DISCLAIMER: I offer this for your information ONLY. Follow all the established rules for safely shooting any weapon. If you decide to follow these directions you are taking full responsibility for any accidents or injury that may result from improper use or action. Shooting live ammunition is dangerous. Any time you change the dimensions of a brass cartridge, which is whats required when you transform one type of cartridge to another, you must take care when shooting it. Make sure to inspect all brass for imperfections before you reload it. Again, guns are deadly so take all precautions when shooting.
Materials & Tools List
Its possible to form 56-50 brass from 32 gauge shotgun brass, but it requires a number of tools to get started and a bit of skill in wood working to do successfully. The following is a materials list and where possible, source links where you can get these items. Its highly recommended that you have at least moderate experience with reloading before you attempt reforming any brass.
- 32 Gauge Shotgun Shell Brass
- A Good Channel Lock Pliers
- For holding the cases for annealing
- A heat source for annealing
- There are YouTube videos that demonstrate how to anneal brass. See this link for examples on how to anneal brass.
- Something to Cut Brass Down to Size.
- 32 gauge brass shotgun cases will require you will to cut the brass to length. There are a number of options.
- Pipecutter
- Small Cutoff saw.
- Small table saw.
- A Sizing Jig
- For marking the brass where it will be cut.
- How to make:
- Take a block of wood at least 3” long, 2” wide and more then 1.5” in thickness.
- Rip the thickness down to the 1.10".
- Drill a hole with a 9/16" drill bit through the thickness of the block
- A Scratch Awl or Similar Tool.
- For scoring/marking the brass where it will need to be cut.
- Calipers
- For checking the size of everything when needed, such as case diameter and case length.
- 220 grit sand paper. Optionally you can get some 440 grit.
- For reducing the case or rim diameter if needed.
- Special Tools for Running the Case All the Way up to the Rim in the Resizing Die and Then Removing it From the Die.
- As part of the forming process you will need to run the base all the way up to the rim in the resizing die. This means that you'll have to remove the shell holder and replace it with a flat piece of metal to present a flat surface for the rim to rest on and you'll need to find or make a special tool to push the case out of the sizing die after you run it up.
- Any sturdy piece of metal will work for presenting a flat surface for the rim to rest on. I use a flat file at least 3/4" wide, but any thing similar will work.
- The stem from Kobalt Item# 239374, Model 60223 6-in1 Multi-Bit Screwdriver work well for pushing the brass case out of the sizing die. It has a small hexagonal hole on one end and a larger one on the other end that fits over the 32 gauge primer pocket and will allow you to pop the cartridge out of the sizing die with a blow from a hammer without deforming this pocket and the case.
- I'll have more detail on this on the next post in this series “Making Brass for the 56-50 Armi Sport Reproduction Spencer From 32 Gauge Brass Part II”
- Reloading Dies for the 56-50 cartridge
- I suggest a die set that can be used for the Armi Sport reproductions. It can be used for both the original Spencer 56-50 and the slightly different Armi Sport 56-50 case.
- Lyman 7460497
- C4D makes a excellent set as well
- A Strong Loading Press.
- RCBS Rockchucker single stage press
- Redding 700 UltraMag single stage press.
- A Case Trimmer
- There are lots of options including
- Hornady One Finger Case Trimmer W/Cam Lock
- Lyman 59018 Universal Case Trimmer w/Carbide
- RCBS Trim Pro Case Trimmer Manual 59436
- You'll need a trimming die for the Spencer 56-50.
- Lyman Trimmer Pilot #50B 7821982 56-50 Spencer
- Some Sort of Lathe For Reducing Case and Rim Diameter.
- Part of the process for forming 56-50 vrass from 32 gauge brass requires that you reduce the last .2” of the case's diameter just above the case rim.. I do this by using a lathe rigged from a Dremel tool. I will cover how you can rig such a lathe in the post in this series “Making Brass for the 56-50 Armi Sport Reproduction Spencer From 32 Gauge Brass Part II”
- Some Good Lube Oil for Lubricating the Case for Reforming
- Balisol or like product. Normal case lube not be heavy enough.
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