French model 1892 8mm revolver all you need to know

Have been pondering on rechambering one of these already bastardised .45 acp M1873's to .45 schofield.
Looking for maximum safe power from my bush gun.
Not intending to go hot rodding at the loading bench, but 250 grains at 800+fps sure would be welcome in the wild country that I frequent.
Any merit to this endeavour?. I cant afford a SAA.
Sorry for the thread drift OP.
 
vviking said:
Have been pondering on rechambering one of these already bastardised .45 acp M1873's to .45 schofield.
Looking for maximum safe power from my bush gun.
Not intending to go hot rodding at the loading bench, but 250 grains at 800+fps sure would be welcome in the wild country that I frequent.
Any merit to this endeavour?. I cant afford a SAA.
Sorry for the thread drift OP.
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I already have done that ( chambered one to 45 schofield ) .
the cylinder is only 1.35 inches , oal for 45 sch is around 1.45 ( roughly ) so you have to run them 100 thou short .

what I ended up doing that works really well for me .

I used a 45acp reamer and cut into the cylinder until it measured 1.12 " . then I used a 45 colt reamer to finish cutting the chamber and throat ( I used a 45 colt round and kept cutting the throat until the end of the round was a few thou short of the cylinder ) . then it was a matter of making all the cylinders identical .


the throats are really tight on these guns , I opened mine up to around .453ish - .454

I cut a step into the cylinder for the 45 sch rim . it wasn't a lot just a few thou ( I used a 44 mag reamer ) . I set my headspace between just a hair over 2 thou and a hair under 2.5 thou .
I left the outside edge of the rim cut out untouched so I could also use 455 webley rounds . I don't have any to measure the headspace , but I expect them to run between 13 -18 though of clearance .

just for sh*ts and giggles , a 303 british case head and rim fits perfectly in a uncut chamber . but the rim is way too thick .


bullet barn has 45 sch brass , jethunter has some wonderfull 216 grain , soft lead hollow points .
5 grains of trailboss seem to work really well . oal is around 1.345 "

I was using cci large mag pistol primers and was having some issue until I modded the firing pin . normal large pistol primers will also fix the problem I had .

I have some pics of these in the thread I created with primer issues .....
 
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Thank you b_s !.
Exactly what I needed to know.
That post is gold.

just for sh*ts and giggles , a 303 british case head and rim fits perfectly in a uncut chamber . but the rim is way too thick .
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As would be the case wall thickness as well at that trim length, I expect.
Good to know though ... one never knows what may become usefull in a pinch.

Again, thanks.
 
Anyone tried or use Titegroup, HP-38, HS-6 or Herco to load for their 8mm French M1892 revolvers?

I'm just out of TB and have been able to get any or even Unique for a while now but have plenty of Titegroup, Herco, HP-38 and HS-6 and they seem to be available regularly so would like to use them instead.
 
Do not use the jacketed bullets in these old guns. Too hard on the barrel. As for recipes look up in the beginning of the thread. Lots of information there. The barrel is almost never .330. Best to push a lead bullet through the battle and measure it. Mine was .326. Jethunter sells bullets and brass on the site. Good quality and price. If you have more questions after you read the thread feel free to message me. I'll answer what I can.
 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.5mm_1882_Ordnance

jethunter said:
One other cool thing about the M1892: the cartridge has a max rating of about 18,000 psi according to my sources. That might not mean much for most people but anyone who reloads for old guns will be impressed.
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That's interesting and impressive. I read that the Swiss revolver can handle 26,000 psi, unless this is an unreliable source.
 
I noticed that 26000 psi for the 7.5mm Swiss revolver in a couple of places (cartridges of the world I believe as well). I assume its faulty info as theres no way a revolver designed in 1882 could handle that pressure.
I load mine to .32 S&W Long pressure levels and it has close to the originals ballistics.
 
diananike said:
I noticed that 26000 psi for the 7.5mm Swiss revolver in a couple of places (cartridges of the world I believe as well). I assume its faulty info as theres no way a revolver designed in 1882 could handle that pressure.
I load mine to .32 S&W Long pressure levels and it has close to the originals ballistics.
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Yeah, it seems highly unlikely that the Swiss model 1882 revolver is rated to handle 26,000 psi with regular ammo, especially FMJ ones. I would consider 16-18,000 as the max. COTW has had a few instances of wrong load info.

About the only pre 1898 handgun in serviceable and original condition that could handle regular 26,000 psi loads on a regular basis safely would be a Remington rolling block model 1871 pistol. It has the necessary and massive amount of late 1800's steel construction to handle that amount of pressure safely.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_438555

Remington took a rifle action and made it into a handgun. I have seen one that was converted to .357 mag and it handles +P .38 special and the lighter .357 mag loads just fine without any issues. The new steel .38/.357 barrel chamber walls look at least 5/16" thick, the original design was a .50 cal handgun round.

26,000-28,000 psi is what the weak action .45/70 Trapdoor Springfield rifles was designed for and still handle safely. A Remington rolling block of the same period was just as strong if not a good bit more so.

The Swedes re-barrelled their 1870's made Model 1867 Remington rolling block rifles to shoot 8x58mm smokeless ammo in the middle to late 1890's and used them right up until about 1945. It was loaded to about 38,000 psi as a military cartridge at that time.

http://www.ammunitionpages.com/download/403/Danish 8x58R.pdf.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8×58mmR
 
How do you guys deal with thicker rims of 32-20 cartridge in 1892? I loaded some and after 2 shots my cylinder will not rotate as primers interfere with back plate. I have no issues in 7.5 swiss with same brass. as there is more headspace in 1929 revolver , but not in sweede or French. Do you reduce rim thickness?
 
I have seen some reloading articles where the base was filed down a bit, but i have to wonder if the primer will still stick out has far once fired or will it seat deeper on a shallow base.
 
gewehr76 said:
How do you guys deal with thicker rims of 32-20 cartridge in 1892? I loaded some and after 2 shots my cylinder will not rotate as primers interfere with back plate. I have no issues in 7.5 swiss with same brass. as there is more headspace in 1929 revolver , but not in sweede or French. Do you reduce rim thickness?
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Are your primers partly backing out or are they bulged from flowing around the firing pin? Maybe you are loading it to lightly which often causes primers to back out.

This problem is sometimes caused when the pressure created was not sufficient to drive the case back from the grip of the chamber walls against the breech face to reseat the primers which can back out a bit when a round is fired even if the headspace is not excessive. Many times the firing pin indentation will also be deeper than usual also. I have read in reloading publications that this can often occur with reduced power loads in cartridges loaded way lighter than normal, particularly also with light bullets.
 
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