Hardest/most elaborate case conversion you did?

[uscra112]

Just be aware that the .17 WSM brass is too tough for any of the common boys' rifles to fire. It needs the hammerblow of a model 44. I have a Model 83 (bolt action) that will fire it. If you can find one in .25 Stevens, it's a NICE little rifle.

Another approach is to convert the rifle to centerfire, and make CF brass by swaging down .22 Hornet. But that's too easy for this thread.

[toot]

WOW!! there are cortically, more of us than you think!! I thought that I was the only one who sat at my bench and crunched / ruined brass. it is nice to know that I have KINDRED SPIRTS, out there?!

[Gunners Mate]

Not to tough but really time consuming
7mm Rem Mag to 6.5 Rem Mag, this one shoots 1/2 inch all day long, in a Remington 673. My go to Rifle 120 gr Barnes TTSX 59gr of H4831SC, BR2 primer
and
7mm Rem Mag to 350 Rem Mag, this one shoots under an inch all day long, in another Remington 673

[murf205]

Not to tough but really time consuming
7mm Rem Mag to 6.5 Rem Mag, this one shoots 1/2 inch all day long, in a Remington 673. My go to Rifle 120 gr Barnes TTSX 59gr of H4831SC, BR2 primer
and
7mm Rem Mag to 350 Rem Mag, this one shoots under an inch all day long, in another Remington 673

That one gave me fits. I tried to use 300 Win cases and 7mm mag. It might just be my dies, but I could not get but about every other one to set the shoulder back properly no mater how many steps I took. I finally solved the problem by having the 350 rechambered to 358 Norma Mag. Presto, 338 Win brass and I haven't lost a case yet. It is a real thrill in a 7 LB rifle!

[gwpercle]

30-06 to 7 X 57 Mauser ... I had buckets of 30-06 military surplus cases , back then WWII & Korea brass was plentiful , but no 7 X 57 Mauser . I would just buy 7 X 57 today converting it from 30-06 is a pain .
284 Winchester to 7.5 Swiss . The only 7.5 Swiss ammo available was Berdan primed and I couldn't reload them . One of my reloading books said you could resize 284 Win. in a 7.5 Swiss die and have reloadable cases . I went down to local gun shop and he had 40 once fired 284 Win.
You have to remember this was 1960's no interweb or amazon ... if the local gun shop didn't have it ...you did without .
Cast boolits ... no one sold cast ... you bought a 1 or 2 cavity mould and poured them yourself .
Gary

[Rapier]

Growing up in the north woods of ME, NH and VT it was uncommon to see commercial US hunting rifles, way more common to see various military surplus rifles used by trappers and hunters. Those rifles were tough, good enough, and above all, cheap.
I learned to reload while in HS in the early 60s out of economic necessity, creating conversion cartridges from more readily available cartridges, mostly “range finds”, just so I could shoot or hunt.

[Butzbach]

Excellent thread.

[bubbadoyle]

.30-'06 cases or any other cases in that family such as .270 cases, are trimmed to 1.900" and loaded with 44 cal bullets. 460 grain gas checked solid lead from a custom LEE mould, loaded subsonic to 980 fps and suppressed are as quiet as my air powered brad nailer, and they penetrate concrete blocks. Jacketed 180 grainers max out at 2,870 fps. Cases are sized with my '06 FL die, flares and bullet seating done with 44 magnum dies.

I see this is several years old but just came across this. My brother and I did this same thing but case length is 1.74”. My problem is after the initial firing the cases become shorter because the case has to slightly expand to chamber. My brother made an expander to expand the case before sizing and trimming but they still lose 6 to 7 thousandths on the first firing. This becomes an issue when it’s headspacing off the case mouth. I’m just curious how you dealt with this or if you had this problem.


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[uscra112]

???? No bottleneck cartridge headspaces on the case mouth.

[15meter]

???? No bottleneck cartridge headspaces on the case mouth.

I think by the time 06 cases are trimmed this short, they are in essence a straight walled wildcat. May be where they are getting the headspacing on the mouth. But that is just a guess on my part.

Quote Originally Posted by mpkunz View Post
.30-'06 cases or any other cases in that family such as .270 cases, are trimmed to 1.900" and loaded with 44 cal bullets. 460 grain gas checked solid lead from a custom LEE mould, loaded subsonic to 980 fps and suppressed are as quiet as my air powered brad nailer, and they penetrate concrete blocks. Jacketed 180 grainers max out at 2,870 fps. Cases are sized with my '06 FL die, flares and bullet seating done with 44 magnum dies.



