6ppc fire forming alternatives

[singleshotom]

Hydraulic sizing
Many years ago I wanted a AI gun built and was told by the G-smith to bring him a couple of loaded cartridges before he chambered the gun for me.
I was a bit confused and asked him how could I have a cartridge before I had the gun to fire-form the brass in!
He said in time Id have a better grasp on doing things with guns but due to my age he would explain how and why to do forming without a gun.
The following was his system and reasoning.
He claimed any good gun smith, worth his salt, would want a re-sized and loaded cartridge made from the dies the gun owner would use in the future
due to the fact no two dies were ex-actually the same. So he could chamber it to fit the cartridge being used in future

He said, buy the brass your going to use and follow the instructions in my previous post.
Now to address a couple of questions Ive gotten;
I now use a guide that fits over the die to ensure the plunger is in perfect alignment with the mouth of the neck (but it will work without)
And when making/fitting the plunger depending on what brass your using it has to be fitted as tight as possible inside the neck (this is brass manufacture  specific)..  remember to use a dead blow hammer
some of the new brass will take 2 or 3 hits to fully form to the die.

This happened to me about 45 years ago and the mans name was Shurla Burrie from Edmonton. (a great smith, friend, and mentor)
God rest his sole.
Happy to share
tom








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[Pesky ab]

i forgot the light oiling on the case, it is a very good idea,

[hendershot]

I'm hoping I won't have my brass issues anymore and I don't expect to. I ordered and received my reamer and have chambered two new barrels and my old barrel for fire forming. I'm happy with my current method of fire forming but was curious to hear others' opinions. I like the idea of the hydro form dies because it saves a lot of time and money. Does it work as advertised? There is only one way to find out.

[Pesky ab]

if its for your bag gun Dan, you can fire form the brass in the barrel you put on the gun ,word is the new barrels need 50-70 rounds to settle down anyway,fire form ,load a grid and your good to go.
you might want to get a sizing reamer that matchs your finish reamer from Kiff,buy a die blank and make a sizing die,a little bit of expense but well worth it.if the sizing die's you have are the ones you had in Phoenix at the nationals they may not be optimum.if you Look in Boyers or Ratigans book they explain how to tell if the sizeing die is good ........or scrap.
Hope that helps.
See you at the range