Hello Lads,
After 50 plus years of shooting and reloading, I have hit a brick wall in trying to load this damned Spencer.
This is a Armi SPort Spencer in 56-50 from Taylors, Starline brass, Lyman 515139 bullet mould and Lyman 56-50 dies.
I received the Spencer last September, and bought the lyman dies at the same time it was five months to find brass, and was able to find 100 rounds, Back then I cast the lyman bullets in 1-16 alloy and sized them to .512, SPG lube, and full length resized the brass, found an OAL that would somewhat work and had some fun with the 100 rounds . Winter came and went with no outdoor shooting, and the Spencer went to a gunsmith for a trigger and sight job.
Lots of guns to be shot this spring and summer, and just got back to the spencer last month,
Heres the problem that is driving me nuts. I took my once fired brass out to reload, full length resized, a light expansion just enough bell to start the bullet, and next to seating, this is were everything has gone to Hell.
I seat the bullets and check length with calipers, when I noticed just the pressure of the calipers moved the bullet down into the case, What the? I found that with just light finger pressure I could drop the bullet almost to the bottom of the case, and could almost shake it out. on some bullets that were just a hair under .512 would just fall in the case when I set them in the belled mouth.
Tried this again and again, till I sent the dies to Lyman with a long letter.
They came back with the sizer shortened just slightly and the seater shortened as it was not crimping on the rounds I could load, No good, same problem. Bullets start with minimal resistance, but they go in on their own. I didn't trust the M die expander, so I ordered a .510 expander from 4D dies thinking this was the problem. Nope, same thing the .512 bullet shows no resistance in seating
I have only been able to load about 10 rounds by carefully seating with the die backing off the seater and lowering the die to crimp, most of the time even this will drop the bullets into the case.
I am stumped, as brand new brass loads just fine, but the once fired brass does not size anymore than a very short portion of the neck, I Loaded a few rounds with the as cast 515139 bullet, and this worked fine with no bulging and seated like a normal bullet would but I am not sure the .515 is correct for the barrel. The test rounds chamber fine and extract easily with the larger bullet..
I read that the older Lyman dies were not correct, So in a fit of desperation ordered a set of Armi Sport Lyman dies from Buffalo Arms, but it's the same thing, only the expander ball is at .510 and it crimps as it should. The sizing problem is still the same. I don't know why Buffalo calls them Armi Sport, as it is the same die number and same dies as the older version.
Gents I am truly getting flustered here, I don't know if I have a brass problem, a bullet problem, a rifle chamber problem, or if I am cursed. I can load new brass with no problem, but fired brass is a no go.
I am almost to the point of cutting off the expander stem to the bell ring and see if that works, as a .512 bullet is not going to load, or selling the whole setup, as I have too many guns to load for now that require extra steps and lots of frustration like my Sharps calibers.
Thanks Gents for the big ear and soft shoulders.
Wolf Killer,
Donald Bowman