Grendel to ARC, frustrated.

[KMW 1954]

Intrigued by this cartridge as well as the Grendel; learned a lot from this thread. Thanks All!
I would suggest OP collect/sort that “free” brass, and generate funds for virgin brass by selling that stuff in the classifieds.

Pleased to hear that someone other than me has learned something!

One problem with collecting brass. My bosses have zero issue with us collecting for personal use. They more than frown at us collecting it for resale. They actually have a contract with a company for brass removal.

 

[searcher]

I haven't necked down on that particular caliber, but I have on a great many others. The problems you have encountered are pretty typical of those that I (and probably a lot of other folks) ran into at some point in time when necking down. I found that results were ALWAYS better if cases were annealed WITHOUT getting the cases too hot. I pretty much use OSO's method, except I step down the neck by using progressively smaller bushings, lubing between each - and I do anneal again when done. He outlined a very straightforward method.

 

[Oso]

For what it’s worth, I moved away from using the the expander ball, especially when doing case conversions. After doing the case forming, I use a neck expander mandrel. Lube the inside of necks and expand away to desired “neck tension”. The eliminated risk of collapsing shoulder during case forming.

One other comment…. When running cases through the FL Sizing die during the initial case forming let the newly formed case stay under compression for 4-5 seconds. Raise up the ram/handle and rotate the case a quarter turn and lower ram holding down for 4-5 seconds. Repeat rotating and resizing a few more times. This will help with consistency and spring-back.

 

[DHD]

Yep, I have done it with Lapua 6.5 Grendel brass early in 6mmARC days. I wanted the small flash hole that brass has. Now Peterson brass is available so I would not go to the trouble.

I used a Forster standard FL die with stem removed. I sized in three strokes, about a third way down each stroke and spinning the case about a third each time (make sense?). I then expanded with a mandrel then trimmed to my desired length, and chamfered. After that, I did a 75%ish neck turn as the necks were thick. Finally, I did a final FL size and then loaded them.

Yeah, some trouble, but I have some good straight brass. Also yeah, I would be just as happy with Peterson 6mmARC brass but they didn't make it then.

Knock yourself out as your time is your own, but like 93.7% of the posters mentioned, those nice reusable boxes that Peterson or Alpha 6mmARC brass come in, sure is simple...