Well I was off today and bored, so I thought I would mess with reloading a couple of rounds for my Vetterli. I picked up last month.
I already had the Lee dies and some 348win Brass and a Lee 430 bullet mold. So I just needed to do some cutting resizing and loading.
I was going to cut the brass at the shoulder when I realized I had "loaned" my hacksaw to my neighbor, which was not at home. Next best thing I had was my copper tube cutter.While not the straightest cut, it worked. But it beveled the shell mouth!!!!!! So with Little help with some needle nose pliers and a deep well 7mm socket "which by the way made a good case mouth expander I got that part taken care of. I had never used the Lee dies and from the get-go I ran into problems. The brass was not de primed and the de-primer that came with the dies would not go into the mouth of the shell after cutting because of the Ball on it. It needs machining down some. So I changed it out with a straight pin de-capper and that took care of that problem. So I de-capped the Brass. Re-capped and was ready for the powder. I used 10 grains of Trail boss powder dipped with a 2.2cc Lee powder measure. I had measured this load with my Lee powder scales. 10 grains of Trail boss filled the shell to just below the shoulder.
I loaded my .430 dia. 299 grain bullets " this is what they weighed out at after casting with pure lead"I lubed them with T/C Bore Butter Grease, all I had on hand, and proceed outside. With 2 whole rounds. This was not a range session, just a function test. Loaded one round, aimed at paper plate placed at 10yrds on the bank behind my house and pulled the trigger. It WENT BANG, with one round through the paper.The shell ejected good no signs of pressure, chambered another round and same thing. So at least I know My Vetterli shoots. with a little work on the de-capping pin and better shell cutting and trimming and getting the bolt converted that came with this rifle. I used the converted bolt out of my other Vetterli. 'Hey I know I will hear from some of you on that one, but it worked. . I think I have a good shooting Vetterli. Oh the cleaning rod in the picture is from a SKS. Fit real Good.