The 11.7 x 51mm Danish Remington-Nagant

[Tom Herman]

A couple of years ago, my wife gave me some money to buy my own Christmas present at the local gun show: It's always been the sad comedy of not having money, and seeing all the stuff I want for sale, then having money, and nothing that I want is there, or stuff is so outrageously priced that there is no way I'll shell out that kind of money for an item.
Finally, opportunity met value: I ran into a decent Danish Remington, and talked the guy down to $600 on it. Other than the stock being sanded down a bit, it was in excellent shape!
Then started the ordeal of getting it shooting: Dies are horrendously expensive, and being notoriously frugal, they would have to wait. Brass at a reasonable price is also unobtanium at this time...
So, the roller sat there until recently.
The 11.7 DR is just a smidgeon smaller than the .45-70, so I bought a few pieces of used .45-70 brass.
To deprime them, I pulled the depriming rod out of my .50-70 dies, set the shells between two lead ingots, and knocked out the primers.
Then, I put a new primer in the pocket, put a wooden dowel in the case, and whacked the dowel with a hammer, seating the primer. No, this wasn't the safest thing to do, but it worked as a field expedient (kids, don't do this at home, or anywhere else, either! Proper protective equipment was worn in case of a primer going off).
Then I had to search high and low for 4198 powder. I did some research, and it appears to have the same pressure and time curves as FF black powder.
It took a few months, but I finally found a pound.
Bullets were next: They theoretically want to be about .463, but I don't have anything like that. But I do have an ample supply of 265 grain .455 Webley bullets!
They are essentially smokeless Minie balls, so they should bump up nicely to fit the bore.
This is where the "Nagant" comes in! I put about a 1/4" strip of electrical tape around the case head to keep it centered in the bore, then loaded 35 grains of 4198, and dropped the Webley bullet into the case on top of the powder: The whole thing looked like a giant Russian Nagant revolver round, with the bullets seated deep beneath the rim of the cartridge!
A trial round with 20 grains barely fire formed the brass, and left a LOT of unburned kernels.
The 35 grain loads did form the cases, and the powder burned nicely, indicating proper pressure.
That was about the most fun I've had in a long time!
At some point, I'm going to get the Lee 405 grain HB mould, which will drop about a .462/463 bullet, and also invest in the proper dies.
Yes, it's all incredibly crude, but for now, I'm enjoying myself.

-Tom

[Don McDowell]

Sometimes it's just a blast to mess with the out of the ordinary stuff. Sounds like you've got some good learning experience under your belt with that outfit.

[Tom Herman]

Don, I couldn't agree with you more! After a while, loading commercial bullets in common calibers becomes more of a chore than fun. The Remington is a hoot! I also conquered loading the .455 Webley. Now THAT was an almost vertical learning experience! At first, about 90-95% of my bullets just weren't good enough. Then I figured out the trick, and now I'm in the 85-90% range when i cast for that caliber. Then I had to make the bullet lube, find the brass, etc.
I'm looking forward to loading for my 1868 Springfield .50/70, and I'm always on the troll for a decent rolling block, 11 mm Mauser, or something fun and unusual.
I'm working on a tool design to crimp heel style bullets, like the .41 Colt.
When I get it worked out, I'll jump into that pond, too..
Thanks for the kind words,

-Tom

[Lumpy Grits]

Please keep us updated and pictures if you can.
Gary

[Tom Herman]

Please keep us updated and pictures if you can.
Gary

Thanks, Gary! I haven't figured out how to do pictures yet, but will send them when I can. -Tom

[Don McDowell]

Here ya go Tom, this should help with the picture thing.http://historicshooting.com/mybb/showthread.php?tid=843&pid=7713#pid7713

[Lumpy Grits]

Here ya go Tom, this should help with the picture thing.http://historicshooting.com/mybb/showthread.php?tid=843&pid=7713#pid7713

THX Don
Gary