new gear

there r a few guys forming cases hydrolicaly,,using water,,,can u share your info ,,i think this iz a very interesting way of case forming,,especialy where u get the gear,,
my 2 bobs worth on neck turning ,,USE K&M NECK TURNING GEAR , expanders , cutterrs mandrals ect ,,
its the best,,,,iv tried others ,,shit,, peter at pro cal  and stue elliott sell the gear i think
cheers jacko

The most informed person on this subject that i know would be Mike Bell who is doing this process for his BRX. Hopefully Belly will give an account of how well this process works. At the weekend that we held at Batemans bay he demonstrated the hydraulic process and from what i saw it was a very successful way of forming up a new case without the expense of loading and fire forming.

Pictures to Belly would be good to.

cheers good shooting to all
Les

hopefully , belly cauld bring hiz gear and show a few of us how it works ,this would be great,,
cheers jacko

Jacko & Les,
Really happy to talk to anyone about this process...it's really easy and I think very worthwhile if you want to shoot a wildcat that you can't buy brass for. I have been shooting the 6 BRX which is very similar to a dasher. It's made by moving the shoulder of a standard 6 BR case forward a little to give it a bit more case capacity. This can be done by fireforming in the usual way but I was having big problems getting any consistency in the cases dimensions after fireforming. It sometimes took me 3 -4 shots to get cases right which translates into a lot of mucking around and a lot less barrel life. I eventually purchased a hydraulic die from Hornady. All I do now is seat an old primer to seal the back end, fill the case with water, cycle the case into the die which sits in a press in the usual way. The die has a hole drilled in the top which allows a plunger to be inserted. Give the top of the plunger a whack with a rubber hammer and the water in the case which can't be compressed expands the case to the dimensions of the die. This is done at home without needing to go to the range and the cases come out of the die all within about 1.5 thou of each other in length. The cases have slightly rounded shoulders but are good enough to take to a match.
I can assure you if I was to ever have an Ackley Improved of any sort, Dasher, BRDX or any other widcat rifle made I would go straight to a Hydraulic die to form cases.
Regards,
Belly

Hi Belly,

Yes, I had a look at your hydraulic die setup at our equipment weekend at the bay, it looked really efficient.  I think Rick would benefit from this with his 260AI.

Where did you purchase the die from ?  Are they "off the shelf" in these sort of calibres or do you need to send fired cases and have a custom die made ?

Cheers

Anthony

G'day Anthony,
I read an article on Accurate Shooter .com and emailed a bloke @ Hornady. He requested either 2 fired cases or a chamber illustration. I sent him cases and he returned the die after about 6 weeks.

If you go down the Hornady path and you already have fire formed cases then send them.

If you're doing a rifle build I reckon your gunsmith could run your chamber reamer into a blank body die. He could I'm sure, also drill the hole and possibly make the  plunger.  Doesn't really look all that difficult.

As usual, I made a few mistakes forming these cases early ,eg I bent the plunger by hitting too hard with a steel hammer instead of just firmly with a rubber one. I've also learned to set the die to the point where the cases come out a "fraction" to long. I then full length resize ensuring that head spacing is perfect.

Maybe I can take a few pics if readers are interested!
Regards,
Belly

Ha! Don't believe it. There's another article on Accurate Shooter .com about this very subject.

Bit spooky isn't it!

Belly

Not to hog this thread but the accurate shooter article reminded me of a couple of important points re the Hydraulic form die.

1 You will need a shell holder with no hole in the bottom; this stops the primer from being blown out the bottom under pressure.

2 The die needs to slightly neck size the case to seal it against the die wall.
So,... having a rethink about the gunsmith suggestion. Guess it couldn't hurt to ask though.

Certainly the people at Hornady were very helpful.

belly,,this is a wildcatters dream machine,,az i dont own a standard cracker ,,i realy wont to know more ,,,
can ua possably give us a call please ,,cheers jacko ,,0438058641