.50-95 die set

[dusty texian]

nohorse  , boy you must walk a lot ,,,,,Lol . I just checked some Starline 50-90 brass that has been fireformed in my rifle . They measured a rim thickness of .058   and are pretty consistent . Good luck getting your .50 shooting .,,,Dt .

[nohorse]

Hey DT, thats why my truck gets a lot of miles!

Thanks for measuring for me, it looks like the 50-90 will be an easier conversion.  On a side note, I just slugged the bore with a .530 ball from my .54 muzzle loader and it mic'd at .5135 across the center of the grooves and .515 from corner to corner of the opposite grooves.  Man this Presidio just wants to be ornery.

I am gonna go make a dummy round with a .515 Blue Falcon bullet and make sure it will fit in the chamber, my luck the chamber neck will be too tight and the .515 seated bullet wont fit.  Standby...

[dusty texian]

Look forward to hearing about your success with the 50-95 they are fun .,,,DT

[nohorse]

Ok just made a dummy round with the .515 276 grain Blue Falcon bullet, crimped in the top grease groove with a piece of hand cut brass (not perfect) at about 1.91".  I had to keep reducing the outside neck to .535 to get the round to chamber.  I hope it was just the case mouth getting rolled and not compressing the bullet to a smaller diameter, but we will see after I get a chance to fireform.

I know I can use .512 or maybe even smaller bullets if I use black powder (I have done it before in other calibers).  I had an Original Ballard Pacific #5 in .40-63 that had a .413 groove and I had to use .410 bullets with a big crimp, but they shot great over 2F with a primer charge of 4 grains SR4759.  Same with a Ballard #5 in .38-55, it had a .383 groove and I had to use .379 bullets cause the chamber neck was too small.

I also have some Barnes and Woodleigh 450 grain .510 jacketed bullets.  I know the undersized jacketed bullet will be more forgiving also.

Here are a couple pics for King cause he likes pics

[nohorse]

Heres a pic next to my Cimarron Crossfire Carbine in .45-60.  I have a bunch of pics and targets in the .45-60 loading thread.  I love me some '76!

[Coal Creek Griff]

Aren't those '76s cool? Congratulations!

Griff

[King Medallion]

Nice pic's, Nohorse,  congrats!

[dusty texian]

Ok just made a dummy round with the .515 276 grain Blue Falcon bullet, crimped in the top grease groove with a piece of hand cut brass (not perfect) at about 1.91".  I had to keep reducing the outside neck to .535 to get the round to chamber.  I hope it was just the case mouth getting rolled and not compressing the bullet to a smaller diameter, but we will see after I get a chance to fireform.

I know I can use .512 or maybe even smaller bullets if I use black powder (I have done it before in other calibers).  I had an Original Ballard Pacific #5 in .40-63 that had a .413 groove and I had to use .410 bullets with a big crimp, but they shot great over 2F with a primer charge of 4 grains SR4759.  Same with a Ballard #5 in .38-55, it had a .383 groove and I had to use .379 bullets cause the chamber neck was too small.

I also have some Barnes and Woodleigh 450 grain .510 jacketed bullets.  I know the undersized jacketed bullet will be more forgiving also.

Here are a couple pics for King cause he likes pics

Nohorse I just checked three cases that started out as 50-90 Sharps and were formed into 50-95 by Buffalo Arms . These cases were fired in a friends Uberti 50-95 one of the early models that first appeared , don't know if that matters . Anyhow the neck thickness on these cases measure .010 . Not positive but I think his barrel measured between  .513 - .514  in the groove . I don't have the rifle here just trying to clean the cases for him .,,,DT

[nohorse]

Hey DT, can you tell me the outside neck diameter of a .50-90 case fired in an Uberti chamber?  Can you tell me the inside diameter too?  That would be helpful.  Thanks!

Thanks for the kind words everybody!  Im gonna get this thing shootin as soon as I can

[dusty texian]

Just measured the same three cases , Inside neck about .515 - .516   and outside average was .535 -  .536  was using calipers so was pushing the bass around  a little . ,,, DT

[nohorse]

DT thank you very much!  This info confirms my estimates and puts me in the right direction. Wow, what a great board we have here.  Even though it is kinda quiet usually, if someone needs help there are several people who jump right in.  Thanks neighbors!

