forming 20br brass

[pikeon]

I'm looking to build a savage 20br rifle with a douglas barrel from sharp shooters supply. I wish to use 6br lapua brass to form the 20br brass. I have the regular redding 3 die set for 22br but not the bushing style. Will a 22br redding s bushing neck die with the proper 20 caliber bushing do the job. Also after repeated firings what will be the best way to full length size them to fit easily in my chamber.

 

[kory]

pikeon,

The following article by Fireball in this same forum should answer your questions:

http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/6mmbr/vpost?id=620125

If you havr more questions, let me know. maybe I can coax Fireball to answer them for you.

Regards,
Kory

 

[Fireball]

Yes, you will need to buy either a 22 or 6mm BR Type-S bushing style neck sizing die to size the necks. I use my old 6mmBR Type-S but the .22BR Type-S will also work. Grab whatever is available and/or cheaper.

You can use your current .22BR FL die with the guts removed to resize the case.

Your standard seater should work fine. It is not necessary to have the Comp style seater.

 

[pikeon]

Thanks kory and fireball for the information. I was curious which bushing size you use to neck size. It looks like one close to 225 should do the job. Also what trim lenth are you using. Thanks for your time.

 

[Fireball]

The bushing size will depend on your rifle's neck diameter and your brass neck thickness. My 20BR's chamber is a .237" neck. I use Lapua 6BR brass. I find that a .231" bushing is perfect for my rifle/brass. Also, be aware it is best to step down in neck size a few times when reforming the neck. So you may want to buy more than one bushing. My steps are this:

1) Run Lapua 6mmBR case into a .22BR form/trim die => .250"

,You can also use your .22BR seater without the guts to perform this first step. No need to purchase the form/trim die.)

2) Run case through a .22BR FL die with no guts => .240"

3) Run case through a 6mmBR Type-S die with .235" bushing

4) Run case through a 6mmBR Type-S die with .231" bushing and the .204" expander in the die.

This series of steps doesn't overwork the brass. Also, if you do resize necks in too large of a step they will not be dimensionally what you would expect. This is especially true in the last two steps. Notice that I only size down .005" and .004" on the last steps. For the first two steps I apply Imperial sizing wax on the outside of the necks. This isn't necessary on the last two steps.