Brass case wall thickness

[jim brady]

I'm looking for some help. I am converting .32 S&W brass to 7.65 French MAS. I ran into an unexpected difficulty: The Remington brass cases I am converting has very thin case walls (.010) compared to a batch of Winchester cases that had .012 thick case walls.

The end result is that the bullets won't seat tightly in the cases. My question is this: Who's brass (other than Winchester) is generally the heaviest?

I guess part #2 of the same question is although the Remington brass works, the bullet is held tightly enough to hold the bullet while cycling, I am able to hold the case tightly and rotate the bullet within the case. Is there a safe 'sealant' that I could use to further grip the bullet and seal the case? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Lee C.]

It sounds more like your brass has been work harden from sizeing to meany times and not ben annealed. .010 wall thickness is more than enough to hold your bullet. I have cases that are .009 and will hold a bullet just as good as if they where at .012

[jim brady]

Hi Lee. Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, this is new brass. I miked the case walls and the Remington brass is much thinner than the Winchester brass. Even with the seating die adjusted to a maximum crimp the Remington cases don't grip the bullet much.

The inside diameter of the fully sized cases is right at .309, and I am seating a .308 to .309 diameter bullet. There is enough brass thickness in the Winchester cases to grip the bullet tight, but the Reminington cases - there's just not enough there.

[Skipper]

Check with Starline:

http://www.starlinebrass.com/responseform.php

[Popgunner]

Without an expander plug like on other straight-walled pistol cases you have to rely on the sizing die to get the case small enough. Are you using 32 acp dies?

These would help if you're feeling rich:
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct...tnumber=136884

OUCH!!!

Or if you're not up for the $160 you could get this:
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct...tnumber=286235

Still OUCH.


The dang shelholder for 7.65 French Mas is on sale though at $17. ouch...

A cheap alternative would be to make a sizing block like I did for oddities. I took a 2" thick square of steel & drilled holes with lots of different sized bits on a drill press. Then I slightly beveled each opening on the block so cases would start easier. I havn't used it much but a few times it's worked for me to size straight walled cases. I use it like a big Lee-Loader with a plastic hammer.

[jim brady]

Thanks for the help. I am using .32 ACP dies. Closer examination shows that the the early brass that was the thickest WAS Starline (such a small stamp looked like W-W, but closer look proved to be *-*).

Here's how they miked: R-P was .010; W-W was .011 and Starline was .012.

Too bad those RCBS 7.65 French dies are so dang expensive at about $160 (and the shell holders, too, at $20 from Buffalo Arms). I'm hearing your pain!!! The .32 ACP expander plug mikes at .013, so I don't bother using it. The .308 - .309 bullets enter the case mouth without needing it even with Starline brass.

One thing. You can make that 7.65 MAS ammo by hand without a lathe. It is a slow process with a drill press, a shell holder, some jewler's files and hack-saw blades, but it can be done. I've made 175 so far, and they turned out really well. If you have time to fiddle with it, you can turn out about 15 per hour. Nobody makes these except that outfit in Austrailia (Bertram), and those are pricey. Buffalo Arms used to have these milled from Starline brass, but I have a 3 month back-order with them right now.

[Skipper]

http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm/4,774.html

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tNumber=583401

http://www.shooterschoice.com/bertram/bertrammain.htm