I was just sorting through a box of range pickup brass I bought off my brother a few years ago to start running it through the polisher prior to resizing/depriming and remembered something I hadn't seen here before. I used to do this (and will continue to) but if any of you experienced reloaders have seen/heard of a good reason not to do it, please speak up.
I have a .308 and a 30.06. I pick up all .243, 7mm-08, .308 and .358 brass for my reloading of .308. I pick up all 25-06, 270, 280/7mm express, and 30-06 brass for my reloading of 30-06. If you reload you know brass is getting more expensive and harder to come by.
On the calibers smaller than 30 I use a tapered short punch to begin opening the neck up so the expander in the resizing die will start down in the case. I put a little lube on the inside of the neck to help the expander and to help keep from collapsing the shoulder. Once the case comes out of the die it is a 30 caliber case. With the cases that started out smaller than 30 caliber it is likely that the neck walls may be thinner than the 30 caliber cases (since you expanded them) but back when I was doing a lot of reloading I never had an issue with the neck tension being too little to hold the bullet in place (I do not crimp rifle cases on the bullet). I do not shoot maximum loads, I try to shoot the most accurate loads. If you were to look in my old shell boxes of .308 you'll find some labeled .243 (there was no 7mm-08 25 years ago that I remember, or it was so new I never saw a case for it in my neck of the woods.) My old shell boxes of 30-06 ammo contain cases labeled 25-06 and 270 Win. I will say that on the .270 Win. cases you end up pushing the shoulder back just a little and this results in a longer neck that must be trimmed back with a case trimmer before reloading the case.
Hope this works out for you and gives you some extra brass as you come across the smaller calibers and convert it to 30 caliber.
Anneal the necks before you expand, and after you size if you do this. I know this from personal experience that you will lose far fewer cases that way.
And yes, it's smart business to do save brass this way, by making them usable. You can also size down 35 Whelan brass to make 30-06.
Yes neck thickness should be a concern, more so with
minimum chambers and using thicker GI brass when necking
down. Also length of the case needs to be checked and trim-
med if needed. Like you, I built a 25-06 back when that
caliber was a wildcat. Neckdown GI brass gave high press-
ure with low end moderate loads. Turned out tolerences
with the GI were tight enough to not allow for expanding
release. Neck down and trimed 270 Brass was thin enough
to work without further incident. Still have a couple of calibers
that are close, but probably will never be commercials. One
is a neck down 308 Win. to a 25. Years ago 25 Super was it's
name. The second is a 30 Gibbs, that is the 30-06 case blown
out to take out the tapper and sharpen the shoulder, leaving a
neck length of the 308 Win. A really great increase with heavy
bullets, without going to a belted case. A little tricky until the
secrets of fireforming were learned.
It seems like going up from smaller has fewer problems than
down sizing. Just my opinion! You are correct in lubing the necks
in either case. Picked up a trick from another that was kind of
brand new to me. On thin walled brass such as the 22 Hornet,
Lee has a collet sizing die, that neck sizes without disturbing the rest
of the cartridge body. Translates to fewer crushed case walls when
resizing! ;D
I've done more than a little case forming, and, I can definitely say that going from smaller to larger is usually easier, unless it's a very small change from large to small, like 280 Rem to 270 Win.
If you want trouble, try making 219 Donaldson Wasp brass from 30-30 cases. That is a chore and then some. 8)
In years past,I always hated forming brass for smaller calibers but didn't mind going up in Calibers.
30/06 to 35 Whelen years before factory ammo
30/30 Win. to .375 Win.
375 H&H to 450 Watts & 458 Lott
These are the ones I did the most
Quote from: Nickle on July 01, 2007, 05:15:44 PM
I've done more than a little case forming, and, I can definitely say that going from smaller to larger is usually easier, unless it's a very small change from large to small, like 280 Rem to 270 Win.
If you want trouble, try making 219 Donaldson Wasp brass from 30-30 cases. That is a chore and then some. 8)
Nickle,
You ought to do some 7 mm BR from the old Remington BR Basic Brass!
