30-30 to 219 Zipper....NOT!

[rbertalotto]

Well.....Trying to convert 30-30 brass to 219 Zipper is a lesson in frustration! O must have used a dozen different dies trying to find a combination that would reform 30-30 brass to 219 Zipper. Annealing between each step....

No Joy!



But I had a great day yesterday as my 25-35 Winchester brass showed up..............Easy! A little lube and into the 219 Zipper resizing die, trim to length and VOLA!



Perfect 219 Zipper Brass!

I took the Stevens 44 1/2 to the range with both the 38-55 barrel that I just got back from being rebored, rifled and chambered from 32-40 to 38-55 and the 219 Zipper barrel.



And my "new to me" Unertl 10X scope that I bought off eBay also showed up yesterday...(Christmas came early for me!)



I'll post a few target that the 219 shot in the next post..............

[rbertalotto]

Here are a few targets I shot with the 219 Zipper barrel. The 38-55 did awesome also, but I didn't pull the targets and stapled other on top....

The 38-55 was shooting cast 250 grain bullets over 9g of Unique, a load that has not disappointed in any of my 38-55 rifles. And it didn't disappoint in the Stevens!

But the 219 Zipper was fantastic!







I'm going to write a whole article on my web page about this rifle and how I came to own it and the work that has been done to it....Stay Tuned!

[rbertalotto]

More pictures of the Stevens 44 1/2 here:



http://s964.photobucket.com/user/rvb1001rbertalotto/media/Stevens%2044/DSC_5601_zpsdbaf813c.jpg.html?sort=6&o=17

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[Montana Slim]

No personal experience, but years ago a friend mentioned reforming 219 from 30-30 (after I mentioned holding myself back from purchasing a cheap 219 lever rifle at an auction)....what stuck in my head was he stated he lubed with a special wax and re-sized no more than 1/8 inch before removing the brass and re-lubing. Sounded like a long torture session to make brass. I'd definitely go with the 25-35 if it were a simpler proposition.

regards,
Slim

[mtmarfield]

   Greetings!

   I used .30-30 brass to make .22 Savage HP successfully years ago. It appears that you may have annealed too much!
For the first stage of reforming with "once fired brass", I anneal; with "unfired brass", I do not.
   For the first step, I use a .270 / 7mm neck sizing die with sizing lube/wax; you will have to shorten the die to get your
case in far enough.
   Then, I wipe off any sizing lube, and sparingly reapply; too much can cause "dents/bubbles" at the shoulder. Run that
case (always slowly) into a .25-35 sizing die. Wipe off the lube, and anneal again.
   Lubricate and run into your .219 Zipper sizing die. Prep your case neck, and see if it chambers freely; if so, load with a
"starting" load and it will fireform the rest of the way. Complete your case prep, and you're set.  >>>
   If the brass feels like it's taking more effort than it should in the forming process, back the case out of the die after you've
gotten half-way, wipe off the brass, relube, and run the case the rest of the way into the die. Sometimes, the annealing,
sizing, etc requires a little experimentation, but that's all part of the fun...! I've reformed for the .22 Jet, .22 HP, 7.62X25 Tok,
and the .25-35, and other "off-radar" reloading projects.
   P.S. ~ If you don't have it already, get Ken Waters' "Pet Loads"; mine is an old two volume set, but I believe that it's now
just one, and has a lot of new data and info, as well.

         Best of Luck!!

                   M.T.Marfield

[Duffield]

I have had success forming once fired Federal 30/30 brass to .219 Improved Zipper.
First step is to resize in a 30/30 die.  For some reason, this is critical!
Next is to size in a .25 Remington die.
Then I size in a .225 Winchester die.
Then I anneal and trim to length.

If I do not full length size in the 30/30 die first, I loose almost all of the cases with wrinkles and collapsed shoulders as pictured above.

Duffield

[John William McCandles]

Nice 44 1/2.
How much trouble was it to have a barrel made in .38-55?

Regards
JW

[trails4u]

New guy here....stumbled on the post researching some dies I came across in some estate stuff.  I have a 3-die set for 22/30-30 from 30-30, and a 219 Zipper Imp form die.  I don't need them.....wish I had the time and resources to build a rifle for them, but that's not in my cards just yet...  Shoot me a message if there's anyone who needs these in their life...I'm sure we could figure out a deal.

Thanks!  Trails.