The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - 8mm Lebel revolver reloading question(s),,,

**Unclenick** · March 7, 2010, 07:09 PM

The .32 Longs may fire in it if the rims don't fall in, but they will be loose in the chamber and the bullets will be loose in the bore. It will be very inaccurate and cause terrible lead fouling as a result. It may tend to leak pressure backward over the case in a low pressure load. Not a good plan, IMHO.

I believe the original brass is all Berdan primed, which means that unless you form the brass from something else, you will have the devil of a time getting primers for it. .32-20 brass looks like the best candidate to me. Its rim is about 0.006" thicker and 0.005" narrower than the Lebel revolver spec, but that will probably fit in many guns anyway. The brass would need to be shortened and the mouth widened a little, but it's all within the realm of reasonable effort. If you had to thin the rim, you could do that in a lathe by just taking it off the back surface, but it'll be a nuisance, so don't do it unless you have to.

RCBS has the dies available special order as part number 56917. It's listed on page 5 of their 2010 special order catalog, here.

I expect you'll be casting bullets for this one. Mountain Molds, among others, will let you design a custom mold. Bullseye and Unique will be fine, but lead bullets in this gun are just begging for Trail Boss. The CIP peak pressure rating is 1250 bar, which is just over 18,000 psi. Appropriate for those powders. You might consider using an inertial puller to pull the bullet from one of your loaded rounds to get weight and dimensions. Slug the bore and adjust your mold diameter to case 0.001"-0.002" over groove diameter when you do the design.

March 7, 2010, 07:09 PM	#2
Unclenick Staff Join Date: March 4, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 21,060	The .32 Longs may fire in it if the rims don't fall in, but they will be loose in the chamber and the bullets will be loose in the bore. It will be very inaccurate and cause terrible lead fouling as a result. It may tend to leak pressure backward over the case in a low pressure load. Not a good plan, IMHO. I believe the original brass is all Berdan primed, which means that unless you form the brass from something else, you will have the devil of a time getting primers for it. .32-20 brass looks like the best candidate to me. Its rim is about 0.006" thicker and 0.005" narrower than the Lebel revolver spec, but that will probably fit in many guns anyway. The brass would need to be shortened and the mouth widened a little, but it's all within the realm of reasonable effort. If you had to thin the rim, you could do that in a lathe by just taking it off the back surface, but it'll be a nuisance, so don't do it unless you have to. RCBS has the dies available special order as part number 56917. It's listed on page 5 of their 2010 special order catalog, here. I expect you'll be casting bullets for this one. Mountain Molds, among others, will let you design a custom mold. Bullseye and Unique will be fine, but lead bullets in this gun are just begging for Trail Boss. The CIP peak pressure rating is 1250 bar, which is just over 18,000 psi. Appropriate for those powders. You might consider using an inertial puller to pull the bullet from one of your loaded rounds to get weight and dimensions. Slug the bore and adjust your mold diameter to case 0.001"-0.002" over groove diameter when you do the design. __________________ Gunsite Orange Hat Family Member CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor NRA Certified Rifle Instructor NRA Benefactor Member and Golden Eagle Last edited by Unclenick; March 7, 2010 at 07:14 PM.