More Swiss 1882 cartridge ideas...

The Kurgan said:
some lucky CGNer scored that mint 1882 off EE... I wonder if he'll be chiming in.
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Honestly, part of the fun of this pistol is not about it's being antique. It's about the challenge to load her up and have the nerve to pull the trigger, double check and triple check that I don't over load her but after that the fun is gone, that's why I sold her.

Oh ! Yeah, also the research about the cartridge, history behind it and how to load it has been a fun time, killing me sometime for the last couple months, it feels like you just finished a book then looking for another book to read and pass it on to other person.
 
Actually, used a pipe cutter and close fitting steel rod into the case mouth to prevent collapsing the mouth to trim .250" off before using a Forster Case trimmer to even out the case mouth.
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The Kurgan said:
You might want to up the powder charge, but 2.6 is a good starting point. With 110 grain bullets, you might achieve 650 to 700 fps... but no more.
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Charge was a bit on the light end. Ended up accidentally plugging the barrel with the load. Interesting day at the range to say the least because of it (my other project was trying to get a Commission Gewehr 88/05 going, which also had issues which I shall need a new crimp die to resolve).

As a side note even though the bore got plugged it was a fairly safe load with no over pressure signs even though it ended up with 4 bullets in the barrel. I have had bullets stuck before, but when shooting other firearms it was obvious, with this revolver and this load it was so light you didn't even notice the bullets weren't leaving the barrel. My first indication that the rounds weren't leaving was when I went to #### the hammer and the cylinder wouldn't turn due to how many rounds were stuck in place (had to remove the cylinder to realize what had happened). Fortunately since it is a revolver it had a place for gas to vent and prevent a detonation (also the fact the pressure was so low likely helped as well). Definitely happy things turned out the way they did (bullets and all have been removed though it took effort), as it could have been a lot worse.
 
Thenoobgunsmith said:
What do you guys use to trim cases? Manual trimmer, electric or something else? If you could let me know the brand and what you use that would be really helpful.

Thanks
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I first used a Lyman Universal Trimmer and trimmed entirely by hand crank. Took some time but did the job.

I then got lazy and and tried chucking the case in an ER32 collect chuck mounted in my Delta benchtop lathe. That took off the extra material in nicely formed rings. I then finished up on the Lyman trimmer.

The lathe approach worked but was awkward and it's not really the right tool for the job. It's a woodworking lathe and not meant for fine metal work. It can turn brass and steel with hand-held tools, but chucking metal in chucks and collets intended for woodturning and pen making is a bit dodgy.

Snagged a power adapter for the Lyman trimmer and installed it. It works well but I have to say that I resent Lyman for making this a separate and sort of expensive part. They should have made the hand crank removeable so you could run either by hand or with power.

The more I get into this stuff the more a I realise that I really need a small thread-cutting metal lathe.

Do you need an expensive set up to do this work? No, not really. The hand powered Accutrimmer or Universal Trimmer will do just fine.
 
Thank you all for the replies. It seems like the Lyman universal with the hand drill adapter is the best choice cost and time considered. I would want to do up to 500 cases which seems like to much work to do by hand.

Eaglelord17, I'm surprised that you got squibs with 2.6 grains of trailboss. Did every shot get stuck or just 4 in a row? The first one probably prevented the rest from exiting even if they weren't all squibs.

Note to self not to use under 3 grains.

Thanks
Tng
 
Every shot got stuck (currently trying to get 3 copper jackets out of the bore after I drilled out the 3 bullets, definitely not a task for the faint of heart), lined up in the barrel like ----. I suspect the first one either was a squib or didn't hold the bullet on long enough to build up the pressure needed. After that they just didn't have enough energy to force the bullet out and just piled in.
 
I say it again .308 is the right diameter of bullets for these revolvers. In my experience copper jacketed or plated bullets require more gun powder to send them through the forcing cone. Because copper is harder material than led and there is no lube on bullet, therefore requires more powder..308 led bullet would have been ok with 2.6 grains of trailboss, while jacketed one requires about 3.5 grains and or more. This goes for any cartridge, not only 7.5 swiss.
I had a squib with copper plated bullets as well once, my slug was stuck about a half an inch before front sight. I caught it right away because I was counting my holes in the paper. It can happen to anyone no matter how much you check your powder load.
 
I am new to pistol reloading, I didn't realize there was much of a difference in powder loads required for jacketed and lead bullets. I was shooting at 25m as well, so at that distance I can't really count holes in the paper, next time I am going to be sure to start at around 10m, especially for the testing of the load.

This is why I post even my mistakes, as now I have a answer as to what happened, and how to avoid it.
 
Shoot at the back of a target with a small inch black dot made by a marker. That way you can see each impact.
Good to see where different loads impact compared to other charge loads.
 
Yes put more umph in to it. 1882 can handle in my experience up to 4 grains with 110 fmj.
Heavier bullets need less powder. Lighter ones need more. If case is longer than what original cartridge
Requires then do not go over 4 grains and col of 1.425 is as long as it can be to fit in the chambers
Don't have to use only trailboss in this cartridge. I had good results with bullseye and tightgroup. These are much more easier to meter than trailboss and charges more consistent.
 
My experience is that .311" 72 grain FMJs behind 3.1 grains of Trail Boss produce excellent results--as far as FMJ's go. I have tried a bunch of different powders and Trail Boss provides the most consistent and accurate results. I really believe these fine pistols shine when using lead bullets, but I'll leave that to your discretion. The most I've loaded is 3.7 grains of Trail Boss, and I felt that was the "upper" limit in terms of safety. You just never know what can happen if you go over. 3.7 grains also fills a full length (uncut) 32-20 case with a deep seated lead wadcutter... any more and I would be worried about powder compaction.

The military cartridges designed for this revolver utilize .319" FMJ bullets... I measured twice. I have two boxes of them. These 108 grain FMJs sit over 10 to 10.2 grains of black powder. I cannot believe these would produce more than 700 fps. The ones I fired did not block the barrel... though they were horribly dirty, and a few were duds probably due to age. Eaglelord probably had a squib due to a low powder charge--he should check to see if he has any barrel ringing. lol

I also don't doubt that .308" bullets work fine, but keep in mind the above, and the fact that the diameter of the sizing cone and throat are likely larger than the muzzle end... and accuracy may be impacted by smaller diameter bullets.
 
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I understand what you are saying. That forcing cone is so big that it will make even 316 bullets in to 305. We need to make sure that when some one loading leds vs copper plated vs real fmj do not end up in hospital, with our comments here its really hard to keep track and how much powder to use.
What works for me may not work for other guy.
There is not much info out there for this cartridge and so many choices can make head spin.
What reasonable in my judgement is not what is reasonable for some one else.
 
The Swiss 1882 I just got doesn't work with star line 32-20 brass but I knew this before I got it. With sandpaper you can take a bit off and they work no problem. I don't mind doing this at all but would like to avoid the process if possible. Do you think the 7.62 Nagant brass has thinner rims and would work without sanding? Which brand nagant brass are you using?

Thanks
 
Awesome thanks for the information. I don't mind trimming I prefer it over thinning.

The Kurgan, how fast are those 72 grain fmjs going do you think? Have you ever chronographed the load? That seems like it would be really up there in FPS.
 
Well for those interested I finally got the rest of the copper jackets out of the barrel. I had to drill out the copper jackets using a drill almost the diameter of the bore. Surprisingly no ringing or bulges, only a slight bit of damage in one location, likely due to the attempt to beat out the bullets. Overall the bore is basically back it what it was before, and now I am a bit more knowledgable. Maybe this weekend I might try to take it out again this time with a better loading.
 
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