equipment to load custom cartridges?

[justin22885]

i have an idea for a new rifle cartridge that i am very interested in.. ive drawn out the dimensions of it in a 3D cad program including wall thickness and case head dimensions of the parent brass so that i could calculate internal case volume to plug it and its other characteristics into quickload to estimate some possible loads and i have settled on a design i really like and id like to move forward with testing in an actual rifle

so, id need a means to chamber a barrel, meaning i would probably need a custom chamber reamer, as well as reloading dies (i think hornady sells customs for like $175) and probably a set of go/no-go gauges.. any idea where to get this stuff made?

 

[cfullgraf]

Clymer Reamers will make custom reamers. Some of the other companies may as well.

Clymer has a basic case drawing that you fill in the information for them to work from.

RCBS used to make custom dies.

In any case, contact the companies directly and they will tell you if they make custom stuff.

Expect a long lead time.

 

[Reloadron]

I agree with chuck in that you want to talk to Clymer and another possible would be PTG (Pacific Tool and Gauge) and the latter may be able to cut you the reamers and dies.

During my CAD days I was Electrical Engineering and when we wanted for example boards fabricated I just sent the makers a "Gerber" file. There should be a similar file the ME guys used when we wanted custom parts made. CAD makes things so easy these days.

Anyway I would start with Clymer and PTG and see what they have to say. Depending on your cartridge if the parent is common that is great as there will be existing bolt faces out there making things go easier.

Also, per Chuck you could be looking at a long lead time.

Ron

 

[stringnut]

Take a careful look at the list of wildcats that are currently out there. It is very hard to make something that someone hasn't done at least fairly closely. This is not meant to be a discouragement. Just don't want to see you spend a lot of money and time building some thing that has already been done. Nothing wrong with having something uniquely yours. Knew a gentleman who designed and built a rifle for a wildcat that almost exactly duplicated his 7mm mag. There wasn't 50 fps difference. It did fit in a short action, but, the weight savings wasn't much. I don't remember the parent brass. It did require two forming steps and then a fire forming. As he said " it only takes about 4 hours and twice the cost to make what I can buy at Dunhams in 15 minutes including drive time". If you proceed have fun and use caution. Post how it works out for you. Manson reamers may be able to get you set up.

 

[justin22885]

well, the parent case is 7.62x39, however a 7.62x39 case will not fit in my chamber with the shoulder moved back, however i just noticed .220 russian will, so im changing the "parent" to 220 russian because all i need to do is neck that up and fireform it, moving the shoulder forward and adjusting its angle... so reloading dies wont be immediately necessary

so, reamer and headspacing gauges are all id need i guess?

some details about my cartridge is that its based on 7.62x39/.220 russian, the main body taper and COAL remains as to make it compatible with 7.62x39 mags and bolts, requiring just a barrel change to convert something like an AK, SKS, VZ58, 556R, or CMMG mutant.. test rifle would be a 7.62 AK that i would build omitting the handguard retainer, rear sight block (modifying the trunnion to use a galil or saiga 12 gas tube) and omit the front sight block as well... so barrel blank only needs to be turned down to 23mm at the shank, and again down to .631" for the gas block, no threading and no shoulder required

 

[adcoch1]

So something like a 9x39?

 

[justin22885]

it would be a step between .220 russian and 7.62x39, but unlike the grendel and PPC cartridges the taper would remain for magazine/action compatibility

 

[adcoch1]

Great idea. 7MM or 270? That would be awesome in a cz527

 

[justin22885]

its a .277" bullet, it also has a larger case capacity and even greater difference in usable case capacity than 6.8SPC, with more useable case capacity and a slightly shorter case to its COAL you can even seat the very long larger ogive bullets and at full pressure youre getting about a 100fps velocity boost over the 6.8SPC with 110 grain vmax bullets while maintaining 100% compatibility with any 7.62x39 rifle requiring just a barrel swap

so imagine chambering an AK for this, you get more muzzle energy, better barrier penetration, greater range, and a much flatter trajectory.. you lose literally nothing but gain a lot over 7.62x39.. and with the fairly high ballistic coefficient and average 150-200fps over 6.5 grendel ballistics charts show the 110 grain shooting flatter out to 700 yards than 6.5 grendel, the 120 grain would have a trajectory much closer to the 6.5 but more downrange energy

 

[adcoch1]

I am interested. I am assuming similar barrel length to the 6.8 but probably shorter than a 6.5 grendel setup. Keep us posted if you go through with it, sounds like a fun project!