Gentlemen and Fair Ladies, 

Because of all the interest in this project, this my attempt to document efforts to reform .223 brass to 7.62 Nagant Russian Revolver.  Once I had learned the idiosyncrasies of the beast, it was pretty straightforward, albeit somewhat time consuming. 

Suggested tools and materials:

.223 brass and corresponding shell holder

.30 Carbine reloading dies - mine is an RCBS

reloading press ("O" type, heavy duty type not required; I have also done this

on my Lyman Spar-T)

disk sander (not necessary but it does help to speed things along)

case lube (suggest Motor Honey)

knock-out rod (details in text)

mallet (mine is rawhide)

blank shell holder or metal disc about shell holder diameter

case trimmer with .30 caliber pilot

1.  Shorten .223 brass.  After trying a number of ways, I found that the easiest way, and very fast, was to use my disc sander.  It takes about 3 seconds per case using a no. 60 grit.  No, the disk does not fill up with brass. Push the case into the sander disk, removing material to about half way between the neck and the shoulder.  This may seem a little short to you, but the case lengthens considerably as it is swaged. 

2.  Using a case inside-outside deburrer, remove the burrs.  This is done so that the case mouth may be opened without crushing, using an expander button, or preferably, a Lyman "M" die. 

3.  Remove primer decaping pin assembly from the .30 Carbine full length sizing die.   Important!  Set the die so that it touches the ram firmly when the ram is raised.

4.  Lube the case liberally (I use Motor Honey) and run it into the .30 Carbine die about 1/3 of the way.  Do not force it beyond where it feels good and tight.  Doing so is to assure that a stuck case will result.  Take it from one who learned (several times) the hard way.  Back case out of die.

5.  Re-lube case and ram to about 2/3 the way home. Same warning as in 4, above.  Back case out of die.

6.  Re-lube case.  This time you can run it all the way home.  It will back out pretty easily.  Notice that at this point, the swaging process has been accomplished just past the web of the case -- that's good. 

7.  Re-lube.  Using a blank shell holder, set the sizing die so that it presses firmly, but not hard, against the shell holder when the ram is raised fully.  The spring of the press, when the case is rammed all the way home, will assure that the case rim is not swaged.  This can also be done by laying a metal slug, like a slug from a knock-out hole in an electrical box, on top of any regular shell holder.  The blank shell holder is just a little more convenient. 

8.  Ram the case all the way home.   Use a knock-out rod to remove the case.  Two things are important here. 

First is that the knock-out rod should be as large in diameter as possible.  This will depend on the particular sizing die used.  My RCBS die has a 1/4x28 the decapping rod.  It will accommodate a .210" rod which I made from a very long bolt that originally had 1/4x20 threads rolled onto its end; one of those rods used to hold cable reels together.  To assure that it will not bend when struck with a mallet, the rod should be only as long as is necessary to drive out the case.  Mine is 3 1/2" long.  The rod head is handy to act as a

Retainer so that it does not fall out of the die, but is not necessary.  Note that it is not difficult to drive out the fully swaged case when done as prescribed here, and the rod need not be hardened as long as it is not too long.  Mine is as soft as any steel gets. 

Second, when driving out the case, do not try to emulate Paul Bunyan.  Tapping the rod (I use a rawhide mallet) 3-4 times will remove the case without bulging out the head.  One mighty whack risks messing up the head spacing, and more important, makes it difficult to get into the .223 shell holder.  Out of about 80 cases that I have made so far, only a couple have given me resistance. They were fixed by chucking into my drill press and using a quick swipe of a half round file.   If there is a slight rounding of the head, it will not adversely effect the outcome.  This is a good time to wipe the lube off of the cases.  Also, decapping can done any time one chooses.  I use a universal decapping die for this task. 

9.  Chuck case into your trimmer and set to reduce the case length to 1.51".  Notice that the brass has lengthened significantly as it steps through the swaging process.   If it has been shortened as directed in step 1, only a few turns of the trimmer handle will be needed. 

10.  You might want to try chambering your cases now to make sure that they will fit.  My die reduces the very base of this tapered case to .360-.362".  This is as perfect a fit as one can get in my revolver.  I do not know if these guns vary much in chamber diameters. 

11.  Next use either the provided .30 Carbine RCBS expander die or, preferably, the Lyman "M" die to prepare the case mouth to receive the bullet.  If you expand prior to chambering for the first time, depending on how much you bell the mouth, you may be alarmed to discover that the case will not chamber.  This is because of the relatively steep taper of the case which will not stand for much belling and still chamber.  Don't worry, the loaded cartridge will have this bell removed by the crimp. 

It is possible that the case mouth will benefit from annealing to keep it from splitting but I chose to skip this process until I see need for it. I have annealed the original brass because of the radical crimp applied to the factory rounds.

At this point, your brass is ready to load. 

If anyone is interested, I have a jpg or two of the brass as it passes through the swaging stages. 

God Bless!

Norm Johnson

Also:

<quote>

>The Feb/March 2000 issue of MACHINIST'S WORKSHOP was awaiting me in my >mail yesterday. On pages 37-40 there is an article titled "Making Case-Forming

> Tools and Forming Cases for a 7.62 mm Russian Nagant Revolver".

> In this article, author Lowell P. Braxton discusses what lead him to use .223

> brass for making 7.62 Nagant as well as the steps he took to make tooling for

> this and his conclusions. Although he went so far as to make a reamer for

> the resizing die, he felt that a couple of 'ring' dies might do just as well

>or even a 30 carbine day except that he wasn't sure if the die would hold up.

So you might also look for this article via your local library and Periodical Index (they can usually get a photocopy of most any magazine article if you know the month/year and titleä

Steven