1899....would have no interest either but I'm just trying to help the kid out of a bit of a pinch. He purchased it without the benefit of my council and now he's got a soft spot for it after using it in Africa, but we definitely need to solve this brass problem!!
Tried a little experiment yesterday+ More + Pics Now
- Thread starter c-fbmi
- Start date
1899....would have no interest either but I'm just trying to help the kid out of a bit of a pinch. He purchased it without the benefit of my council and now he's got a soft spot for it after using it in Africa, but we definitely need to solve this brass problem!!
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
That's good to hear, I just wrecked 3 - .300 Winchester cases with my .30-.40 neck expander. I annealed the first one and not unexpectedly, accordioned the neck down into the case body. The next two split on me. Fire forming it is. That .308 bullet must have a wild ride down the .375 bore, maybe I'll use some Unique and find a filler.
But it's still only lead and gilding metal so it doesn't hurt a thing.......done it thousands of times. I always have gobs of left over 30 cal bullets anyway.
That article also mentions using belted cases fireformed in beltless chambers- in this case Newtons designs. I knew there was at least one article that linked fire forming belted cases and the NEW KING.
If the brass has already had 5 firings of full power loads, I retire it from hunting and relegate it to secondary duty, regardless of brass brand or cartridge. I've seen a guy extract only the head of a case due to too many loadings of his WW .270 brass, and if he had needed a follow up shot he would have been in trouble.
It's your time to waste fire forming readily available brass in hopes of getting a few extra loadings from the brass, but if I was plagued by this problem (I'm not) I'd personally just use the proper brass 5 times then load it with lower pressure loads for the remainder of it's life. I personally don't want to risk using older brass in any rifle while hunting.
It's your time to waste fire forming readily available brass in hopes of getting a few extra loadings from the brass, but if I was plagued by this problem (I'm not) I'd personally just use the proper brass 5 times then load it with lower pressure loads for the remainder of it's life. I personally don't want to risk using older brass in any rifle while hunting.
poor mans 375 ruger brass, thoughts? case head cross section pic
Started by bam bam, 12-29-2009 10:32 AM
Replies: 18
Views: 561
Last Post: 01-16-2010 07:19 AM
by farmnut
Forum:
Reloading
Not sure how to post a link to a thread but do a search under "poor mans 375 ruger" in the reloading section. I used 300 win mag brass and found necking up in increments worked well. The brass proved to last quite a number of firings.
Started by bam bam, 12-29-2009 10:32 AM
Replies: 18
Views: 561
Last Post: 01-16-2010 07:19 AM
by farmnut
Forum:
Reloading
Not sure how to post a link to a thread but do a search under "poor mans 375 ruger" in the reloading section. I used 300 win mag brass and found necking up in increments worked well. The brass proved to last quite a number of firings.
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http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...ts-case-head-cross-section-pic&highlight=poor
There you go....from 2010
I even commented on it. Looks like the brass held up just fine, no cracks.Someone might want to pm bam bam and see how it worked long term. I also see someone on the thread predicting the NEW KINGs demise.HAWHAW HAW!!!!
There you go....from 2010
I even commented on it.
Looks like the brass held up just fine, no cracks.Someone might want to pm bam bam and see how it worked long term. I also see someone on the thread predicting the NEW KINGs demise.HAWHAW HAW!!!!Ah, Gatehouse.......................that would be 375 Imposter demise...............and I've been pedicting that for more than a year now.............it is happening, get your head out of your a$$, and read the writing on the wall..........it's a dead cartridge and "good riddance" as far as I'm concerned..............LOL
Ah, Gatehouse.......................that would be 375 Imposter demise...............and I've been pedicting that for more than a year now.............it is happening, get your head out of your a$$, and read the writing on the wall..........it's a dead cartridge and "good riddance" as far as I'm concerned..............LOL
the guy making the prediction on that thread has you beat, by over 3 years. He was wrong too.
Boomer........I have always found I get more even expansion fireforming over neck expanding. Usually get quite crooked mouths expanding and very even when fireforming. This would indicate to me that the necks must be expanded more concentric in fireforming than in expanding on a mandrel.
Next step I'm going to try is anneal some unexpanded 300 WM and load them up and fireform as well as load some unannealed and fireform and see how they pop out and if we get too many split necks on the unannealed. Also going to take a new brass and blow it out and then load it 6 or so times at the range with full power loads, fetch it home and section it to see how web/belt area looks.....will take photos and share findings. Wondering if after a couple full loads, the belt will be totally assimilated.........curiosity is a wondeful thing !!
Next step I'm going to try is anneal some unexpanded 300 WM and load them up and fireform as well as load some unannealed and fireform and see how they pop out and if we get too many split necks on the unannealed. Also going to take a new brass and blow it out and then load it 6 or so times at the range with full power loads, fetch it home and section it to see how web/belt area looks.....will take photos and share findings. Wondering if after a couple full loads, the belt will be totally assimilated.........curiosity is a wondeful thing !!
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Tod, it is my understanding that Nosler does not make any brass at all, they purchase, prep, weigh and market. Pretty sure it's still Horn brass.
