30-378 neck forming and belt removal questions

[Fclassfool]

I'd rebarrel that thing I don't know how much experience you have reloading but this isn't for a newbie to experiment with.

 

[bozo699]

Big problem is if it's not virgin brass and it's already been fired in another chamber you might have chambering issues.

There is a company out there that can help solving this issue with a small base type of collett that will squeeze a little bit more right above the belt.

I was lucky I was able to overcam the press enough without any issues.

I believe the die was made by Larry Willis
Wayne

 

[Murray Brook]

To my knowledge there is no collet die made that works on the 378 Weatherby based mags. The Willis die will not work on these mags.

 

[bozo699]

To my knowledge there is no collet die made that works on the 378 Weatherby based mags. The Willis die will not work on these mags.

I have a Willis that fits the .300wm and it works fine but I thought I read somewhere he had made some for the .378 case but maybe your right Murray
Wayne

 

[Murray Brook]

@bozo699
When I purchased my Willis die about 8 yrs ago I first contacted Larry to get some info on his product. A great guy to talk with and he loved the subject of dies and the belt bulge. At the time I had ( still have ) a 30/378 Weatherby and asked him about these cases. He informed me his die would not work on these cases and he really had no plans on looking into this as the market was very small and I believe he said production was expensive. It was him that told me if I had trouble with the 30/378 that maybe by running the case all the way up in a 460 Wea die may size the bottom part while not having to worry about the shoulder bump.
Edit: At the same time I asked him if he ever thought of pursuing making a tool to tighten primer pockets. He didn't seem too interested in this.

 

[bozo699]

@bozo699
When I purchased my Willis die about 8 yrs ago I first contacted Larry to get some info on his product. A great guy to talk with and he loved the subject of dies and the belt bulge. At the time I had ( still have ) a 30/378 Weatherby and asked him about these cases. He informed me his die would not work on these cases and he really had no plans on looking into this as the market was very small and I believe he said production was expensive. It was him that told me if I had trouble with the 30/378 that maybe by running the case all the way up in a 460 Wea die may size the bottom part while not having to worry about the shoulder bump.
Edit: At the same time I asked him if he ever thought of pursuing making a tool to tighten primer pockets. He didn't seem too interested in this.

Murray,
I agree, talking with him was a pleasure. Thanks for the info.
I have a .338-.378 wby mag and have never had an issue bumping my shoulder or sizing the base with the dies I have. I’ve loaded it back in the day wayyyyy hotter than I should have and still no issues.
Wayne

 

[gatortoo]

Hello all, I wanted to post an update and give a BIG SHOUT OUT to Alan Warner and his son Dan of Warner Tool Company. If you go back a few post, Alan asked me to give him a call because he had some incredible experience with these issues and had a solution. My first call was taken by Dan because Alan was out and he gave me two ideas. On the necking issue, he told me to try and Anneal first. Soften the brass then run it up into my die. Unfortunately, this didn't work. It almost worked, meaning I was able to neck it down further before the "mushrooming" happened but I couldn't get the entire neck to size. He also told me that I need a lathe to trim the belts off. I knew that I needed one or find someone but because he got me thinking, I realized that there are many "Mini" lathes out there that are not that expensive so I bought one and, BAM, no more belts!! THANK YOU DAN!!!

Well this morning, I called again and I got Alan and he walked me through the process of necking the brass in stages. Since the 378 brass that I have is .399 and I needed to get it down to @ .337 he said that I could look for dies that give me a few hundredths and then maybe one more die to get another few hundredths before the final sizing with the 30-378 die. Then I realized that my 338 Lapua FL Sizing die would get it down to .372 so I removed the neck sizing portion of the die, ran the 378 brass up into the 338 die, slowly, and with a little TLC, got the entire piece of brass up into the die with no issues. Lastly, I lubed the crap out of the brass and ran it up into my 30-378 die and HOLY CRAP, it worked!!!! Shoulder and all is now formed!! What a process and how fun it was to see this work. I had ruined 8 pieces of brand new 378 brass trying to figure this out and the Warner's got me there. I will now shoot these pieces to get the "final" sizing.

