making 6.5x55 from 308 blanks

[rmatchell]

I know that you can buy commercial brass, but I wanted to try and see how well it formed. I picked up a box of 308 blanks from a member and went to work.



first a trip through the tumbler and and after a few split cases I anneal the brass.



Next I ran through a 6.5x55 FL die with stem removed.



Then I used a neck expander from a 22-250 set to expand enough to use the trimmer and trimmed to 2.158. I should have gone longer but didnt know how far to go.



I fire formed the case with 12gr of Bullseye and cream of wheat. The finished product came up to 2.145 after neck sizing and truing up the neck. So it looks like I need to go longer but I Know now that I can do it. Just figured I would share.

[upnorthwis]

Works better with 6 Rem, 7 x 57, or .257 Roberts. One pass and done.

[zuke]

Nice way to use something that's practically worthless!
That's the last thing "The Man" would expect from blank's.

[rmatchell]

I tried making some from 270 but the blanks look like they will work better after the necks are reamed

[lotech]

perhaps an unsafe practice; .308 has smaller head size than 6.5x55.

[izzyjoe]

I've done that, but for 7x57, worked out real good. I used to see blanks at gunshows all the time, but not much any more, guess folks have caught on, or there drying up! I pulled the powder, and make fire works out of it!

[gnoahhh]

perhaps an unsafe practice; .308 has smaller head size than 6.5x55.

Not necessarily unsafe, but case life will be short when using '06/Mauser head diameter brass in a Swede milsurp. I did it a bunch of times many years ago when I first got into them and good European brass was hard to find. Somewhat bulged case heads were the result, and I forsook reloading them a second time.

[rmatchell]

The formed case have a small bulge but it doesnt look to bad. If I could get one load out of them I would be happy. Most likely to be shooting cast plinking loads anyways. Im just trying to find a use for brass the normally gets tossed in the scrap. I might also try 7.65x53.

[barnetmill]

Are brass cases used to make blanks manufactured to the same standards as those used for fully loaded rounds. I seem to remember that they were not, but I am not sure. For cast bullet load pressures there are likely no problems.

[Blue2]

I think it has an actual name but if you take a 6.5X 55 reamer and short chamber by 4th you get a really great wildcat (6.5X51) that allows you to use standard 308 family brass and web expansion is not an issue. Machine 4th. off your loading dies and you have a really interesting case that has more case capacity than the 260 Rem.

[gnoahhh]

Hmmm. Interesting. (I assume that "4th" actually means " 4 thousandths", .004"?)

[nekshot]

I think it has an actual name but if you take a 6.5X 55 reamer and short chamber by 4th you get a really great wildcat (6.5X51) that allows you to use standard 308 family brass and web expansion is not an issue. Machine 4th. off your loading dies and you have a really interesting case that has more case capacity than the 260 Rem.

as a ardent fan of the 6.5 in jbullets that sounds very interesting!

[Larry Gibson]

I think it has an actual name but if you take a 6.5X 55 reamer and short chamber by 4th you get a really great wildcat (6.5X51) that allows you to use standard 308 family brass and web expansion is not an issue. Machine 4th. off your loading dies and you have a really interesting case that has more case capacity than the 260 Rem.

Works quite well. First came up with the idea in '89. Rechambered 2 take off barrels and rethreaded for M98s. Also rechambered my 6.5 Japan to this cartridge. Excellent cartridge with tapered case so it feeds smooth through Mausers. No need for custom dies is nice. Cases are easily made. Very accurate and data for the 6.5-308 or 6.5 Rem can be used.

Larry Gibson

[nicholst55]

perhaps an unsafe practice; .308 has smaller head size than 6.5x55.

SAAMI specs call for 6.5 Swede brass to have the same head size (nominal .473") and .308, .30-06, etc. CIP specs call for 6.5 to have a .480" diameter case head. Remington and Winchester manufacture to SAAMI specs; Lapua and Norma to CIP. Both work.

Years ago, RCBS (and others) warned against forming 6.5 Swede brass from .30-06 because of this. Now they are silent on the subject. Go figure.

[Larry Gibson]

I think they're silent because most U.S. commercial cases and some foreign made ones are of standard '06 size. Also many of us have been making 6.5 Swede cases for many, many years out of '06 head size cases w/o all the dire things happening. Lyman manuals still have the warnings though.

I've been making 6.5 Swede cases out of military '06 cases for 40+ years and have not had a single failure of the case at the head/expansion ring. I f a formed case fails it is from split necks because I did not anneal soon enough. I form the cases so the case headspace is a slight crush fit to the chamber headspace. I then NS most of the time unless the case gets hard to chamber and then I only partial size enough to chamber. Case life with such cases is as good as with the best European cases of correct head diameter.

Larry Gibson

[ELFEGO BACA]

Mi used 6 mm Remington brass necked up for my 6.5 x 55 brass in the mid 90s when swede brass was unavailable.
Last week I had a split neck from one of these cases!

Elfego

[historicfirearms]

Larry, do you just run an '06 case into a 6.5x55 FL die then trim to correct length?

[Larry Gibson]

Larry, do you just run an '06 case into a 6.5x55 FL die then trim to correct length?

Yes, I used to do that. I FL sized the cases in a '06 die 1st. I removed the deprime/expander button rod and formed the cases with the shoulder +.010 longer. I used a small sharp tube cutter to cut off excess neck about + .010 also. some times the neck and should would wrinkle. If they did that I sized them down in about 3 steps. I annealed those cases before proceeding. All was easy to do but it did take time which some object to. I then put the deprime/expander back in the die and set it to finish size the case so the headspace provided a slight crush fit in the intended rifle of use. I did not just FL size the cases with the shell holder bottoming out on the FL die. Custom sizing the headspace of the case to match the chamber headspace will greatly increase case life. The inside of the necks were lubed with lube on a Q-tip and the necks were ran over the expander button a couple times during this final sizing. The necks were then trimmed to the chamber neck length - .004. I most often the used a standard full power load in the newly formed cases which fire formed them. They were NS'd from then on. When fired numerous times with full power loads and chambering became difficult indication a partial sizing was needed the case necks and shoulders were annealed at that time.

Now days I use a 7x57 form die for the initial sizing which cuts the amount of steps needed and is well worth the few bucks if one converting a lot of cases. If you are just doing a hundred or so the standard 6.5 FL die will do nicely.

Larry Gibson