50-95 dies

Crazy Horse · February 15, 2009, 09:17:29 AM

I have not been around in a while so this subject may have been talked about already. I have a Uberti 50-95 and it's the only gun I don't reload for so far. When I got the gun I bought it with 5 boxes of the Ten-x smokless loads so I have been shooting those. I have seen dies priced from $150 to $280 for this caliber. I noticed on Buffalo Arms site that there are dies for originals and dies for the Uberti's. From what I have gathered ther is some sllight difference in the shoulder in the Uberti rifles so they make a different die for it. Is this correct? MY main question is about the new RCBS dies that sell for $45. Now these are in my price range. If they will work fine for my Uberti I am going to order them. Are they made for the original case for the Uberti? I just will never pay the $150 to $280 for the other dies I have seen.

ndnchf · February 15, 2009, 11:22:07 AM

The RCBS legacy dies are a pretty new item. I don't think anyone on the board has mentioned owning them yet. You might want to call the RCBS tech folks and pose the question to them. That way you should get a straight answer. Be sure to come back here and tell us what you find out. FWIW, I'm using the CH4D Uberti .50-95 dies with my Uberti rifle and they work fine. No matter what dies you get, I recommend you slug your bore and get an expander plug that is .001" - .002" under groove diameter. Then size your bullets a little over groove diameter. Groove size of Uberti .50-95s seems to vary greatly. From what has been discussed on this board, anywhere from .507" to .513" (mine). The CH4D Uberti dies come with a .509" expander. I called CH4D and got a .512" expander. So it may take a little fine tuning of the dies and bullet size to get 'em right.

Crazy Horse · February 15, 2009, 12:20:01 PM

Quote from: ndnchf on February 15, 2009, 11:22:07 AM
The RCBS legacy dies are a pretty new item. I don't think anyone on the board has mentioned owning them yet. You might want to call the RCBS tech folks and pose the question to them. That way you should get a straight answer. Be sure to come back here and tell us what you find out. FWIW, I'm using the CH4D Uberti .50-95 dies with my Uberti rifle and they work fine. No matter what dies you get, I recommend you slug your bore and get an expander plug that is .001" - .002" under groove diameter. Then size your bullets a little over groove diameter. Groove size of Uberti .50-95s seems to vary greatly. From what has been discussed on this board, anywhere from .507" to .513" (mine). The CH4D Uberti dies come with a .509" expander. I called CH4D and got a .512" expander. So it may take a little fine tuning of the dies and bullet size to get 'em right.

Is there someone I could buy a few pure lead bullets from to slug my barrel? I have not checked buffalo arms yet. They might have some.

ndnchf · February 17, 2009, 02:26:36 PM

You can probably get .50 cal pure lead round ball at your local gunshop, Walmart, Kmart etc. I don't know of anyone who makes a pure lead conical bullet close to groove size. You can use a harder bullet, its just a little more difficult to push it through. A pure lead .50 round ball will expand to fill the grooves, a hardened bullet neets to be close to groove size or slightly larger.

Crazy Horse · February 17, 2009, 08:34:20 PM

Well, I have been trying to call RCBS for two days but either the line is busy or I get a recording saying they are in a meeting. Maybe I will get them tomorrow.

evodude · February 28, 2009, 07:37:13 AM

RCBS Legacy dies work perfectly! They are dimensionally correct for the origional .50-95 Win. I ran some of my Chappy brass through them with great results. I guess the growing popularity of this cartridge caught their attention- no more ridiculously priced custom die prices.

EdsPlace · March 11, 2009, 06:10:54 AM

I think I might just jump on this bandwagon. Can you tell me what size is the expander plug in this set of dies?

Ed

evodude · March 11, 2009, 06:50:22 AM

The RIGHT size!

EdsPlace · March 11, 2009, 10:37:21 AM

Of course it is! Wouldn't happen to have a set of calipers handy, would you?

evodude · March 11, 2009, 09:06:08 PM

Oh, allright Ed! It measures .5115

evodude · March 12, 2009, 05:54:43 AM

One thing that Ive deen doing lately is to extend the depriming rod as far out as itll go and just deprime the case without resizing it at all. The expander ball doesnt expand the neck either, but I do let the case come in contact enough to flare the mouth to accept the bullet. My barrel dia is .513 and Im seating a bullet that is .515, so that .002 and a crimp holds the bullet fine- I loaded up the tube and after firing all but the last bullet, I examined its oal. and it hadent changed at all. Cartridges chamber just fine in the gun they were previously shot out of, and I detect no difference in accuracy. Talk about working the case to the minimum! Ill be curious to see just how many firings Ill get out of my reformed .348 W.W. brass.

EdsPlace · March 12, 2009, 06:25:52 AM

Well now, that sounds just about peachy. At present, all I've got is fire formed cases and a bore dia. same a you. So, as long as I can get enough bell to seat bullet, I'll be in 'bidness'. Funny though, I got a spec. sheet of bore/groove diameters of Uberti firearms from Cimarron that lists the groove dia. as 0.507. It just ain't so.

