A few guys have asked me for help with a press which will accomodate the 2"-12 dies for their 2-Bore cartridge rifles. I pulled this photo from an older thread. The top plate is removed. trued, existing thread indicated, and a new hole threaded. I can do the conversions here for $200 including shipping back to you. Contact Colin Stolzer regarding his reamer design and Dave at CH4D for your dies. The bushing in this photo is used for priming only.

That is great someone is doing this for guys.
I made an extra 2 x 12 threaded top for
mine 4 years ago when I started my 4 bore
project. Ed

Good luck resizing those cases in a handpress. I cant do a 12 gaFH in one. Hand dies and a Hydraulic press are the way to go. Even then you need lots of Imperial sizing wax. Otherwise good luck.-Rob

Good point RGB.

But, I would expect Mac has done his homework here rather thoroughly on this press remodel.

Rich

Uh ...?? Who's resizing cases? Not me or anyone else shooting 2-Bore. You can't make enough pressure to tweak the lower 2/3 of the case. The only part that gets worked is the upper 1/4 which is really just to seat and crimp. Maybe you and Ed should stick to those pop-guns you're makin' and leave the serious stuff to me ...

I can do the top third of the steel 2bore cases I made,
and all of the 4bore brass I have here, ok, as well as
12ga FH and my 700, BUT if it goes hard, then except the
700, I push the case out from the top so as not to
bend rims. Mine is ammomaster with some linkage
improvements I made and extended handle and the top
of the press is anchored to case spinner/lathe behind it
weighing 500lbs,bolted to heavy bench, and bench and all
locked to floor and wall.Those heavy 2bore cases Mac has with
the loads planned on in the break action that is being built,
won't expand the bottom of the cases anyway.Ed

The wall thickness at the web is .080" and the base is .375", YS = 44ksi. The case design isn't an accident or a compromise.

That's some pretty serious hardware Ed - maybe you can post a photo of your press set-up so guys can consider your linkage improvements.

Ouch! Mac, you brute!!

Seriously, this conversion of yours looks like the hot set up; and the Hornady 50BMG press is nothing if not sturdy.

I have one on order, and will be shipping the top plate off to Mac when it arrives. If I can get Mac to send me a case and one bullet I will be able to coordinate with Colin and help this project in my own little way.

Gentlemen, I am NOT special. I retired two years ago and have the time and the obsession to feed.

Colin and Mac deserve your thanks. They are putting their time and a considerable amount of $$$ into making this go. Ed also deserves a lot of credit here for his work on the two-bore. I'm just tagging along.

Rich

PS: mac, is that a snuff can in the picture?

I disagree Rich! You are DEFINITELY special!

Colin has brass.

You might want to clarify that Ed's 2-Bore project is a very different animal - he can offer more details. Last I visited Ed's project it was a steel cased, rimless, high pressure concept with some longer range potential.

My 2bore is a rimmed, longer(5"), steel case built from
27mm Nato Typhoon aircraft cannon cases. They had a
belt on them with same size rim, and when I removed
belt, it left a nice rimmed case. It may end up
something like my own falling block or a gun like
Colin is doing if I am around long enough..

Here is older pic of my press with 1.5" top on the press, a
2" top on bemch with 4bore die I made in it, and the case
spinner/lathe behind. The top now is anchored to the machine
behind with plate of steel, bolted to both. Top of the press
and bed of machine same height with plate now bolted between
them, using half inch bolts. My linkage changes are an
extra set of holes in the bottom of a longer slot I put in the
bottom of ram so that ram is lower to where its compound leverage is
the greatest when it is in the top end of stroke where the
cases swaging and sizing occurs. And extra hole on the
pivot increasing leverage there. The bigger dies and longer
cases meant I had to do that or get bigger taller press or make
longer rods. I can switch pin in holes for whatever I'm doing
in 15 seconds. Also I now have a 2 foot
extension on the handle also.ED

What press is that Ed?

Rich

That is an Ammomaster and Mac could do the same
job on the tops for that as well as the
other brands of presses.Ed

Indeed, the new Hornady BMG press is a close copy of the RCBS AmmoMaster.

DRG: Kiss my grits.

Absolutely!! Anyone who wants to take their top off and send it to me can get it rescrewed!! Of course if you don't look like Charlize Theron, my English Mastiff Mr. Smith will be doing the rescrewing ...

IF you shoot em enough you'll have to FL size at some point! Good luck in that press. 8Ft cheater bar and /or fork lift bars?-Rob

I don't think there is a man on this forum who can stand to shoot loads that will expand this brass enough to require FL sizing.
Nominal load of a 3500gr bullet at 1400fps is some serious recoil. Like nearly 14,000ft/lbs.
When my rifle is done there will be a standing invitation every year at the Hoot-n-Shoot for anybody who wants to shoot a round loaded to those specs. No charge!

