John ORenick Saves Time, Money, Powder, Bullets and Cases by. Fireforming. fh Easy Way

John ORenick Saves Time, Money, Powder, Bullets and Cases by Fireforming fh Easy Way ORMING ONE cartridgecase from F another is one of the more useful techniques available to the handloader. If you wish to use a firearm chambered for an obsolete or wildcat cartridge, case forming is about your only option. It can also be a moneysaver. My.358 Norma Magnum is a prime example. Norma ammunition and unprimed cases in.358 are apparently out of production. Even if I could find the stuff, I probably couldn t afford to shoot it. One retailer had a single box of ammo left at $27.50. Another said that the last time he had any, unprimed cases sold for $14 per box. New, unprimed.338 Winchester Magnum cases, on the other hand, are almost always on the shelf at a discount house 20 miles closer to home, at $11.59 per box. They fireform beautifully to.358, and despite a slightly short neck (no handicap in my opinion), they give minute-of-angle groups just under the maximum load level of 2,885 fps (chronographed 10 feet from the muzzle) with the Speer 250-grain bullet. Around 15 years ago, I read in a thenold reloading manual - a Lyman, I believe - of an even older fireforming method. I know one other handloader who uses this method, and have never heard it or read of it anywhere else. Perhaps it is so old it is new again. What I do read about, in articles mentioning fireforming and necking or dieforming one case to another, are split necks and shoulders, uneven mouths and other case failures. Most of those problems can be eliminated using this old method, which is easier on cases than full-charge fireforming with seated bullets. Additional pluses: this method requires no expensive or additional dies (as long as you are necking up), is fast, and conserves powder. Unlike the more common method of fireforming, it uses no expensive bullets. I call this the Bullseye-and- Cornmeal Method. Actually, I no longer use Bullseye; Red Dot is much less expensive, as I buy it by the keg for trap loads. Any fast-burning pistol or shotgun powder will probably work (with appropriate charges) but I can only relate my experience with Bullseye and Red Dot. In practice, one seats any standard primer in the parent case (this is agreat place to use up primers too old to be trustworthy) and throws a specific charge of powder on top of it. Shake the powder charge level and fill the case to the mouth with cornmeal, using a powder funnel. I usually seal the mouth with a bit of bullet lube or wax, but if you handle the case carefully, chamber and fire with the gun held vertically, you can dispense with that step. Be prepared, however, to brush out the chamber every few shots, or cornmeal will accumulak and leave dents in the cases. It s really much easier to SI eal the our cases on filled with compressed cornmeal. They fireformed perfectly. The four caws to the right were charged with 20.0 grains of Red Dot, filled with uncompressed cornmeal and capped with wax. Note the rounded shoulders and other variances, the result of low and inconsistent pressures. Right, an (I) unfired.338 Winchester Magnum case and (2) a.358 Norma Magnum hull fireformed from a.338 case. 32 HANDLOADER 129

case mouths. Wipe the case clean and you re ready to fire. Cornmeal in the case does two things. First, it provides the resistance needed to get the powder charge ignited and up to pressure. Second, it is compacted ahead of the powder gases and presses the case into shape. This ironing forms the case at relatively low pressures. The plug of cornmeal must squeeze down even more to pass through the case neck, so it is important not to compress it too much while loading it into the case. The right amount of compression helps a great deal, however. Low pressure case ironing forms a nice, even neck, with seldom a neck split. I use cornmeal even when all I m doing is necking up. The results, in my opinion, are just plain better than they are with die forming. While the amount of powder is important, there seems to be quite a bit of leeway between just enough and too much. A range of 17 to 20 grains of Red Dot in the.358 Norma works well. In fact, I don t know where the upper limit is, and have no desire to find out. The conservative approach is best, as the degree of compression with which you load the cornmeal into the case will affect pressures. Increase the loads until you generate just enough pressure to form the neck and shoulder properly - then stop. For uniformity, you can weigh the 247 Gr. (w/gas Check) Bullet #358318 (#2 anoy) I L I cornmeal or measure it volumetrically. I haven t found this to be necessary, though it s certainly not a bad idea. The method that works best for me is to sprinkle cornmeal slowly through a powder funnel into the case until the latter is full, add another half teaspoon or so to the funnel and then, holding funnel and case together in one hand, tap the case head on the benchtop to settle and compress the cereal. When the cornmeal ceases to settle and the case won t take any more, strike off the excess with a thumb and cap the charge with wax. In order to get the cornmeal through the neck of the powder funnel, I used to prod it gently with a large nail. When the case was full, I gave it a few