Forming 6XC from 308?

[TAJ45]

Any tips hints or pitfalls? I haven't checked lately but a while back Tubb didn't have any of this brass.

Is this reasonably viable? I will of course: 1) size neck 2) form & push shoulder back (Pbike dies) 3) turn necks 4) check for doughnut/remove 5) anneal.

I am wanting to have a longer neck as my bud has an Uni Throater. My plan is to ream to accommodate a longer neck then tailor a longer necked oal with the main purpose to be able to shoot near 80gr up to the 115s and have enough case to grab.

I don't see a problem with a sizing die handling a longer neck....or am I overlooking something that can't be handled on the lathe?

 

[watercam]

A throater will cut your leade longer, not your neck area. I never had any problems with my 6XC, thought the neck was just fine as is. .308 brass may make for some thick neck walls necessitating neck turning. 22-250, 300 Savage, 250-3000 cases are all parent cases for the XC. 6.5 Creedmoor and/or 6x47 Lapua may work as well.
Perhaps a 6SLR would float your boat better. Plenty long neck there!

 

[SDWhirlwind]

It shows as being available for $89.95/100 on his website currently. Also Midway has 20 or 25rd lots but not 100rd. Like MTM posted I also have had no trouble with the neck length of the XC. I however have no reason to shoot the 115 and currently only shoot the 107's.

 

[TAJ45]

It looks like I learned a basic re necks / reamer diameters. I am trying to reason through this but feel I'll have some questions. Gotta hit the sack.

I did hit Tubbs site and saw it being available from Nosler.

 

[wapiti25]

I would anneal before any forming and again when finnished

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I form my 6XC brass from 308. I did a whole thread on making 6XC brass from 308 cases a while back. Link to the topic is listed below. Should have all the info and answers you are looking for.

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3866238.0

 

[TAJ45]

Great!! Headed there now.

 

[spclark]

I would anneal before any forming....

Dependent on what you start with that may not be necessary. When I made my first batch back in 2010 from Lapua's superb Palma brass I thought the same thing & ruined the first two cases because of it: case sides too soft to support the shoulder reform.

Now I don't bother as the initial forming works fine using my Redding 6XC bushing die sans bushing, stopping about 0.015" ahead of where I want the shoulders to end up in the end. Go slow, use a good case lube (not too much) and rotate cases 1/4 turn between press ram strokes. (Hint: if you want to use a bushing before trimming the necks of excess brass, stick a larger bushing in on top of the one you want working the necks down.)

I'm still shooting about 70 of that first batch of 98. At a 3x1,000 in MN a few weeks back fired 593.24 (200.7 in there), before that in WI two 199.8's (new barrel had nine rounds down it starting out) with sling, iron sights & Berger's 105VLD's. Small-primer cases last far longer than what I'd been using since 2004.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

One thing I will add to the information on the topic I posted a while back...

No need for the dremel tool with cutting wheel to initially shorten the neck length if you have a trimmer with a shaft that will chuck up in a cordless drill. I bought a RCBS trimmer and set it up specifically for trimming down the long necks after forming to 6XC. I just screwed the crank handle off and chucked up the shaft in my DeWalt cordless drill and let it rip. With decent pressure and and reasonably fast drill speed, I can shorten the necks to proper length in about 5 seconds. How fast you want to go is up to you though. Good luck

 

[averh2o]

Why not make them from 22-250 cases? Its the easiest wildcat case to form and they shoot good enough while fireforming to win almost any match if you do your job. A whole lot less work, they last longer and you won"t have the donut issues that 308 based cases give. whats not to like. Unless you have your heart set on small primer pocket cases I don't see any advantage. just my 2 cents

 

[TAJ45]

I was initially wanting an extra long neck utilizing the 308 as giving that option. Having been educated while reading the posts, I can see that will require a different reamer - now. So, I need to pick a few more heads for info so that I can understand "all that I know"......For whatever reason, my head really likes the idea of keeping the turbulence point well w/i the neck as well as the ability to shoot 75gr through 115s in my yet to be chambered 7.5tw bbl.

