Client has an old rifle with unknown chambering. He’s going to let me do a chamber cast, which will be my first. A few questions to get myself better prepared:
Cerrosafe melts below 190F, or 88C. I’m thinking about melting the alloy in a can over boiling water. That way I can use my thin plastic funnel for the pour. Any potential problem?
Once I get the cast, I will make a set of dimension measurement, and compare the result with known cartridge dimensions. Given the vast number of cartridges exist, I can see it could become tedious and error prone. Is there a cartridge data base out there we can use? Say you key in range of certain parameter, neck diameter for instance, and it will keep narrowing down the possibilities for you. TL
I use the Reloading book there are Pictures and cartridge dimensions. Good Luck….
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SAAMI has a pretty complete cartridge data base, free, downloadable in pdf. Their website is http://www.saami.org/
Answer
Get the book “Cartridges of the World” very helpful and just fun to look thru. Also once you have the gun it will often give you some clues to the caliber or calibers they were available in. Good luck but you shouldn’t need luck as chamber casting isn’t difficult. Keep us apprised. Ken