[nohorse]

Well I couldnt sit around and not shoot my new favorite rifle.  I cobbled together 3 rounds, and I mean cobbled.  They were ugly, brass length was 1.8, 1.85, and 1.9", no crimps on any of them, I used Woodleigh jacketed 450 grainers at .510 diameter and 27.0 5744 powder.  The case faces had all the writing sanded off to decrease rim thickness to .057.  The only neck tension was the bullet sitting in the case neck, and the case lengths varied alot.  I elevated the muzzle to settle the powder for each shot and I got 1085, 1106, and 1108 fps and they printed a 3 shot 2" group at 50 yards, 6" above point of aim.  The group was 2" vertical and .5" horizontal.  I was expecting the big vertical due to widely varying neck tension.  The cases have no soot on the necks and the case heads did not expand above the 50 Alaskan dimension of .545.  The group printed 1" right of point of aim (easily correctable).

Hopefully my case trimmer will come in this week and I will order up some Starline .50-90 and maybe some RMC brass.  I have a feeling that with good cases and jacketed bullets this thing is gonna be my new long range varmint rifle. With good brass I will prolly start at 30.0 of 5744 and a good crimp on 450 grain .510 jacketed bullets.  Desired velocity of about 1250-1300 fps out of my 20" barrel.

[nohorse]

DT if I could please bother you for 2 more case dimensions from the Uberti fired .50-90's.  I need the rim diameter and the case head diameter at its largest point - fired and unsized preferably.

Thanks!

[dusty texian]

DT if I could please bother you for 2 more case dimensions from the Uberti fired .50-90's.  I need the rim diameter and the case head diameter at its largest point - fired and unsized preferably.

Thanks!

No Problem Amigo , I'm getting Rim Dia . of .628 on five  cases and found one @ .625 once fired in the Uberti . The case head max. on all measured .560 . Sorry  I don't have any unfired cases on hand for the 50-95 that are Starline brand to measure .,,,DT 

[nohorse]

Perfect info.  Thanks very much!

[King Medallion]

I'm surprised those .510 bullets did so well. I'd have thought they would rattle down the barrel and keyhole badly. Might have to get some of these to try. I'm tired of winter.

[nohorse]

King, jacketed bullets dont operate like plain lead.  They can be way undersized and still work.  I measured my slug for the land diameter and it is .499, that means the bullets get a boat load of rifling engagement. Also the copper jacket displaced by the lands will tend to fill in the bottoms of the grooves if there is a gap.  That displaced copper has to go somewhere.  And the faster than original twist in our Presidios will easily handle the 450 grain bullets

[nohorse]

Well now....

I just got back from the range with 6 rounds of ammo tested.  I got my case trimmer and I spent about 2 hours yesterday making 5 pieces of as good a quality brass as I could considering I only have the 50 Alaskan to start with.  I trimmed to 1.930, sized, expanded, and sanded down the case faces to .058.  I loaded 30.0 of 5744 and a Barnes 450 grain .510 jacketed bullet with a mild roll crimp at the top of the cannelure.  They averaged 1184 fps with an extreme spread of 12 fps and no unburnt powder. The group was about 1.25" at 50 yards.  Perfect clean round holes.  I also loaded one of the 3 "ugly" cases left over from before.  I took the least ugly and leveled out the case mouth and it wound up at 1.83.  I loaded it with 32.0 of 5744 but without a crimp cause the cannelure didnt line up on the short case.  Dang chronograph read "error". Man if I had another round I prolly woulda shot the chrono!.  Anyway, very happy!  I have a bunch of .50-90 ordered to make correct cases for this thing, so results should only get better.  I would like to see 1250 fps out of the 20" barrel but we shall see.  Todays loads were not max by any means but I will also be switching to different brass with different internal volume, so more testing to come.

You will also notice that the point of impact dropped quite a bit compared to the previous load.  This is due to barrel dwell time.  The shorter duration inside the barrel means the bullet is out before the muzzle gets too high, even though there is more recoil and the muzzle gets higher than before.  The Point of impact also moved to the right by a full inch, I am guessing this might be due to the recoil.  This load had a pretty serious jolt to it.

[Coal Creek Griff]

Thanks for the range report, complete with photo!  Sounds like you're having fun.

Griff

[King Medallion]

I'm guessing that by shaving down the case head, the primer is not sticking out too far?