Fireforming Enfield Snider Brass

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bush1

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I’m planning on reloading for an Enfield Snider and need some ideas on fireforming my brass. I have Snider brass from X-Ring and it has an ID of .575 and my Minnie bullets dial out at .578 to .579.

I figured no problem, I’d just use my universal case expander until I seen it only goes up to .45 cal. Ok then, I’ll just have to get a Lube & Sizing die. Whoops, the largest one is .510

An idea from the Snider forum was to use two aluminum or steel plates and a weight on top to create the pressure and roll them back & forth to reduce the diameter. I guess that could work.

Have also heard to get a ½” wad punch and gently tap it into the mouth of the casing to flare it a little bit. I guess that would work as well.

For a bullet seat die I’ll go to my lathe and whip up a bullet profile on one end and turn down the other end to go in one of my rifle or pistol bullet seating dies.

I figured, ok I can solve this problem easily, I’d just buy some .575 lead balls or a Lee .575 mold and use them to fireform my brass. So looking around I found that Hornady doesn’t make .575 and couldn’t find any other brands either and nobody had any stock available on the Lee .575 mold in Canada or the US so I placed an EE ad for balls or a mold.

Any ideas or opinions appreciated.
 
If you have a lathe just take a 7/8x14 bolt and turn the end down into a Lee or Lyman style expander plug.

Have you checked the throat and groove diameter of your rifle? That might determine whether you want smaller bullets or fatter case necks.
 
Bush1: I've heard of guys using round balls to fireform. Easier to seat in a slightly flared case without equipment, I guess. Personally I'd recommend buying a set of Lee Snider dies as then you can make your own Snider cases out of raw 24g brass and, if you get a second Snider you may find the fireformed cases from the first one won't fit it. Also, the minies are worth trying to get accuracy out of as, if you can get them to work, they have some advantages over the .60's (I assume your plan is to use .60's?).

milsurpo
 
vagrantviking said:
If you have a lathe just take a 7/8x14 bolt and turn the end down into a Lee or Lyman style expander plug.

Have you checked the throat and groove diameter of your rifle? That might determine whether you want smaller bullets or fatter case necks.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that's a pretty good idea to turn down a large bolt to make a expander plug.

As for the bullet size, according to info on the Snider forum, after fireforming the cases once or twice, I should be able to hand press in the .600 lead bullets I have ready to go.
 
milsurpo said:
Bush1: I've heard of guys using round balls to fireform. Easier to seat in a slightly flared case without equipment, I guess. Personally I'd recommend buying a set of Lee Snider dies as then you can make your own Snider cases out of raw 24g brass and, if you get a second Snider you may find the fireformed cases from the first one won't fit it. Also, the minies are worth trying to get accuracy out of as, if you can get them to work, they have some advantages over the .60's (I assume your plan is to use .60's?).
milsurpo
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments. Yes I plan to use 60's after fireforming. I wasn't planning on buying Snider dies as my press doesn't have the larger threaded plate required for the Snider Dies and if fireformed sucessfully, I should be able to reload my 60"s with hand pressure according to some guys on the Snider forum.

I do have more than one Snider and plan on brass allocated for each one.
 
I cant see the problem here if you have a lathe takes about 5 minutes to turn an appropriate sized neck expander. I have cut several for other calibers to accommodate bullets to fit oddball bore sizes and have a consistent 2 thou neck tension or in your case "made to fit" so you can thumb seat...BUT...

If you are hell bent on fireforming every brass you want to use, you don't need to seat a lead slug, I have fire formed dozens of cases using a few grains of Unique under a case filler mount of corn meal with a dollop of ordinary carpenters glue set up in the neck.
 
vagrantviking said:
If you have a lathe just take a 7/8x14 bolt and turn the end down into a Lee or Lyman style expander plug.
Click to expand...

fingers284 said:
I cant see the problem here if you have a lathe takes about 5 minutes to turn an appropriate sized neck expander. I have cut several for other calibers to accommodate bullets to fit oddball bore sizes and have a consistent 2 thou neck tension or in your case "made to fit" so you can thumb seat...BUT...

If you are hell bent on fireforming every brass you want to use, you don't need to seat a lead slug, I have fire formed dozens of cases using a few grains of Unique under a case filler mount of corn meal with a dollop of ordinary carpenters glue set up in the neck.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys, no idea why I didn't think of that. I don't use the lathe much so I guess that's my excuse. I'll get a few 5/8" bolts and make a case expander and bullet seating die.

The idea of using Unique and corn meal is new to me but sounds like it would work as well. Thanks
 
bush1 said:
Thanks for the comments. Yes I plan to use 60's after fireforming. I wasn't planning on buying Snider dies as my press doesn't have the larger threaded plate required for the Snider Dies and if fireformed sucessfully, I should be able to reload my 60"s with hand pressure according to some guys on the Snider forum.

I do have more than one Snider and plan on brass allocated for each one.
Click to expand...

I have a Rockchucker loading press but I can't remove the insert. I got around that problem by screwing the die from the bottom up into the 7 / 8 thread. With a lathe you can also make a neck expander, if necessary and in my case, I also had to make the base holder for the Snider shell. The base holder was a bit of a nuisance because at the time I did not have a Dremel tool. A Dremel with a fiber reinforced cutting disk would make cutting the side away easy. Make a boring tool out of 1/4 " tool stock to cut the rim recess then use the Dremel to removed the material you don't want. Almost forgot; you can make sizing dies and seating dies by first making a D-bit to in effect bore a chamber into the future die

cheers mooncoon

on further thinking, it may have been a 450-577 I made the die for but check the dimensions of the shell and it may work for a Snider as well
 
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I have a single stage rock chucker and only use it to prime for the Snider.
I get my bullets from Terry at Jet Bullets since I don't cast my own. I get the .578" and then the .600" for post fire forming. I also get my Snider and MH brass from Martyn at X-Ring.
I got most my tips from Rob (Britishmuzzleloader) on Youtube, along a few other guys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNgQi4vEDXM&t=523s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAEfDVq8cIQ&t=198s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsTzwCB86Yg&t=157s
I'll save you some head aches. No lathe nothing required. Just two steel plates.
See below the two videos showing what I do.
For the bullet prepping, you will have to go easy, you don't want to do too many passes nor apply too much force and get it too small. Just enough to make it go in and be slightly snug. In the time lapse, I finish them off with an ever so gentle squeeze in the vise.


(***I didn't have my condo B&D workmate table project set up yet, so don't mind the hand held McGuyver freestyle LOL)


Final result
AbtXmG5.png
 
If I need to flare a case or open up a case mouth thats crushed I use needle nose pliers. Leave them closed and just push the tips in and rotate while doing so. Work's every time!
When I have 577 or 577-450 brass to work with I use a small set of pliers with the blunt tip. A lot wider and does a great job
 
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