Disregard this post if you are not interested in Ackley calibers. I also realize that this is probably old info and many have heard/know this already. Just for clarity I figured I might do this thread. I had previously posted on another forum in response to a guy asking for general information about an Ackley cartridge. One of the things I said was about the cost in both time and money regarding the need to fire form the brass if you want to get the full potential out of your ammo. I stated that the 280AI was nice because you could buy Nosler brass already formed. Then I said I would like to have hydraulic forming dies so I didn't have to use so many components and time getting the 280 Rem. brass formed and ready for accuracy work up and then a hunt.
Two different guys responded saying there was no need to do all that. They went on to tell me about the light load and cream of wheat {COW} method. Very shortly after that the entire thread ballooned into 8 pages of guys arguing which caliber is the best in the world...one comment I made was that it was hard to believe such a light charge would properly form out an Ackley case. The guy assured me that it would and that if the cases didn't come out razor sharp and completely finished then there was clearly something wrong with my chamber.
Information was spotty and I got all kinds of different varying info. This was what prompted me to try and get this figured out. The story is to prime and charge the standard resized ready to go case with 15 grains of Unique powder. Then fill it to the junction of the case neck and shoulder with COW and top it off with a small stopper of cotton or other inert such wadding material just to hold the COW in the case. Fire the blank and presto...perfectly formed razor sharp finished case to resize one more time and load.
I have formed many Ackley cases the regular "load and fire" way and never, even when fully annealed do they come out razor sharp on the first try. Everything worked as planned and just as it should. All but the "razor sharp" part. As you can see in the photos below, the case in the middle is the COW formed case and it is not near as sharp as the twice conventional fired case on the right.
This is not something you want to try and do in your basement as the COW and cotton blows out everywhere. It is also not something you can do without hearing protection. No big deal to clean the rifle afterwards, but you have to be mindful of barrel heat because it still gets hot if you have several to form. I think I did about 20 before my barrel got hot. You can probably do more though, I have a mountain rifle.
At first I dismissed this method and intended to make the hydraulic forming dies to do it that way, but now after seeing how easy it is and not having to mess with hydraulic fluid, cleaning the cases, etc. I think this is a good viable option if you want formed Ackley cases to load and shoot. Hope this helps somebody some time.
Two different guys responded saying there was no need to do all that. They went on to tell me about the light load and cream of wheat {COW} method. Very shortly after that the entire thread ballooned into 8 pages of guys arguing which caliber is the best in the world...one comment I made was that it was hard to believe such a light charge would properly form out an Ackley case. The guy assured me that it would and that if the cases didn't come out razor sharp and completely finished then there was clearly something wrong with my chamber.
Information was spotty and I got all kinds of different varying info. This was what prompted me to try and get this figured out. The story is to prime and charge the standard resized ready to go case with 15 grains of Unique powder. Then fill it to the junction of the case neck and shoulder with COW and top it off with a small stopper of cotton or other inert such wadding material just to hold the COW in the case. Fire the blank and presto...perfectly formed razor sharp finished case to resize one more time and load.
I have formed many Ackley cases the regular "load and fire" way and never, even when fully annealed do they come out razor sharp on the first try. Everything worked as planned and just as it should. All but the "razor sharp" part. As you can see in the photos below, the case in the middle is the COW formed case and it is not near as sharp as the twice conventional fired case on the right.
This is not something you want to try and do in your basement as the COW and cotton blows out everywhere. It is also not something you can do without hearing protection. No big deal to clean the rifle afterwards, but you have to be mindful of barrel heat because it still gets hot if you have several to form. I think I did about 20 before my barrel got hot. You can probably do more though, I have a mountain rifle.
At first I dismissed this method and intended to make the hydraulic forming dies to do it that way, but now after seeing how easy it is and not having to mess with hydraulic fluid, cleaning the cases, etc. I think this is a good viable option if you want formed Ackley cases to load and shoot. Hope this helps somebody some time.
