(Almost) Everything But the Brass

[Coal Creek Griff]

Well, I saved up and bought my Armi Sport carbine.  Then I saved again and ordered a mold from Accurate Molds.  Then I cast up a bunch of bullets.  I have powder I can use and lots of primers, but I can't locate any brass.  I say that I have "almost" everything because I was waiting until someone had brass in stock to order the dies and shell holder at the same time.

No one seems to have .56-50 brass.  Starline does a run periodically when the demand is high enough.  Does anyone have any idea how often that has been in the past or what is typical?  Are we talking "about every three years" or "about every six months"?  (I understand that we could only say "about" based on past experience.)  It's a little frustrating to be (nearly) ready to go, but unable to even load up some ammo.  The gun looks nice, though.

Thanks.

CC Griff

[Short Knife Johnson]

I feel your pain.  Myself, I stumbled onto a mint used Infantry rifle also in .56-50.  Luckily an ad on another forum solved my problem in the form of 50 rounds of new and once fired brass.  Just need dies...

[Two Flints]

I came across this web site and link to Starline Brass 56-50 . . . not sure if it's still available, but thought I'd post this information just the same . . .

http://www.lohmanarms.com/product_p/su5650.htm

Two Flints

[Advertising]

[southpaw Rooster Cogburn]

Well, I saved up and bought my Armi Sport carbine.  Then I saved again and ordered a mold from Accurate Molds.  Then I cast up a bunch of bullets.  I have powder I can use and lots of primers, but I can't locate any brass.  I say that I have "almost" everything because I was waiting until someone had brass in stock to order the dies and shell holder at the same time.

No one seems to have .56-50 brass.  Starline does a run periodically when the demand is high enough.  Does anyone have any idea how often that has been in the past or what is typical?  Are we talking "about every three years" or "about every six months"?  (I understand that we could only say "about" based on past experience.)  It's a little frustrating to be (nearly) ready to go, but unable to even load up some ammo.  The gun looks nice, though.

Thanks.CC Griff

The Lohman Arms source appears to be available and at a fair price, except for their caveat, that " the website may not be updated as frequently as we would like."

When I contacted Starline in July, they stated possible production late 2014, but more likely, sometime in 2015.

[Coal Creek Griff]

Well, the price listed at Lohman Arms was a fair amount higher than Grafs or Midway ($130 vs. $118).  I was also hoping to buy a smaller quantity than 100 for the sake of my budget, but if it was in stock...

I swallowed hard and started to place an order.  First of all, a notice pops up “You will receive a call and an email when your order is in stock”, which seemed to indicate that it might not be in stock.  THEN, I calculated the shipping cost and it was $18 for the bag of 100.  That was too much for my miserly personality to accept.  I’ll have to wait and keep looking, I guess.  I'm just too cheap to pay that much extra.

I don’t suppose that someone here is willing to sell me a handful of 56-50 brass to tide me over…

CC Griff

[Two Flints]

maybe, until the 56-50 brass becomes available, you could satisfy yourself with shooting blanks . . . just a thought I had and sorry for the link that had nothing to offer in the way of available 56-50 brass . . .

Two Flints

[El Supremo]

Hello:
If it helps you, I'll trade you 20, unfired, Rocky Mountain Cartridge 56-50 cases for 50, WELL CAST (individually paper wrapped to prevent shipping damage) bullets from your Accurate Mould.  The RMC's use LARGE rifle primers.

http://www.rockymountaincartridge.com/

http://www.rockymountaincartridge.com/index_htm_files/RMC%20Product%20List.pdf
  
Email me at kevintinny.com.
Regards.

[El Supremo]

The 50-hole box I'll use for the cases will have individual cavities for the bullets, so they'll just need to be padded a bit. 

[Coal Creek Griff]

Kevin:

I appreciate the offer; that could work. Are the Rocky Mountain cases properly dimensioned for an Armi Sport carbine?  I'm also planning to buy dies and shellholder proper for Starline cases.  Will the cases work with those?

I sent a PM too.

CC Griff

[El Supremo]

Hello:
Wow!  Thanks ......it appears that a gray bearded "ghost" edited my post by inserting websites.  Nice touch.

I cannot say if RMC cases will fit.  Call them.

Others here will have to enlighten you on the shell holder.  Be very sure that you get the correct, not approximately correct one!
I use a #57, 56-50 from CH4D for the RMC cases, but do not know if it fits Starline cases.   Mr. Dave Davidson of CH4D told me that his dies for Armi-Sport 56-50 Spencer cartridges are NOT the same as for original or Romano carbines/rifles.  Expander die diameter also matters.  Call him! 

Please let me know what you decide.  Tx.
Regards, Kevin

[PvtGreg]

Coal Creek Griff,

Try 32 ga. brass.

See this post http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,41317.msg520974/topicseen.html#msg520974

It details how to make 32 ga brass into 56-50 for the armisport spencer

[Coal Creek Griff]

I’m still new to this cartridge and gun, folks, so forgive me if I make errors here.  Most of you are far advanced from where I’m at.

It appears that the RMC cases have dimensions more appropriate to the original or Romano Spencers and Starline brass is better for the Armi-Sport guns.  I was tempted to take El Supremo up on his offer, but I’m afraid that the cases would likely not be the best for my gun and it would just be a waste for him to give up his rather costly brass.

I also appreciate Pvt. Greg’s suggestion about modifying shotgun shells to fit and I’m kind of intrigued.  On the other hand, I’m not a particularly “handy” fellow and I suspect that I would just find myself pounding my head against the concrete floor of my shop.

Another factor in all of this is that I have a strong… let’s say “frugal”… streak and I just can’t bring myself to spend a bunch of money to make my wait shorter (a little bit is OK).  SO, unless someone wants to sell me 10 or so rounds of Starline brass (fired is OK), I’ll just be patient.  Fortunately this isn’t my only gun!

I really do appreciate the advice and attempts to help me out.  I hope I don’t appear ungrateful.  This is a great bunch and I’m doing a lot of reading here trying to gain some knowledge.

CC Griff

[Coal Creek Griff]

Kevin:

I sent you another PM.

CC Griff