more strokes, packing it lightly in the neck. While this worked well, I m sure you can see how it could produce less uniform results. Do not do this if you work with anything but the lightest charge necessary to form the new case! You can also fill the case level and cap it with wax, increasing the powder charge to the point where the case forms well, with no prior compression of the cornmeal. That takes more powder, however, and gives less uniform results than tapping the case to settle the contents. Note that a good form does not mean lines at the body-shoulder junction are as sharp as would be attained when fireforming with bullets in place. You John depends on data from the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook to supply his starting loads. His method is described in the text. Remember, Lyman has not sanctioned this approach and John admitted he had only tested a small sample of such loads. Be careful! don t want pressures that high! These are fast burning powders. They deserve a lot of respect, and a lot of room between working and maximum safe pressures. Primers should look like they ignited.38 Special wadcutter loads. Your goals are to expand the case body to fill the chamber, move the shoulder where it needs to be to headspace the case, and expand the neck to its new diameter. Those sharp, pretty lines will take care of themselves when the first standard-velocity load is fired. Meanwhile, your fireformed case has 99.9 percent of its final capacity, and if you ve done things right, will headspace perfectly. Getting the proper headspace in fireformed cases can require an extra step. In conventional fireforming, there are four common methods of controlling headspace when moving a shoulder forward: Expand the case neck until it is larger than the desired caliber, then neck it back down to final size, leaving enough shoulder to headspace the case. That can be very time-consuming, as you may have to expand in several steps, and might find it necessary to anneal more than once along the way. The necessary dies can be quite expensive, too. Hook the case rim on the extractor, and let that hold the primer against the firing pin s blow. Seat the bullet out to contact the rifling, forcing the case head back against the breech face. Just reduce part of the neck but leave enough of the original untouched to serve as a temporary shoulder which will maintain proper headspace. Those methods all share one prob- On the left, three 243 Winchester cases; on the right, three.358 Winchester hulls fireformed from.243 cases in one step. The.358 s required neck trimming before they could be loaded and fired. Always check length after fireforming. The primer at top ignited 78.0 grains of IMR-4350 behind a Speer 25Ograin spitzer. The primer on the cartridge case beneath it sparked 17.0 grains of Red Dot held in place by a fireforming charge of cornmeal. SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1987 33

(1) Sprinkle cornmeal slowly through the funnel into the primed, powdercharged case. lap the case until it won t accept any more cereal, then (2) cap the load with wax or waste bullet lube. Wipe the case clean and (3) lubricate sparingly. That magnifies the backthrust and helps guarantee firm contact between case head and breech face, thereby allowing the shoulder to form where it should. lem: the force of the firing pin blow will move the case forward, driving the bullet into the rifling if the third method is used, and crushing the temporary shoulder if the fourth approach is taken. When the charge ignites, rising pressure will expand the case - unless it is a heavily tapered type or you are using light loads - against the walls of the chamber. As pressures reach maximum, the case head will be driven back against the breech face, the case will stretch and you have the beginning of a head separation. By using cornmeal to help fireform, you can easily lengthen a case body (move the shoulder forward) if you can get the case rim to hook on the extractor. That is no problem with any claw extractor, and it works well with Remington s excellent extractor too. With the Winchester, Sako or M-16 hook extractor, there might be an occasional problem. With rimmed or belted cases, of course, headspace presents no problem. If I have the slightest doubt about the headspace, I apply a good coat of resizing lube to every case before fireforming. That would be dangerous with any full-charge load, but with a cornmeal-filled load, the backthrust is just enough to slide the lubricated case back into firm contact with the breech face so the shoulder forms where it should and the case doesn t stretch where it shouldn t. I even lubricate cases when forming belted or rimmed rounds, unless the shoulder position will not change and I am only necking up or improving the case. I want a tight breech face-to-shoulder fit during the first firing, so there s no chance,of weakening the critical case web. Ten years ago, I owned a Remington (Continued on page 52) Above, it only took one fireforming load (.243 to.358) to blow this six-inch diameter hole through a piece of galvanized steel. The muzzle was one foot away. Left, four fireforming, Red Dotlcornmeal loads 6338 to.358 Norma) blew this old but sound two by four completely in half. When fireforming, point the muzzle in a safe direction. Up is never safe when loads are capped with bullets. Cornmeal won t travel much more than 10 feet, despite its initial velocity. Even so, keep everything - and everyone - clear of its path. 34 HANDLOADER 129

