Brass Manipulation Question

[Sticman]

Need a little help understanding. I have come across a decent load of brass and got all excited until I realized some slight differences.
I have a 220 Swift rifle. Some of the brass is 220 Weatherby Rocket and 220 Swift Improved. I have a 6mm Rem rifle, some of the brass is 6mm Rem Improved. I have a 222 Rem, some of the brass is 222 Rem Improved. My question is this. I hear people all the time making wildcats from standard brass. Renecking, down sizing, shortening etc. Once a shoulder has been "improved" can it be pushed back? This is a significant amount of brass. that would be a shame to waste. I also do not want to rechamber any of these rifles. Can this be done safely?

 

[GLShooter]

Annealing will help. You probably can salvage some if the brass. Do you know how many times it's been fired? It may already be close to used up.

 

[FeMan]

As brass gets worked, it creates a memory as it work-hardens through successive cycles of firing and sizing. The more times it has been fired in its present configuration the tougher it will be to reform to a new (or original shape). You can probably run it through the right die(s) and get it there, but it likely wont be ideal. If it has been work hardened too much, it may split too.

If it is free, you can certainly try it. Anneal it before and after if you have an annealer and give it a try. I doubt the loaded rounds will be match-winners, but you might get some decent plinkers out of it.

 

[K22]

Here's what I'd do but this is just my opinion:

1. I certainly would never consider rechambering a rifle because I stumbled into a bunch of brass from an unknown source, let alone brass that has been altered to a different caliber.

2. A 220 Swift and 222 Rem are usually purchased for precision shooting and are outstanding varmint rifles. Why mess around with questionable brass for these kinds of rifles? In addition, the Swift is can be hard of barrels so I wouldn't be using it as a "plinker." If you are just a range shooter, the 222 Rem is supremely accurate cartridge but to maximize its potential, I wouldn't be trying to "force fit" some other caliber brass to fit your rifle. I wouldn't even mess with the 6mm rifle but that's just me.

3. I don't know what the current salvage value of brass is but I when I use to pick up range brass and sell it at a local salvage yard, I received a good amount of money for it. So that may be an option to obtain some value out of the brass you obtained rather than trying to adapt it to your current rifles.

Bottom line, I would want to risk messing up my rifles or consuming hard to obtain primers, bullets and powder with questionable cases. But as I said, this just one guys opinion, albeit a fairly conversative guy that goes out of his way to avoid reloading and shooting problems.

 

[AWS]

I wouldn't hesitate if the price was really good. I routinely make 222 Rem from 223/5.56 and my 204 Ruger brass gets sized up and down from 22-204 to 6mm-204 and 25-204 depending on my needs at the moment. Brass is very fluid and can be reformed quite easily, annealing and lube is very important when reforming brass when I'm making 222 Rem from 223 I can usually get away with one anneal. When making 6.5x58R from 9.3x72R it takes multiple annealing to keep from wrinkling the case.

6.5x58R center, parent case 9.3x772R right

 

[Just Say Moe]

Steve Timm wrote an article or a post about "unimproving" 223 Ackley brass and it worked just fine. Restoring the taper to the original sounds ok but moving a shoulder back or restoring the original angle may be difficult.

 

[Sticman]

Thanks guys, I will probably hang on to it in case I'm bored and want to experiment with it some day. But curiosity killed the cat right??