In the past year, I've been experimenting with reloading for my Swedish unmodified 1867-89 rolling block in 8x58RD, proceeding incrementallly. I'll describe my progress; at the end I have some questions.
1. Bore slugged: .317"/.325" (lands/grooves)
2. Fire-form annealed PRVI 8x56RS brass (10gr Unique, corn meal, white glue)
3. Soft-lead cast of Lee C324-175 and Lee C329-205 bullets. No sizing of
bullets, just Lee Aloxed.
3. The necks of fire-formed brass are TOO LOOSE about .330", and bullets just fall into the case. It's as if the original brass should have had thicker walls in order to fit the chamber - but more likely they just didn't care much about case expansion since they weren't planning to reload!
4. Brass was neck-sized in an unmodified RCBS .325 WSM die. This left the neck TOO TIGHT, about .319". Later, I found a 8x58RD die (CH4D . com) but that, too, left the necks too tight.
The .324"-175gr bullets were getting shaved while being seated, and the .329"-205gr bullets wouldn't go in at all.
5. I was able
to seat bullets after flaring the case mouth with an old Lee .45ACP die. I tried to only partially neck-size, so that the bullets would 'pop' through the constriction, but they got shaved and were still loose anyway.
6. With various light loads (20-24gr) of H4198 and SR4759, the loads worked out OK for about 10 rounds, then started keyholing - obviously the barrel was leading up!
After acquiring some 8mm copper gas-checks, I repeated the exercise (steps 1-5), this time seating the gas-checks with a Lee lube-sizer (.329'"). The gas-checked bullets can be seated only after flaring the case mouths with the pistol die.
7. With the gas checks, accuracy is great, not a smidgen of leading.
Chronograph results (15 shots each):
I'm still faced with the same problem: the neck on fired brass is too big for the bullet, but if I neck-size with the dies, it's too tight. The solution has been to neck-size, then flare the case-mouth with an old Lee .45ACP die, but this is tricky and I'm always worried about overdoing it and ruining the not-dirt-cheap cases.
What about using an oversized expander ball? My idea would be to put a .327" diameter rifle expander ball in the sizer die to resolve the problem with the .329" bullets. Has anyone dealt with this problem?
1. Bore slugged: .317"/.325" (lands/grooves)
2. Fire-form annealed PRVI 8x56RS brass (10gr Unique, corn meal, white glue)
3. Soft-lead cast of Lee C324-175 and Lee C329-205 bullets. No sizing of
bullets, just Lee Aloxed.
3. The necks of fire-formed brass are TOO LOOSE about .330", and bullets just fall into the case. It's as if the original brass should have had thicker walls in order to fit the chamber - but more likely they just didn't care much about case expansion since they weren't planning to reload!
4. Brass was neck-sized in an unmodified RCBS .325 WSM die. This left the neck TOO TIGHT, about .319". Later, I found a 8x58RD die (CH4D . com) but that, too, left the necks too tight.
The .324"-175gr bullets were getting shaved while being seated, and the .329"-205gr bullets wouldn't go in at all.
5. I was able
to seat bullets after flaring the case mouth with an old Lee .45ACP die. I tried to only partially neck-size, so that the bullets would 'pop' through the constriction, but they got shaved and were still loose anyway.6. With various light loads (20-24gr) of H4198 and SR4759, the loads worked out OK for about 10 rounds, then started keyholing - obviously the barrel was leading up!
After acquiring some 8mm copper gas-checks, I repeated the exercise (steps 1-5), this time seating the gas-checks with a Lee lube-sizer (.329'"). The gas-checked bullets can be seated only after flaring the case mouths with the pistol die.
7. With the gas checks, accuracy is great, not a smidgen of leading.
Chronograph results (15 shots each):
175gr g/c 26gr SR4759 - 1950 fps (sdev 30)
205gr g/c 24gr Sr4759 - 1680 fps (sdev 25)
Summary:205gr g/c 24gr Sr4759 - 1680 fps (sdev 25)
I'm still faced with the same problem: the neck on fired brass is too big for the bullet, but if I neck-size with the dies, it's too tight. The solution has been to neck-size, then flare the case-mouth with an old Lee .45ACP die, but this is tricky and I'm always worried about overdoing it and ruining the not-dirt-cheap cases.
What about using an oversized expander ball? My idea would be to put a .327" diameter rifle expander ball in the sizer die to resolve the problem with the .329" bullets. Has anyone dealt with this problem?
