Like the sights...

I wonder if those ports will do much.

Seems testing is needed

quote:

Originally posted by FOOBAR:
Not a bad price at roughly 186 bucks...if you can find one. Outside looks like an NEF clone but lots of differences on the inside and fore arm mount.

How are the ergonomics, fit and finish compared to the NEF...any one know???

I passed those by in going for the NEF-er.
Like FOOBAR, I question the forearm attachment and whether the Rossi action is as reliable as the NEF/H&R (NEF-er).

The NEF laminated wood stocks give me more confidence than either the walnut-stained NEF birch or Rossi Brazilian hardwood, which seems pretty soft.

How about a custom barrel-banded (or solder-and-screw-on) front sight with hood and flip-up H&H "moon bead" and an NECG peep rear sight on the NEF-er?

Yep, think I'll just get another NEF-er fully customized, rather than go the Brazilian route.

PIMP my NEF- A new TV show airing in the dim financial Future on the NRA channel( only TV station left after the big meltdown).-Rob

Might want to remove the front swivel

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
Might want to remove the front swivel

Oh yeah, pimp another barrel band on the NEF-er for the front swivel base too.

Shame they don't make both with 28" barrels.
Hey I have a 28" barreled one all tested
and set up for long RMC and plastic 3.5" cases,
If anyone is interested in Encore with
little weight in it I'll part with it.
Only got it to run the tests with and get
loads developed.Ed

If it's free I'll post videos of the recoil throwing me around!

ED- you have any ER shaw 12Ga barrels around? I need one.-Rob

Rob- No I don't- I would if they made
their's longer.Ed

I installed an aftermarket forearm on my NEF BC a couple years ago...heavyer wood, longer and wider and put 1.5# of lead shot in it...It flew off after a few shots into a load test. The forearm and additional weight sheared off the OEM 4 tiny spot welds. It wasn't any sweat to make TWO forearm mounts and sweat solder them on. While I was at it I removed 0.5# of lead and then epoxied two 3/4" brass rounds into the wood for the mount screws to clamp against rather than the bare wood. Any metal could be used instead of the brass.

If you add any weight to the forarm you need to make a stronger mount otherwise you will get a surprise also. It would have been a lot simpler to just sweat on a barrel band or two tho', but I couldn't find any cheap to fit the barrel diamerer.

Soldering on a banded front sight is no sweat for a good smith and I think it gives a great visual statement also.

I also insert a metal plug then drill and tap for both sling swivels on most of my heavier weight, large caliber shooters, plus move the forward swivel out to the end of the forarm at about a 45° angle to keep from getting whacked from recoil. It doesn't take more than getting whacked once or almost losing a shooter when the swivel stud pulls out to do these two simple mods.

I quit using laminated stocks on heavy recoiling rifle...I've had two laminated stocks split between the stock screws through the magazine cutout even with two recoil cross bolts and a metal recoil block/cross bolt installed behind the front bolt and the receiver glass bedded....I went back to Walnut with extra wood throughout the receiver/mag area plus a blind magazine and/or synthetic stocks.

Those ports look just like the ones on my NEF USH...same size and position. Wouldn't take much to add a few more, a couple more rows, or just go whole hog and turn them into slightly larger slits....just what I plan on doing when I get the barrel to and from Rob for his chamber job.

Luck with your projects.

quote:

Originally posted by hubel458:
Shame they don't make both with 28" barrels.
Hey I have a 28" barreled one all tested
and set up for long RMC and plastic 3.5" cases,
If anyone is interested in Encore with
little weight in it I'll part with it.
Only got it to run the tests with and get
loads developed.Ed

I would be very interested, I live in Michigan PM details.

