I suppose the purist cartridge collectors would tar & feather me for this, but I did it in the name of science 

A couple days ago I was gifted a handful of old original cartridges. Among them was this .56-52 cartridge made by the WRA Co. I noticed the bullet had what looked like some kind of pliers marks and it was loose. So I pulled it out and found it partially filled with modern black powder that weighed 37.3gr. This is far below the normal 45gr charge.  Since I've recently been reloading other large bore rimfires, I decided to reload this one.

The case was first cleaned in a small ultrasonic tank. Then a very small tool made from a straight pin was used to scrape the old dead priming compound from the rim. Then a bore brush was used on the inside. Then the outside was gently cleaned to give the old soldier a fresh look.

I use the Prime-All kit to reprime all these old rimfires. The powders were mixed and placed in the case. A few drops of acetone were added to make a slurry. It was then packed into the rim recess with a rubber tipped dental too. After drying, any excess compound was dumped out.

The original bullet was rough, but I wanted to save it for posterity.  So for a replacement I used a Smith carbine bullet. In the lathe, the bottom band was turned to .508" to make the heel.  The resulting heel has the same diameter and depth as the original. It weighs 358gr, a little less than the 383.7gr original bullet.

Lastly, it was time to load it. Using a bulk measure, I poured 45gr of Swiss 2F through a 24" drop tube. The weight equivalent was 48.7gr. I didn't have a way to crimp the bullet, so a couple drops of Loctite was applied to the heel. The bullet was seated, compressing the powder maybe .030".

I hope to get to the range this week to test fire it across the chronograph to see how it does. More to follow 

My impatience got the better of me. I cut out of work early and went to the range to try it out. I brought my M1871 Springfield Spencer to try it in. Unfortunately, things did not go well. Thus is the life of an experimenter I tried to fire it multiple times to no avail. But, on the way home I got thinking about the firing pin dents, which were only on the very outer edge. If you are familiar with the Spencer breech block, you understand this. But I then recalled the firing pin dents on my .56-50 Remington split breech carbine cases were further in towards the center. Unfortunately, I didn't bring the split breech to the range. But when I got home, I grabbed it and stepped outside. When the neighbors weren't looking, I test fired the cartridge unto ground. I was rewarded with a wonderful BOOM!

So I think the problem was that I was not able to spin the case for centrifugal force to get the priming compound to the outer edge of the rim. I normally use a drill press. But this case is too big for the chuck. I need to come up with another way. 

So the reloaded original case was a success, but I need to improve the priming process. You can see the multiple Spencer firing pin dents around edge. The hits look light, but they are not. I had to iron them out a bit before the split breech could close properly. The single split breech hit it clearly better.

How do you iron out or remove the firing pin strikes on the rim of the fired case?

Sure shot wrote on Aug 25^th, 2021 at 6:56pm:


Well, I can't get them out completely. First I run them into an oversize die up to the rim. I made a flat top anvil that replaces a shellholder in the ram. This presses the rim up against the die to straighten out the rim and get it flat again. Then I use this little tool with the tip bent 90 degrees to clean out the rim recess and try to raise the dents. It helps a little, enough to get the priming compound in. But the dents are still there. I can only do so much 

I just noticed the hole where I fired it into the ground. It goes down nearly 12".  Pretty impressive   Since I live in a city where two major Civil War battles occurred, I wonder what a future archaeologist will think 200 years from now if he finds it 

Another member suggested a bore brush. Simple, easy and it worked great!

I took the reloaded .56-52 to the range today. Here is a short video of the results. 

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