Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Still working up the Tokarev

.988 from 1.4, still a bit of trimming

I cut my 223 cases in a chop saw, then level them up in a wilson trimmer. I have a little piece of small aluminum channel that I stack the cases in and put the channel in the chop saw vise. I can chop four cases pretty darn quick. But the clean up and trim to lenght are a pain.

I got one of them little chop saws from harbor freight too,...but I've been cutting them in a lathe every chance I get.

The trim length is .988, but they stretch when you run them up in the die and put the neck on them.

I've been cutting them at .982 in the lathe. They stretch up to about .990 when you bottleneck 'em, and then it's just a matter of trimming them a little bit to get the mouth of the case square.

When you fireform them, they expand in the middle and pull the OAL of the case back to about .983,...but that's close enough.

B,
If you want to try some 221 FB brass, I ran up on a few pieces while out in the garage today.

I appreciate the offer man,...really I do.

But I'd hate to take 'em offa ya.

I'd just have to chuck 'em up in the lathe and cut off alla the work you've done to 'em.

I'm just as far ahead starting out with old range grabbed .223 brass.

Buddy I didn't do anything but empty them with the last rifle I had chambered for the fireball.

It's not likely I'll end up with another.

B, I'm going to have to go out shoot my little M-57, then go collect all that brass, just for you. If I can find the brass.
Would send a box or so, but not sure how to do it legal on live ammo or the cost.

.312 diameter 71 grain FMJ's generally intended for the .32 auto.

These were a bit of a challenge to get concentric with the case, but after a second attempt at fabricating a top punch for them to use in my bullet seater, I solved the mystery.

The little 71 grainers are almost all ogive,..with only about a .110" length section at the base of the bullet being the full .312 diameter.

I'm using them in my fireforming loads, but from my previous experimentation with fireforming loads, I expect them to shoot about as well as they're going to from a fully formed case.

I didn't get overly ambitious with the powder measure, but they should have a little bit of stink on them. I didn't want to risk having them not being hot enough to cycle the action so I capped them over 7 grains of SR4756.

I'm guessing about 1250 fps,...maybe,..who the hell knows?

Good luck on getting those cases ironed out to chamber spec. I love fire forming, any excuse to shoot.

I have no doubt that they'll get fireformed.

Finding them afterwards is the issue.

Just back from the range,...fired every round I had loaded for the Toke,...170 rounds.

I still haven't broken out the chronograph, however.

I was having second thoughts about the 100 grain bullet over 8.6 grains of Blue Dot, but I had 60 of them loaded up and didn't want to resort to the puller, so they got shot.

No issues. It is however, a *very* warm load. The primers look fine, but the brass got pretty fat. The recoil wasn't oppressive, but it was definitely present. It's hard to compare it to another round regarding recoil. Overall, it was about like 230 grain roundball in a .45, but the recoil is more abrupt,..has more of a "snap" to it.

Accuracy was still very good, but it didn't seem to want to drop them in like the 6.8 grain Blue Dot fireforming load with the same bullet.

Feeding of the 312" 100 grain hollow point revolver bullet was 100% from 3 different magazines, which has turned out to be the biggest surprise yet from the Yugo pistol. It's always fed them good, but there was a couple of times that it failed to return to battery with the 6.8 grain fireforming load,..mainly because it wasn't working the slide with enough authority, in my opinion. The 8.6 grain load doesn't lack for that. It snaps the slide back plenty hard enough to chamber the next round.

Suffice it to say that these things will feed.

All in all, I'm happy with it and will probably file it away as a load to use in the 7.62X25 round, but I'm not taking it any hotter with Blue Dot. 8.6 grains is enough.

I know everybody always wants to stick a disclaimer on any loads they come up with and most of the time it's just a buncha hooey, but I'm serious when I say that you want to work up to 8.6 grains of Blue Dot with 100 grain bullets in the 7.62X25 very cautiously. This is obviously a high pressure load and small things could make it go through the roof very quickly.

Personally, I wouldn't shoot it in a CZ52, and I doubt that I'll do much plinking with it.

The 71 grain .32 auto FMJ bullet over 7 grains of SR4756 was a surprisingly nice load. I just grabbed the load out of the air and really don't know what it was doing in the velocity dept, but it's no slouch. It generated a respectable amount of recoil and was as accurate as anything I've shot through the M57 yet.

I think the 71 grainers are going to become my plinking bullet of choice in the M57 Toke. They're cheap and they shoot flat and accurately. I've no doubt that I'm going to be able to get 1800 fps out of them.

They're a pain to load, however. I had to resort to all kinds of skullduggery to get them seated concentric in the case.

Just a very good day at the club.

You are a braver man than I Gunga Din!