullets...

This story sort of saw its continuation under the “improving old barrels” post, but I should update here as well. Second round of testing took place in October, and did not really have any better...

I don’t believe the manufacturer makes 8x50R-Lebel dies, nor 8x56R dies. My chamber cast does look like an 8x50R vs an 8x56R (and 8x56R won’t chamber anyway...got some “free” with my en-bloc clips). ...

I haven’t had the ability to test any, but FL-sized 7.62x54R does not fit...hits the shoulder.

Whelp, the annealing didn’t make a difference with shoulder position. Manufacturer wasn’t much help either: just told me to make sure I had the die seated far enough down, and something about brass...

Shame on me for forgetting my basic metallurgy. I was thinking annealing was only useful for preventing case failures, but thank you Moleman for reminding me the elastic modulus and the maximum...

If that still doesn’t work, yes, the brass for comparison would be appreciated, but let’s see what I can determine with what I have and what the manufacturer says.

The die cartridge is certain: manufacturer sent them to me directly, they’re stamped, and that manufacturer does not make Lebel dies. I did email them last night, so we will see what their response...

Adding my 2-inexperienced cents on AR recoil. I built one (my only so far) a couple of years ago as my first rifle. Carbon fiber lower and an inexpensive upper in 5.56, so lightweight and...

Finally sharpied both one of my die-formed cases and a dummy 7.62x54R case (both with projectiles and nothing else) and loaded them in. In both cases there is a scrape-ring 1-2mm forward of the start...

I have “successfully” used a Lee 6.5x50 Arisaka die body with no expander pin to form 6.5x53R from .303 British, though the mouth then should be reamed as the brass will be too thick.

From my reading (and photos I’ve seen) many Carcano’s were sold to the Greek forces after WWII as well during the civil war there. Many were rechambered to 6.5x54, and many of those have a trio of...

Did some more experimentation and am still puzzled. Can a few fellow members who successfully load for 8x50R (Austrian/Hungarian) measure for me the distance from the top of the rim to the start of...

Grinding did not proceed as planned, but here are some photos of the chamber cast. For reference purposes I’m also going to list the dimensions I’ve found for the 8x50R Austrian case, all in mm:
...

Ok, as part of my spring break trio, I received the repair piece for this Krag on Monday, and today I attached it. It’ll never be “original” without a new stock, but personally I think it looks...

Working on old broken guns, I’ve had several moments of frustration, but every once in a while I have to take a step back and bust out laughing at the silliness of the situation. One of those moments...

Ok, the forend repair piece arrived today, along with one for my Krag. Here is the current photo of them both, along with my M91 Carcano, to which I fitted a block of wood I’ve been carving out for...

I took a chamber cast today and it appears the shoulder of the chamber is about 2mm back from where my reformed cases have their shoulder. Everything else should fit my cases. That being said,...

I do have a differently-branded shellholder. I’ll chamber cast, ink my brass, and grind a shell holder to see what difference it makes.

I picked up an M95 straight-pull chambered in 8x50R a few months back, and I’m to the point of making brass for it. I have a set of 8x50R dies from RCBS, and have followed the procedure mentioned to...

Loosened and re-tightened the trigger guard screws, tightening the front one first, and now the barrel beds to the stock properly. Stock has a lot of (repaired) cracks, and just took a bit of...