 

[Varmint56]

A throater will cut your leade longer, not your neck area. I never had any problems with my 6XC, thought the neck was just fine as is. .308 brass may make for some thick neck walls necessitating neck turning. 22-250, 300 Savage, 250-3000 cases are all parent cases for the XC. 6.5 Creedmoor and/or 6x47 Lapua may work as well.
Perhaps a 6SLR would float your boat better. Plenty long neck there!

 

[Ajwilly96]

I just shot some 22-250 I formed to XC using the Varget load today. Not sure if you’re dead set on 308 or just have a surplus of brass

 

[Ray123]

Any tips hints or pitfalls? I haven't checked lately but a while back Tubb didn't have any of this brass.

Is this reasonably viable? I will of course: 1) size neck 2) form & push shoulder back (Pbike dies) 3) turn necks 4) check for doughnut/remove 5) anneal.

I am wanting to have a longer neck as my bud has an Uni Throater. My plan is to ream to accommodate a longer neck then tailor a longer necked oal with the main purpose to be able to shoot near 80gr up to the 115s and have enough case to grab.

I don't see a problem with a sizing die handling a longer neck....or am I overlooking something that can't be handled on the lathe?

You can make 6XC out of 308 ...But should you?
With brass available by 500 pc order right now from several places about 550 dollars...that should last a while.
The throating reamer won't extend tbe neck lenght, but increase how far the bullet is to the lands...or longer overall length...good? Maybe, maybe not...Do you want the cartridges to fit the magazine?
Longer neck requires a long neck 6XC chamber reamer...custom... not in-stock. How long do you want to wait?
You can always do what ever you want... your choice. But I'd encourage the average guy without a lathe and other machine tools to go with standard industry spec chambers, with available brass and components...it's a lot easier and the standard 6XC is just fine... it works...Tubb used it.
Plus after ya shoot it awhile throat erosion will allow you to seat bullets out farther....a bit sarcastic...but it's true. I shoot a 6 dasher with its short neck...shoots 58 gr V max to almost 4100 fps or 3132 fps for 107s or 3085 for 110 MK or 3020 115 DTAC. For speed powder but best accuracy is a tad slower.
I made 6mm ARC out of 308...just to see if I could.
You have to machine a new extractor groove ..plus homemade form dies. Couldn't find 6mm ARC brass so made 1250 ps out 6.5 grendel and grendel basic straight wall brass. The 6.5 grendel brass was easy to convert...the basic brass not so much, had to make an intermediate die not available, and anneal on every step...but it shoots good.
I make quite a few cartridges from existing brass.
308 to 8.6 blkout , 308 to 35 Remington, 308 to 358, 30-30 W to 30 Rem, 6.5 grendel to 6 mm ARC.
5.56 to 300 blk and 300 Hamr. 308 with shotgun primers. 45 Colt to 44-40. 350 mag from 7mm or 338 mag. Lots of tinkering...but I have machine tools to make it easier, and less expensive.
Most are fairly easy ...some require more work.
Unless ya just want to go 308 cheap brass for your project, which I do in my ARs, and do a fair amount of work. I'd just buy standard available XC brass, for my standard XC chamber...for ease of use and consistency.

 

[Ray123]

Just incase ya want to continue with the 308 to
6 XC ...I just went out and did one...came out nice.
But it has a 40° shoulder from the last die.. the 6 mm Dasher...have a homemade die I run all 30° shoulders down to about .010 above finish...anneal, lube. run through a 6.5 Creedmoor die...anneal, lube slowly run the 6mm dasher die, pump it a few times...then all the way to the shoulder...got a 6mm 40° XC ...no bulges ...looks factory. A 30° shoulder is much easier....especially in 6mm. So now I can make my 6 Dasher brass out of 308 ....incase I want to use all that military brass is in fact what I used...for my 6 Dasher.
But you'll have to neck turn them all onto the shoulder...easy & precise in a lathe ..and I'd probably bore the ID ...so it's still a fair amount of work to make 1 or 2 hundred cases. The 8.6 from 308 requires that...but they were selling brass for $3.50 ea ...my 308 cost 14 cents delivered and much of it free...also use 30-06, 270, 25-06, and 300 Savage which was perfect. So ya can if ya want...but XC is available. It goes faster when ya set up to do each step.

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

Made them out of 243 brass once, once was enough for me