RE-FORMING BRASS

[Bill Norris]

Tried my hand at re-forming .308 brass down to 30BR with tools and dies I have on hand. Takes some time to get it done but it turned out really well. After getting it sized down I trimmed it to length @ 1.520 and turned the neck down to .098 to check it in my rifle and it does chamber smoothly. The surprising thing is the neck runout is @ .001 Not real sure about the large primer pocket but mainly wanted to see if I could re-form it.

 

[Dub]

well done. Pretty sure the large primer pocket will be a no go though

 

[Bill K]

Looks good. The large primer should not be an issue, but I would use the lightest type for igniting that cartridge.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

How sure are you of that trim length?
I wish shadetree still sold those wildcatter forming dies. They make short work of this type task. Mark spencer made me a set for forming 224boz and they work very well. Maybe he could produce them for us

 

[Bill Norris]

How sure are you of that trim length?
I wish shadetree still sold those wildcatter forming dies. They make short work of this type task. Mark spencer made me a set for forming 224boz and they work very well. Maybe he could produce them for us

I just took it to the length of my Lapua 30BR brass.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I just took it to the length of my Lapua 30BR brass.

I believe id close the bolt on that empty case and come in thru the muzzle with a borescope and check it out. Thats awful long

 

[Bill Norris]

I believe id close the bolt on that empty case and come in thru the muzzle with a borescope and check it out. Thats awful long

It should be O K. All of my Lapua brass measures right in there @ 1.515 to 1.520 with no issues so far.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Good to hear. Your gunsmith must be using that newfangled 30br reamer

 

[Bill Norris]

Good to hear. Your gunsmith must be using that newfangled 30br reamer

Not sure, but Zack (WSMNUT) built it for me.

 

[RegionRat]

Nicely done. I haven't seen that done in a long time.

 

[357Mag]

Not sure, but Zack (WSMNUT) built it for me.

Bill -

Howdy !

The brass looks good.

I had one of the first .22BRs out there ( 'smithed by Fred Sinclair ).
I shot both SR primed Remington brass that had no head stamp, and came w/ no primer pocket. Fred put in the primer pockets for me, himself.

I also shot LR primed brass, formed off factory .308 basic.

In my rifle. my loads..... I was unable to see where SR primed brass ever out-grouped the LR primed brass.

Think LR primed should be ok ( IMHO ) for your use.


With regards,
357Mag

 

[TrxR]

I believe id close the bolt on that empty case and come in thru the muzzle with a borescope and check it out. Thats awful long

Reamers designed for guys that fireformed their brass instead of necking up use a longer trim length of i beleive around 1.520 or so.

 

[AckleymanII]

30 BR with a .400 long neck? hummm.....

Bill, I have a set of form dies from PB Mike on this site, they are wonderful to say the least.

I formed probably 10,000-22 and 6 PPC cases from PMC 7.62x39 brass which of course has the large primer.

Neck turned of course.

Accuracy in both cases is fantastic to say the least with the large primer. I was shooting Hall "M" actions at the time and the Stolle panda, couple of FDC actions from Ferris Pedell. I was so shocked at the accuracy of the brass on these BR rigs turned P. Dog and Jack Rabbit rigs, I called Ferris Pendell and talked to him about the large/small primer issue. He told me that during the extensive testing in the PPC cartridge development, that the largest improvement between the large and small primer was at the very most .035 in group size.

The public's perception of the small primer is a major factor in the decision to use the small primer.

There was a 2.0g difference in loads between a large primer PMC case and a small primer Sako 220 Russian case.

So, for a 30 BR, the large primer may add the necessary umph to T32 to put it in a leage with the H4198, or even better yet, a 30 BRA with a large primer. Take a walk on the wild side!

 

[Bill Norris]

That's great info guys. I may re-form more and load a few little later on and see how they actually work.

 

[Bill Norris]

Just in case anybody might want to give it a go here was my process. Lube generously.

RE-FORM .308 TO 30BR

(1) Cut off brass at body/shoulder junction leaving app 1/16 inch of shoulder in place.
(2) Lube case with Imperial Sizing Wax.
(3) Run case into a 30BR Redding Neck Sizing Die with the tapered expander ball in place but without the bushing. (Slowly)
(4) Run case back into the same die with a .336 bushing.
(5) Run .308 Expander into the case and go past the donut area.
(6) Trim cases to length and turn necks if needed.
(7) Run brass into the 30BR neck sizing die with a .324 bushing.

 

[L.Sherm]

Bill i have 3 double ended forming dies from Bullberry i make 17 badger brass from 30 carbine and 20VT from 223 brass they work slick. Maybe worth a call to Bullberry if your looking for form dies

 

[Bill Norris]

Bill i have 3 double ended forming dies from Bullberry i make 17 badger brass from 30 carbine and 20VT from 223 brass they work slick. Maybe worth a call to Bullberry if your looking for form dies

Thanks for the info Bro but I just wanted to see if I could do it with tools and dies I had on hand. Appreciate the the info no doubt .

 

[L.Sherm]

I assumed you had more to do.
They work really well for necking brass down also.

 

[Bill Norris]

I assumed you had more to do.
They work really well for necking brass down also.

Right. I may do a few more later on just to try the large primer out but only probably 10 or so is all I'll re-form.