Rich

The turned cases are real thick sided especialy
the bottom half of the case. They will grow after a
dozen or two loads with the right powder that I'd use,
and then it is hard as Rob says to get the
turned cases back to size on the bottom half.
I got two really hard used 4 bore cases that were a
little that way and rather than scratch up the cases
and my dies, which are only polished not hardened,
I put them on my case spinner/lathe, and in 3 min they
were back to specs on the bottom half and they go in
and out of the die easy. And they are still real thick so
it could be done a couple more times at least.My multi-faceted
floating cutting tool works great. I've done a couple
of the RMC 3.5" 12ga cases that I fired many times. The 4bore
ones were RMC also, and they made for Ken Owen's doubles.
And they match my 4bore cases made from 20mm brass.
The 4bore loads were Blue Dot powder, but on mine it will
be much slower powder and cases will expand a lot
less in a lot more loads fired. The RE17 works in 8bore so it
probably will do in 4bore, maybe even 2bore. but if it
doesn't we can use HBMG/RE25/Retumbo/VV170 and Blue Dot starter,
and save wear and tear on cases and dies/presses.Ed

My 12Ga FH in the Borchardt will launch a 2000gr Borerider well over 1800fps. Thats well over 14,000 ft-lbs. I've shot that load many times any yes it will get your attention even in a 26lb gun. However, Its far from undoable. Trust me the .50BMG Brass expands all the way to the base and has to be resized. The same thing goes for the Naval cannon .50BMG cases. they also have to be FL resized before they will fit in a std chamber. All .50BMG cases when fired enough times have to be FL resized. You cant do it in a ammomaster. Its so much easier in a hydraulic press thats all I do anymore. Just providing some helpful hints.-Rob

thanks for sharing your experience RGB. I guess we will just have to wait and see...

Rich

I made ammoaster work,By changing linkage.
And a handle 50% longer. I got idea from
the big Corbin swaging press that has changeable
linkage. And you can use big CSP Corbin for
difficult resizing. And a savings over Corbin
hydraulic presses.Ed

Ed- Use a 8ft cheater bar and give Jeffe some beer for motivation! Eventually you will hear the dreaded cracking noise! Me, I use a Harbor freight hydraulic press!-Rob

Rob-I agree the Harbor Freight setup is a huge savings over
a Corbin and a couple other hydraulics I seen advertized.
Do you have a picture. When you get into hard sizing with
the hydraulic do you have to push the cases out through an
open top die to keep from tearing off the rims. With my linkage
beefed up I have torn brass rims off of 12GA FH, 12ga MRC, and
once a bmg case. So I push hard ones out through open top dies.
Like the 5 swagings I had to do when I made the 16GA FH
from BMG brass.

The only thing to worry about breaking on ammomaster or the
others built the same, is the base from leaning on a long
handle with difficult job. But I braced the top of mine
to the machine behind. That way the base doesn't flex.

The linkage and twice as long handle changes on
mine gives me about 4 times the leverage as when it
came from factory. It is a good as a Corbin CSP.
In the last 1/2" of the ram stroke that does the hard
sizing my hand on the 3 foot long handle moves over
2 ft so that is about a 50 to 1 ratio so 100 lbs on handle
can do 5000 lbs of thrust. 200lbs twice as much.Ed

LOL .. ROb, I've lost 80# since the last time we were togther .. But I can ask Gene to help, and if the beer is lonestar, I am certain we can get it done

Jeffe,

I'll be glad to come over and put the Sasquatch special touch on your press if ya needs it!!



Andy

Ed- You bring up IMPORTANT point number 2. Wait till these guys start tearing the rims off of their expensive brass 2 bore cases. Good luck with shell holder designs. A MAJOR advantage of the screw on rim of my 12 GaFH design is YOU SCREW THE RIM OFF to size cases! Put case in hand die lubed with Imperial sizing wax, put in el cheapo harbor freight hydraulic press with steel plate and crank handle till case is FL sized. Put brass rod in case while still in the die, put a couple of steel washers with large hole under case head and press the case out of the die. Thats IT!
Now screw head back on.
BTW- Even using Steel case heads and traditional shell holders caused the rims to tear off or bend! Primer seating in a tradional shell holder did the same thing. Threaded case heads solved all those issues. I developed a special primer seater for .50BMG primers that utilized the threaded case to enable primer seating. That works perfectly! OH well just passin on a little hard learned knowledge.-Rob

My super press can push just about any case into die.
It is the getting them back out that is the thing.
Any with rim added or any turned cases I push them
out from the top.

And I prime 700HE with shellholder in oldLyman
turret and also 28ga, 16ga, 12ga, 10ga, 8ga,
and soon 4ga all in old Lyman turret, with turret
holes reamed or bushed to fit cases, and a bmg primer post
which does bmg primers of course and also shotgun primers.
Just shove case up into hole and turn turret
over the primer post in the ram and seat primer.
I deprime big cases with punches.Ed

Yes - Rob is a true genius and knows everything about this 2-Bore case. After all he invented brass, compound leverage, and gun powder.

Worst case scenario: I'll have Mac make me the mother-of-all Arbor Presses...

Rich

Mac- I actually am a true genius and a heck of a nice guy! Best of luck with your endeavors!-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by Robgunbuilder:
Mac- I actually am a true genius and a heck of a nice guy! Best of luck with your endeavors!-Rob

but he'll drink all your rum if you don't watch him closely!

All that matters with those 2 bore brass cases is
the presses(either kind) can be set up to push cases into the
die, but you want open top die to push them back out.
Or if you have decapping pin in die, have it with a big
enough thread so when removed you can put a big
enough brass rod in to tap case back out. You
don't want too small of rod or you peen over
the edges of the flash hole. All of these types I do
now(turned cases or added on rim cases) I use shellholders
I made with just edge to center case. and cases can
be shoved into die, then ram pulled down away from case
and I tap case out. No more dinged up and bent rims.Ed

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:

quote:

Originally posted by Robgunbuilder:
Mac- I actually am a true genius and a heck of a nice guy! Best of luck with your endeavors!-Rob

but he'll drink all your rum if you don't watch him closely!

I've given up drinking completely ...

YEAH RIGHT!!!

RGB:

running count on this thread: you're one for three.

Guess which one?

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
RGB:

running count on this thread: you're one for three.

Guess which one?

Rich

They can't help themselves Rich!! Someone's always gotta try and apply JV rules to a pro game.