Please forgive my ignorance. And also it’s great to be a part of this great page and to be amongst all the vast knowledge here. So I am extremely new at reloading 50-95 express. So new that I have not done it yet . I have reloaded 45 colt and 45 ACP for about a year and love it. Anyhow back to the subject. I found some 50 Alaska brass at Wild West Guns (store) in Alaska, I bought that and a set of 50 Alaskan 3 die set made by hornady. Got an RCBS case trimmer bought the appropriate shell holder. Found some 50 caliber cast bullets 450 grain, diameter is .512. I’m trying to figure out what the case length of the 50 Alaskan brass needs to be? I have a 28 inch barrel Stoger 1876 made in 2019. Tried to call Uberti and couldn’t get anyone. Called Cimmaron and they told me the bore diameter of the rifle is .507 from the bottom of the grooves. So would this bullet work? Will the 50 Alaska. Does work? And what should the case length be? 1.92-1.94? I’m really confused and any info is greatly appreciated.
Respectfully,
Joey
Joey, I too have a Stoeger/Uberti in 50-95, unsure of production time frame as I bought it from an on line auction and have no information on it's past other than it appeared unfired. Here is what works for me.
I use RCBS 50-95 dies, Accurate 51-350 CL mold, and 50AK brass trimmed to 1.865. Lee will make a custom trim setup for this caliber but they can't/wont make a FCD over .500, the trimmer setup was inexpensive and works well. Cut your 50AK brass a little long then trim to you specified length, I didn't have to do anything else to the brass. I would recommend you make up 5 cases to try out and make sure all is well before doing the rest of them. 50Ak brass is slightly undersized at the base so after firing it will have a slight bulge forward of the rim but it doesn't cause any problems.
The original length of 1.92" was for at 300 grain bullet sitting over a compressed load of BP, then crimped over the ogive. I came up with the 1.865 case length from the following: OAL should be around 2.25" to feed through the 76, the crimp groove on the 51-350CL is .385" back from the flat nose 2.25"-.385"=1.865" it works for me, feeds fine and seems quite accurate. My bore slugs .511 and I would recommend that you check/slug your bore as you will want to be approximately .001" over your bore diameter, I size to .512". I find the 51-350CL works fine for smokeless but really doesn't hold enough lube for BP. If I were going to shoot strictly BP I would recommend looking at some different molds. I also have a Rapine 300 grain mold, as well as a RCBS mold for my 50-100-450 that throws a 450 grain bullet that seems slightly more accurate for the twist rate in the Uberti. However, I'm kind of old school and not too sure a steady diet of 450 grain bullets is all that good even in a modern 76 so I stick with primarily the 350 grain and some 300 grain, YMMV just my opinion.
Good luck with the project, the 76 in 50-95 (or any CAL for that matter) is quite a treat to own/shoot.
Tom