Think I'll give it a whirl. Now, I need to figure out what to do about that atrocious trigger pull. It's smooth as glass, but I bet it takes all of 20 lbs. I ain't never seen a gun with a "pull" like this. Thought the "Safety"

were on when I tried to bench it. Accuracy with the Ten-X rounds weren't nothing to write home about neither, maybe 10" at 60 yards

Ed.

evodude · March 12, 2009, 03:44:44 PM

Place buttstock against chest, put a 14" dowel 5/8" dia. through triggerguard, and pull with both hands. Pull will feel like 3 pounds! OR, you can check out www.thesmithshop.com and see what he offers- he may have a spring kit . You can polish the sear and hammer indent with emery paper or 600 wet with WD40 to a mirror finish, that could lighten it up a bit as well. You can pop the sear out easy enough, just remove the pin behind the trigger. If you remove the sideplates, you can polish the trigger where the sear engages it with out removing it- I wrapped masking tape around the toggle links to keep them in place, although you can pull them out easily. These actions are the epitomy of simplicity! (Did I type that right?)

Backstrap Bill · March 24, 2009, 09:20:07 PM

Does any one know which of the various chambers put into the Uberti rifles that the RCBS Legacy dies are for?

I already have dies that fit my chamber, but am just curious about the new RCBS offering.

If you take a peek at my post, 'Got my Cimarron 50-95 Centenial Model, Now What?' you'll see what I mean by different chamber dimensions.

EdsPlace · March 25, 2009, 08:44:55 AM

Quote from: evodude on March 12, 2009, 05:54:43 AM
One thing that Ive deen doing lately is to extend the depriming rod as far out as itll go and just deprime the case without resizing it at all. The expander ball doesnt expand the neck either, but I do let the case come in contact enough to flare the mouth to accept the bullet. My barrel dia is .513 and Im seating a bullet that is .515, so that .002 and a crimp holds the bullet fine- I loaded up the tube and after firing all but the last bullet, I examined its oal. and it hadent changed at all. Cartridges chamber just fine in the gun they were previously shot out of, and I detect no difference in accuracy. Talk about working the case to the minimum! Ill be curious to see just how many firings Ill get out of my reformed .348 W.W. brass.

Well, I've got the die set, but forgot to order the shell holder - just ordered it this morning. I thought I remembered you using .348 brass, so I pulled out my shell holder for that, but the Ten-X brass won't fit. Interesting. I'm going to try the technique you're using and hope I can get a proper flare. (My dimensions are identical to yours near as I can tell.) Only thing I'm worried about is that about half of my cases have the lip dented in somewhat. Don't know exactly what's causing that, but it apparently happens during ejection of the cases, and not all the time. Any thoughts?

ndnchf · March 25, 2009, 12:34:58 PM

I use a Lyman .50-70 shell holder with my Ten-X brass and it works fine for my Uberti 50-95. Not sure about dented lips. Is your brass falling to the ground? That could do it. I try to catch my ejecting brass in my hand after each shot. I treat my brass like a new baby

EdsPlace · March 26, 2009, 11:18:57 AM

It's "dear" enough ain't it?

I spent a little time on hands and knees combing through the grass....but got it all!

ndnchf · March 26, 2009, 06:31:44 PM

Yeah, you'd think they're made of gold alloy, not brass

I bought a hundred new empty .50-95 cases from Ten-X at $3.00 each. They work great, but I feel like they should be stored in a glass case

BTW, I was mistaken about the shell holder. I checked, mine is an RCBS #31, not a Lyman. My dies are Lyman.

EdsPlace · April 02, 2009, 06:25:10 AM

Finally got everything but the time. Working 13 hour days for a bit.

Had trouble finding suitable wads. Normal .50 cal wads are listed at 0.510, not quite big enough. Got some 32 gauge listed at 0.530 from Ballistic Products. Got the thin overshot and the thick nitro. We'll see how they do. I molded a few bullets with the Lyman mold using virgin lead. Wonder if they're too soft. I found some tin and might make some 20 - 1 mix, or try straight wheel weights.

evodude · April 04, 2009, 08:38:04 AM

Im using wheelweights with a touch of tin added, I have a roll of tin I bought at the lumberyard used for soldering- I add a 2 foot piece to a full pot of melted lead in my Lee, and drop the bullets in a 5 gallon bucket half filled with water. I put a towel in the water and land the bullets on it to break their fall! This gives me a hardness of 19-21. Im loading Triple 7 FFF about to the base of the bullet, and didnt find the need for a wad. Im not resizing the case at all, just belling the neck a tad and crimping-accuracy hasnt fallen off at all, doesnt seem to shoot any different at all. Still grouping 1/2" at 100 yds with one shot!!