Well, did the experiment last night at the range. Fireformed some old used 300 WM brass, annealed 3 and fireformed them, fired the necked up cases and fired a new brass 7 times.
These are what we are working with, from the top, Horn 375 Imposter brass,expanded and fireformed W-W 300 WM to 375 Imposter, new W-W 300 WM brass
These three photos show the line up of the experiment and results, new W-W 300 WM, annealed and fireformed from 30 cal, fireformed from 30 cal unannealed, expanded and fired with 375 bullet, 375 Horn brass for comparison, sectioned new W-W brass after seven full power loads, sectioned old case with unknown firings in 300 WM and it appeared to show incipient separation however section photo tells different.
Close up of how the case blows out at the belt area.
These 3 photos show the sectioned new case which was expanded and then fired 6 times with a 235 gn Speer bullet over 80 gns, RL 15, CCI 250 primer. We just deformed the case mouth a little and pushed the bullets into the case by hand a little bit then seated them with the rifle, using the lands to seat the bullet, then fired. The final firing was a pulled load with 260 NP and Win 760. This load was warm in the W-W brass but no issues opening the bolt, very slight ejector mark and nicely flattened primer. The load 1 gn less in the Horn brass almost seized the bolt on the Ruger and this load was not fired at all in the Horn brass. Primer still good and tight when I pushed it out.
None of the cases shown were sized prior to photos.
We had a lot of fun, never loaded at the range before, I weighed out 5 extra powder charges into fired cases and deformed the case mouths a bit gthen hand seated the 235 Speers nose down as a cork and it worked slick at the range. We fired the first load, popped out the primer with a pin, tapped by pliers, reprimed with a hand priming tool, squished the case mouth a bit, pulled the bullet from the charged, fired case, used a powder funnel and charged the new case and then finger seated the bullet about an 1/8" and used the leade to do final seat of bullet and get 100% consistency.
Thoughts and opinions?
Douglas
These are what we are working with, from the top, Horn 375 Imposter brass,expanded and fireformed W-W 300 WM to 375 Imposter, new W-W 300 WM brass
These three photos show the line up of the experiment and results, new W-W 300 WM, annealed and fireformed from 30 cal, fireformed from 30 cal unannealed, expanded and fired with 375 bullet, 375 Horn brass for comparison, sectioned new W-W brass after seven full power loads, sectioned old case with unknown firings in 300 WM and it appeared to show incipient separation however section photo tells different.
Close up of how the case blows out at the belt area.
These 3 photos show the sectioned new case which was expanded and then fired 6 times with a 235 gn Speer bullet over 80 gns, RL 15, CCI 250 primer. We just deformed the case mouth a little and pushed the bullets into the case by hand a little bit then seated them with the rifle, using the lands to seat the bullet, then fired. The final firing was a pulled load with 260 NP and Win 760. This load was warm in the W-W brass but no issues opening the bolt, very slight ejector mark and nicely flattened primer. The load 1 gn less in the Horn brass almost seized the bolt on the Ruger and this load was not fired at all in the Horn brass. Primer still good and tight when I pushed it out.
None of the cases shown were sized prior to photos.
We had a lot of fun, never loaded at the range before, I weighed out 5 extra powder charges into fired cases and deformed the case mouths a bit gthen hand seated the 235 Speers nose down as a cork and it worked slick at the range. We fired the first load, popped out the primer with a pin, tapped by pliers, reprimed with a hand priming tool, squished the case mouth a bit, pulled the bullet from the charged, fired case, used a powder funnel and charged the new case and then finger seated the bullet about an 1/8" and used the leade to do final seat of bullet and get 100% consistency.
Thoughts and opinions?
Douglas
P.S.
You can see in the sectioned photos the belt has been almost fully assimilated into the case body with a dimple about 3 thou deep. There is no cracking evident at all at the belt/body junction and no thinning at the web. The fired unsized case went back into the chamber with zero effort, 6 times, despite the max loads being fired.
The case mouths on the brass fireformed up from 30 cal came out nice and square and of the 5 unannealed, unknown history, cases fireformed, not one split a neck. I should have used a faster powder for fireforming up from 30 cal as the cases formed poorly in the web region, however formed well enough to load as a 375 Imposter for the next firing. Checked several capacities and the W-W would appear to have a 3-4% greater capacity than the Horn brass.
I would have to say this experiment was an overwhelming success !!
You can see in the sectioned photos the belt has been almost fully assimilated into the case body with a dimple about 3 thou deep. There is no cracking evident at all at the belt/body junction and no thinning at the web. The fired unsized case went back into the chamber with zero effort, 6 times, despite the max loads being fired.
The case mouths on the brass fireformed up from 30 cal came out nice and square and of the 5 unannealed, unknown history, cases fireformed, not one split a neck. I should have used a faster powder for fireforming up from 30 cal as the cases formed poorly in the web region, however formed well enough to load as a 375 Imposter for the next firing. Checked several capacities and the W-W would appear to have a 3-4% greater capacity than the Horn brass.
I would have to say this experiment was an overwhelming success !!
You may have single-handedly saved the .375 Imp(oster) from the grave. Never hear the end of it now...
