Converting .243 brass to 6.5 Creedmoor

[hrt4me]

I may have to try this once I build up my collection of .243 brass...

[giterdone]

Being that you are using part of the thicker shoulder portion of the .243 brass when forming into 6.5 Creedmoor, outside neck turning is required. Otherwise the necks will be thicker and a slight (internal) donut where the new neck meets the new shoulder will be present.  In the past I have made about sixty 6.5 Creedmoor cases from .243 brass and about 30 or more from .308 brass, 100 from .260 Lapua brass.  You are better off using .243 brass as there will be less metal requiring removal (O.S. neck turning).  Im not in favor of inside neck reaming unless I have a "custom reaming die" for it, which supports the case walls and neck portion so that the "centered" reamer will ream the thicker portion of the inside of the neck (side and donut)...otherwise if you use a different type of reamer it will follow the center of the existing hole.  Its a good idea to weigh your finished "reformed" brass or check case volume as "reformed" brass usually has less internal capacity.  My .260 Lapua brass reformed and O.S. neck turned for the 6.5 Creedmoor have less internal capacity but I can load them hotter, and they are super consistent in weight and capacity.  Be sure to trim your cases BEFORE forming. YMMV

[Trent]

All good info Giterdone, thanks.

[MarinePMI]

This really needs to be a sticky post...

[Trent]

Well, I added a RCBS Neck Turner to my collection of tools this past week. I bought it so that I could thin the necks of this brass down to a standard .014", and also so that I could even out the thickness on all my various match cartridges.

Long story short, I will be for the first time utilizing MidwayUSA's satisfaction guarantee. What a piece of junk. The mandrel that the case turns on is loosely fit to the aluminum body. Because of that it is impossible to keep a square alignment of the mandrel and the cutter. Also as it is able to rock around in it's hole it changes the distance from the cutter. With slightly better tolerances it would be a quality neck turner.

I'll be ordering a K&M I believe.

[Trent]

I went out and shot 50 of my formed Creedmoor brass that was originally Winchester brand .243. My intention was just to fireform the brass. I had no expectations for accuracy. This batch of 50 I had loaded up a while back with 39.0gr of Varget and bulk 120gr Sierra Matchkings. These cases have not been neck turned and are probably real close to what would be considered "tight neck". Absolutely zero signs of pressure.

Here are the results. Not bad considering I did no load testing and this is the very first firing on brass that I converted from .243win to 6.5Creedmoor.

The dropped shot was my fault, I fired right when a loud AR fired next to me and I flinched a little.






Worst group is 6/10ths of an inch... I'll take that.




I let a friend shoot my rifle (Savage LRP with 10-50x60 Sightron) and this was his group. He isn't used to triggers this light. The dropped shot went off before he was ready.

[Vegas 50]

Looks real good. 

I made some creedmoor brass out of 308 brass about 2 years ago.  While it worked well it was a giant PITA and not worth it unless hornady goes in to another brass drought.

[Trent]

I agree.

[giterdone]

One thing I would like to point out... (I mentioned previously) is that a donut will be formed inside the case where the neck joins the shoulder.  (More common when forming 6.5 CM from .308 brass and some .243 brass).  After the "required" neck turning, the formed case must be "FIRED" and the inside neck reamed BEFORE resizing a "FIRED" case to remove this donut.  Afterwards the case must be annealed as it has become work hardened in the first sizing/forming process and then resized again before loading.  I recommend the "Bench-Source" annealing machine to produce consistantly annealed cases.   Most shooters do not anneal their cases often enough... if at all.  BTW....The most concentric cases I have formed for the 6.5 Creedmoor were made from 100 new Lapua .260 Remington cases; they have produced the tightest groups I have ever fired at 600 yards. YMMV

[bobdds]

great stuff,  so many of us had to create brass during the GREAT SHORTAGE, a couple of years ago.  somewhere in this someone asked the question about using Lapua 308 palma brass.  We did that, using the small rifle primers.  Worked very well, we did have to knock about a grain or so out of loads to account for the heavier brass.

[Trent]

Thanks for the additional info guys.

Although this is a lot of "work" I do get a fair amount of personal satisfaction out of making my own brass. Especially when the results are tiny little holes down range.

[Trent]

Sat down and turned some necks tonight on some of the Winchester .243 brass that I formed into Creedmoor. They look ready to do some damage!

Turned to .014"

[M.O.A.]

they say you have to anneal the case after forming because its work hardens the case but doesnt annealing harden the case?

[Trent]

No, annealing always means "to soften", but brass is very different from steel in this respect. Heating brass will cause it to be more malleable, and even if you heat it glowing red and quench it in water it will still stay "soft". The only way to make brass harder is by work hardening it. In our case that is done everytime we fire and resize the brass. When moderately reforming the brass like this (.243 to CM) the brass is work hardened to a certain point. It isn't necessary to anneal them but I feel that I'll get better accuracy and lose less brass to cracked necks if I do.

[swampthang]

TRENT, IS THERE ANY TRUTH THAT THE FACTORY HORNADY BRASS IS ANNEALED FROM THE FACTORY? MINE HAS A FAINT BLUE TINT TO IT LIKE IT HAD BEEN ANNEALED.