I made a post a few months back about the purchase of a little tip-up German stalking rifle in 8.15x46R. I've finally got enough stuff finished and am now working on forming cases and am not far from getting to fire the little jewel. I haven't gotten the set trigger to the way I want it but have been able to get a good trigger on the primary trigger.
Ricin sent me a diagram of the 8.15 cartridge which showed the over-all case length to be 1.831" and an inside case mouth diameter of .330," and an outside case neck diameter of .349." My rifle cartridge has the following dimensions-over-all case length is 1.872-The inside case mouth diameter is .321 and the outside case neck diameter is .340. Here is how I determined the over-all case length of my rifle. I formed 30-30 cases to get them into a condition that they would chamber and ready to fireform by running the 30-30 cases through the .22 high power form die no. 2. I would then neck them up to .308 diameter and try to chamber and trim and then trim some more and so on. I got tired of this and took a 30-30 case that had been run through the no. 2 form die and that would allow the case neck to go down into the rifling a ways. I loaded up a fireforming load and fired it. that way the formed case showed exactly where the end of the chamber was. I cut it off right where the expansion stopped and shortened it a few thousands and that is how I arrived at the 1.872 case length.
Now I ask,are the shorter case dimensions that Ricin sent me made for a ringed bullet? I know there are two bore sizes on these rifles, a .321 and a .330. I've been trying to find dies and either they are out of stock or the person selling them used don't know what bore diameter the dies are for. I'm in the process now of making a neck-sizer and a bullet seater and hope the right dies at a reasonable price show up.
Now, let us talk about bullets. I purchased a mold that is supposed to be one of the best molds for the old 32-40 and I found part of a box of old round nose jacketed bullets,321, so I have no major problem in the bullet department. Any suggestions on molds-bullet and such would also be appreciated.
Now, I am open to help with starting loads and other good loads. I was going to try and look at 32-40 loading data, which I have. Any information or anything pertaining to this rifle or cartridge would be greatly appreciated.
Mashburn
David a. Cogburn