$250.00 worth of forming dies, plus reloading dies of almost $100.00 at that time!
Buckshot
Haven't done 7mm BR, but I have done 6mm BR, so yeah, I know it isn't fun. The 6's were almost as bad as the 219's. The last batch I did, before I got out of the Bench Rest game was from Federal 30 American brass (30-30 with small primers). I definitely had to watch the loss of cases, as they weren't easy or cheap to get.
I left out one important part of your case separation.
Make sure that the military cases are boxer primed. :)
Berdan primed do ulgy things to decap pins! I have
seen a few people who though they had treasures when
they bring home range brass that was Berdan primed and
steel cased :'(
Thanks for making reminder Oohrah. I should've posted this when I created the threads.
Folks, you really need to buy a Lee Decapping Die. If you hit a Berdan primer with an RCBS, Lyman or Redding sizer, you will most definitely break the decapping pin and probably bend the decapping rod.
The Lee Decapping die just slides the rod up if you hit a Berdan primed case. You still should sort your brass, but this takes care of any you miss.
Not making a recommendation, just relating my recent experience. I picked up some .223 brass with 3 small crimps around the primer at 120 degree intervals. Through the polisher/cleaner and to the press and resizing/decapper die. I have recently purchased Lee dies as I couldn't get to my Pacific stuff. Anyway when the Lee die would encounter one of these pieces of .223 brass it would push the decapper up out of the collet in the top of the die. I was sure they were boxer primed (at first) but was beginning to doubt it as no matter how tight I adjusted the collet the decapper would push up every time I tried to resize one of these. I confirmed they were boxer primed (now we get to the part I don't recommend, but I did it), ran the cases up in the die completely, then got a hammer and tapped the decapper downward till the primer popped out. At that point I removed the case and inserted the next. I resized over 60 cases this way with no apparent damage to the decapper. I'm not real happy with the dies (still learning to use them as they are different than what I'm used to) yet but they are TOUGH!
Just got a battery for my calipers. The once fired Remington 30-06 brass, after resizing is 2.496" long. The once fired Remington 270 Win. brass, after resizing (in the same Lee 30.06 dies during the same resizing session as the measured 30.06 case) after resizing is 2.519" long. Doesn't seem like much, but it's visible when you compare them side by side, if you crimp your cases on the bullets it would make a difference and it could make a difference on chamber pressures if the case mouth contacts the end of your chamber and it results in the bullet being held in the case longer when the primer ignites the powder.
A case trimmer and a trim to correct length for 30.06 brass will take care of it.
Quote from: M1A4ME on July 02, 2007, 06:43:03 PM
Not making a recommendation, just relating my recent experience. I picked up some .223 brass with 3 small crimps around the primer at 120 degree intervals. Through the polisher/cleaner and to the press and resizing/decapper die. I have recently purchased Lee dies as I couldn't get to my Pacific stuff. Anyway when the Lee die would encounter one of these pieces of .223 brass it would push the decapper up out of the collet in the top of the die. I was sure they were boxer primed (at first) but was beginning to doubt it as no matter how tight I adjusted the collet the decapper would push up every time I tried to resize one of these. I confirmed they were boxer primed (now we get to the part I don't recommend, but I did it), ran the cases up in the die completely, then got a hammer and tapped the decapper downward till the primer popped out. At that point I removed the case and inserted the next. I resized over 60 cases this way with no apparent damage to the decapper. I'm not real happy with the dies (still learning to use them as they are different than what I'm used to) yet but they are TOUGH!
IIRC, Lee actually does make a hammer-based decapping tool set. Each set of pin-and-base is intended for a specific cartridge, or maybe a few that are very close in size. The decapping pin is of the correct diameter for the respective cartridge's neck, and the accompanying base portion holds the base of the cartridge and allows the primer to fall free. Slow, of course, but it WILL either remove the primer or punch a hole through it.