Make .50-95 from .50 Alaskan?

[ndnchf]

Has anyone done this?  I see discussions about using .50 Alaskan to make .45-75, and even mention that it CAN be used to make .50-95, but has anybody actually made any?  The dimensions are in the right ballpark, although the rim and head might be a little small. 

Is it as simple as trimming to length and carefully runing it through a full length die?  Should they be annealed first?  Does it function well?

Just looking at options and .50 Alaskan is not too expensive.

[evodude]

As per recommendations of some of the good folks from Cas City, I used .348 brass, its about as cheap as you can get, real easy to form, and Ive loaded some of them 6 times, with about as hot of loads as I dare, without any stress signs on the cases. Im only sizing about 3/8 th of the neck after foreforming, but Im giving it almost a full charge for that as well.

[ndnchf]

Did you have any problem blowing open the .348" case mouths?  I suppose that as long as they are well annealed, there wouldn't be much problem.  I was thinking about the Alaskan since it already has a large mouth. 

[evodude]

Didnt have to blow them open. Started with a .375 Ultramag die, opened .348 up to .375. Then, I ran them through a RCBS .357 expander die. The sizing mandril goes from .357 all the way to .468, I just run it all the way up on the expander. Now the case is run on a .45 to .50 expanding plug I bought from CH Machine for 14 bucks, and you have a perfectly straight walled .348 case! I trim it dowm to 1.96, load it and shoot. I havent found much difference in shooting a fireform case or one that is already formed. They will take the same charge, and surprisingly, give me about the same point of impact, as well. Only thing I see with the .348 cases is that the web takes a few shots to fill out to the chamber. Make sure to lube the necks as you resize them, though, if you dont, youll loose quite a few to splitting. I lube them on the .375, and again on the .45-.50, and only lost two out of 50 my last session. I have a progressive press, so it goes a bit quicker, as I set up all the expanders and run a case through all the operations at once. I hook my 1/2" drill up to my case trimmer and take off the quarter inch or so with it-goes real quick that way. The 1.96 trim will give you 1.92 oal. upon fireforming. Im seating the bullet to an overall of 2.28 and it chambers fine with the .515 340 grain Lyman.

[ndnchf]

Evo,

Thanks for the details.  I don't have the same dies assortment, but I do have a variety that may work.  Did you anneal the cases before opening them up?

[Hobie]

Well, I've done the open up .348 brass thing in forming .45-75.  I now use .50 AK.  Same basic case but not so much case forming time.  LOTS less case forming time.

For the .50-95 I would:  Trim a bit, full-length resize, chamfer, Lyman M die, load and shoot. Fireform as you go.  Anneal.  Starline brass is pretty hard and annealling will lengthen brass life.  Still much cheaper than Bertram...

[evodude]

Didnt have to anneal, and brass is holding up fine. I did use Winchester brass, but only because that was what was availiable. $27.99 a bag of fifty! 

[ndnchf]

Thanks fellas, I appreciate your inputs.  I need to do some brass shopping now