Marlin 256 win mag.

[sav300]

Hi Folks,am looking at buying a Marlin in 256win mag,But brass is a no no here in Aus.
I know it can be made from 357mag brass.But what to use for forming?
And the value?Comes with 256win mag reloading dies.

[44Vaquero]

You will use the Sizing Die to form the .357 mag into .256 win mag. It's very easy to do, it just takes a little lube.

[shdwlkr]

Redding makes them

256 Winchester Magnum From 357 Magnum
90233 256 Winchester Magnum Form #1 $77.70
94233 256 Winchester Magnum Form #2 $77.70
83233 256 Winchester Magnum Trim Die $58.00
11512 #12 Extended Shellholder $21.00

or
http://www.huntingtons.com/dies_caseform.html

58112 .256 Win Mag from .357 Mag G 249.98

You will still need to buy the reloading dies these only form the case and nothing more. This is not a cheap way to do it but it is one way others may come in with other ways to do it. I went the Redding route when I had my 256 win mag.

[44Vaquero]

Wow, I sure am glad I did not know about the Redding dies! I just bought the Hornady die set and cranked away lubing the inside with a q-tip and outside the regular way! Same way that I formed my .357 B&D! It goes with out saying that this needs to be done on a decent size O-frame press.

[Jbar4Ranch]

Use unplated brass, not nickeled brass, and you may have to anneal them, but after that one pass through the sizer die should do it.

[MarkP]

I used a 256 Win Mag FL size die to form Nickel 357's, I found the LEE paste lube to work best. If you were shooting them in a TC you can form them out of 222 Rem brass, just need to change the extractor out. This option probably would not work on M 62.
I was able to get them form without annealing, I had to anneal when further forming them into 22 Jets.

[hornady308]

I load for a Contender and use range brass. I anneal the cases, then lube with Imperial. I lose very few cases this way. Just go slowly.

[Adam10mm]

OK, stop. Don't buy those overpriced step sizing dies from Redding. Buy a Lee .30 Mauser steel sizer die. Not the set, just the sizer die. Lube up a piece of .357 mag brass and take the mouth down with the .30 Mauser die just a bit right before where the shoulder should be formed. Then size it in the 256 Win die.

I wish I had dimensions and pics of this. I finally sold my set of 256 Win dies back in April. I included a .30 Mauser sizer die for a step die. Never split a case and never lost a case.

I had a LTC turret press with a pair of .30 Mauser FL dies and a pair of .256 Win FL dies. Put a piece of .357 mag brass in, pull handle twice I'd have a converted case, remove and pull twice, another. Rather than cycling through two empty turret holes, I'd just put a new piece of brass in the shellholder and have the other pair of dies do the job. I could form about 400pcs of brass an hour doing that. Sold a lot of brass to dealers off that little setup.

[john hayslip]

Had a Marlin rifle and a set of RCBS form dies for the 256 Win mag - made about 1500 cases for a friend who reloads commercially on a Lee turret press. Sold the rifle and dies together years ago.

[OverMax]

I've never done any reforming of 357 to 256s. But have done so on another larger rifle cartridge. (7x57 Mauser up to 300 Sav) Curious though when it comes to this small stuff.

When resizing 357 yellow brass to 256. When would one trim to length. Before resizing or after?
As I can see issues on both sides of the coin. One noticeable thing. You do not have allot of excess brass to play with and then there's the little matter of chamfer cracking. "So what say those in the know?"

O/M

[Adam10mm]

Size, then trim. When you reform the brass will either grow or shrink depending on what you're doing. When every forming step is done, then trim to length.

[tward]

I just use my hornady fl size die. I anneal first, then use lee tube lube and very slowly run it into the fl die. Then trim to length, inside outside chamfer and then because I like shiney things I wet tumble with ss pins, dawn and lemmishine.

[Haggway]

Those look good.

[Colorado1135]

I want to use the 70 sierra bullets as well and can't find any load data. I'm shooting a marlin 62. Pm coming shortly

[cuzinbruce]

I have just started with this. I bought a rifle and then found a set of dies here in the swap section. Forming has been pretty simple. I haven't decided if they need to be neck reamed or not. I did it in an RCBS Junior, it was not a big deal that I needed a monster press for. Lubed with lanolin. The rifle came with some 60gr Hornady J-words that I have been using. It is a neat combo. I don't think I would go too heavy on the bullets. Have fun with it.
Bruce

[rbuck351]

I use the 30 mauser die as well to get them half way there and then just run them through the 256 sizer without annealing. I only made a couple hundred cases and lost maybe 2 or 3 cases. I made up 10 the other day using nickle cases and they worked fine as well.

[Newtire]

After annealing, used the .30 Luger Die about 1/4" in to start foming. Another guy in our group necked one down in a .300 Blackout. Formed the rest of the way in the sizer die. Bought the form die but didn't need it doing it this way. Sorry, did all these plated cases before I found out "you can't do that!"

[jonp]

From RCBS 58206: 7.62x39 from .30-06 and .308 Win G $609.98

I think I'd just retire the rifle at that point