- NEWLY MACHINED COMPONENTS - AVAILABLE FOR THE FOLLOWING: BRNO ZKK n RUGER 98 MAUSER 7UO REM. 1917 ENFIELD 70 WIN. 1903 SPRINGFIELD SAKO For Illustrated Brochure send X10 SASE PRECISE METALSMITHING ENTERPRISES JAMES L. WISNER 146 CURTIS HILL RD., CHEHALIS, WA 98532 Fireforming the Easy Way (Continued from page 34) 760 pump that had been rechambered from.35 Remington to.35 Whelen. The rechambering job was more or less done by committee: the several gunsmiths at one shop cut the body with a.30-06 reamer and the necklthroat with a.358 Winchester reamer. The result, predictably, was a lousy job. The chamber was supposed to be a standard.35 Whelen but it came out more like the Brown-Whelen with a short neck and the shoulder moved considerably forward. Fireforming with bullets seated in those cases would have been difficult and probably would have resulted in some lost cases. Die-forming would have been time consuming and would have required an expensive array of intermediate dies. Instead, I charged each case with 15 grains of Bullseye, poured them full of cornmeal and thumb-packed that just a little in the necks. A thin smear of waste bullet lube sealed that into the 52 Ro--Red BULLET LUBRICANTS NEW DEVELOPMENTS: ROOSTER JACKET: A liquid bullet lubricant which dries to a clear, hard, glossy film. Applied by dipping, tumbling, or flood coating. Economically lubes 100,000 cast or swaged bullets per gallon. WATER-REMOVABLE CASE LUBES: Our CSL-71 and CFL-56 are now joined by CL-WR-14, a Water Removable Liquid Case Lubricant. ROOSTER BRIGHT: For polishing brass cartridges. This is a liquid additive for corncob or walnut media. Saves production time. Brighter finish. Protects finish from tarnishing. CANNELURE LUBES: Now include C-3, SL-4, SL-30 and ZAMBINI RED. All with 220 F + high melting points. The C-H HEATER for manual lube-sizers is ideal for all of these. DEVELOPMENTAL PRODUCTS: Another year of intense R & D also brings us a water-removable Case Neck Lube; an emulsified liquid water-removable Case Lube for mass production, Black Powder bullet and patch lubes, etc. FREE CATALOG 81 PRICE LIST ROOSTER LABORATORIES P.O. Box 412514, Kansas City, Missouri 64141 (816) 474-9711 lubricated. It took a bit of dexterity to hook the rim on the extractor and hold the case against the ejector plunger while chambering the round, but it worked. Since there were no bullets, a trip to the range was unnecessary, and firefonning was done in the garage with a discarded sleeping bag around the muzzle to absorb the blast. One hundred cases formed perfectly without a single loss. About the blast: it is extremely dangerous! Within a couple of feet, it can be deadly. I guarantee it will kill at one foot or less. Any power.fu1 blank cartridge is lethal at very close range. Out at several feet, the blast can cause serious, permanent injury and I wouldn t want my ears within 90 degrees of the muzzle, even tens of yards away. Wear ear and eye protection! The high velocity cornmeal particles can do a surprising amount of damage at close range, too. While we re on the subject of safety, don t forget to clean that lubricated chamber before firing standard loads in it. STP spray Carburetor Cleaner makes a fantastic degreaser but keep it out of the action, as it will strip all the lubrication from your gun s moving parts. Try not to breathe it or leave it on your skin very long. The main ingredient is methyl ethyl ketone. Nasty stuff! As usual, start low and increase powder charges gradually until you get a full-diameter body and neck, and sufficient shoulder to headspace on - and in the right place, too. In.308-sized cases, 12 grains of either Bullseye or Red Dot works well, but start at 10 and work up. In.30-06-sized cases, 15 grains of either works well, but start at 12. The degree of compression applied to the cornmeal will affect pressures. Be consistent with the amount of pressure applied againt the cornmeal. When forming.338 s to.358 Norma, I like 17 grains of Red Dot and a tap-settled load of cornmeal; nevertheless, I work up from 15 grains whenever a fresh box of brass is opened. I wish I could give starting loads for every caliber but I just don t have the HANDLOADER 129

~~~ - I - data. In every cartridge with which I have had experience, the Red Dot starting loads in the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook are good, conservative cornmeal starting loads as well. The maximum loads listed are quite close to my working loads, too. Use them as guides. Try the lightest charge listed with the heaviest bullet as a starting load. Reduce that a bit for large bodylsmall neck diameter cases, and you ll not go wrong. The idea of asking a large-diameter case fullof cornmeal to squeeze through a relatively small neck bothers me. Forming.243 to.308 or.358 Winchester works fine, and I have no problem with.223 to 6mm or.25-.233. A.22-250 to.250 Savage or 6mm International might not work as well. I don t know that to be a fact but even so, be careful. Start with a very light powder charge and a fairly loose load of cornmeal! Cornmeal