So I've undertaken a difficult challenge. Having a PTRD is nice by itself, but shooting it is an issue as there seems to be practically no ammunition or reloading components; I knew this when I purchased the rifle, but the totality of this unavailability is just impressive. I have good reloading experience, but nothing like this before.
She's a pretty one (the bipod should be coming soon), enjoy a picture. Many thanks to the Collector's Source for their wonderful service, they were great to deal with, I highly recommend them.
If you want/require more, or want detail on certain parts of the rifle, feel free to ask.
Back on topic, so far I've ordered :
3.5lbs of Cerrosafe, more than enough for the large chamber (I know it expands around 0.0025" after a while)
12 feet of 416 stainless steel for cartridge cases
4" round bar stock for the dies I'm going to make (once I have chamber dimensions). I landed on that big bar stock for pennies and it doesn't hurt to have a bit more steel when the press I'll be using has actual tons (lots of tons) of force and not just a little handle to pull on.
I am a machinist, I have access to lathes, milling machines carbide insert-tip drills, boring bars, large hydraulic presses, and good measuring equipment. In terms of tooling, and manufacturing capacity, I'm not too bad. What I lack is a bit of knowledge, and I hope you fine gents may be of assistance. I know the 14.5x114 has a case capacity of 655 grains of H2O, and when my cerrosafe comes in, I'll be able to accurately measure the volume of the chamber, or the volume and external dimensions of the case. With a simple bore slugging, I will know how thick the neck of the case has to be for around a thou of clearance and around a thou of neck tension on the bullet. I plan to drill the case from the round bar stock of stainless steel, cut the body taper, and cut the extractor groove. Then I believe I'll have to fill the case with water, freeze it, and run it through the dies in the massive press at work - I'm afraid of the case folding or crushing when the neck is being formed in the die, I think the ice will support the shoulder as it's being sized, while crushing out of the way and melting when the sizing is complete. Finally, I'll cut a 50 BMG primer pocket and flash hole.
My questions are as follows:
1. Is the ice thing pure folly? Should I just use multiple dies to gradually bring the neck and shoulders to size?
2. Does 416 require heat treatments before, during, and/or after to make a functional cartridge case?
3. I lack is information on the case thickness at the case body, web, and case head. I want to have a similar case capacity (very close to 655 grains of H2O), but I'm not sure how to calculate that pre-sizing when the case doesn't have the shoulders and neck. I'm not sure how thick to make the case, how thick the web should be, or how thick the case body needs to be, and what taper that thickness will have going to the shoulders and neck. The current plan is to extrapolate from a .50 BMG case, cut and size one case, check the capacity, and make adjustments if it's too far off.
4. Will the case become shorter during the should and neck forming, or will it stretch as it's being sized? I don't want to cut my stock material too short or too long; I should have enough for 30 cases out of the 12' rod.
5. I'll be using banded copper or brass solids, I can turn those too. Is there a specific alloy that people often use for this type of thing?
6. I also don't know what powder load will be safe to start with. I have some old Quickload data, but I'm not exactly going to flat out trust that right out of the program; there may be variables that should be considered with something like this, and I would absolutely love to have any information from prior or similar experience that could lead to a safe shooting load. I've heard a few stories of PTRDs suffering permanent spontaneous disassembly from modern 14.5x114 KPV machine gun ammo, I do not want that to happen. I hear 50BMG powders work, but are fast-burning for this caliber, do slower powders exist that are available in Canada?
Sorry about the very long-winded post, and thanks for your time.
She's a pretty one (the bipod should be coming soon), enjoy a picture. Many thanks to the Collector's Source for their wonderful service, they were great to deal with, I highly recommend them.
If you want/require more, or want detail on certain parts of the rifle, feel free to ask.
Back on topic, so far I've ordered :
3.5lbs of Cerrosafe, more than enough for the large chamber (I know it expands around 0.0025" after a while)
12 feet of 416 stainless steel for cartridge cases
4" round bar stock for the dies I'm going to make (once I have chamber dimensions). I landed on that big bar stock for pennies and it doesn't hurt to have a bit more steel when the press I'll be using has actual tons (lots of tons) of force and not just a little handle to pull on.
I am a machinist, I have access to lathes, milling machines carbide insert-tip drills, boring bars, large hydraulic presses, and good measuring equipment. In terms of tooling, and manufacturing capacity, I'm not too bad. What I lack is a bit of knowledge, and I hope you fine gents may be of assistance. I know the 14.5x114 has a case capacity of 655 grains of H2O, and when my cerrosafe comes in, I'll be able to accurately measure the volume of the chamber, or the volume and external dimensions of the case. With a simple bore slugging, I will know how thick the neck of the case has to be for around a thou of clearance and around a thou of neck tension on the bullet. I plan to drill the case from the round bar stock of stainless steel, cut the body taper, and cut the extractor groove. Then I believe I'll have to fill the case with water, freeze it, and run it through the dies in the massive press at work - I'm afraid of the case folding or crushing when the neck is being formed in the die, I think the ice will support the shoulder as it's being sized, while crushing out of the way and melting when the sizing is complete. Finally, I'll cut a 50 BMG primer pocket and flash hole.
My questions are as follows:
1. Is the ice thing pure folly? Should I just use multiple dies to gradually bring the neck and shoulders to size?
2. Does 416 require heat treatments before, during, and/or after to make a functional cartridge case?
3. I lack is information on the case thickness at the case body, web, and case head. I want to have a similar case capacity (very close to 655 grains of H2O), but I'm not sure how to calculate that pre-sizing when the case doesn't have the shoulders and neck. I'm not sure how thick to make the case, how thick the web should be, or how thick the case body needs to be, and what taper that thickness will have going to the shoulders and neck. The current plan is to extrapolate from a .50 BMG case, cut and size one case, check the capacity, and make adjustments if it's too far off.
4. Will the case become shorter during the should and neck forming, or will it stretch as it's being sized? I don't want to cut my stock material too short or too long; I should have enough for 30 cases out of the 12' rod.
5. I'll be using banded copper or brass solids, I can turn those too. Is there a specific alloy that people often use for this type of thing?
6. I also don't know what powder load will be safe to start with. I have some old Quickload data, but I'm not exactly going to flat out trust that right out of the program; there may be variables that should be considered with something like this, and I would absolutely love to have any information from prior or similar experience that could lead to a safe shooting load. I've heard a few stories of PTRDs suffering permanent spontaneous disassembly from modern 14.5x114 KPV machine gun ammo, I do not want that to happen. I hear 50BMG powders work, but are fast-burning for this caliber, do slower powders exist that are available in Canada?
Sorry about the very long-winded post, and thanks for your time.