Well- Ive made great progress on the 12GaFH Double rifle. Cut the 10Ga barrels off yesterday and then spent the day determining all the critical dimensions and thinking through the project. I made a tight fitting mandrel for the chambers to deal with the convergence . Located and indicated everything in the mill and ordered the right reamers and a 15/16X32 tap. Got the parts at 10:00 this morning and by 12:00 had the entire monoblock reamed, counterbored, threaded and faced. Ready for barrel installation. Now the bad part. No ER SHaw barrels for 6-9 months so I went with Pac-Nor and it will be 6-8 weeks till I get the parts.I'll use the time to make or mod by tig welding up the old ejector to fit and maybe practicing my soldering skills. Also gotta dissasemble the action and drop it off at Butches for rehardening, make a front sight and a rear sight Island.-Rob

Rob-That is great. And that is the size of the
thread I figured would work if I did one.
It is a shame nobody has few big bore barrels
ahead to fill orders.

Foobar--I put 1-1.5 lbs in forearms of all my
heavy recoiling guns, and just add a barrel
band recoil ring. Or a new idea I just figured
out using a lower Enfield band that locks around
barrel and forearm real tight with the screws.
Like on a Ruger #3....Really looks great and
the forearms don't move no matter the recoil. Ed

Rob,
Great progress!
This thread is like the Eveready Bunny.
I have read some and looked at some pictures in the W. Ellis Brown 2nd Ed. Building Double Rifles on Shotgun Actions ... I count that as a start at following your progress.
Please feel free to continue to keep us posted.

The 12GaFH is going to deserve its own book, a bigger one than Mr. Brown's, and full of much more techniciana ... A summary of this thread.

I did get the "loading ring" today. 7 days from the postmark date. The letter-sized envelope looked like it had been through a wringer, and one corner was torn off the envelope, I feared the ring would be gone, but it was safe. Your packaging was adequate but the USPS monkeyed with it pretty good! Merry Christmas!

I'm priming some cases for Santa's visit.



FOOBAR,
Thanks for the warnings.
I don't plan on any weight addition to the forearm. The forearm band as Ed suggests would allow it, but the custom fitting and engraving it would then require would take funds away from other more important embellishments.

I agree that solid walnut is better than a laminate, and a laminate is only as strong as the weakest lamination between the epoxy layers, but NEF does not use walnut on the Ultra Slug. Do you have a custom walnut stock for an NEF?

I wish there was a good synthetic stock for the US. A solid-fill McMillan would be great.

RIP- Glad the ring arrived unscathed. Sorry about the pkging. I thought nothing could harm it. Remember, .002 below case head and flat priming tool to arm the CCi-35. The NEF Fires every time following that recipe. Have fun you'll enjoy the load. Shoot it offhand and just roll with the recoil, its not that bad! Ellis's Book is Ok but leaves alot to be desired. Damn I wish I had another ER shaw barrel, BTW they are really unpleasant to deal with! Glad I went with Pac-Nor.-Rob

There are always many ways to remove the pelage from Felis catus...I basically just copied the OEM mount. Would have dovetailed in a mount if the barrel walls had been thicker. The other ways are just as good or better.

I bought the extended forearm blank from

http://www.gunstocksinc.com/index.html...

they have many shapes, sizes and types of wood...and finished it myself. At the time I did the project there wasn't very many aftermarket stock makers for the NEF...now they are under every rock and bush, seems like.

I found a couple of places for blocks of laminated wood to make custom forearms, mostly cutoffs from stockmaking...and the blocks came from only two sources, the same ones that supply most of the laminated stocks for all the rifle different brands.


The forearm is relatively simple to make so I futzed around with several wood/alum laminated pieces, solid alum and steel blocks of different shapes, widths and lengths, but the Gunstocks, Inc forearm ended up being the one I liked the best as far as hand filling width and eye appeal goes...and a 3" wide alum/wood that fit my bench rest bag lasted for a while as the favorite for the "varminter" rig. Got tired of that one and recycled it to another stock project.

I also came across many threads of what people did to increase the utility of there NEF's. Lots of very good ideas for stocks and forends on those forums. The Graybeard NEF forum had many threads and so did several other sites...you just have to do a search and check each out...some were excellent and some were rather bland.

