Reloading .30 Rem for a Rem Model 8 - Neck Sizing OK?

[Tom in Pittsburgh]

Anyone out there reloading/shooting .30 Rem in an old Remington Model 8 or 81 autoloader?

I would just like to know if I can get away with neck-sizing between loads, or do I need to FL size each time?

TIA,

Tom

[SvenLindquist]

It depends on the chamber and the pressure of the loads. The 8/81 system is less violent than a pure gas gun and the 30 Rem is not a hot round. When I owned a mint 25 Rem M8, I used FL dies but backed them out so what sizing that was done was minimal. Cases were made from new production 30 Rems and lasted forever.

Great old rifles and always get questions at the range.

However the 81 in 300 Savage is no joy w/full house loads !

[JSnover]

Can't speak for the .30 but I've been neck sizing for mine in .35 without any trouble yet.

[PHyrbird]

Tom,
With luck & firing the cases in same rifle every time you could get 3-5 firings from the 30Rem. Different rifles like mine & you gotta F/L size. The way to tell is 2 fold, if fired brass will chamber ok, & measure the OL length after firing. When cases stretch beyond max OAL it's a good indicator they need sizing.
Next I highly recommend Hornady's tool for measuring the headspace of fired cases. Follow instructions, make a spreadsheet of the data (for every chamber) compare to the new brass numbers, then you can use the average fired length to set sizer dies for absolute minimum shoulder set back. Keep in mind every chamber's specified dimensions varies, The SAAMI data for most chambers specs .004-.006 tolerance, however the specs for the 338 mag is a whopping .020. This in some rifles is enough for split shoulders & is "acceptable". I know because my brother has one with a long chamber. I try to never size a shoulder more than .003 less than fired dimension, & try for .002. Hope this helps....
PS I agree about the 300Sav. You'd think it would not be as sharp in the heavier Model 8, Still the 300 is a slightly longer range round than the others in springpoles. Personally I prefer the 35R. Ringing an 8" gong at 185yd is fun with a 100 year old Lady.

[Tom in Pittsburgh]

Thanks for the helpful input, Guys - much appreciated!

[McFred]

I've been able to just neck-size on my .35 Rem M81. I don't run the pressure high and can re-chamber a freshly fired case and it slides into place and extracts easily with a fingernail. If you can chamber a loaded round and it relaibly locks into full battery then you should be fine with just neck-sizing.

[GONRA]

GONRA suggests FULL LENGTH RESIZING cases for ALL "Auto Loaders".