French model 1892 8mm revolver all you need to know

If brass splits longitudinally, the reason is that the brass is hard.

Nearly all commercial cases are made from standard "Cartridge Brass" which is an aloy of 70 Copper to 30 Zinc, by WEIGHT. The Volumes are close to equal, which means there is a far bit of Zinc (which is more than a bit frangible) in with all that nice, ductile Copper.

The SOLUTION is a propane torch and a sinkful of COLD water. Line the cases up, heat case-lengths with the torch and knock them into the cold water. Dry them out in a warm oven and load them the next day.

It's called ANNEALING and is was a part of the cartridge-making process. Only problem is that Brass both WORK-hardens and AGE-hardens and that's what is catching up with you. Anneal the stuff and your splits become a thing of the past for at LEAST the next 5 or 6 firings.

Hope this helps.
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Johnny_Canuck said:
I'm on the hunt for 32-20 brass, any preferences winchester vs remington?
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If you are going to make your own cases by cutting down 32-20, then Win is a better choice as Rem is too brittle. I've made and sold 10s of thousands of them. Rem sill split the heads sooner too. I ended up moving to Starline brass until the supply in Canada dried out.
 
Glockenshpiel said:
If you are going to make your own cases by cutting down 32-20, then Win is a better choice as Rem is too brittle. I've made and sold 10s of thousands of them. Rem sill split the heads sooner too. I ended up moving to Starline brass until the supply in Canada dried out.
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I've got 1000 starline 32-20 brass on order for about 2 months, hope they come in soon.
 
^^ I got 750 starline 32-20 sitting here that I haven't had time to do anything with :D I better get on that.
 
So I found full box of fiochchi ammo at the gun show. Curiosity took over and I measured the jacketed bullet. To my surprise its .320! Strange.
 
That is true about the French steel. When the French came out with the solid bronze spitzer bullet, the Germans had to copy it for their own service rifle. They didn't copy the solid bullet, but they did copy the Lebel rifle's bore. The same bore that worked fine in French service, frequently burst when used in the 1888 Commission rifle.

Tyockell18 said:
I know the Fiocchi loads are around 880FPS which is pretty hot, with jacketed bullets to match, the pressures must be pushing it.

I'v heard of CGN members running up to 4.0 GR's of Unique through them but I wouldnt recommend it.

3.5Gr's is still fairly hot but safe in good condition Mle 1892's, I'v loaded a dozen 3.5gr loads with no issues, using lead cast bullets however.

Some newbies here may not realise that these Revolvers only lock up tight when the hammer is cocked back and the trigger is pulled.
It raises the hand slightly higher indexing the chamber to bore and locking up tight like a vault.

They may appear very loose when cocked, don't be alarmed, if you hold the hammer back with your thumb while pulling the trigger you see they are very solid mechanically.

Even a century later, most of these revolvers lock up better than a new factory gun.

The French had superior quality metals for the period and it shows!.
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Bringing this one up for a ''simple question'' : Is there an equivalent to Goex? Would pyrodex work? The stuff is impossible to get in my neck of the woods and shipping it is ridiculous.
 
Slowbalt said:
Bringing this one up for a ''simple question'' : Is there an equivalent to Goex? Would pyrodex work? The stuff is impossible to get in my neck of the woods and shipping it is ridiculous.
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Pyrodex I believe is 15% more energetic per volume than goex but it will work. Not sure why you would want to run Black or subs in the M-1892's though, they can take the smokeless just fine and for a gun thats generally worth at least $1000, its best to keep nasty corrosive schite away from it.

Just my opinion.
 
I would never use black powder on a gun that was designed for smokeless. simply cause i don't have to. No cleaning of nasty and no risk of corrosion.
 
I tried black in mine a couple months ago. Will certainly NOT be repeating that experiment again.

Didn't shoot half as well as trailboss or unique and was one of the worst guns to clean thoroughly that I've come across.
 
@ BUSHMAN79:

In all fairness to the Commission Rifle '88, have you stripped any of them down?

When the rifle was adopted, NOBODY had a really solid handle on smokeless powder (which accounts in part for the British not introducing Cordite ammunition for almost 5 years after the Lebel). Result was that the original Commission Rifles came out with a very lightweight barrel. Problems ensued with the light barrels and the new ammunition, rifles occasionally lifting the chamber out on firing. Hey, if I was that skinny and had to hold in 45,000 pounds of pressure, I'd quit, too! So would you, most likely! In fairness to the rifle, that (Jewish-designed) barrel jacket kept injuries to a minimum.

It wasn't any fault inherent in the basic design and (all racist propaganda of the period to the contrary) it wasn't the fault of "the Jews", although that was an issue at the time. It was the fault of erratic pressures in the early flake powders, combined with a barrel that was too lightweight for the job.

The issue was resolved with the introduction of the NEW ISSUE (Neues Muster) of the Reichskommissionsgewehr '88. Marked on the left-hand receiver rail with the small lower-case letters "nm" directly under the "Inf. Gew. 88" rollmark, the new rifles had MUCH heavier barrels in them, with MOST of the additional weight right over top of that chamber. With the heavier barrels, some Commission Rifles remained in active military service until the 1970s..... with no problems.

I have both types here, an 1891 88 made by Loewe and an 1898 nm made at Amberg. Feed them sensible and sane ammunition and they both work just fine..... but if there are any hot loads around, the Loewe gets put way FAST. That extra almost-a-POUND of steel in the Amberg barrel is a wonderful confidence-instiller...... if you know it's there.

And it is.

I checked.

Hope this helps.
 
I finally got around to firing a few through the chrono. 110 gr 0.327" lead.

2.6 gr Trailboss - 610 fps
2.7 gr Trailboss - 630 pfs

I'm going to load up some 2.8 gr rounds.
 
I'm pretty happy with 2.8gr of TB.
Found that 2.6 sometimes wasn't enough to expand the case for a good seal and they would sometimes come out with black smudges.

Thanks for posting the numbers that you are getting. Nice to have some rough idea.
 
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