is hygroscopic. It absorbs moisture from the atmosphere. That can cause it to cake, which might run pressures through the roof. Use cornmeal that is dry to the touch and don t let it sit in a case overnight. Grex - shotshell buffering compound - is not hygroscopic and would probably work very well as a substitute for cornmeal. I haven t tried it so if you choose to, you re on your own. Even if you start and end with cases of the same length, they can grow during the process, especially if you turn shoulder into neck, and may need trimming before they are safe to load. I recently converted 40.243 hulls to.358 Winchester. Normally, one would start with.308 cases but I didn t have any and had just one day to work with a friend s XP-100 in.358. No problem. I started with 10 grains of Red Dot and worked up to 12. Of those 40 cases, expanded from.24 to.35 caliber in one step, I lost just one to a full-length neck split. Two others split slightly at the mouth, but the splits were completely removed by the necessary trimming. Two more split just a little deeper, and their necks had to be shortened excessively. They are still useful for plinking loads. Though those cases were new, as in unfired, the boxes they came in retain the original price tag, which reads $2.80. That says something about their age. The shop where they were purchased went out of business at least a decade ago. I suspect they are 12 to 15 years old. Naturally, they were a bit age-hardened. Had I annealed the necks first, I doubt if I would have lost a case. Annealing is somewhat chancy, however, with factory-primed cases! With any but new, unfired cases, I would anneal before asking the neck to SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1987 expand more than.05 inch or the shoulder to move very much. If expanding the body walls a lot, such as blowing out a.25-35 to the Improved version, or a.300 H&H to some minimal-taper round, I might anneal the body somewhat, too - but very lightly, and never more than halfway down the case. Never risk softening the head or the web. An easy way to prevent that is to stand the cases in water half as deep as their length, before applying the propane torch. Try loading 10 rounds and fireforming them once you ve worked up the charge. If you don t lose any of those, you can expect few if any losses from the rest of your cases. If you lose even one, anneal as needed before priming the rest. I know three more uses for cornmeal (besides cornbread): if you wish to use very light loads in a cap and ball revolver, or for that matter any black powder firearm that won t allow the ball to be seated deeper than a certain point, you can fill the undesirable empty space in the powder chamber with cornmeal. That works very well, and such loads can be surprisingly accurate. While working with a new Thompsonlcenter Contender barrel in.44 Magnum, I developed a need to look at the chamber throat to help solve an accuracy problem. I didn t have any Cerrosafe or other means of making a chamber cast so I chucked two.30-40 Krag cases in an elecric drill, put the primer pockets over a crude center, and spun the rims against a file until they were small enough to enter the rim recess in the.44 chamber. I then annealed them until the metal was dead soft (except for the head area), charged one with 10 grains of Red Dot, filled it with cornmeal, chambered and fired it. It didn t form well enough, so I repeated the operation with the other case, using 12 grains. That worked beautifully, giving a perfect impression of the chamber, throat and the first inch or so of rifling. That is not the equivalent of a Cerrosafe chamber cast; you can t measure it and expect it to be a dimensional mirror of your chamber. Even dead soft, brass has some spring. Still, when you just need to see what a chamber looks like, or how long the throat is, and there is a case of the same head size but longer, that approach works like a champ. Finally, as you may have suspected, cornmeal-filled loads make great noise blanks! The Bullseye-and-Cornmeal Method can save you time, money, powder, bullets and cases. Try it! e eling with Douglas or Hart barrels, most stanlards, many wildcats and improveds. SASE for list if services, or for job quotation. Cliff LaBounty,.aBounty Precision Reboring, P.O.Box 186H. r968 Silver Lake Road, Maple Falls Washington 98266. (206) 599-2047 Rare -40 Brass and Bulle.412 bullets for the,405 Win.,,408 bullets for.40 Sharps calibers - bullets, brass, loading data available..577/450 Martini-Henry brass, also. Write for prices, or call (301) 582-0204 (after 7 P.M. E.5.T.). Naval Ordnance Works, R.R. XI, Box 170, Clear Spring, Maryland 21722. Write for our free catalog: RIGO PRODUCTS, DEPT. H-9 P.O. Box 1990. \ SPARKS. NEVADA 89432-1990 Metallic Reloading Lyman Video for Novice Reloaders Developed by the same people that made Lyman a leader in written publications, this How to oriented VHS tape lets the novice learn reloading the easy way. Special Offer For 1987: This new video is available at half price with purchase of any Lyman Expert Kit 01 Press Set. Send $17.50 along with proof of purchase (store receipt) and warranty card to Lyman. Write for free catalog. Questions? Call 1-800-22-LYMAN! Lyman Products Corporation Dept. 268, Rt. 147 Middlefield, CT 06455 53