I have no words for the support of all of you on this forum. I have been shooting for about 12 years, reloading for about 10 and this is the 1st time I have looked for advice on one of these sites. The knowledge that you all have is incredible. I do not shoot competitively but I have land and my family and I shoot up to 1,000 yards regularly and being able to form this brass was a "hell yea" screaming moment for me in my reloading room. My wife yelled down if everything was okay. hahahaha!! I was like "whooohoooo".

Happy to answer any questions if anyone has any.

Thanks again to all of you and especially Alan and Dan Warner!!!

 

[Murray Brook]

After you have some fire formed brass compare their specs to that of a 30/378 Weatherby case. You may be able to simply remove the belt on the 30/378 case and use it, saving the necking down process.

 

[gatortoo]

Hey Murray, that is my goal for sure. The only reason I was so determined was because I was given @ forty 378 pieces of new brass that I didn't want to go to waste. All of the loaded and fired brass that came with the rifle was 378 so I am assuming that the previous owner either couldn't find 30-378 brass or just happened to have some and he wasn't going to let it go to waste either. I have been able to find 150 pieces of 30-378 brass over the last week so I now have plenty and will not have to go thru this process or at least won't have to for a long long time.

 

[philip brousseau]

Is it by any chance a Clarence Hammonds rifle?

 

[gatortoo]

Hey Philip, It is not. At least that is not who did the chamber work. This was done by Spencers Custom Guns from what I was told.

 

[ebb]

Glad you got it working!!! I shoot 338LAP and 300RUM, but I am curious what powder and approximately how much?

 

[gatortoo]

Hey Ebb, are you asking what I am using for the 30-375 or what I use for my 338?

 

[ebb]

Yes. I have retumbo and US 869 for the 338 but would love to use RL33 if it continues to exist. are the 338 powders slow enough for the 30-378?

 

[gatortoo]

Hey Ebb, keep in mind that I do not shoot competitively. I have been lucky in that a buddy of mine has 1,000 acres with a fire break that is 975 yards so this is where I got my start about 12 years ago. I use a RCBS Chargemaster (the older style) to dispense my powder and I do not use tweezers to pull kernels. If I am a grain or two high or low, I load it up! I finally bought my own land about 3 years ago and I have 3 different size steel targets at my 1,000 yard. Small, med and large. The large is human size torso/neck. If it is not super windy, I can hit any of those three at will. Sure I get fliers and complete misses but I would say that I hit those 3 pieces of steel about 90% of the time. I will set up my chrono every once in a while and my fps is pretty consistent....for me. STD Deviation might be in the 20's and 30's but like I said, I am not trying to break records. The 30-375 is my newest addition and I am having fun shooting three different bullets and then mixing those up with different powders and charges. Here is what I have figured out so far with less than 50 rounds of each. Each of these have been very accurate (for me).
(1) Berger 185gr LRBT's, 100gr of H1000 and Fed Mag primers and I am hitting anything I want. Speed Avg is 3,362 with no pressure signs.
(2) Berger Hybrid 200.2x, 97gr H1000, Avg fps 3,280 (small signs of pressure) and hitting anything that I want. (3) Sierra MK 190gr, 94.2gr H1000, Avg fps 3,265, no pressure and hitting anything I want. The only combo that wasn't accurate was Berger 185gr LRBT, 104gr Retumbo. I was all over the place with this load. I do not have anymore Retumbo so I won't ever be shooting that again.
I do not have all my 338 data with me but I only shoot one bullet and powder load. I have fantastic luck with 89.5gr of N570 and Lapua Scenar 300's. Absolutely perfect combo for my rifle. The N570 is superb!!

 

[6MMsteve]

you might try to fireform a case kinda nk down then some unique and cotton to see where your at somewhat...could be late to the party