Now that you can buy several types of stocks from NEF it is almost a waste of time to do your own unless you find some exotic wood you want to use.

Boyd's and Richards gunstocks were the two places I used for many stocks for many years, now they have made many changes as to what you can obtain, but there are still many stockmakers that will make you a custom stock for just about any rifle action you want.

I'm guessing as the market for the NEF increases some maker will come up with a good Kevlar or similar synthetic stock...for a while at least...not sure if those that go for a low budget shooter will spend more for a stock than the rifle costs OEM, not withstanding the fact the shooter can be made into a very accurate "toy". Once the holidays settle down I will order a thumbhole stock from NEF for my USH...and something besides the straight grip stock for my BC probably from Gunstocks, Inc.

I'm under 2 ft of snow right, my shop isn't heated so I'm done pretty much until spring as far as any metal/woodworking projects are concerned. I spend most of the winter loading up ammo for the next years shooting.

Luck on your projects.

FOOBAR,
Good to know that when I split my NEF stock I can replace it.
Besides the walnut-stained birch and the laminate stocks, NEF does have birch stocks painted black
and they also have an injection-moulded black plastic stock.

One of the plastic stocks filled with epoxy and strategic amounts of lead in the butt might be the ticket.

Rob,
The loading ring popped off the second case I primed with it. That is a delicate one-thread engagement for the 50BMG rim but a solid three-thread engagement for the 12GaFH rim. If I had chamfered the primer pockets before starting it might not have happened. They are really tight primer pockets.

I resorted to this method to prime:

Chamfer the opening edge of the primer pockets with a 50BMG RCBS handtool.

Place the primer on the mild steel plate in the RMC 12G reloading kit, cup down, anvil up.

Locate the primer pocket of the case to center on and rest in contact with the primer.

Place a 3/8" mild steel rod in the case.

Pound the steel rod with a hard rubber mallet until the primer seats flush.

HO HO HO:

JINGLE BELLS,
SHOTGUN SHELLS,
LAUGHING ALL THE WAY,
OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE
SHOTGUN ON THE SLEIGH HEY!

Primed brass:



RMC kit with the make-shift primer seater.
After fireforming the steel rod will be ditched.
Note the brass case forming mandrel that can be used to beat cases back into shape if dented or out of round ... might be all that is needed to finish necking up if the fireforming is incomplete:



Reloading ring and boogered threads on one case.
Both parts still work but need better primer pocket prep before using that ring with the RCBS priming tools for 50BMG.



I annealed all the cases before I started, though obviously already factory annealed.



Ingredients for the fireforming trial.
The Woodford Reserve represents the IMR-4350:



20-gauge tray will hold 50BMG cases neck down.
12-gauge tray will hold 12GaFH cases neck down, or 50BMG cases base down. I need to drill a bunch of 1" holes in a piece of lumber to make a good 12GaFH loading tray, for base down holding:





Note that the 50BMG case holds about 286 grains of IMR-4350 to fill to case mouth.
I chose to load about two thirds of that.

Fireforming load recipe:
Add to annealed 50BMG case with 12GaFH screw-on rim:
1. CCI 35 primer
2. 192 grains of IMR-4350
3. One square of Charmin Ultra Strong toilet paper rolled into a ball and crammed down onto the powder with a dowel.
4. One level teaspoon of Aunt Jemima Quick Grits, to fill case neck half way to mouth after tapping to settle.
5. A 1/2"x 1/2" cylinder of Crayola modeling clay to plug the case mouth.

Hope to see how it works tomorrow.

