Fireforming device?

[MarinePMI]

Just wondering out loud here, but was curious about people's thoughts on a fire forming idea...

Like a universal receiver of sorts that accepts a seating die, and has a breech plate with a firing pin (kind of like a cannon breech). This whole thing is mounted to a inexpensive metal lid (say, like that of a metal 55gal drum) and is then locked down onto said 55 gal drum with some sand at the bottom (like a clearing barrel).

The shooter would then load a die formed cartridge with a moderate load, (and the case neck stuff with tissue paper to keep the power from falling out) into the universal receiver (case would be oriented down into the barrel), breech closed, and case would then be fired. The underside of the lid could even have some baffles of sort to limit the noise. Maybe just a stack of sheet metal plates with holes in the center, that were connected or stacked by 3 or 4 rods.

This would allow a relatively inexpensive way to form cases, rather than burn out a barrel forming brass. It also would do away with having a separate fireforming barrel that some use in lieu of their match/competition barrel.

I've been kicking around this idea for a few years now...

Thoughts?

 

[Fursniper]

I've had resonably good luck with Whidden hydro form dies with my .338AI. It gets me to about 75-80%, the shoulders are still a bit rounded but the rounds shoot quite well. I'll shoot the hydo formed cases out to 1200-1500 for fun and then use the final fireformed case for the serious ELR stuff.

 

[supercorndogs]

Would you use a small charge of pistol powder, like when you firearm without using a projectile?

 

[Timgunner]

Are you talking about firing a round out of a body or full length die? Dies are made of hardened steel that is much harder than barrel steel. I would think the die would be too brittle and rupture.

 

[Timgunner]

I like the idea of a universal fire form receiver. Perhaps one could be made of a break action like a TC encore so it would work for any bolt face. If you had it fitted to use a Remington 700 barrel tennon with a barrel locknut. You could have a barrel stubb threaded and chambered with the same reamer as the rifle. Then you could just swap fireform barrels tighten the nut down on a case and blast away

 

[MarinePMI]

Hmmm...that's an interesting idea.

 

[shoot4fun]

djsbrass.com

This guy has years of experience, to the point he has developed his own proprietary system for hydro-forming brass. His specialty is those wildcats around the 6BR case such as 6 Dasher, BRX, BRDX, etc. His brass is guaranteed ready to shoot when it comes back to you.
Plus he offers many other services such as annealing, neck turning, turning your Lapua 6.5 Creedmoor small primer pocket brass into 6 Creedmoor.
Check him out!

 

[mcc308]

Just wondering out loud here, but was curious about people's thoughts on a fire forming idea...

Like a universal receiver of sorts that accepts a seating die, and has a breech plate with a firing pin (kind of like a cannon breech). This whole thing is mounted to a inexpensive metal lid (say, like that of a metal 55gal drum) and is then locked down onto said 55 gal drum with some sand at the bottom (like a clearing barrel).

The shooter would then load a die formed cartridge with a moderate load, (and the case neck stuff with tissue paper to keep the power from falling out) into the universal receiver (case would be oriented down into the barrel), breech closed, and case would then be fired. The underside of the lid could even have some baffles of sort to limit the noise. Maybe just a stack of sheet metal plates with holes in the center, that were connected or stacked by 3 or 4 rods.

This would allow a relatively inexpensive way to form cases, rather than burn out a barrel forming brass. It also would do away with having a separate fireforming barrel that some use in lieu of their match/competition barrel.

I've been kicking around this idea for a few years now...

Thoughts?

I did this quite a while back. It is a great idea and worked well. The best part was not having to drive to the range to ff. Of coarse not wasting a bbl or bullets was a nice also.
i did it a little differently but very similar.

 

[The Mechanic]

Had always thought about doing this to form brass http://imperiya.by/video/YtuFy4CRMjd/Hydraulic-primer-removalmpg.html

 

[whatsupdoc]

That would be good for berdan primers.