@AeroE

He used to load 22 Jet.

I have been reloading the 22 Jet for a while now.

I tried to make brass from 357 brass but it was a huge pain.

I necked the brass down in 3 steps and then annealed everything above the shoulder.

But pushing all that brass down from 357 to 22 made for some thick necks so I used a KKM inside neck reamer on a Wilson lathe style trimmer.

I also grabbed a CH4D bullet sizing die to take .224 bullets down to .2225 or so. Turns out I didnt need to do that for any of my Model 53s.

Then I saw that Graffs had PPU brass in stock so I bought 1,000 pcs.

All that time wasted...  But I learned some stuff along the way.

Fun caliber.  There might be something like five of us left on the planet still shooting/loading for it.

This is my 6 inch Model 53.  The flash from my 4 inch is really impressive and even funner with almost zero recoil.

Most of of my brass was bought new.  No way will I pay the price of the Redding conversion dies.

There might be another way, this is how I make .25-20 Win brass -

Size the case in a .357 Mag die to get the case round,
Remove the seater stem in a RCBS .22 Jet seater die,
Run the case through the seater,
Then carefully size the case in the Jet sizer die without the expander ball.  Pull the handle slowly and pay attention.

Use Imperial lube.  Don't substitute.  Put the barest film of lube on the cases to prevent hydraulic dents.  That swipe you just put on there is too thick.

Make certain there is nothing else on the cases, not a teeny piece of gunpowder or carbon, not the tiniest strand of lint.  An unrecoverable dent is guaranteed if it's on the neck.  Any size.

If the cases show minor striations or obviously noncritical dents, fire forming cleans that up.

Model 53 -



I also have a Contender around here somewhere.

RCC offers brass at nearly $4.50 per case.

Quality Cartridge Brass -

https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/83324

@Procat

Contact me to get some brass, bullets, and primers, I just remembered some I got in a trade.

I'm near Wentzville Missouri.

I had never opened this box until a few minutes ago.  Those two pierced primers are ugly.  I might be convinced to let go of two boxes.

Experiment:

The first case collapsed in the seater -




The second case collapsed in the seater, too, but the shape of both was promising up to the collapse.  I backed the die body out to make the sizing easier, then screwed it in and cranked the handle -






The third case was sized in the Jet die.  Looked great until a last push.  An intermediate neck diameter or two is needed -

With that fold, don't think annealing would of helped.

No, too much material to move.

The force on the press handle is too high to do many this way.  Forming a shoulder in the seater requires at least two steps of the die position to get a nice shape, stopping before hitting the crimp ring.  There is nothing easy inside the sizer die.  It's doable up to the neck, after that, the neck needs support and a larger hole in the die to get a good start.

A couple of sizers could be bored out to some intermediate diameter, or better, bored for bushings.  Form dies could be made up by chambering barrel stubs, then reaming the neck portion.  I had a recollection that Redding sold a multi die form die set that was incredibly expensive; I haven't looked for any of that stuff for years.

The other detail I didn't mention is that I had to turn the top of the shell holder to push the shoulders back far enough to chamber in my Contender without slamming it shut.  I didn't see the shell holder in the die box last night, so now I have to sit down with a pair of calipers to find the dang thing.  That was not required for my revolver.

I wonder whether Procat will contact me about the brass.