45-08 brass?

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rustynut1

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I just bought a 1911 that is built for this wildcat round. Basically you take .308 rifle brass, cut them down to .45ACP length and ream out the inside of the brass to fit the projectile. The .308 brass has about double the wall thickness at that point compared to the .45ACP brass. I have the brass in hand but wonder what size of reamer or drill bit to use. A 29/64 bit is .453 inch so a tad too big, the 7/16 is .4375 so too small. I have looked at sowatool.com and found nothing that rang my bell.

Wondering what size I should be shooting for? I looked at Brownells and they have reamers marked .451-.454 inch.

Someone told me that the cut down brass will separate and the reamed out bit will end up in the barrel of the pistol. Stress riser and weaked brass I guess is the idea. This person said to just buy .45 Super brass and that is an option from Starline.

The designer of the round, Gunner at Armaco used to sell brass for $2.00 each. I'm not really a Gunner fan boy, I got used hard by him once, a long story.

Thanks in advance.
 
Order a reamer the size you need.

If it's not a standard size in either tenths of a mm, or off the lists of fraction, number, and Letter sizes, y will need to order a custom, which is not super expensive.

You need to talk to a machine tools supplier. KBC Tools, is one of many.

The benefit of a custom is that you should be able to order it with any leade taper you wish, as well as a radius at the corner, if you so desire.

A drill is likely to get ugly fast.

Cheers
Trev
 
Willy Tincup said:
Try drilling a 7/16" test hole; it will likely measure slightly larger than the dec. equiv size. 11.5mm is close but a tad large.
Click to expand...

I have a lathe and it has a drill chuck attachment on the moveable end. I'll try the 7/16 inch drill in the .308 brass and then press in a projectile and see what happens. I have thought of removing a little material off the 29/64 bit as well.
 
The lathe trick didn't work well at all. I was rushed but the 7/16 drill wrecked the brass in a big way. I will try again after I carefully look at what went wrong.
 
Gatehouse said:
Andy, what did you end up sticking with? Making brass or just using the Super brass?
Click to expand...

Starline 45 Super - good to 1300+ fps with a 230 gr bullet. The brass could stand higher yet (but why would anyone go higher?), but the limitation is the primer flowing into the firing pin recess.
 
Brass is very grabby. If you didn't convert the drill bit to a negative rake cutting edge that is half your issue. A good video on converting a drill bit for use with brass or plastic is on you tube. This is one of the better ones;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAngKHIZgyA

For sizing you're right, there's no off the shelf option... or is there. Do you have a lathe to make up your own expanders? What I'm thinking is that you cut off the cases and then, if required, expand the mouth out slightly and then drill or ream with a 29/64" which was modified to cut the brass smoothly and which has some slight taper on the sides so it forms a smoother transition down near the head. Then size the brass in the usual sizing die to close it back down to about .450 to .451 to get the right amount of neck tension.
 
Andy said:
Starline 45 Super - good to 1300+ fps with a 230 gr bullet. The brass could stand higher yet (but why would anyone go higher?), but the limitation is the primer flowing into the firing pin recess.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. You are right into standard .44 Magnum territory there. I played around with the 45-08 with the modified brass and got similar results to you, but I don't have a lathe and don't want to spend $2/case for brass that gets lost or dented. Then again, I don't have much use for a 45-08 these days,. either.

Hmm, I wonder what sort of velocity I could get with a Kriuss Vector NR carbine in 45 ACP, using 45-08 or Starline Super brass. :)
 
Gatehouse said:
Sounds good. You are right into standard .44 Magnum territory there. I played around with the 45-08 with the modified brass and got similar results to you, but I don't have a lathe and don't want to spend $2/case for brass that gets lost or dented. Then again, I don't have much use for a 45-08 these days,. either.

Hmm, I wonder what sort of velocity I could get with a Kriuss Vector NR carbine in 45 ACP, using 45-08 or Starline Super brass. :)
Click to expand...

Assuming it can handle those pressures, probably about 300 fps more, i.e. 1500-1600 fps.
 
I get 1550 out of a 200gr using 45 super and longshot.
I've pushed faster but a 1911 is a little light in the hands for the recoil.
 
Yes I ordered several wolf spring kits from18 to 24lb. Found the 24 to be too stiff. It would come forward to quickly and ruin my empty brass
 
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