Chev. William,
Welcome to the forum. Your projects sound really interesting.
w44wcf
It is progressing with "all due deliberation" based upon their being a 'back burner' work project for my Gunsmith to save me some costs.
He did tell me this week that they are broken down to individual parts and in "Cookie Trays" on his workbench now and he had me bring in the Stevens barrels I have, for inspection and fitting to the actions. I have two in .25 Stevens RF and one in .32 Long RF with all three being 21.75 inches long and having 'spigot' ends for the Favorite actions. I also have a 24 inch long heavier pattern 'half octagon' barrel in .22 Long rifle RF that has a 'spigot' that is two different diameters and has the middle third threaded.
In the interim, I have trimmed my stock full length sized and rim machined parent cases down to three initial lengths:
1.055" nominal for use as ".250ALR" test specimens.
1.125" nominal for use as ".250ALS" (.25 Stevens CF) test specimens.
1.250" nominal for use as ".250ALRM" test specimens.
There are still ten left at the parent ".250ALRx Basis length(s) for later trimming as needed.
These, along with the 17 remaining .32 Long Colts, which are still roughly .93" length as received from Jack Harrison, are now all primed with some CCI #450 Small Rifle Magnum primers I had on hand, intended for worst case load development as they are supposed to be about the most powerful primers out there so any load developed will be of lower pressure if any other primer is used. I am thinking that loads that do NOT have the supersonic bullet "Crack" sound on leaving the muzzle will be well within the pressure limits of these actions. After taht, if I want ot try any heavier loadings, I will need to find a Chronograph set up to use and Get permission from a Public commercial range to set it up for testing. I will cross that 'bridge' at a later time.
The ,250 series use the rim dimensions of the .25ACP cartridge and i believe that the commercial loadings of it with 50gr FMJ bullets will give around 1000fps to 1100fps out of a 21.75" barrel so will be a 'proof of concept' test cartridge in my CF converted .25 Stevens Favorite rifle. Obviously, the relatively long bullet travel from leaving the case until encountering the rifling will probably NOT improve the overall accuracy of the rifle, but it may surprise me.
The best bore of the two .25 Stevens RF barrels is intended to remain 'stock', with the worst bore one being cut to chamber the ".250ALRM" case length.
I have been doing numerous 'what if' trials with the QuickLOAD (QL) software calculating estimates of pressures and Muzzle Velocity and exit pressure for various powders and it seems the longer cases lend themselves well to slower powders that develop the same peak pressure but sustain a higher average pressure until bullet exit. These are using a Pmax of 17,400psi for the calculations.
I also found that QL lists the .25ACP cartridge with too small a powder volume to match Hodgdon's load data. by increasing the gross case volume from the 4.7gr used to 5.05gr. the calculated values match Hodgdon's loading book data for given powders.
As to the .32 Long Colt shell holder, I was sold an RCBS #10 shell holder and it fits the rim quite closely, leaving less than a coat of 'nail polish' space between rim and holder. I found this out after sealing some of the primers in with some of my late wife's nail polish. Oh well, she also left some nail polish remover so all is not lost. This is some of the last 'daily reminders' of her in the house. her clothing was donated long ago to charities and her jewelery distributed in accordance with her wishes to the best of my abilities.
Yesterday, driving in the 102 degree heat here, my truck got warm, indicating above the middle of the temperature gauge, toward the three quarters area, so I will be checking the coolant levels and oil levels After it cools off this evening, another hot day here today. I am inside with the air conditioning going with my dogs at my feet, panting slightly while they are relaxed. Even with the air conditioner going it gets over 80 inside when it is over 100 outside.