I see this is several years old but just came across this. My brother and I did this same thing but case length is 1.74”. My problem is after the initial firing the cases become shorter because the case has to slightly expand to chamber. My brother made an expander to expand the case before sizing and trimming but they still lose 6 to 7 thousandths on the first firing. This becomes an issue when it’s headspacing off the case mouth. I’m just curious how you dealt with this or if you had this problem.

[bubbadoyle]

I think by the time it 06 cases are trimmed this short, they are in essence a straight walled wildcat. May be where they are getting the headspacing on the mouth. But that is just a guess on my part.

Quote Originally Posted by mpkunz View Post
.30-'06 cases or any other cases in that family such as .270 cases, are trimmed to 1.900" and loaded with 44 cal bullets. 460 grain gas checked solid lead from a custom LEE mould, loaded subsonic to 980 fps and suppressed are as quiet as my air powered brad nailer, and they penetrate concrete blocks. Jacketed 180 grainers max out at 2,870 fps. Cases are sized with my '06 FL die, flares and bullet seating done with 44 magnum dies.



I see this is several years old but just came across this. My brother and I did this same thing but case length is 1.74”. My problem is after the initial firing the cases become shorter because the case has to slightly expand to chamber. My brother made an expander to expand the case before sizing and trimming but they still lose 6 to 7 thousandths on the first firing. This becomes an issue when it’s headspacing off the case mouth. I’m just curious how you dealt with this or if you had this problem.

Exactly. This is a straight walled case without a rim so it headspaces on the case mouth. The one I did is very similar to the 450 bushmaster but 44 caliber. I have this in both an ar15 and a bolt gun.


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[Chainsaw.]

Hold onto your hats for this one!!!!
44 Remington Magnum to……………..44 Special….!

Thats what ya do when the mag cases split the mouth.

[rmark]

303 British into 30-40 Krag has been the peak of my creativity.

[SOFMatchstaff]

I've made a bunch of the ones noted, but the 577/450 MH from the CBC cases is the is the most intense. Not really hard , just have to pay attention to the feel.

[15meter]

For physical effort, converting 300 Weatherby magnums to 300 H&H takes the most muscle. In the die an eighth of an inch--or less with both hands, back out, turn case a eighth turn, try again about every third try, more imperial wax and keep going. Anneal when all done.

I use a Rockchucker bolted to a half inch thick, six inch wide by 18 inch long steel plate morticed into the bench top with a matching steel backing plate underneath. The bench is anchored to 4x6 posts on each end that go four feet into the ground. There have been times I thought that may not have been beefy enough.

Have a new winner in the "is it going to bust the press or the bench before forming?" arena.

500 N.E. 3" to the 500-450 #1 Express.

4 foot piece of pipe over the handle on the Rockchucker makes it considerably easier.

Never had to resort to using a pipe before, or I'm getting a whole bunch weaker after retiring.

Did another batch today, actually measured the pipe, it's only 37".

[toot]

EDG, how did you make a .303 into a 6.5 JAP? a .303 has a rim and the JAP is rimless? just courious?

[frkelly74]

EDG, how did you make a .303 into a 6.5 JAP? a .303 has a rim and the JAP is rimless? just courious?

I have some that someone sent me and they have the rims cut down on a lathe and a new extractor groove cut. It would be a last resort type conversion.

I have attempted a similar operation to convert 30/30 to 30 Remington without a lathe and not been successful yet. Grumpa had this down to a science.

[BS2]

Did I post this already? .22-3000 Lovell, (.25-20 Single Shot) from .223/5.56 .

Took me 5 steps to make these ready to size, 3 using the lathe. They came out 1.835" and hold 21 grains of H20, and are .312 straight.

[MarkP]

30-30 to 219 Zipper, 223 to 221 Fireball, 7 mm Rem Mag to 350 Rem Mag. Need to neck ream.

[Baltimoreed]

I met a neat fellow in Swift Current, Saskatchewan named Dale Friesen in the summer of ‘73 or ‘74 as I traveled across Canada. He was a talented self taught gunsmith. Anyway we hit it off and he invited me to go prairie dog hunting. Next day I go by his place and he hands me a .50 cal muzzle loader and drags out a Sharps Carbine. He couldn’t get brass for his rifle so he would turn the heads down on his machine lathe and solder shim brass to make the case. Must have been a .50 something. He said he could get 4-5 bp loads before they went bad then tear them down and rebuild them. He actually killed some prairie dogs that day, I came close. A fun day. If I could do that over I would have spent the summer there and let him teach me a little in exchange for using my van as he didn’t have a vehicle.