forming 30 br brass

[madmixerman]

What is the easiest & or best way to form 30 br brass from 6br Lapua?

1. I have a Redding die with a tapered expander button.

2. I have a K&M turner coming from a guy with an expander body & expander mandrel.

3. Use powder & cow? Does anyone use Unique for this?, if so how much Unique)

Trying to minimize badly formed or ruined cases.

As you can see I'm a first timer at this .

 

[rangertim]

Is this a tight neck or no neck turn.

 

[savet06]

I used the method described on the 30br guide on this site.
A K&M expandiron going from 6-30cal. If you do decide to do this, make sure that you contact the maker as the normal expandiron does not do this...it is meant only for .30cal rounds that are already .30cal and are being uniformed prior to neckturning or whatever.

I have not used the cow method before, and from what I have read there are as many recipes as loaders out there.

Some advocate a more staged neck sizing..say from 6mm to .270, then to .30cal. that is what I am going to do next time.

Same goes for turning the brass with your K&M. Turn in two steps if you can. You will work the brass much less. The K&M tool has a nice tapered edge on it to gently cut into the shoulder of the case without going too deeply. When you get it it will make sense. Be prepared, to some degree, to lose a few cases,at least I did, and maybe I am just that big of a shmo, but I was a beginner too and part of my learning process was trial and error). Lube is a good thing!!

I have read and reread the .30br guide on this site, and done many searches on the subject. You really can't read enough information before you start an endeavor like this especially if you are a first timer.
If you haven't bumped shoulders before, you will also want to do a search on that...more goodies to buy.
Mike

 

[madmixerman]

Is this a tight neck or no neck turn.

330 neck diameter

 

[rayjay]

I went up in 4 steps. I also tried fireforming with 700x and a wax plug. I was not happy with the fireformed cases as I still had to run them over the 30 ex mandrel. They also ended up much longer requiring a lot of trimming.

When you turn the necks you will need the carbide mandrel to remove the donut.

After my experience with prepping 30BR brass I bought preprepped brass from Ron Hoehn when I acquired a used 6ppc.

 

[AlNyhus]

Making good 30BR cases is just not very hard. Probably the only things that gets people into trouble are:
- when the necks are crooked after necking up,either from poor technique or inadequate lube)
- a poor fit on the turner mandrel causing galled inside case necks
- a combination of these things.

If the necks end up extremely crooked after being necked up, just run the cases through your neck sizing die with a bushing just .002-.003 smaller than the o.d. of the unturned necks....adjusting your die so the bushing stops just ahead of the 'bump' at the bottom of the neck. Then, just run them back over the expander mandrel that matches your turning mandrel. This will straighten them up and make the 'blend' into the shoulder more even.

I still do my cases the way I outlined in the 30BR Guide, with a couple of modifications. I now anneal before firing them the first time,rather than after the first firing) and also use a shellholder that's been 'faced off' .020 to set the shoulders back after turning the bulge at the base of the necks off. This gives a smoother blend into the shoulder and when the case is fired the first time, the shoulder blows foward and it fits the chamber perfectly. This method requires that you seat the bullets pretty firmly into the lands and use a middle of the road powder charge.

Whichever way you do it..you almost have to try to make bad 30BR cases.

Annealing is the one thing which I consider an absolute must, however. Plus...making sure you're not trying to run too little neck clearance.

Just my views from the cheap seats. -Al

 

[Bronsin]

I run the cases over an expander mandrel to get them to 30cal. Then I set the depth on my neck turning tool to cut until it reaches the shoulder to remove the hump left after the expanding process. I then turn the case necks to .011 to fit my chamber neck dia. of .332 with .002 of clearance.
I then fireformed with 32.5grs of H4198 with the bullet jammed .005. This also happens to be its favorite load. I fireform with a stiff load so that the shoulder gets formed well. Some of the pressure of the load is absorbed in expanding the body of the case to the chamber as well as the neck, so it is not as hot as it would seem to fireform with. Usually the cases take a good set after about three firings. If you fireform with some powderpuff load it will just take longer for the cases to really fit the chamber the way they are supposed to. In the meantime you will be adjusting the load up and down trying to get rid of fliers for no good reason.
Dont be intimidated of neck turning. Just follow the directions and cut a few cases until you feel comfortable with it. Once you get the hang of it, it will be no big deal, and you will probably want to turn necks for everything once you see the improvement it makes on target.
Good Luck!

 

[Aussie_bob]

I would have to agree with the others on this as its very easy i have damaged 3 cases in makeing 150 but that was from lack of lube and trying to rush the process.
Now i insert the expander till it starts to bell the mouth of the case then just apply a little lube in that area and push it through no problem at all then run it over a 30cal mandrel then set my sinclair neck turner to the neck of the case and turn off the donut. After that set your cutter to the required neck wall thickness and turn up to the shoulder.
You can then start load development just start with about 32grs of what we use AR2207 or the equilivent and away you go i havent annealed my cases and have fired them now over 20 times without a problem.

 

[JCummings]

Al: do you anneal before you expand your necks? So far I have not been annealing. I just yesterday did anneal some brass I have shot 8 times. So far have had no problems. I have occassionally had a neck split when expanding. I've had less problems since using Mobile 1 with STP as my expanding lube. I go from 6 to 7mm first then to 30 with a K&M expander.

 

[AlNyhus]

I haven't been annealing before necking up. But the last few lots of Lapua 6BR cases I bought were definitely 'harder' than the previous ones. The amount of annealing color on the outside was similar, but the actual brass was much harder. The next batch of 30BR cases I make up I'll test a couple and if they seem 'hard' I'll anneal before necking up. -Al

 

[Ogre6br]

When necking up
How do you stop the necks coming out different lengths from side to side?

I keep getting necks that are longer one side to the other??
when you look at the necks from the side it looks like they flow up and down round the top of the neck.

I am using a Redding tapered expander in a R die

Lubing both neck and expander- forming half the neck and then turning 90 Deg and finishing the forming-
adding a dash more lube to the expander during the turn

Using a standard shell holder in a RCBS big -o frame RC or RC2.
Haven't tried the O-ring under the die thing yet- will that help?

It means I have to face off the neck face flat on the trimmer

I then run the neck over the .30 Sinclair neck expander mandrel before turning it on my Sinclair turner

I'd like to eliminate the faceing operation if I can

Can I use the Sinclair expander in the first necking up or is it really for just putting the ID of the neck to the correct size to match the Sinclair turner??

I'm new at this necking up and turning thing- so go easy on me please

Thanks
later
p

 

[madmixerman]

Ogre6br, read post #6 in this thread & it'll tell you about the necks.

 

[LRCampos]

It is my first time with a 30BR and I am having a hard time with the brass.

After expanding the neck with a Sinclair Tapered button,6 to 30) it is a "fight" to insert,and most important, remove) the brass from the expander die without galling and pulling the expander mandrel with the brass.

Once I finally get the brass passed trough the expander die,a hard operation), it will not fit on the neck turning mandrel.

I am thinking on a bigger expander tapered button could be the solution.
I wrote to Sinclair some days ago, but until now I got no response from her.

I use the same expander die mandrel and neck turn mandrel on my .308win and it works fine.

I use Imperial Wax to lube.

I would apreciate any help on this! Thanks.