Hey Guys,

Aside from turning on a lathe, how do you take a standard cartridge case and cut a rebated rim on it?

Lobo in West Virginia

Hey Guys,

Aside from turning on a lathe, how do you take a standard cartridge case and cut a rebated rim on it?

Lobo in West Virginia

Thats the way.

Lee L.

Thats the way.

Lee L.

Lathe is the only good way...but if you're only talking about a few cases and can work with furstration, can make a few samples without a lathe...but a drill press would be best.


Chuck the case up CLOSE TO THE SOLID WEB of the case (other wise you'll just crush it)..this give you about a 1/3-1/2" of the case sticking out of the chuck. Go after the rim with a small file until it's the right diameter, then go after the extractor groove with a triangular file until it's the right depth/shape. Try to keep it from over heating. Radius the rim's face so it is not a sharp right angle (your extractor will thank you).

Better is to use a "dead center"...just a shaped post that the primer pocket can ride in while it spins and keep things straight.

Labor intensive and often get the occasional screw up, but will make a 1/2 dozen cases for experiment.

I've made some 7.65 french that way out of 32 S&W Longs, but that was just to check a repaired 1935S. Bought a Jewelers lathe the next week! I only made six, and lost four in the process. It's hard enough to make rimless from rimmed, but I don't think I would care to make rebated that way. If making a rifle cartridge you would also need an internal mandrel as well as the live center. Too much work.

Lee L.

Hi Fellas,
Used to use mandrels to machine rebated rims, but now I use a bushing with a tapered internal bore to match the case taper. Set-up the bushing in a three jaw lathe chuck, tap the cases into the bushing with a rubber mallet, machine the rim with a form tool, and extract the case with a standard shellholder in the mini slidehammer. :)
Regards,
Bryan

Slap head...wonder why I didn't think of that. Still have to cut the extractor goove deeper, but seaging would work to get thims smaller.

Made a pound swage die for .45colt cases...one good wack with a 5 pound hammer and it swaged the rims to .455 thickeness/width....jsut didn't think of trying the process in reverse.