At the DSC show this past January, I purchased a very nice Army & Navy magazine rifle in .242 Rimless NE caliber. After six months of searching, I've found a few rounds of ammo for this rifle made by Kynoch probably in the 40's or 50's. I need to supply a fired case to a vendor who will make me brass and dies for the rifle. The ammo looks to be in pretty good condition - is it safe to fire a couples rounds of this ammo in my rifle ? If not, why not ? Thanks for your input.

Frank:

Are these loose rounds, or are they in boxes? If in boxes, what's the date code on the box (back of box, will be a number and two letters - like "5 Q Y", which is 5 October, 1950)? If they're loose rounds, are the primer cups copper or brass?

Kynoch seems to have dropped this round long enough ago that they will probably be copper, which contains corrosive priming compound (the brass cups are non-corrosive). The last loading I can find for it is from 1950. If it was dropped at that time, then it was never loaded with non-corrosive caps. Follow cleaning procedures for corrosive ammo if you shoot it. Be prepared for hangfires. Brass that old can be quite brittle, so a case split is a possibility.

I've fired Kynoch ammo that old with no problems, but it was all flanged stuff loaded with Cordite, which the 242 Vickers was never loaded with.

Wouldn't a Cerrosafe chamber cast work as well?
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

The primer is brass; I'd like to avoid the chamber cast, and with these few rounds I've found, I thought it would be OK just to fire a round to check the chamber - maybe the lazy way to accomplish the task.

I fired the round today; no problems, and now I have a fired case that will allow me to have Hornady make some custom dies for this caliber. One question: is Hornady the only folks that make custom dies - for $274. (other than C & H) ? Thanks.

By all means try CH4D for those dies, I am sure they will save you some money and the dies I have from them are fine.

How can I contact CH4D ?

I strongly recommend avoiding CH4D. Any money you save will most likely cost you a great deal more in aggravation. I've made that mistake and will never make it again.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

400 Nitro Express - you have a PM.