Guns & Outdoors Forum

I agree with the CP&J.

60 grains of 3f is nothing to sneeze at with a 400-500 grain bullet will kill anything on this continent……It will
Be easy to shoot too. Roll with the 500 brass

Yeah, you guys are probably right. I guess I probably shouldn't have ordered the brass tubing already. It's literally called cartridge brass and it wasn't cheap. I got it to where I could ream the majority of it to .500 but not to full depth and turn down the outside to .530 which would leave a web thickness of whatever I figured looked about right at the time in the bottom of the case. Then silver solder caps in place. I determined last night that 2.5" long would hold the 100 grains just right. I MAY still experiment around but will likely just use the abundance of 500 brass I have, because you guys made solid points. I could always just bump up to using Unique if I wanted more performance but there's really no use because I'm not a hunter, just Tim the Tool Man of the firearm world . Oh yeah, I plugged and soldered the primer pocket and flash hole of my brass and am amazed that you can't even see a hint of a seam or solder.

I’d try those first!! Nice work!

Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh... your singing my song....More power!

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I seriously have a love affair for weird things
350 grain bullet.

That is amazing! Would be cooler with cast bullets!

Unfortunately its all I have until I buy the mold that I need.

Justsomedude wrote: ↑Sun Nov 16, 2025 1:13 am Unfortunately its all I have until I buy the mold that I need.

Oh I’m sure whatever you make is effing cool!!

OK, I couldn't help myself! I didn't know much about Pin Fire cartridges so down the rabbit hole I went. I found a lot of interesting history (Ask Ian) and how one man makes his own pin fire cartridges. Its a lot of work but looks like a fun project. I'm sure JSD has a more efficient way but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cVc34vOtAs

Freezer wrote: ↑Sun Nov 16, 2025 12:44 pm OK, I couldn't help myself! I didn't know much about Pin Fire cartridges so down the rabbit hole I went. I found a lot of interesting history (Ask Ian) and how one man makes his own pin fire cartridges. Its a lot of work but looks like a fun project. I'm sure JSD has a more efficient way but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cVc34vOtAs

That's pretty much how I make them also, with the exception of making plugs and soldering them in the primer pockets before I face the back of the brass in the lathe. Apparently alot of people have the misconception that pinfire cartridges are/were low powered but they were really no different than any of the other black powder cartridges that came later. And I can't remember the exact number, but if I recall I was getting 32acp velocities out of the 7mm revolver I converted to 32 pinfire.

Since I got the brass, I might as well just to see

Ended up holding 120 grains of powder and this thing is a hoss. The first one took a bit of time to make and I didn't have any brass to solder as end caps so I just used steel. I'm sure I could make the rest pretty quickly but this really is overkill.

So how does one resize a straight wall case without a rim? Is it like a lee single cartridge setup, tap in and use a rod to remove from the die?

I have not made it that far yet. I lathe turned this one but I assume I could use my press to push it into a die and then knock it out with a wooden dowel. It's my understanding that most BP cartridges don't expand alot in chambers, but who knows if that's true or not. I'm guessing it'll be easier to just neck size it.

You might to put a "wonder wad" behind those jacketed bullets to help keep the fouling soft, or go with some 20:1 or 30:1 soft lead bullets with SPG BP lube on them.

Looks good though

Justsomedude wrote: ↑Thu Nov 20, 2025 12:52 am I have not made it that far yet. I lathe turned this one but I assume I could use my press to push it into a die and then knock it out with a wooden dowel. It's my understanding that most BP cartridges don't expand alot in chambers, but who knows if that's true or not. I'm guessing it'll be easier to just neck size it.

Sticky extraction could prove tough without a rim. I’d full length size so they just slide out…..

Justsomedude wrote: ↑Thu Nov 20, 2025 12:52 am I have not made it that far yet. I lathe turned this one but I assume I could use my press to push it into a die and then knock it out with a wooden dowel. It's my understanding that most BP cartridges don't expand alot in chambers, but who knows if that's true or not. I'm guessing it'll be easier to just neck size it.

BP cartridges that do not expand in chamber are tough to extract because cases will not seal the chamber and fouling makes a mess and makes for sticky extraction. My son in law is having an issue with his 50-90 Sharps extracting cases that have massive amounts of fouling on the outside even after just one firing. I read that all cases that are to be used with BP should be annealed to soften them so they expand and seal the chamber so science will be following shortly.

Wambli Ska wrote: ↑Thu Nov 20, 2025 3:54 pm

Justsomedude wrote: ↑Thu Nov 20, 2025 12:52 am I have not made it that far yet. I lathe turned this one but I assume I could use my press to push it into a die and then knock it out with a wooden dowel. It's my understanding that most BP cartridges don't expand alot in chambers, but who knows if that's true or not. I'm guessing it'll be easier to just neck size it.

BP cartridges that do not expand in chamber are tough to extract because cases will not seal the chamber and fouling makes a mess and makes for sticky extraction. My son in law is having an issue with his 50-90 Sharps extracting cases that have massive amounts of fouling on the outside even after just one firing. I read that all cases that are to be used with BP should be annealed to soften them so they expand and seal the chamber so science will be following shortly.

I didnt consider that scenario but it makes sense. The only thing I'm not happy with is the lack of ability to extract these cases but I can always just use a wooden dowel down the barrel if worse comes to worse. I have zero experience with black powder cartridges so this is all new territory for me.

GrapeApe wrote: ↑Thu Nov 20, 2025 1:07 am You might to put a "wonder wad" behind those jacketed bullets to help keep the fouling soft, or go with some 20:1 or 30:1 soft lead bullets with SPG BP lube on them.

Looks good though

Thank you. A buddy of mine put me onto "Puff-lon," a lubricating ballistic filler. I'll likely give it a try to see how it works. Of course the real game plan is to use those 404grain lead cast bullets with grease grooves. Right now I'm mostly just screwing around for the hell of it and using what I have but I'm a bit aways from actually firing a round anyhow.

Unpopular opinion with dyed in the wool real black powder fans….its over rated. Use a cleaner burning substitute like pyrodex or better yet black horn 209.


“Bu bu bu but it’s not traditional!”

Neither is a hand built pinfire rifle.

CPJ 2.0 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 20, 2025 5:37 pm Unpopular opinion with dyed in the wool real black powder fans….its over rated. Use a cleaner burning substitute like pyrodex or better yet black horn 209.


“Bu bu bu but it’s not traditional!”

Neither is a hand built pinfire rifle.

Oh I'm not using actual BP. I'm using 777. It's much cleaner, more powerful and not corrosive. It also cleans incredibly easy. I hate actual black powder.

Justsomedude wrote: ↑Thu Nov 20, 2025 5:42 pm

CPJ 2.0 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 20, 2025 5:37 pm Unpopular opinion with dyed in the wool real black powder fans….its over rated. Use a cleaner burning substitute like pyrodex or better yet black horn 209.


“Bu bu bu but it’s not traditional!”

Neither is a hand built pinfire rifle.

Oh I'm not using actual BP. I'm using 777. It's much cleaner, more powerful and not corrosive. It also cleans incredibly easy. I hate actual black powder.

Excellent.

Better (and water soluble)
Never used the "puff-lon" but I'm doubtful of it keeping, even the smaller amount, of 777 residue from making life difficult.

Even lubing my maxiballs for my inline, and using 777 myself, after 2-3 rounds, the amount of fouling makes loading difficult using 75gr equiv of 777.