Little did I know today that I would be doing up yet another project on here. It all started today when I found out that I will soon be proud owner of a Dutch 1894 revolver in 9.4mm! So like any expectant father would do, I have started to prepare for my new "baby". I need reloading dies (which I know I can get from C4HD if of course they will sell them to me because I am Canadian, some places do, most do not!). I will have to order a custom bullet die for this as well. The bullets measure .380 and I am pretty sure I am going to order a 2 in 1 mould along with a bullet measuring .330 for my next purchase of an 8mm Lebel revolver. The next thing I would need is some brass....so I did a quick Google search to what I can use. Many people are using .41 Colt and other are using 30-30. Well since I have some 30-30 in my range pickup stash I decided on 30-30's and I can get them cheaply in bulk as well, I just never had the need until now to do so. One thing that is required to make useable brass is that the heads needed to be thinned down. Since I have not got a metal lathe, I started to ponder how I could do this quickly, effectively and relatively accurately. At first I thought of just filing them down, but it sounded like far too much work and it did not seem like it would be all too accurate. The solution finally came to me, I would order a REALLY short custom case length guide from Lee...it sounded good....at least in theory, until I found out how much it would cost. Then I remembered...I have a .223 length guide that I broke a while back (yes, doing something stupid) and I decided I would try to cut it down and make my own. It worked! and worked VERY well!!!! I have included pictures of what I did and the before and after.....and yes one of those brass is an old 38-55 that I figured I might as well put in too since the top was completely destroyed but I would be cutting it down anyways.
This picture shows the initial cutting of the .223 case length guide. It was just a rough cut with bolt cutters
This picture shows taking the small threaded end that I had cut off in the previous step and screwing into the Lee case trimmer which has been chucked into my drill press and rough filing to approximately the correct length using a large pistol primer as a gauge. I forgot to take photo of the completed finish filed bit that I made, but you can see it in the last picture. I had to file it down a little further and take down the diameter very slightly so that it would completely fit in the primer pocket. It is filed to the depth of a large pistol primer
This photo shows the original cases I used along with their headstamps
The next two photos show me actually thinning down the case heads with my new trimming tool. I held the brass on a tapered metal punch, it worked well.
This is the final thinned case head along with a close up of the trimming tool itself. Basically the thickness I needed was achieved once all of the original headstamp lettering was ground off. Although I do not have the pistol or dies yet, I am positive these will work flawlessly. Stay tuned for further updates once the pistol gets in! I hope this helps anyone else out there like me who does not have a metal lathe but like to form cases whenever possible and still end up with professional looking results.