Anyone use brass smth tubes?

[Maillemaker]

Does anyone use brass cartridges in their Smith carbines? What do you think of them? I see Lodgewood makes a reloading tool.

How do the cases accommodate different diameter bullets? Do they act as a sizing die to the bullet? Would you need to get the case mouths machined to a certain bullet diameter to prevent sizing the bullet?

Has anyone tried loading a bullet in an empty brass case and using compressed air to pop the bullet out and measure the bullet size to see if the case is sizing the bullet?

[J davidson]

I used brass in one of my original smith's and I actually found a load that worked well with them. The bullet was an accurate mold 350-v but the problem I had was that bullet when seated against the "shoulder " inside the case made that bullet seat so far out that it was a struggle to close the gun.I have pulled bullets out of the case and measured them the brass sized my bullet down from. 517 to .515 where it was held by the brass. I also had to lightly tap the bullet using a loading tool into the case with a small hammer, something I was not really keen about.

[Lou Lou Lou]

I had great success with brass tubes, back in the day. Still using them. I deteriorated, they didnt

[Dave Fox]

My original Smith wouldn't chamber plastic tubes. Have had good luck with Lodgewood's machined brass. A nominal .515 lubed bullet thumb-seats and, as a casual shooter, I'm satisfied with the accuracy. 20 rounds, no cleaning, 50 yards....

[Dheisey#7003]

I use brass cartridges in my pietta Smith. The plastic ones never worked well for me. I use a small arbor press to seat the bullets in the case. Did not need a loading tool.

[Lou Lou Lou]

I have been using metal tubes for 40 years. My latest batch of brass tubes for about 20 years. Reduced capacity, 25 grs FFFg and thumb seated

[Maillemaker]

Thanks I ordered 5 to try them out.

Steve

[Maillemaker]

Got my 5 tubes in from Lodgewood today.

Some questions:

The case only holds 27 grains of 3F powder. Can I drill out the case to increase its internal volume? The case wall is 1/8" thick so I would think this would be no problem. I have found 32 grains works well.

.515 bullets fit snugly and need to be seated with the bullet seating tool.

My original likes a .520 bullet. Can I ream the case mouth open with a drill press and a reamer like this:

https://drillsandcutters.com/54-hss-straight-shank-straight-flute-chucking-reamer

Steve

[MR. GADGET]

Yes and no!

You would really need some good tooling or a CNC mill to make sure each one is the same.
If not you will end up with a mix of case volume and no two loads will burn the same.

[Hambone]

Steve, for one thing that reamer is .055 diameter. You might have to get it closer to the right size before you final ream it to keep the reamer from skipping around on the end of the tube.

[John Bly]

Steve, yes they can be drilled out and recut for a larger bullet. A lathe would be the 1st choice of a tool to do this. It could be done on a drill press with the proper setup but would not be as accurate.