Last May at the Greeley, CO, gun show I found a box of 19 new lathe turned cases for the 40/50 Sharps Straight. The asking price was $20, less than the normal $4.50 each from the maker. When I got home, I found out why when they wouldn’t fit into the shellholder. Pulling an original Sharps cartridge out of my collection and making some measurements, it was obvious that the new cases had a 0.082” rim thickness. The original case has an odd rim that is flat on the base but is rounded and next to the body is 0.070”
While I know that the accepted way is to remove metal from the front of the rim, with careful measureing that was plenty of thickness to take it off the face. So out to the shop and warmed up the 6 inch Craftsman lathe.
Putting the rim front against the jaws, I used the Dimond Tool Holder to cut the rim to 0.070”.
Then a Wilson crimp removing cutter was turned by hand to remove the burr.
And lastly, a primer pocket Uniforming tool is used to cut the pocket 0.012” deeper and squared on the bottom.
A little lathe is always handy for a reloader.
