Mike,
Extremely helpful and appreciated! I wondered about a bead falling off the front blade and will take a close look.
I am hoping that a nitro for black load will significantly reduce the need for more frequent barrel cleaning.
Should have bought a box of Hawk 350 grain in addition to the 400 in terms of lighter weight bullet getting more velocity to address the wider impact. Will do so for early Christmas present.
Appreciated the die adjustment/loading advice as well, need to preserve these cases for as long as possible. The virgin brass necks are too tight to seat a bullet so will need to go through the expander ball process, at least that's what I assume. I can do the same process w/magic marker and adjusting so it doesn't get full length resized, correct?
Interestingly the Buffalo Arms cases were made from 50-110 whereas the Bertram looks straight-up 43 Mauser.
20+ years ago I was on this path with a 9x57R double rifle drilling w/claw scope but life/kids/job/travel made it challenging. Brass was easy, using a 35 whelen expander in 8x57R cases. Tried a few different loadings but it consistently had vertical separation of over 10" at 100 yards. This time will be different.
Thank you
