fire forming brass

[ONE HOLE 4570]

With the cost of components these days, what would be the most economical way to fire form AI brass, other than shoot the parent cartrige

[huntducks]

Fire forming is just that shooting it thru your chamber.

Are you asking how to do it?

[necchi]

http://www.angelfire.com/ma/ZERMEL/handifireform.html

be sure to click his "home" link on the bottom of the page and find the Fire forming link.

a Quote from Varment Al's pages;

"FIRE FORMING WITHOUT A BULLET.... I prime the cases with any old odd lot of primers I have around the place and load 6 gr. of Bullseye with a tiny piece of paper towel or cotton wad stuffed in the end of the case to keep the powder from falling out. DO NOT load a bullet! I go outside where the noise won't bother anyone and I fire-form the cases. The 6 gr. of Bullseye will form the cases about 95% and not split any shoulders. The pressure produced by Bullseye with no bullet back-pressure is remarkable. It is truly a "fast" and energetic powder!..

Both guy's are using low doses of fast burning shotgun powders and "other than bullet's" type case plug's.

[Sweetwater]

I've read of using oatmeal and cornmeal over the powder and wax to hold it in. I've used cornmeal, kept the gun raised enough to not spill any and touch it off. OUTSIDE

[41 mag]

Many folks use the CM or COW method to get cases formed. As far as walking out the back door and using this method, do it only if your nearest neighbor is several hundred yards away.

Personally I have found for the three AI I have, that the standard loads shoot very accurately. In fact the darn .223AI barrel I have for my Contender is so much so I haven't even bother to load any rounds for it, and have had it for over 5 years. I mean it shoots under 1" at 300yds in good conditions from the bench. No since messing with it till i run out of factory stuff for it.

Anyway, aside from the cost, I generally do like another posted on another forum. I load up an accuracy load with standard cases, then after getting 50 formed, I set up and load up an accurate hunting load with them. Easy to distinguish between the two and I generally have some of each in the 50rd box I haul to the country with me. If I get a chance at a hog or simply want to form some rounds I use up the standard stuff first.

With my newer 25-06 AI, there is only about an in difference between the two at 200yds, so for hogs or yotes either will do fine. I have it sighted in for the formed loads out to 300yds but even there there is only a slight difference that either will work fine.

I simply hated the mess I got with the COW and figured why screw with it when I could be hunting something or practicing instead.

[sbhg]

Why waste a primer and some powder when using tissue or something like that?
Use a cast bullet powder charge and a light bullet and use for target practice or varmints (groundhog, gopher, etc...).
In my .22-250AI I use 15 grs. of IMR-4198 and a 45 gr. hornet bullet for a light load and it shoots good.

[Steve P]

It depends on the caliber.  My -06AI I just fire -06 loads.  They are accurate and good for anything I want to shoot.  For wildcat rounds I load up moderate loads of Unique with cast bullets just touching the lands.
For my 7TCU brass, 8.0 grains of Unique and the RCBS 145 silhouette bullet is actually shot in competition in one gun.  The fireformed brass is then used for my other guns.  Nothing wasted using this method.

Lots of tricks out there.  I have done the COW and CM tricks with low doses of bullseye or other powders.  Took a 5 gallon bucket, stuffed it with insulation, cut a hole in the bottom and put a piece of PVC pipe part way down.  Barrel part way down the PVC and touched it off.  Biggest silencer you ever saw, but you do need to put some weight on the bucket to keep it from coming off the ground.  Also going to get some dirt flying up if you have very many rounds to shoot.  Did 50 rounds of 7sm in one sitting and was making less noise than shaking a rug. 

Buddy of mine got an old stainless steel sink, filled it with spray foam, and shot thru the drain hole into a hole bored through the foam.  Works good until the foam starts to fly.  Ended up putting in the piece of PVC to keep muzzle blast from tearing up the foam.  Still made a good silencer for shooting fireform loads in the back yard.

Be carefull no matter what you do.  DO NOT put any type of heavy material into a bottle neck case without working up to your load.  Restrictions within the case can increase pressures dramatically.

Steve

[Kurt L]

on my 30-06 imp when i don't shoot bullets I use
13 grains Win 231 a piece of tissue then fill  the case with
old tumbler media,push it in with a pencil to pack it and end up with case full to be in the neck.
then I took an old RCBS lube bottle and filled with crisco,and I fill the rest of the neck with this to keep it all from falling out.

[Ladobe]

Another here who found no reason to pre fire form most of my wildcats, nor did I just shoot factory ammo.   Through the form dies then load for hunting was the norm, then fire form in the killing fields.

[Lloyd Smale]

i use cast bullets and pistol powders

[gman628]

I honestly think the best way to firem form an AI is to shoot a bullet, but if you want to try the C.O.W. method, and you have a brake, make sure you take it off.  Nobody here so far has mentioned this, just like most of the posts I read when first trying it on a wildcat, and it cost me a brake.  After about six shots, the end of my brake got blown off!  So, FYI, take the brake off.   The cornmeal acts like shot from a shotgun and spreads out after leaving the rifling and hits the back side of the brake.  My brake was on a .338 cal. and after I blew out the end, it measured .605 ID.

Gary

[cybin]

Years ago I bought a set of dies from RCBS to make .222 brass from .223 brass---left a slight bulge where the shoulder was moved back---I used 5 grains of bullseye and a small rifle primer and a piece of cotton where the bullet goes. Pointed it up in the air and the bullseye did a beautiful job of taking the buldge out. After that just retrim the case to length and you are ready to go.

Wonder if there is any market for those dies these days? Saw them just last week in my reloading cabinet.

cybin

[roper]

With the cost of components these days, what would be the most economical way to fire form AI brass, other than shoot the parent cartrige

For my volume PD rifle I just fireform shooting PD 223 to 223AI/222 to 222AI and 22-250 to 22-250AI.  My other calibers like 243AI/6RemAI and 280AI I use the COW method.