Making everlasting 44 Rinfire reloadable brass

Here's another how too post

I recently brought a very tidy 1865 Ball & Williams Ballard 44 Ballard Long Rimfire rifle.

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The rifle is in excellent condition and has a 9/10 bore

I made a single reloadable case from a massively modified 7x57R case for reloadable rimfire
It was just a proof of concept and I used the single case multiple times
The rifle functions perfectly and it groups well

The case takes 24 grains of 1 1/2 FG BP behind a 210 grain powder coated and heeled bullet

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Three shots at 25m

The internet told me that 44 Special cases were the best option to easily form reloadable cases from .

I got given some from a generous forum member.
Spent an entire day getting 10 of them nearly ready to use.
But then realized they were not a great donor case because they end up very fragile.

I don't want to just use this rifle to shoot targets etc

So I revisited the 7x57R idea.
Played around with what was on hand and realized that 303 British was a good option.

So another full day in the workshop and I have formed 15 completed cases with 2 slight variations on the final machining of the primer pockets that the Acorn Caps go in

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With these cases I've got a mouth thickness over twice as thick as the 44 Special cases.
So they are heavy and stay in shape better .

Because I am heeling the bullets on the lathe heavy case mouth is ideal for my use.

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The 303 based cases only hold 22 grains of BP but that's plenty.
The cases are very robust and I hope they will last many firings

I ended up with 15 excellent cases

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Pretty fiddly reloading them which is why the heavier cases with slightly reduced capacity is a huge help

Can't view middle two photos. Great work as always,love seeing how you just make it work.

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And test fired at 35m and pretty happy and what I expected.
Fouling starts to string the shots after 3 rounds .

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I have adjusted the front sight to get point of impact over the bull.
Reloaded the last 5 of my bullets on hand.

Started another 20 cases from the last of my 303 brass.
And will cast some more bullets some time soon

It's been a very fun project and I'm looking forward to going hunting something bigger than a hare with it

Realistically these cases each take 30 minutes plus to make !

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are the acorn caps a press fit in the case?

If someone is interested in making reloadable Rimfire brass for 25 RF 32 RF or 44 RF I can give you the recipe for them all

The 44 RF has 19 steps in the process

25 RF is as complicated but slightly more difficult because it is so much small

32 RF is child's play if you can get ahold of some 32 Long Colt brass

56 RF I haven't done
But if someone has a 56 RF and has never fired it and wants too, get in touch
Should be easy with 50-70 brass

22 LR

25 Long RF original

25 Long RF reloadable

44 Ballard Long RF reloadable

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And these are reloadable 32 RF

The short one is 32 RF that fits in a no4 Rolling Block rifle

The Long ones are 32 Long RF which is more common in falling block rifles.

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The key to being able to make these cases is being able to accurately and securely hold them in a lathe

And drilling out and tapping the center fire primer hole
Screwing in a brass bolt dipped in flux
And very securely soldering right through the thread to the inside

Because you are drilling a new Acorn Cap offset it is cutting through half of the brass machine screw.
If the solder joint isn't good the case will fail during machining

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Oh my gosh, thats some serious thought and work.
My cases are lucky if they get a wipe b4 loading .
Hats off to you good sir

Nice work Mate when you have to make your own brass an projectiles then you really know you have walked the walk Good Hunting and dont lose that brass .Regards

Yeah the Ballard manual under barrel extractor is brilliant
It brings the case back parallel with the bore and stops when the brass is still just in the chamber
So the case is easily gathered by the hand controlling the extractor

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And yes the cases have a lot of value in time expended making them.
But being a low volume shooter and if I'm careful the 30 I will have when I finish the next run I've started they will last me out

So many rifles and so little time.
GPM.

This isn't really a How To

More of a Can do

There are a lot of guns unfired for a century
It has never been easier to make fully functional cases for these obsolete guns and use then again as they were intended to be.

Many of these guns are in very serviceable condition and entirely safe to shoot with care and caution

The thing they were made to do 160 years ago hasn't changed
The animals haven't grown armour.

So get a relic out of your gun case and work out how to make functional ammunition for it and experience the thrill of firing them again and maybe even hunting with them also

Being a little tongue in cheek here but the above statement could be seen as a logical extension of Dave Benfells position on thermals
"One point I’m concerned about, which I raised, is the recent Department of Conservation approval of using handheld thermal devices during daylight on our public conservation land. I’d like to open a debate about this, as I don’t agree with it from a ‘fair chase’ point of view and, more importantly, I don’t believe it’s safe. I realise my opinion won’t be popular with some, however, I have strong views on it, and I’ll always stand up for what I believe. Long term, I think we need to be very cautious as to what technology we allow into hunting in NZ."
Taking that to it's logical conclusion, magazine rifles and optical sights are an abomination in the eyes of the lord, even those that use cartridges instead of being loaded from the front may be questionable in his eyes.
Bring back the pointy stick!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Being a little tongue in cheek here but the above statement could be seen as a logical extension of Dave Benfells position on thermals
"One point I’m concerned about, which I raised, is the recent Department of Conservation approval of using handheld thermal devices during daylight on our public conservation land. I’d like to open a debate about this, as I don’t agree with it from a ‘fair chase’ point of view and, more importantly, I don’t believe it’s safe. I realise my opinion won’t be popular with some, however, I have strong views on it, and I’ll always stand up for what I believe. Long term, I think we need to be very cautious as to what technology we allow into hunting in NZ."
Taking that to it's logical conclusion, magazine rifles and optical sights are an abomination in the eyes of the lord, even those that use cartridges instead of being loaded from the front may be questionable in his eyes.
Bring back the pointy stick!

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The aversion to thermal imagers is maybe a good sportsmanship point, but the flip side of that coin is surely that New Zealand NEEDS a certain amount of deer shot on a regular basis.

First shot at live game
35m from elbows
Very fine sights in dull light and old eyes

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by grandpamac

So many rifles and so little time.
GPM.

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Make the time GPM

I know of a Ballard it has an interchangable firing pine from rim to centerfire not sure if it the same as your model

@bluecod that's a later model that had the dual CF RF firing pin

You can take the pin out and turn it over

My one is the 1864 Dual ignition percussion and RF