7-08 from 308

[mattd]

I made 7-08s from PPU 308s for my sons H&R single shot. They worked for 3 loadings. The fourth the action was slightly hard to close and brass was a little sticky. Not enough to really even notice until all 20 were fired.

On the 5th loading now and the action has to be snapped closed and the brass is very sticky.

I was neck sizing only for all previous loads, but FL sized when this problem showed up and the action is still hard to close on an empty case. All brass was trimmed prior to loading the dummy.

Using the same die on the same day I formed a Federal 308 case and no problem. Action closes easy.

My problem is I don’t have that many LR primers to fire form the federal brass, and am hoping someone has some Insight on what I should do to make the PPU brass work. I’ve got 2 kids to get ready for deer season and a handful of primers.

Thanks

[Texas by God]

Maybe the necks are too thick. We ran into that using .308 brass in 1980 for the new 7-08 that my brother had(Remington 788). We experienced flat primers and hard bolt lift.
We necked up some .243 brass and the problem went away.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Winger Ed.]

Shrinking the neck will make it thicker, as will sizing sometimes.
If measuring the neck confirms yours are too thick--
Do a little research to learn about neck turning and that should fix ya up.

And,,, that maybe the perfect reason why you need to get a new power tool.

[mattd]

Thanks guys. I measured the diameter of the necks with my calipers. I know that’s not a way to measure neck thickness, but the new Federal cases were a few thou wider then the PPU cases.

As far as fit in the action doesn't that mean it’s likely not neck thickness? Or am I not understanding that correctly.

[BLAHUT]

Your reload is getting bigger after firing; neck; shoulder; length; base; start checking all measurements or only reload a couple of times and toss??

[Winger Ed.]

Paint a case with a sharpie, then chamber it, it'll tell you where its binding.
The neck is a potential place for what you're doing, but it could also be somewhere else too, maybe the base.

[Jimmynostars]

Case over all length?

[BK7saum]

You do not need to fireform 308 brass when converting to 7mm08. Just size, load and shoot.


I would expect the body to have expanded and be your source for sticky cases, whether the base to shoulder dimension or base width dimension, but no way to know without measuring or at least coating case with sharpie.

Did you confirm how much you set the shoulder back when FL resizing. That is my first bet and first thing i would address before anything else.

If you don't have the tools to measure shoulder bump, use a resized pistol case over the case mouth/shoulder and measure the total length of the 2 cases with calipers. This is an arbitrary headspace measurement that you can use again on the sized case to measure shoulder bump or setback when sizing.

[Hannibal]

I had problems in the past with PPU brass sticking in the chamber of a .308Win even after full length sizing on the first firing.

Scrapped that brass and haven't had any trouble with that since. May or may not be relative.

[wilecoyote]

staying away from any former combloc brass has simplified, if not bettered, all my reloading life

[Randy Bohannon]

You could just buy properly head stamped brass from Starline albeit it’s back ordered but that means they will making it in the not to distant future.
https://www.starlinebrass.com/7mm-08-remington

[gwpercle]

You could just buy properly head stamped brass from Starline albeit it’s back ordered but that means they will making it in the not to distant future.
https://www.starlinebrass.com/7mm-08-remington

This Is The Answer !
Life's too short to be having all these problems .
The Starline brass is the best , in stock and 250 will last you for years to come !
At $126.50 it will have the correct head stamp and you will have no more problems with cases sticking or need any fire forming ... just size, load and shoot ...No Problemo Baby ... They will be worth every penny just in the aggravation it saves you ! ... and if things don't start get cheaper , just order 500 now and be set for life, the price will only go up !

You may have to put it on back-order but it will still be the best way to make your life happier !
Gary

[Hannibal]

You could just buy properly head stamped brass from Starline albeit it’s back ordered but that means they will making it in the not to distant future.
https://www.starlinebrass.com/7mm-08-remington

I have had good experiences with Starline brass.

[1006]

I have a Mauser with a Shilen barrel in 7mm-08. Most of my ammo is reformed 308, some from PPU. After a few loadings it does get sticky on ejection. It also begins to loose neck tension if I do not anneal it after a few reloadings. A combination of full length resizing and annealing fixes the issue for me.

[beemer]

My BIL had problems with A NEF in 243 Win having very sticky extraction. Turns out his chamber was really rough. We polished it a bit and the problem went away.

This might not be your problem but is something worth checking out.

[TurnipEaterDown]

...H&R single shot. They worked for 3 loadings. The fourth the action was slightly hard to close and brass was a little sticky. ... On the 5th loading now and the action has to be snapped closed and the brass is very sticky.

I was neck sizing only for all previous loads, but FL sized when this problem showed up and the action is still hard to close on an empty case.

The case is growing in LENGTH on subsequent firings. The die is not setting it short enough to guarantee easy chambering. Break open guns "spring" more than bolts when firing and have zero camming.
3 paths to fix that really all do the same thing (give you properly sized brass):
1) Measure from case head to arbitrary point on shoulder -- explained in post #8 if you don't have something like a Hornady case comparator -- I simply use a 375 insert to get a point on the shoulder.
2) get a case that you Know is too long at first sizing (get some range brass, size, find one that won't fit the chamber easily) and keep setting the dies a smidge deeper at a time until you get it to close easily.
3) Use marker or open flame from match / candle to soot up a LIGHTLY lubed case, and run into die -- look very close, you probably will see that the very bottom of the neck and the shoulder isn't touched until you get the "hard to close" condition, and set the die a little deeper. (You can usually get away w/ just lubing the BODY, and avoid the neck & shoulder.)

Brass for this pressure level should last really long time if sized correctly, so don't worry about getting it set tight to chamber to make it last. Couple thousandths clearance is good on that type of gun w/o positive camming and usage (hunting).