Fire Forming Brass, No Bullet

[mseric]

I'm trying to fire form some IMI x39 brass to Grendel without a bullet.

I am using Red Dot powder and Cream of Wheat. I started at 6gr of RD and worked all the way up to 12gr. At 12gr there is no more room for COW, so it's just powder and paper.

At 12gr the case still does not form completely, even after two attempts. Close, but not complete.

Should I try a different powder, or give this idea up?
I have Red Dot, Blue Dot, Unique, AA #2, AA#7, AA#9, Silhouette, True Blue, Longshot, 231, Lil'Gun, WST, WSF,

[LR1955]

MS:

You got the best you will get. A better idea is to size down the brass (make sure it chambers and extracts easily) and load it with a bullet for some practice. I used it for off hand and seated rapids at 200 yards, both in practice and in competition. Worked just fine, got my practice, and had blown out brass.

LR1955

[mseric]

Yeah, I agree, but with the shortages, I'm trying to conserve on bullets for now.

[cbe1962]

I believe some here have had good luck with these http://shootersproshop.com/index.php...roduct_id=1260

[kbarnes12]

Yeah, I agree, but with the shortages, I'm trying to conserve on bullets for now.

I have never done it, but if you are trying to conserve reloading components, then hydro forming might be an option for you. You can save powder and primers as well using that method.

[Von Gruff]

This is where casting bullets really comes into play.
I fireformed all my Lapua and Win x39 brass to the Grendel Max with 6.5 gn Red Dot and a 50/50 (ww/Pb) cast bullet for perfectly formed brass. Was given 3 boxes of Win 7.62x39 sporting ammo at the weekend and after de-bulleting (and sending the bullets off to a friend for fireforming his rechambered 303 into 303 EPPS), I saved the powder for disposal, deprimed and kept the primer, annealed, sized the neck, re-primed with the saved primers, powdered with the 6.5gn RD, seated the cast bullet and fired the rounds to gain more good plinking cases. Plinking is with a 123gn cast bullet at 1750fps over 11gn Blue Dot for 2 moa and cheap fun with my own made gas checks keeping the costs waaaay down.
A hunting load of 70/30 alloy (ww/lino) at 2125-2150 fps gives me a usable 200yd bullet with the same 2 moa for 10 shots. The powder and primer + a 7c gas check is all I need to keep shooting for all my up to 200yd shots with the A Max's (may try the sst's at a later date) carried for longer shots.