Case forming woes

[Trent]

I am trying to make a go of forming Creedmoor brass from .243Win. Not necessarily because I need to, but just because I want to. Midway has a bunch of blemished brass on sale right now and I thought I would buy a bunch and use it for practice and hunting, and then reserve my Hornady brass from matches.

I tried forming in one pass through my Hornady FL sizing die and it worked... and it failed. I had a few pieces of fired .243Win brass and it sized absolutely great. It got my hopes up. I grabbed some virgin brass and tried passing it through the die and it completely caved in the wall of the case below the shoulder. So I tried another one but went much slower... same result. Bummer.

I am guessing it is because the new brass is a little softer than the fired brass and the wall caves in before the shoulder metal moves up into the neck. The shoulder angle of the Creedmoor case is pretty steep and once the shoulder is set it causes a stoppage.

So I bought a .243Win die with the intention of removing .070" from the bottom of the die so that I could use it to move the shoulder down the case (maintaining the slack shoulder angle of the .243) prior to running it into the Creedmoor die and forming the steeper shoulder and sizing the neck. This actually seemed to work pretty well, albeit it was an extra step that I didn't want to have to take. (I also had to trim the brass to length prior to running it into the Creedmoor die)

Anybody else have much experience with forming Creedmoor from .243 Win? I guess another option would be to buy a bunch of fired .243Win brass (I don't own a .243)

[blueberry65]

I thought I would try some once fired 243 and like you said it sized well the first time through my Hornady die.  I was wondering though,  the neck is only about .0005 thicker then the factory Creedmoor brass I am shooting but when you weigh them they are about 12-13 gr heavier than the Creedmoor brass.  I am using Federal brass.  I haven't measured case capacity as of yet and wonder how much different it will be.

[John Goodney]

Trent and Blueberry,  I don't want to dampen your efforts but several fo the really knowledgable shooter on this site have done this already and it is not worth the pita.  Some thing about the once shot win brass will work ok, but you have to trim and anneal the brass on new brass and the brass from Midway has primers in it.  Check with Vegas -50 and Giterdone about this subject.  They can both help. Sincerely,  John Goodney, Semper Fi!!

[finnwerke757]

why not use high grade 22/250 brass and use the Cream of Wheat method? no annealling needed, and no neck abberations, or the dreaded "donut"

[Trent]

Fo me personally it is just a preference to not have to do a bunch of firing to create cases. I'd rather just create them with the dies.

I checked the concentricity of my formed cases and they were very good. Within about .0005" to .001". Nice.

[jasonusvi]

I tried a few pieces of virgin Lapua 243 and a few of once shot PPU 308 brass.  For me, the 308 brass seemed to form more uniformly through my Hornady dies and it chambered and ejected fine from my Noveske 6.5CM barreled LMT MWS.  However, the neck is too thick such that when a bullet is seated the dummy round wont chamber.  Neck doughnut also a probable issue.

I've been considering different neck turning & reaming options and am leaning toward picking up a K&M turner with reamer to move forward.  I would prefer to form out of 308 if possible as I shoot 308 and I don't shoot 243.

[MARK25-06]

i just made 75 pcs. out of 308 rem. brass. worked very smooth using hornady dies. then turn the necks to .288" same as hornady brass.they work perfect for me. MARK25-06

[d-mon]

Hi ,
I have started forming cases from 308 federal shot ounce brass.

I am setting up my hornady full length die with the decaping pin/olive shaft removed.
When I am pushing the case trough the die I do it with little strokes about 4 or five times, rotating the case by a quarter of a turn between each stroke.
That seems to work the best for me and I do not have a single case caving in.
Next step will be to expend the neck with a K&M expender and then triming the brass (I should have done that on the first place I now realise) and neck turning with the k&m tool.

Nic

[k80skeet]

I read somewhere that to form 6.5 Creedmoor use a 22-250 case put in 18.0grs of Alliant Unique fill to neck with cream of wheat put in a wad of cotton and the a small cotton patch then fire and they come perfect and you don't have to leave the house to do it.  Just go down cellar and shoot them into a cardboard box filled with magazines.

[finnwerke757]

K80, you use the Unique powder and use Cream of Wheat to fill case, top off with a cotton patch to hold the powder in place. Bang, Viola, formed case.

[Trent]

That has to still be loud as hell to shoot it in doors.

[k80skeet]

Not bad at all with ear muffs on.  My cellar is 80ft long and I have a Detroit Bullet trap and shoot my 45's, 38's and 357 down there all the time.  At one time when I was shooting competitive pistol I shot 100 rounds a day.

[giterdone]

  IMHO when you take a case with a .224 I.D. neck and expand that case to a .264 I.D. neck, the overall neck thickness will be decreased from the expanding process.   The 6.5 Creedmoor chamber (in most cases) will yield (after spring back) a .296 O.S. dia (fired) Hornady case; and Hornady (loaded) 6.5 C.M. ammo measures .2925.  A .22-250  fire formed case has a resulting neck thickness (in most cases) that will measure LESS than the loaded Hornady 6.5 brass when they are reloaded. I personally prefer the tighter fit that the .2925-.293 (or even .2935)  loaded brass provides.  Some mfg's brass necks will be thicker than others.   Depends on if you are making cases for blasting/hunting or making cases for Long Range shooting . YMMV

[hrt4me]

I have started forming cases from 308 federal shot once brass.

I am setting up my Hornady full length die with the decapping pin/olive shaft removed.
When I am pushing the case through the die, I do it with little strokes about 4 or five times, rotating the case by a quarter turn between each stroke.
That seems to work the best for me, and I do not have a single case caving in.
Next step will be to expand the neck with a K&M expander and then trimming the brass (I should have done that in the first place, I now realize) and neck turning with the K&M tool.

Nic, any more detailed specifics about your process?

[d-mon]

Hi,
More details...
Well, I am using a littlecrow gunwork case trimmer for shortening my cases to length. it is the best and fastest tool I found to do the job.
For neck turning I am using a k&m neck turner adjusted to have a neck ending at .292". I  also recommend using a carbide pilot for the neck turner, so you can uniform the inside of the neck and eliminate any donuts with the cutter at its end. not the cheapest (at $39) but worth every penny.
To debure the neck I am using a K&m piloted deburer:the result is outstanding and the vld bullets are setting up so much better in the case neck.
I have used federal 308 cases from various batches and all shot once, and after conversion and preparation, out of 120 cases,  I had only 2 at more than 2 grain difference with the average of a 110 and about 8 with +or - 1grain with the average of a 110. Not bad at all!

Let me know if you want more info.
Nic