RIP- Damn fine looking rounds! I was afraid of that.I prepped the primer pockets but any slight misalignment and yes you can pop the ring off the case. I kinda know how to wiggle em in my priming tool so that doesn't happen. Once I feel the primer going in straight its fine to apply enough pressure. I can send you more rings so dont sweat it. Your alternate method will work fine. Looks like the primers are seated and armed properly Too! Can't wait to see the expanded cases. I've not used IMR 4350 yet myself, but should still work excellently. Will be interesting to see your success rate. They make a BIG bang when they go off! If for some reason a case wont fire first time, WAIT 30 seconds, open the action, revolve the case 180 degrees and try again. When pointing the action towards the sky gravity works against the hammer and I've had a few failures to ignite first time. Second try usually goes boom.-ROB

Rob,
My NEF-er needs its firing pin/spring beefed up.
I tried rotating the case 180 degrees (after a thirty second wait for hangfire), didn't make any difference. So I just kept cocking the hammer and pulling the trigger fast as I could until they went off. Took from two to 19 hammer falls to get them all to go off.
Each successive pin strike would deepen the indent a bit more until finally: ignition.

The product is pretty ugly right now, but there was not a single split nor a hint of one, just a lot of soot.
The recoil was nil.
192 grains of IMR-4350 will not burn completely with so little resistance to push down a 12 gauge barrel. There were unburned grains left in the barrel after each shot.

A fireforming slug with a .510-cal base and a .730-cal nose is needed, like a giant 22RF bullet.







The case mouths bulged to .660-.690" ID.
If this brass is cleaned up, annealed again, and run through a 12GaFH sizing die, whenever one exists, I bet it will come out perfect, with minimal loss of cases from split necks.

Until proper dies are available, I will see what I can do with "make shift, make do."

A case neck trimmer, or case trim die for 12GaFH also comes to mind.

I can prime it and de-prime it with the 12GaFH rim attached. No need for any more of those 50BMG rims, thanks.

I used a 50-BMG de-priming rod from an RCBS die, along with a hard rubber hammer and the depriming block from the RMC kit. The hole in that little brass anvil (with a rim collar) accepts the spent CCI-35 just fine.

I will be sticking with the RMC brass and shotgun primers for now with the NEF-er.

Time to experiment with the Blue Dot and H50BMG duplex load to make the 209-primed RMC case work?

Hey, how about a pellet of 50 grains of 777 in the bottom of the RMC case with a heaping helping of H50BMG on top of that, to push my Triple Foster Darwins along?

I patterned my American Arms Turkey Special, 3.5" 12ga SXS today. Did well enough at 40 yards with N0.4 and N0.7-1/2 (squirrel) shot on a turkey head paper target (full choke today, extra full and "turkey" chokes tomorrow). Useful accuracy with 3" factory Foster slugs was also had at 40 yards (smoothbore, IC chokes, still looking for rifled "paradox" chokes to fit this SXS).

Some pics and measurements of the AA 12Ga 3.5" SXS may be relevant to planning a 12GaFH double.
Just to keep this thread alive, struggling along as it is ...

Rob and Ed,
Any firing pin pointers for the NEF-er, and Rob's Zabala conversion?

Looks like this 12GaFH stuff could be a lifelong addiction.

What was that about barrel before dies...??

Hey I think Boomer has a reamer for that case with the bulge/hourglass shape...he invented the case and I did the split chamber action...

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej:
What was that about barrel before dies...??

Still good advice. If you don't have a barrel, you ain't gonna need the dies.

Hey RIP - maybe you should unpack those .666 dies and use the expander plugs/die to open up those 12GAFH cases a bit before fireforming...?? You need a lot more pressure if you're gonna yield the lower half of a BMG case - they are thick and very tough like all big military brass. Hotter powder and stiffer plud like a thick shotgun wad or something. Measure your firing pin spring dimension and rate - then go to Century Spring online and order a couple/few new springs of that size which are higher rate - then you can creep upwards to the needed thwang...

12GAFH (page 41) - the next best thing to the Soviet Space Program...

Necking up from 50BMG to .666 ("Hail Mary" and cross myself) is trickier than necking the basic-cylindrical-BMG down to .666 ("Hail Mary" and throw a pinch of salt over my left shoulder).

