Rossi Rifleman

Many of you know that I work on Battleship Iowa in SoCal, and that we shoot some guns on occasion.

One of the guns we shoot is a USN 40mm Salute Gun like this one:



40mm cases are not easy to come by and we only have 1 good one (a second one is split). They are steel and cut to about 7-8" long and modified to take a .38spl blank as a primer. The charge is 1/4lb FFG or FFFG. The report is sporty.

What we are trying to do is machine a piece out of steel or brass, with an appropriate bore (~1-1.5") and an OAL around 5-6" and walls about .250 thick.

These loads are gently compressed and held in place with a cardboard wad.

Are we safe here with our dimensions and materials, or are we in a danger zone?

I do know that some of the old PB rifle cases have been and maybe still are being resurrected by turning them out of brass, but I've never heard of anything that big. That 1/4 pound of 2F certainly has a impressive muzzle flash.

Surely somewhere in the Fleet there is an ordinance specialist who could consult. I wonder if the cases from the 40mm Bofors or the like could be resized to work. I still see those cases at gun shows occasionally .

Good luck with the project, I for one will be interested in the out come.

Make smoke,

Dang