I had intended to use 50-70 brass in it and had altered the rim size on a few cases to fit, but then ran across some .348 Win. brass, so decided to use it as it is cheaper and more available than 50-70.
For anyone interested in these rifles, the photo shows the steps I used to make up the ammunition for it.
I found that it helped to use a double wrap of 1/4" wide masking tape around the base of the brass to centre it in the chamber of the rifle, as it is considerably undersized.
1. On the right side is a .348 brass with the tape on it.
2. The next left is a piece with the neck sawed off, trimmed even, and then loaded with a forming charge of Bullseye under a packed down load of corn meal filler, sealed off with carpenter's glue.
3. Next is the blown out case, with the neck opened up a little further with a 50-70 expander die, and then trimmed.
4. Loaded 12.7X44R cartridge with Lyman 515141 bullet sized 0.509".
5. A 50-70 cartridge loaded with the same bullet, but sized 0.512" for comparison.
There is case forming advice on the Tradeex site, but I don't have access to a lathe to make up the required neck expanders, so fire-formed instead. It seems to work out OK.
I haven't had a chance to shoot the rifle for accuracy yet, but the rifling is better than described, so I expect it to be reasonable accurate and as it is already "bubba'd" I wont feel bad installing a tang sight down the road.
Regards, DaveF.
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