I hear of some people being very insistent that the headstamp on their ammunition exactly match their rifle. While I can understand this (and some African customs officers insist that the headstamp match the caliber marking on the gun), such practice would be highly limiting to me.

Some of the cartridges I load simply have little or no brass available, like the .256 Winchester (which I make from .357 Magnum.) The same is true of the .20 Vartarg, which I make from .221 Fireball.

In other instances it is simple expediency to use abundant and cheap brass of a common caliber to form into less commonly available brass.

I got to thinking about this and came up with the following list of brass conversions that I use or have used in the past:

.20 Vartarg from .221 Fireball
.20 Tactical from .223
.22 K-Hornet from .22 Hornet
.243 from .308
.256 Win from .357 magnum
.25-284 from .284 Win
.257 Rob from 7x57
.25-06 from .30-06
6.5 Rem Mag from .264 Win Mag
.280 Rem from .30-06
.300 Blackout from .223
8x57 from .30-06
.375 WBY from .375 H&H

Come to think of it, I would have several rifles which would never have been fired if I had to wait on finding properly headstamped brass.

How about you guys?

If you are considering taking one of them out of the country and are worried about the ammo not matching the firearm, have an engraver or gunsmith stamp a /then the caliber after it.
That's what is on my .500 MDM It's parent case is the .375 RUM so the stamp on the barrel reads .500MDM/375RUM and mark it so on the import paperwork. Australian Customs are some of the pickiest that I have dealt with and there were no issues.

I've got a few:

K-Hornet from Hornet
218 Bee from 25-20
222 from 223
250 Savage from 22-250
310 Cadet from 32-20
7x57AI from 7x57
7.65x53 from 8x57
30-40 Krag from 303 Brit
300 Apex from 338 Win Mag
32 Win Spl from 30-30
8x58R from 8x56RS
11.7x56R from 45-70
58-68-500 Rimfire from 28 Ga brass shotshell.

And maybe a couple others...

No, I won't be taking any of these out of the country, but I was surprised when I started doing an inventory of just how many brass conversions I had used.

quote:

58-68-500 Rimfire from 28 Ga brass shotshell

You're going to need to explain this one to me. How do you go from centerfire to rimfire?

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

58-68-500 Rimfire from 28 Ga brass shotshell

You're going to need to explain this one to me. How do you go from centerfire to rimfire?

I have to credit Bob Hayley (Hayley's Custom Ammo) in Texas for this. He sizes/swadges/shortens the 28ga to the proper dimensions. The primer holes are soldered shut. The shells are then bored to accept a 6mm Flobert Blank at/just inside the rim. The blanks are the primer. The loaded rounds have to be clocked at twelve for the proper pin strike in the 1865 Springfield 1st Allin Alteration that I shoot them in. I load them with 58 cal Minie balls and 60 or so grains of black, no dies required.

They work great, are reloadable, and are a whole bunch of fun to shoot! On top of that, Bob is a really fun guy, and he knows his stuff.

I see that guys are just bragging about their wildcat ammo; knowing all along that the headstamp means nothing.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I see that guys are just bragging about their wildcat ammo; knowing all along that the headstamp means nothing.

And you seem to have no problem with sharing with us all your vast knowledge and expertise when it come to all things relating to firearms. I see it as the same thing only different.

It was meant as levity. I have no vast knowledge of anything; I just report on what I have done.

Okay.

I have:
309 JDJ from Rem 444 Marlin brass
357 x 44 B&D from Star Line brass
250 Sav Imp from Winchester brass
257 Robt. IMP from Winchester brass
280 Ack. IMP from Winchester brass
7.62 x 45 Czech from 6.5×54mm Mannlicher–Schönauer brass

Don't really care what the headstamp is as long as it works.
For my dedicated Match rifles I prefer to have brass from the same lot#.

Steve.......

While I prefer to have correctly headstamped brass, and will even pay (a little) more to get it, there are some cases, pun intended, where that's just not an option. F'rinstance, when was the last time anyone saw correctly headstamped 11,43x49R Romanian brass? (For that lovely 1867 Peabody in the safe). Or all those other weird old British and metric cartridge firearms that have wandered through the house from time to time. Oh, the joys of making .297/.250 from Hornet brass...

Head Stamp! Head Stamp! I don't need no stinking head stamp! roger

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
. . . I have no vast knowledge of anything; . . .

308 & 358 Norma from 300 Win Mag
7.62 Argentina from 30-06
400 Corbon from 45 ACP
And a few more oddball cartridges, not counting Wildcats

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

58-68-500 Rimfire from 28 Ga brass shotshell

You're going to need to explain this one to me. How do you go from centerfire to rimfire?

I have to credit Bob Hayley (Hayley's Custom Ammo) in Texas for this. He sizes/swadges/shortens the 28ga to the proper dimensions. The primer holes are soldered shut. The shells are then bored to accept a 6mm Flobert Blank at/just inside the rim. The blanks are the primer. The loaded rounds have to be clocked at twelve for the proper pin strike in the 1865 Springfield 1st Allin Alteration that I shoot them in. I load them with 58 cal Minie balls and 60 or so grains of black, no dies required.

They work great, are reloadable, and are a whole bunch of fun to shoot! On top of that, Bob is a really fun guy, and he knows his stuff.

Sounds like a lot of work to shoot an old gun, but I can see that it is a labor of love.

I can still remember seeing the jaw drop on a WW-II vet, the father of a good friend, when I showed up with some "proper" .44 Russian cartridges for his Russian S&W "war trophy". (This was a number of years before the .44 Russian ammunition was reintroduced as a factory product.) I had simply cut down some .44 Magnum cases to the proper length and charged them with a conservative charge of Red Dot. He thought I was some kind of miracle worker and bragged to everyone he saw about what a genius I was.

i like winchester brass for some reason..... a few years back midway offered some brass in .357 mag with 4 different first names on them..... so i do have 100 rounds of reloads with my first name as the headstamp...............

For some of us who live in places where components are hard to find, we make do with whatever we can find.

I make 243 Winchester, 260 Remington, 7mm-08 Remington, 6.5 Creedmore and others from 308 brass.

The same goes for 270 Winchester brass, I make many different cases from it.

Several wildcats on belted magnums are made from different belted magnums too.

If you are able, there is nothing that you cannot do with a properly fitted workshop.