Ed mentioned the factory annealing on the milsurp 50BMG being good for neck-up to .620 with minimum risk of split necks. Maybe this should be done, then anneal again, bell the case mouth enough to stick a .735-cal lead ball to the case mouth with silicone adhesive or chewing gum, and fire form with a near full charge of something faster than IMR4350 ... or shotgun powder and "grits."

Sure would be nice if those 12GaFH cases started life as a basic cylindrical.

I think the smaller of the two sizer plugs is about .620". The ball and glue method might be interesting and would probably work. You guys should be on the horn with DH to get a couple thousand cases made. He can do much bigger than the 12GAFH. Maybe Ed has some of that BMG basic brass left and Rob can "rim it" for ya...

Yes, Hornybear 12GaFH one-piece brass would be better than ripping the rims off in the Devil Dies ("Hail Mary" and an "Our Father.")

Back to RMC 3.5" brass ... it fits my roomy chamber well, SAAMI 3.5" reamer extended to 3.85" by Dave Kiff.

Also to see how fast the plastic hulls will push Triple Foster Darwins, to go where Ed Hubel may have been already.

I would get a kick out of 1400-grain lead slugs at 1400 fps.

Still looking for 2150 fps with the 1085-grain Brass Darwin too. That beats the 700 NE.

Received my 2"-12 to 1.5"-12 reducer bushing today. Ahhhh....the simple things in life...

My BMG L&L set-up will now accept any size die with full L&L function from 7/8"-14 to 2"-12...

Well they didnt open all the way, but they actually dont look bad at all. As I remember, Ed said this would happen with that powder. I have no experience with it myself and hoped you'd get lucky! I'll bet if you now re-fireform with 35-40 gr of bulleseye,Farina and a plug, you will get complete opening and much less bulging( not that that matters as it will be gone the first time you fire a full power load). I had the same thing happen on a few cases, even with Bulleseye, but you should be able to blow them out easily now. The only misfires we had were in fireforming and even then, two to three hammer falls always lit it off., Ill bet if you reprime, and hold normally the primers will fire. Both of the NEF's I converted shot fine and didnt misfire. Did you also adjust the rims so that there is minimal headspace? Screw them in as far as possible.The case head should be a few thousanths above the rim. It looked like you were arming the primers properly so I'd screw in the rims until the NEF will just close. That should fix your misfires. One question, with a case inserted in your chamber, measure the depth from the face of the barrel to the primer. It should be near zero or only a few thou. Its possible your NEF has more headspace than mine too. Otherwise its lengthening the firing pin and a stronger spring. My guess is it just needs some minor tweaking. My original 12gAfh brass was made from some .600 RLG ( .50bmg brass blown out to .620. I used the bulleseye method and it worked perfectly. There will still be some buldging of the case till you fire a full power load. Your lead ball idea is probably a good idea though. BTW sounds like your chamber is much more generous than mine, as I can't chamber that RMC brass. We will get it going, dont worry! -Rob

Rob will have a bunch of the straight cases soon from me.
The pmt got here today.. Expanding to .620", annealing and
fireforming after works, and get close to size so that I only have to run
in a long expander. All ready to load a .729-.731" slugs.

The firing pin and hammer is hammer block system where the hammer's
second step dowm from the top hits hammer block which hits pin.
To beef up firing pin reach/power, you have to shave .020" off
flat that the top of firing pin and the hammer block hits against,
as the firing pin can go beyond that flat about .050".
And check hammer sprring. That flat I worked down with file
with everything out. And with all pieces out I beefed up locking
latch spring also. And the hammer spring should have spring
arms a 120 degees apart, with good tension.. I picked up extras
and they are not all the same. The extras not in a gun under pressure
for months or years, had more tension and arm spread.Ed

