.352 180gr RN Bullets??????
- Thread starter btridge
- Start date
The bores in those rifles vary all over the place. Thanks to some advice from a friend in Summerland, I found that 9mm cast bullets worked just fine.
Another thing that worked well, after slugging the bore to see what the diameters were, was to use 158gr round nose cast and using my press, swage them down to .353 diameter through a tapered sleeve, made up from and old sizing die. Takes a bit more time but very cheap and the bulk cast bullets available from the local shop, which were already lubed slipped through easily. Couple of hundred an hour is easy.
$10 for the die out of a box of misc die parts and a few minutes on the lathe and all was well. If you don't have a lathe, a local machine shop will turn it down cheaper than a new mold or maybe a bud with a lathe will do it for a case of beer.
what set was the sizing die from? I have my own lathe, what load data are you using for the 158gr? does it cycle properly? Thanks for the info....Dean
From what I remember, I used a 223 rem sizing die. Sorry, the stamping was machined off. The shoulder of the 223 rem is .354. By continuing the same taper to the diameter you require for your rifle and machining off the rest, it makes a very usable swaging die. When you make a plunger to push the bullets all the way through the die, make sure your diameter is about .010 smaller than your bullet diameter and long enough to push the bullet all the way through. Also, you need to machine a base for the plunger that will fit into the post of your press.
The rifle I had, would feed the 158 semiwadcutter bullets without problems. You may want to give it a try.
I don't use the 158 grain bullet as much as I do the 125 grain jacketed ran through the same die.
I use 13.0 grains of Unique under the 158gr bullet. Anything less and it won't cycle properly. That would be a max load for the 180 grain cast bullets as well if I remember correctly.
I use 15 grains under the 125 Hornady. Again, that is the lowest pressure load that will operate the action.
These loads were safe in my rifle, now my stepson's pride and joy.
By the way, some of the guys I know that shoot these old girls, just use the heaviest 9mm pistol bullets they can find. Sacrilege? Not really. It all depends on the true bore diameter of your rifle's barrel. One fellow even uses 9mm Luger dies to load his brass. His loads are almost to light but the pressures are very low and full length sizing isn't required. His rifle doesn't seem to stovepipe or jam but I suspect he has a lightened return spring as well. My rifle won't operate with his loads.
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