Necking down straight wall cases

Greener Jim

Well-Known Member
As the title really. I reload but only straightwall. Never sized a bottleneck. I've found bits and pieces in the web but most of it is necking down cartridges which are already bottlenecks.
How would I go about necking a 45-70/458 win/600 nitro down? Obviously I would run it through a series of dies but how would I make the shoulder form where it needs to be?

It'd need fireforming I'd imagine to get the shoulder angle correct.


I was just playing on QuickDesign and wondered how it'd be done.
 
The process depends on how much you're necking down ( or up ) . Since you're , I assume , using rimmed cases , it will make it easier to fire form the proper shoulder location as the rim is what controls the headspace . What cartridge are you looking to form ?

AB
 
Yeah rimmed cases. I was just having a play really but 600 Nitro necked down to .510" gives interesting ballistics according to QuickLoad.

Interesting is one way of putting it lol . That would make quite the hammer ............ on both ends . Do you have an action for it , or is this a future project ?

AB
 
I think there is already a cartridge that is similar. I know that the .577 Rewa is a necked down .600 NE and I think that there is a .600 NE necked down futher to your desired .510 bullet. Or the larger .500 Rafiki or the, almost what you want, .577/.500 cartridge.

Probably the optimum, and modern, is the .577/.500 Hartmann and Weiss.
 
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I have a variety of 7x57R brass, but formed some from .444 Marlin just to see how well it worked: just fine.
I have formed .30-03 brass from .35 Whelen for my 1895 Winchester.
Every time you work it, you harden the brass, so at some point, you will need to anneal it.

.... which reminds me of an interesting project: Converting an SMLE from .303 to .444 Marlin.
 
I have a variety of 7x57R brass, but formed some from .444 Marlin just to see how well it worked: just fine.
I have formed .30-03 brass from .35 Whelen for my 1895 Winchester.
Every time you work it, you harden the brass, so at some point, you will need to anneal it.

.... which reminds me of an interesting project: Converting an SMLE from .303 to .444 Marlin.

I did that one! It was featured in "Rifle" magazine 20+-odd years ago iirc. Pain in the a$$ making the derilin nylon inserts for the magazine and the new feed lips but it worked. Used a 1-18" twist barrel.~Muir

FWIW: I used to reform .357 magum to .256 Winchester Magnum. That's a set down!
 
I did that one! It was featured in "Rifle" magazine 20+-odd years ago iirc. Pain in the a$$ making the derilin nylon inserts for the magazine and the new feed lips but it worked. Used a 1-18" twist barrel.~Muir

FWIW: I used to reform .357 magum to .256 Winchester Magnum. That's a set down!

I have that edition of Rifle , it was a lot better publication back then . I look at it every year or so , but for some reason ( probably laziness ) I never do it . I do have a .430 barrel gathering dust . I also have a Long Branch LE No 4 Mrk1* action .............. and three or four Desert Eagle 44RM magazines ......... Hmmmmm .
I apologize for hijacking the thread , my brain tends to wander .

AB
 
I did that one! It was featured in "Rifle" magazine 20+-odd years ago iirc. Pain in the a$$ making the derilin nylon inserts for the magazine and the new feed lips but it worked. Used a 1-18" twist barrel.~Muir

FWIW: I used to reform .357 magum to .256 Winchester Magnum. That's a set down!
That .444 Enfield calls for its own thread!

I don't want to touch any of my 8 or 10 Enfields, nor my P-14, and they have gotten so expensive. But this would be a good redo for a butchered No. 4 "sporter" job from a pawn shop, and make it like a BSA sporter with new wood.
 
I had a fellow ask me to do reduced rim/rimless 45-90 on a Lee Enfield. The cases would be lathe trimmed to fit the bolt face. He dropped off a clymer reamer, a handful of 45-90 cases, and never supplied a rifle or barrel. I still have his stuff tho I heard the fellow died a while back.

Yeah. A .444 LE would be fun, again. The barrel fitting was straight forward but the magazine was a bother and a half. I was younger then and liked the challenge. Pawn shop LE's aren't awful cheap here but they are doable. I think I built a 45-70 on an Austrian Werndl right after that one....
I used to build some weird stuff back then.~Muir

No! I was wrong! The rifle I built after the LE .444 was a Remington Rollingblock .444 on a 1902 Smokeless action. I bought two of the 1-18" barrels on special from Douglas. I had the action and the reamer so....

Man! that rifle shot really well. I had an NEI (retch) 365 grain FPGC mold and loaded it with 4895. Awesome. Traded it off to someone for something.... (sigh!)
 
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I had a fellow ask me to do reduced rim/rimless 45-90 on a Lee Enfield. The cases would be lathe trimmed to fit the bolt face. He dropped off a clymer reamer, a handful of 45-90 cases, and never supplied a rifle or barrel. I still have his stuff tho I heard the fellow died a while back.

Yeah. A .444 LE would be fun, again. The barrel fitting was straight forward but the magazine was a bother and a half. I was younger then and liked the challenge. Pawn shop LE's aren't awful cheap here but they are doable. I think I built a 45-70 on an Austrian Werndl right after that one....
I used to build some weird stuff back then.~Muir

No! I was wrong! The rifle I built after the LE .444 was a Remington Rollingblock .444 on a 1902 Smokeless action. I bought two of the 1-18" barrels on special from Douglas. I had the action and the reamer so....

Man! that rifle shot really well. I had an NEI (retch) 365 grain FPGC mold and loaded it with 4895. Awesome. Traded it off to someone for something.... (sigh!)

I seem to remember another article in Rifle or Handloader , I can't remember which , where someone built a 45/90 on a No4 Mrk1 Lee Enfield . The author turned down the rims on his cases too . I have to admit , the thought of modifying the mag for proper feeding has always turned me off of the idea . I knew one old gun crank years ago that built a 35/303 . He used it on all sorts of large hostile things with great success . That always struck me as a very practical conversion , there was only minor tweaking to the mag lips for reliable feeding . So many rifles , so little time .

AB
 
I think there is already a cartridge that is similar. I know that the .577 Rewa is a necked down .600 NE and I think that there is a .600 NE necked down futher to your desired .510 bullet. Or the larger .500 Rafiki or the, almost what you want, .577/.500 cartridge.

Probably the optimum, and modern, is the .577/.500 Hartmann and Weiss.

It was the 577/500 No2 (and a westley richards double so chambered) that got me thinking about it. Apparently the rifle was regulated for a 570gr@~2300fps, which explains why it weighs 14lbs :)
I would presume that the rifle is actually chambered in the Hartmann and Weiss version not 577/500 No2 but I don't know. Here's the link A Westley Richards Gold Name Droplock Double Rifle in .577/.500 No.2 Nitro Express. | Westley Richards

The 577/500 No2, despite being 'based on the 577', is smaller in base and rim diameter than the 577 NE. Did the 577/500 Hartmann and Weiss use full size 577 brass as the parent?
 
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