Thanks Ed- all good points! I've threaded Ed's cases and they shoot fine.
RIP- When I use the bulleseye method the cases blow out to full diameter and dont need a expander. They are still bulged a bit but will size and when fired with a full load pop out picture perfect. I think you have one of those blown out cases and it will look like that.
I am also worried about your misfires. While your method of seating the primers looks Ok, one thing I learned about CCI-35's is that if the priming pellet is damaged in seating, they either fail to fire or take multiple strikes. I use a primer seater by M2 ( a guy named Mike Matter) thats very gentle and seates to a predefined depth. I use those .50BMG loading rings and they never tear off. I seat the primers very gently and if there is too much resistance I stop and correct the problem. You could be damaging the priming pellet. While I think Ed's mods are a good idea, I have not had to futz with either of the two NEFS I built and so far no misfires. BTW I use a modified counterbore to trim my cases. It could be done on a drill press.-Rob

i have FAR better results on the ARs when i use bulleyes and something for a projie to give back pressure...

i use a mini chop saw from harbour frieght and i made a tailstock/depth setter off the left side to set length, and chop.. off, turn 1/3, chop again, and its done

I think we will need steel Rims if we use press mounted sizing dies. 12 ga Rims made of brass will almost certainly tear off on the down stroke otherwise. Those RMC rims wont last one reloading that way. An alternative is a pound die, which is what I use. I simply lube the case, insert in die and put it in my KURT machinist vise and close the jaws, then pop out the case with a brass rod and rawhide hammer. Thes are incredibly cheap too compared to a threaded sizing Die FWIW. Using a bullet diameter of .730 ( NEFFISHLY LARGE) this works perfectly with great neck tension. I dont crimp either.But could make a Lee type crimp die easily.
For trimming the case I use the modified counterbore with a pilot thats about .725. I usually stick it in my Lathe but a drill press works fine with a set stop. I also found that there are sharpened 4 flute headstock tools used for holding wood on wood lathes with adjustable inserts. I made a .725 pilot for that and it works great as the whole cutter is about 1.25". This also works in a drill press. Put the case in a vise with V blocks, set the depth and cut to length perfectly.-Rob
For Seating I made a nice die for the ammomaster press and use the "lord of the rings in brass". Same thing for the primer seater I described above.-Rob

I have shellholder I made and dies fit the ammomaster
and with moderate loads where I only have to size the top
half our case the rim holds to pull case out of dies ok.
Where I have to do bottom and the RMC cases that expand,
now I use aluminum rod and a hammer to push cases loose.
Dies are open topped. I have a long bar, bracket on the end,
and that hooks over press to push them out also, by pushing
on the rod.I put little down pressure on press handle
will tapping on the rod.I think RCBS or CH4D has a
shellholer that goes in ammomaster ram like bmg holder.Ed

Yes, my fireforming adventure was quite the boondoggle!
Gotta do better than that.

Now for the lighter side:

A 5.00-pound dry weight 12Ga3.5" Pardner Model SBI from NEF, complete with camo finish, plastic stock, rifle-type open sights on the 23" smoothbore barrel with fixed full choke. This one will kick like a 12GaFH with a 2.25-ounce factory 3.5" Turkey Load of No.5 shot: POR

AND

A 7.75 pound dry weight 12Ga3.5" SxS Turkey Special from defunct American Arms, made by Zabala Hermanos, I believe, smoothbore 26" barrels with screw-in chokes, and rifle sights added to the rib: POR

Now a Monty Python ditty (humming "Look on the Bright Side of Life" as I type):

Adjusted the sights on the double and quit when it got this close at 40 yards with factory 3" Foster slugs:



The right barrel is shooting parallel to infinity, but the left is a "shootaway," crossed and high, as off target as our Canadian Shooting Ballerina. Impossible to fix with handloading, just like shootaway.

The left barrel is O.K. to 40 yards with Turkey loads, 2.25 ounces of No. 5 shot, and adequate for squirrels, just like shootaway.

