Nelsdou Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 For Z or any other 9.3x57 reloaders out there: Got my 9.3x57 dies and bullets reforming some 8x57 brass and ran into major difficulty in chambering a dummy load. My case necks (with bullets seated) at .393~.394 OD are way too tight. Turned down the neck until I got an reasonable slip fit, which is at .390. Chased down a 9.3x57 cartridge drawing off the 'net that shows the neck OD right at .394, which I assume is a max dimension. Until I saw that drawing, I was suspecting I just had some thick brass, now I'm not so sure. Anybody else seen tight necks in their 9.3x57s? Turning down cartridge necks is a PITA. Nels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z1r Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Never had this problem. Most 9.3x57 chambers are generous. When you neck up the brass it becomes thinner so. I did run into one problem when reforming .30-06 brass. I set my trimmer wrong and the cases were slightly too long. Necking up 8x57 brass should also shorten it but check the case length to be sure. Are you crimping? Are the 8x57 cases fired or new? I can't believe you'd have to turn down the necks. It is contrary to everything I've seen and heard. A chamber cast is probably called for to see what the real issue is. Take some comfort in knowing that IF you have to turn the necks, you will have to do it once and the cases should last a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsdou Posted July 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Using once-fired 8x57 cases. I trim them to 8x57 length, de-burr, and FL to 9.3 in the Hornady die. Case length comes out to about 2.235 or so. The dummy loads for setup purposes are trash brass, but dimensionaly the same. No crimp. After a chamber cleaning and using some homemade dye-check I played with several dummy loads. Checking out the bullet seating die, I found I could aggravate the problem by sloppy seating and crooking the necks a bit. But with everything straight and true the case necks at .394 OD (with seated bullet) are no-go. Relieved to .390 OD, life is good. This rifle has an extremely long leade; with the .390 OD case neck, I can't seat a .367 cast lead beer can bullet out far enough to hit the rifling. Nels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z1r Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 I can't seat the long 286's out long enough to hit the lands either. These things have long leades, hence the low presures. It's really odd to hear that your necks are so tight. One last thought, have you cleaned the hell out of the chamber? I would seriously think of doing a chamber cast to know for sure what the dimensions of the neck are. Worst case, if you are right, you just have it re-cut. Sorry to hear that you are having issues. Hope you find the fix quickly and painlessly. Of course, if you get sick of it, you can sell it to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsdou Posted July 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 Yep I cleaned the chamber pretty well. The chamber neck is still on the tight side, but does not appear to be eccentric from getting 360 degree contact marks on the cartridge. Well, taking a couple of mils from the cartridge necks won't be too bad. Trying to seat cast bullets with sharp-edged .367 gas checks and not getting them cocked is a bit tricky and the Hornady seating die tries to shave lead off the bullet's ogive. But man-o-man those are big bullets compared to the 8mm! The cast lead bullets are Mt Baldy 270 grain, but with lube and GC are actually closer to 280 grains. I'm anxious to see what these cartridges look like after firing in the Husky before I consider doing anything more on the chamber neck. And I haven't tried jacketed yet to see if there are any differences on loading. For those I'm going to try some 9.3 Hawk bullets that are a bit softer and should be more effective at lower velocities. BTW, the bedding job came out perfect on the stock, so I hope to get some range time soon. Nels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsdou Posted July 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 The Husky's a keeper! Shot a couple of sighters at 50 yds then move the target back to 100 yds and launched three. Iron sights, front bead, rear notch. 24 grains of 5744 behind 270 grain Mt. Baldy cast lead bullets. Another node shows up at 27~28 grains of 5744 with a 2.75 inch group. Nels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z1r Posted July 9, 2007 Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 That's great! Mine shoots so nicely that you'd never get me to part with it. Mine has an oversized chamber so I too have some reloading hassles. But, given its performance and all around good handling, etc, it is all worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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