Convert .270 or 30-06 to .338-06

[Fla9-40]

I have several .270 and 30-06 brass I want to convert to .338-06. I will be doing this in a couple of steps.
I annealed a couple of .270 and ran it through my 06 Lee Collet Neck Sizing Die first (after lubing the case) and it seemed to be a little bit of a chore!
I then ran it through my RCBS .338.06 FL die and still was a little snug!

I found a few older post about this same subject, and users just said they had used the .338-06 dies in one step and had no problem.....Maybe it's just me, but that seemed kinda hard on brass...and dies!

Is there a better way to do this that will not be so hard on brass and dies?

Thanks!

[dh2]

I have formed .338-06 in this way for years , it is no problem just be sure thet the in side of the neck is lubed when you lube the case.
I guess you could do the cream of wheat over 10gr. of X-700 and fire form the case that route, but it is so easy make it from necking up 30-06 or neck down 35 Whelen that I will just stick with doing it with the sizer die.

[atr]

I have found that removing the de-capping stem sometimes aids the reforming process. True you have to run the brass through the die twice, once without and once with the stem in place. Also on old brass that is being reformed I first clean the neck using a standard rifle cleaning brush chucked in a electric drill or drill press.

[MarkP]

An elliptical expander ball helps when necking up, as others have said lube the ID of the mouth. Hornady makes elliptical expanders.

[Fla9-40]

I guess I may need to lube the inside of the necks more....on all the brass I anneal, the .270 I size to 7mm(.284), then to .30cal(30-06 die), then to .338-06 and it seems to crush the neck even taking my time!

The 30-06 brass seems to do better. I run them through the 30-06 FL die then the .338-06 and all is well but they don't need trimming.
Most measure 2.477 ± .003

Thanks for ya'lls input on this!

[MarkP]

Try some that you did not anneal; annealing can reduce the buckling strength and will push the neck right into the shoulder. It can fold and buckle in the shoulder area.

Anneal after they are formed.

[Safeshot]

If you want to EXPAND the neck of a 30/06 to .338/06, running it though a 30/06 sizing die first seems counter productive. Why reduce the neck diameter when you want to expand it? You might want to run the FIRED 30/06 case through the .338/06 sizing die first. As stated above, lube the inside of the case neck the full length of the neck and the outside of the case. You might even want to force a tapered punch into the neck to start to expand it prior to forcing the .338 expander "plug" through it. Lube the inside of the case neck before the tapered punch and before the .338 expander plug. I think that this should be a relatively easy neck expanding, case sizing effort. For the .270 case, expand the neck of the FIRED .270 case with a tapered punch, then run it through the .338/06 sizing die - with the .308 expander "plug" in the .338/06 sizing die. Then use the tapered punch again, lube the case neck again and run it through the .338/06 die with the .338 expander "plug" installed. In short, never use any sizing die except the .338/06 sizing die any where in this process. Use increasing diameter expander plugs to expand the case neck Again this should not require much force and should not crush, deform or wrinkle the neck or shoulder. Hope that it works for you, Safeshot

[Whiterabbit]

I'd fireform. Your sized up brass are gonna get "fireformed" anyways on first firing. why not just skip the intermediate step. The powder is cheap, the pain is loading the cornmeal all the way up to the neck. Worth it in this case, methinks.

[wmitty]

I was taking some .270 brass and opening them up to .35 for a Whelen today. I made up three tapered pins to fit in a bullet puller collet which allowed opening the cases gradually using Bag Balm as lube. Worked fine, but like Whiterabbit said you have to fireform sometime. I tried fireforming the 270 brass to .35 Whelen with 5 gr Bullseye under some wheat bran... worked fine; made me wonder if the time I'd spent making the pins was worth the effort.

[Pinsnscrews]

I size 30-30 to .357 Herrett in one go. However, I do not rush the lever. My expander is also elliptical as pointed out earlier by someone else. But most importantly, I do not rush the lever. The brass will let you go as fast as it is willing. I rush, and the shoulder fails. That is about the same jump as your .270-.338, minus .010

[koehlerrk]

Is your 270 and 30-06 brass new or has it been fired? I've had great results expanding/reducing new brass, but I've gotten a lot of splits and crushes using fired brass.
Also, Imperial Sizing Wax. It is your new best friend. Was told to use it by a more experienced reloader at my rifle club. Great results, well worth it, and also reduces the force required to resize by about half in my opinion.

[Hardcast416taylor]

When I`m making up some brass to .338/06 I dip the .30 cal. case mouth into the Imperial sizing graphite powder. I have never had a case failure by "lubing" the case this way. I make up 7.62x54R brass up to .416 Russian express rounds this same way and have lost only 2 cases out of 150.Robert

[MattOrgan]

Unless I have .35 Whelan brass to neck down to set headspace, I'll use .270 and .30/06 brass. I prefer to use the Cream of Wheat method "COW". With either .270 or .30/06 I prefer once fired cases. They are a snug fit in my .338/06 when fired in my .270 or .30/06s. I anneal the once fired cases, the load 7 to 10 grains of a fast pistol powder (Bullseye, Red Dot, AA# 2, HP 38 etc.) start with 7 grains, then fill the case with a cereal like Cream of Wheat. I use corn meal because it's cheaper. Twist the neck in a bar of soap for a plug, chamber and fire. If the case isn't fully formed add a grain at a time until it does form. The annealing prevents neck splits. With .270 cases you get more variation in case mouth squareness and case length than with 06, but they work. Resize the case and trim. You are ready to go. .280 Remingtoncases work too if you first push the shoulder back in your .30/06 or .338/06 sizer die. ( de-capping Rod removed) to set head space.

PS don't Fire your COW rounds indoors! It is very loud and the over pressure can break things like fluorescent light tubes, plus the ejecta fills the space with dust. Really upsets a girlfriend too. I learned this from a friend
who tried it once while forming .257 Improved cases. Clean you bore before firing real ammunition.

[lar45]

The expanders on Lee dies are really nice for necking cases up. they have a nice gradual taper and are cheap enough to buy a few in different calibers just to have around. They work Much better than RCBS dies do.

[dougader]

I've never lost a case when expanding 30-06 to 338-06. I've used both the Lee cream lube you put on with your fingers and the Hornady One Shot case lube. One pass using fired brass. No problems. Load and shoot. As stated above, I make sure to get plenty of lube on both the outside of the case and inside of the case mouth and neck. I use a Q-Tip to get the Lee lube inside the case neck.

[Charley]

I form both .338/06 and .35 Whelen from .30/06. The Lee tapered expanders work fine. Imperial on the case exterior, and just a bit on the case mouth, and they open beautifully. .35 Whelen gets run through a .338 die first, then the second bump up.

[Fla9-40]

Lots of good advice here guys, Thanks!
Here is what I came up with for the 1x fired .227

1. Anneal the brass
2. Lube inside with Q-tip and my homemade solid Lanolin/Castor Oil
3. Lube outside with Homemade liquid Lanolin/99% alcohol mix (let alcohol evaporate)
4. Run case through LEE 7mm Mag Collect sizer
5. Run case through LEE 30-06 collect sizer
6. Run case through RCBS FL 338-06 FL die

This seems to be a lot better and with not some much force as before. Did not crush the first case!

The 1x fired 30-06 did very well also with steps 1-3 the step 6 above…. No losses here also.

I think I will try the COW fire form method to see how that does and because I have never tried it yet.

Thanks again folks, good advice from all!

[jmorris]

I necked up some .223 brass to .355" the other day, just messing around. Used a .30 cal and 9mm Lee expanders and Dillon lube.

I sure didn't think it would have been as easy as it was.