I am still looking for some screw-in "Paradox" rifled tubes for the Turkey Special.
I'll get back to 12GaFH after Squirrel Season ends.

Steel rims, sounds good, with epoxy sticking the steel threads to the brass threads.
I can pound the cases out of the dies with a rod, as Ed says, have done that already, after I got one of the cases stuck in Macifej's Devil Die (Hail Mary).

Back to the blacksmith shop for that SxS...

RIP - there is that one stray die in the set which is not TiN and has, I believe, no provision for a neck. It should be possible to use the expander plugs to open up an annealed BMG case without the OD of the case neck touching the ID of that funky die...I believe that's the function which Dave had in mind when he put it in the package...

Yes, that Turkey Special might make a sporty 12GaFH with proper blacksmithing, heavy barrels, and lead/mercury/tungsten in the buttstock hole(s).

I could adjust the sights down and left so that it is shooting both barrels crossed by about 1.25" at forty yards, and left barrel 1.25" high and right barrel 1.25" low ... but Foster Slugs in IC choke ain't very good anyway ...

No third fastener though, Searcy style! The bigger 10-gauge action is much more desirable.
I'm still looking for that Zabala Mercury Model.

I will play with the devil dies later (Hail Mary).
What you are suggesting will bell the case mouth up to .720"ID and allow a Brown Bess ball o'lead (.735") to be glued on as a fireforming plug to swage down in the .730"-ish NEF grooves.
Duco cement is used to glue an over-shot card into the mouth of those RMC cases. I need to get acquainted with that stuff.

I also feel like I need to anneal the case mouths again, before each dastardly abuse they receive.

55 grains of Bullseye, and a case full of grits, and a 570-grain Lyman No. 2 .735" ball glued on top ... Lessee how much those grits weigh first ...

Bullseye, Grits, and a swig o shine...sounds like a good way to start the day...

RIP- Try a few without the lead ball and reallY REDUCE the load with the lead ball. Start at 20gr of Bulleseye and work up. It had enough pressure in my gun to blow off the front of some of the cases. I'd probably go back to your initial 4350 load and use the lead ball. It will be very informative to see what works best. BTW I did pre expand my cases to a very venturi looking .600 and they still split or looked like yours. I'm now thinking two fireforming operations will be optimal. One like yours with a slow powder like IMR- 4350 and a second with Bulleseye 30 grs and corn meal. Yes reannealing wont hurt a thing. I reannealed my .50BMG cases ever three reloadings and only discarded them when I got case neck splits. Probably got reloaded 15-20 times. Good luck. I may re-try a few myself that looked like yours today. In the end the case mouths will be distorted a little you will have to trim them. In a pinch you can use a dremel tool with cut-off wheel and some crude arbor to keep things straight. The good news is once the cases are done they last forever and never need further trimming.-Rob

Rob,
I was expecting some comments about a full load of grits and a secondary projectile kaboom with the lead ball on top of that.

I have a bunch of IMR-4350 and AA-4350 I need to get rid of, since my conversion to Hodgdonism.

I will try the .735" lead ball instead of the modeling clay plug used with the last load, otherwise same recipe ... and see if I can soup up my firing pin strike.

Idea for reloading block for 12GaFH: I am boring one-inch diameter holes in a 2.5" thick oak block, and gluing a 1/2" thick oak board to the bottom of the block.

After attaching a rope to one end to drag it around with, it should be medieval enough for a 12GaFH.

RIP- The very idea of 55grs of Bulleseye over a case full of grits with a super glued lead ball really freaked me out! I refuse to even think much more about it! I like the idea though over 4350 or H50BMG. MY LOADING BLOCK IS MUCH FANCIER THOUGH. I have neat rows of 1X1 inch holes in a 1.25 thick piece of Aluminum. I also use it to present my five .50BMG record shots in competition. I need to engrave it with 12GaFH or .50BMG! -Rob