I have about 50 more rounds of 400 Whelen (stamped with the correct headspace) I need to finish fireforming.

It comes from the factory (Quality Cartridge) as cylindrical brass, which I then neck down in my sizing die, and trim to length.

The brass is thick, and requires inside neck reaming before a .411 bullet (or even a .410 pistol bullet) will fit into the rifles chamber.
After inside neck reaming, it seats (and shoots) perfectly.

I had been sizing, triming, and then fireforming with Bullseye and filler. This expanded the case to my chamber, and allowed me to take the now fire-formed brass and inside ream the neck.

Here's my question: What would happen if I loaded some of the sized, virgin brass with 10mm jacketed pistol bullets (.400)?
My barrel slugs out at .4105

This would be easier than my current method of fireforming with Bullseye and filler (but of course I would still have to inside neck ream after firing).

Anyone done anything similar?
Thanks,
Garrett

while I doubt you'd do any damange to yourself. I can't imagine that a bullet skipping and hopping down the barrel would do the rifleing any good.
Keep doing your current method.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty Marlin:
while I doubt you'd do any damange to yourself. I can't imagine that a bullet skipping and hopping down the barrel would do the rifleing any good.
Keep doing your current method.

It's a case of risks and gains....I agree with the above post....the risk isn't worth it.

Garrett

Although I never went the route you are going, I am surprised that you are having the problems you describe. The neck down from basic to 411 isn't much of a movement. The neck should not be getting thick enough to cause your problem, unless the brass is unduly thick at the neck to begin with.

I am wondering if the reamer for the chamber was made with the presumption that brass would be made from 270, 30-06, 35 Whelen brass, in which case the neck would be thinner from being necked UP. If that might be the case (no pun) then you may be treating the symptom and not curing the illness.

If I were you, I'd load a dummy round without any reaming and measure the case neck with the bullet in place. Then I would get a chamber cast and take the measurement of that same area of the cast. I do not know what the exact measurement should be (real smithy types will step up and answer that) but I think that I would want at least .004 to .005" buffer for the release of the bullet, maybe more.

If you don't want to always fuss with the brass, you may need to have the neck area opened up a little to accomodate the brass, as is.

If you want me to measure one of the ones I have made from 35 Whelen, just to see the difference, I can do that.

Under acceleration a bullet will compress axially and expand radially. If it is too much undersize and pressure is not high enough to allow obturation of the bore, increased flame cutting of the throat is certain. The harder the bullet and the lower the pressure, the less the obturation. Examine a fired bullet to see if the bore touched the bullet all the way around it's circumference. If not, do not continue shooting that combination.

See this.

Thank you all for your suggestions.

Mike, I have spoken to others who have encountered this phenomenon with necking down the cylindrical brass. The easy fix is to open the chamber in the neck area.
However, as it is, the chamber forms perfect brass from 35 Whelen cases, so when the reamer was designed/cut I suspect that was what was intended to be used.

I would prefer to keep the chamber as it is, since in the future 30-06 and 35 Whelen brass is sure to be more plentiful than cylindrical 400 Whelen brass.
Besides, when I have all 80 cases formed, I will have more than a lifetimes worth of brass.

If I had some cheap .408 bullets I would have it made, but "cheap" and .408 don't go together.

Loading and fireforming the last 50 cases will take about an hour. I was just being lazy.

Garrett

I think neck reaming is not the best way to go. You should turn the necks (i.e. removing brass from the outside of the neck).
Only this method guarantees a consistent wall thickness while a reamer passes through the neck uncontrollably, leaving one side of the wall thicker than the other.
A reamer is a nice thing for removing donuts.

I have heard this before about inside neck reaming vs. outside neck turning.

It may be that outside turning is more accurate, but in my 25-284 Mauser, I am getting .5 inches at 200 yards for the first two consecutive shots, followed by the third shot opening the entire group to .75 (the third shot is always high and to the right)....all with inside neck reaming.

It is working well enough for hunting applications.

Garrett

I wrote the neck preparation stuff from my benchrest practice.

Your third round being high-right is barrel creep: it's a temperature sensitive hunting rifle - which is not designed with barrel warming in mind but saving weight, and this is what the hunter wants (one or two rounds and the job is done).

In reference to the reduced bullet diameter I'd expect a severe loss in velocity and accuracy.
Experimenting on this isn't worth the money.