Anybody own a Mannlicher 7.63/7.65[German] 1905 pistol?

[Baltimore Ed]

Bought one of these because they look so cool and Ian of forgotten weapons was so impressed. Mine is a 1905 with a removed Argentine crest. It?s 7.63 Mannlicher but the Germans called it 7.65 to not confuse it with their 7.63 cartridge. The rub is that ammo is super hard to find and new brass doesn?t exist. In doing a lot of on line comparisons I think that .30 carbine brass is the closest and will work. It?s already .308 cal but needs to be shortened. I ran a couple of mty .30 carbine unfired mil brass through a lee .339 sizer which got it closer to the 7.63 case dimensions. My pistol won?t be here until next week but I was wondering if any Zooters have tried to build this obscure brass. You guys like oddball stuff. I first attempted to use 223/300 blkout brass, way too much brass to squeeze down. Made a nice belted case though. I?ve got .32-20 and .32 s&w dies and a .30 carbine sizer die coming. I?ve only got a handful of .30 brass though, might need some more. Thanks ahead.

[Coffinmaker]

  Not only do I NOT own one, nor have any brass for one, I've never even seen one before.  Looks kinda cool.   

[Baltimore Ed]

Here?s another better photo Coffinmaker. Not mine.

[Major 2]

Uber cool ?.

[Drydock]

I have a Star Model 1 Military, which is pretty much a Spanish knock off, but it's in straight up .32 ACP.

[LongWalker]

Used to make 7.65 long from .32 S&W long brass (with the occasional .32 mag range-pickup).  Turn off the rim, cut a new extractor groove (modeled on .32 acp), load with .308 cast bullets using .32 S&W long dies and a .32 acp to crimp. 

A guy could still do that, but word is that Starline is selling brass now.  I might could find my notes if you need info on charges and bullets; as I recall I was using a nominally 100 grain mould cast of straight lino and weighing around 92 grains. 

[Baltimore Ed]

I?ve been experimenting with .30 carbine brass. Using a lee .339 push through sizer die,.30 carbine sizer die and .32-20 dies to reform them to 7.63 mannlicher brass. But I'm still waiting for my pistol so until it gets here I don?t know if my brass will work. Going by the case dimension information that I can find my brass should be pretty close. I would appreciate any starting load info that you?d be willing to share. This is a .30 carbine that I?ve reformed into a case that?s about .003-.005+ the 7.63 dimensions. When my pistol gets here I?ll be able to measure the actual chamber size. I still need to trim it down to .840.

[LongWalker]

Found my notes.  Pistol was a 1905 Mannlicher (Argentinian contract), the notes just say "use 32 S&W Long load data".   

The other random notes:  I did some function tests and the gun would feed dummy rounds loaded to the correct OAL using SWCs--I wonder what I had in mind.  Full wadcutters did not feed.  I wasn't able to get dummy rounds made from .30 carbine to stack in the magazine, and speculated it was due to the lack of taper.  Like an idiot though, I didn't record case measurements.  I don't know if this was due to a problem with the brass, my pistol's magazine, or if it is something to expect in all of them.  At the time (early '90s) Sarco had stripper clips (and they may still--probably not a high-demand item).  I was able to load mine without the clips, but only found that out after waiting for the Big Brown Truck to bring me the order from Sarco. . . .

[Baltimore Ed]

I finally got my mannlicher 7.63. Looked like the photos, a shooter without the crest. Some rust under the grips and gunk in the action. I?m getting mixed results from my 30 carb mil brass. The mty cases [have been trimmed and run through a lee .339 sizer die] fit both the chamber, boltface and extractor. I?ve had to run the loaded rds through the sizer die again to get them into the chamber. I think my cut down brass is a little too thick after seating a .308 115 gr lead RNFP bullet. But I?m hitting my small steel marshal when they go bang. Tomorrow there is a military show in Raleigh so I?ll try to find some commercial Winchester .30 carbine brass. Feels very comfortable in the hand and points naturally. My loads [only made 5] load from the stripper clips that I got from Sarco and stay in the mag fine. Check the little unload button on the grip, it might be causing your rds to not stay in the mag. Hopefully I?ll find some thinner brass and get this neat antique to run.

[Baltimore Ed]

Been building brass from 30 carbine that actually works. Yea! I?m having to run my loaded rds into my sizer die one last time though. Using my calipers I cant measure a difference but there?s a slight resistance into the die and it seems to makes a difference in chambering. Im hitting my small sass marshal easily from my deck. Here?s some of my loads that fired just fine. The oal is a little long though and won?t work from deep in the magazine but the pistol will feed and fire 4 rds fine.

[Baltimore Ed]

I think I?ve got it! Have some 100 gr shorter nosed bullets ordered. I?ve come up with with a process on my 7.63 case building.  I run new ww 30 carb brass through my carbide sizer, 170 to go, lube and run into a 30 carb rcbs trim die about 1/2 inch and cut it with a hack saw and file so that the trimmed brass is a hair long, I use a large flat punch to drive the case out. Then I use my rcbs trimmer to trim down to .840 inch and chamfer the case mouth inside and out. I run it through the rcbs 30 carb deprimer/ expander die. Prime with federal small pistol primers as the mannlicher 1905 has a very puny mainspring. A dab of red dot and a bullet. Last thing is to run the loaded rd through the sizer die again. I?ve measured these before and after and can?t see a difference but the unsized loads are a slightly too tight fit in my pistols chamber. They will chamber with the force of the slide but then wont extract without a fight. Loads sized a second time will feed and extract with no problems. Kinda like running.45 acps through a lee bulge buster die. I?ve shot 20 of these with no issues. Building brass now, will reload my cut down brass this weekend and shoot some targets.

[Baltimore Ed]

Got 50 loaded up and another 150 cases sized and ready to trim. This week I?ll put them on paper using my rest and see how they group. I need to tighten one of my grips up as there was a lot of frame rust under the left grip that warped it. The right grip was fine. When I removed the rust the grip got a little loose.

[pony express]

Probably you need to thin the necks, either with a reamer or outside neck turning. I expect the .30carbine brass is kind of thick walled after the trimming. Running loaded rounds through the sizer will reduce the bullet diameter as well as the overall diameter. That may, (or may not), affect the accuracy.

[Baltimore Ed]

The handful of military carbine brass I had was thick but I?m hoping that I can get by with the w-w commercial stuff. The dumb part is that I can?t measure a difference between the final load before or after I do the final sizing but if I don?t size them they will chamber but are tight. After sizing the drop in or out. Less than a thousand I guess.