fire forming

ffwd

ffwd

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I load for my 7mm Weatherby magnum. Brass is not cheap. Fortunately, many people own 7mm Rem mags. They don't reload, so I pick up their brass and use it in my Weatherby.
At first, I would run it through the full length die, load it up with bullets and go to the range. Then I ran out (almost) of my preferred bullet, the 168 gr. Berger vld. I didn't want to use these harder to find bullets I had been doing all of my load development on to fire form.
I had read Mysticplayers article on 6mmbr. about fire forming with pistol powder and cream of wheat, and was intrigued. Could I do that? Well......yes. I loaded 46 or so 7mm re mag brass with some leftover large rifle primers and 5 or so grains of bullseye. I made a little scoop out of a bottle cap to make the powder easier to measure than weighing each charge. Took about 15 minutes. Looked through the pantry, no cream of wheat, but, score! Cornmeal. Filled the rest of the case with the cornmeal, right to the top. Tap the case to lightly pack, and top with a wad of toilet paper to hold everything in there. They sure look funny.

It works great, just don't fire them in your loading room, as you'll probably get cornmeal everywhere.:)
 
Yes that does work quite well. If you can, try going out insect hunting with that setup. When you can hit dragonflies, moths and butterflies as they zip around you it's not only fun but good practise.
 
The 300 WM may be a better brass choice if you want to reload for your 7 Weatherby Mag, 'cos the 7mm RM case is about .049" shorter than the Weatherby. And after resizing and trimming, you will have to case right, no real need to fireform.
 
I have a bunch of 300 win mag brass as well. They are quite a bit longer in the body than the 7mm stuff. I tried a one step resize, and ended up with wrinkles at the neck to shoulder junction. Still need to fire form. I only neck size after initial fire forming and have 5-6 reloadings so far on the Weatherby brass.
 
My brother in law has a 7mm weatherby and for the last couple of years he just fires factory 7mm rm through it. He has maybe only fired maybe ten rounds because he doesn't shoot much. I have never been around when he does it so I don't know how they chamber.
 
"...Brass is not cheap..." Nothing with the word 'Weatherby' on it is cheap. The 7mm Weatherby is based on a shortened .300 H&H. Has nothing to do with the Remington cartridge. The Weatherby is 99 thou longer and 1 thou smaller in case head diameter, shoulder diameter and the belt diameter. The length will matter, but not the diameters.
Wouldn't stop picking up the Rem brass though. 7mm Rem mag brass isn't exactly cheap either. $46.95 per 50.
 
I used to use the cream of wheat method in my 22-250AI. Great way to use up dregs of powder. I did about 300 rounds in a few hours, shooting in my shed, at a cardboard box to catch the debris. (I did it in my shed becasue while my neighbors are tolerant, 300 rounds is a bit much in one day):)
 
ffwd said:
I load for my 7mm Weatherby magnum. Brass is not cheap. Fortunately, many people own 7mm Rem mags. They don't reload, so I pick up their brass and use it in my Weatherby.
At first, I would run it through the full length die, load it up with bullets and go to the range. Then I ran out (almost) of my preferred bullet, the 168 gr. Berger vld. I didn't want to use these harder to find bullets I had been doing all of my load development on to fire form.
I had read Mysticplayers article on 6mmbr. about fire forming with pistol powder and cream of wheat, and was intrigued. Could I do that? Well......yes. I loaded 46 or so 7mm re mag brass with some leftover large rifle primers and 5 or so grains of bullseye. I made a little scoop out of a bottle cap to make the powder easier to measure than weighing each charge. Took about 15 minutes. Looked through the pantry, no cream of wheat, but, score! Cornmeal. Filled the rest of the case with the cornmeal, right to the top. Tap the case to lightly pack, and top with a wad of toilet paper to hold everything in there. They sure look funny.

It works great, just don't fire them in your loading room, as you'll probably get cornmeal everywhere.:)
Click to expand...


I will have to try this when I get my 22-243 middlestead. Thanks for the info.
 
ben hunchak said:
Buy the proper brass you cheapskate, you wouldn't buy a Ferrari and then put Chev parts on it!
Click to expand...
Yeah I know. I am cheap.:)

I want to see how many reloadings I can get on the norma(weatherby) brass before I buy more. I also want to determine if the range 7mm rem mag brass groups differently than the norma stuff.
 
sunray said:
"...Brass is not cheap..." Nothing with the word 'Weatherby' on it is cheap. The 7mm Weatherby is based on a shortened .300 H&H. Has nothing to do with the Remington cartridge. The Weatherby is 99 thou longer and 1 thou smaller in case head diameter, shoulder diameter and the belt diameter. The length will matter, but not the diameters.
Wouldn't stop picking up the Rem brass though. 7mm Rem mag brass isn't exactly cheap either. $46.95 per 50.
Click to expand...

weatherby 7mm brass was $35/20 when I bought it. The rem mag brass ends up a bit shorter, but they chamber and shoot fine. The brass seems a bit harder as well. No ejector marks. All the rem mag brass had flattened primers when I picked them up though.
 
Does this not leave ugly debris in the barrel and crappy fouling? How often must you clean your rifle if your tryign this method? it just seems very strange to me and i just cant wrap my head around shooting cornmeal as a bullet.
 
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