5.56 cases as .308 jackets

[DukeInFlorida]

Brian,

I have a few buckets of 5.56 brass, and quite a few 5.56 "blanks". I'm betting that if I were to cut the front ends of this brass off, they would make mighty fine .308 sized bullets.

If I send you some samples of the two types of this brass, would you do ousome development, and sell me a set of tools to make them?

Or, better yet, I'd trade you brass for a set of tools.

Let me know either way.

[BT Sniper]

5.56 same as .223 correct? I got a lot too. The 5.7 makes such a good 30 cal jacket you might be better to try and trade some brass to pick up some 5.7x28 brass.

I do have a lot of projects in the works and hope to have a lot of dies and tools needed to make great bulelts.

Sizing brass in such a fare amount of reduction, such as a .223 case from .375 to .300ish is not easy on a standard reloading press if you ask me. I'm sure it can be done and I can certainly make the reducing dies to do so but a strong press with some leverage is definatly a big help for such a task.

If only using the top of the case for a jacket .... well we have to figure out a way to close the hole for the base of the jacket. May be able to make this work too but agian the 5.7..... so easy and can be done on any decent relaoding press.

I'll have to think a bit more on trading any dies for brass. People may not be interested to let their brass go for the lower price I would offer them for it. Unless I really need the specific calliber of brass then I usually don't offer much more then srap brass prices or the lowest going price I can find online for bulk brass for a giving caliber.

Still I may be flexable and offer partial trades for products but on a pretty limited basis. Starting up this business has drained a lot of any small savings I may have had. Being out of work myself makes it tough if I'm not generating a bit of cash to help pay the bills.

Let me see what I am able to come up with. I am all most finished proving the potential of these custom dies and bulelts and cetainly have been getting a lot of intrest. I don't want to promise anything to soon but intial results are looking great. I will certainly keep you and everyone posted as to my progress.

I may have a complete 44 cal set to offer you too. I'm working on it along with a LOT of other projects too.

Thanks

Brian

[AF FAL]

Sleepy thread I know.

I am curious about a use for the myriad of deals I am finding on blank 7.62 and 5.56 myself. It is so plentiful and pretty cheap, there has to be some use for it.

BTW, 5.56 and 7.62 NATO is not the same brass as .223 or .308, came caliber, but not same brass. NATO brass is thicker than the commercial offerings.

[DukeInFlorida]

I have thousands of 5.56 blanks in the scrap bucket. They were mixed in with some Lake City I got a long time ago.

The 5.7X28 seems to be the go-to brass for the neat .308" sized bullets.

[AF FAL]

Where are you guys getting all this 5.7x28 brass I keep hearing about?

I come across it once in a while, but it is usually not that cheap, or in quantities that would get me excited.

[para45lda]

So, and I'm not trying to be a smarta$$ (although SWMBO says I'm really good at it), I could theoretically pour lead in a 223 case and shoot it out of my 375 H&H?

Cause that would be cool as heck.

Wes
:hijack:

[Utah Shooter]

I have about 1,000 of those 5.7 cases.

[mroliver77]

It's not quite that simple but bascially yes. You need to aneal (soften) the brass trim to length, seat a core and swage to finished shape. I don't remember the exact measurement of the .223 case but if it was .375" you could cut it to length. Fill with melted alloy. Load and shoot as a wadcutter.

I am not endorsing this but just trying to answer your question. Do some more reading on this sub forum and learn what it takes. cool, cool way to shoot cheaper and stay away from the evil television. ;)
J


So, and I'm not trying to be a smarta$$ (although SWMBO says I'm really good at it), I could theoretically pour lead in a 223 case and shoot it out of my 375 H&H?

Cause that would be cool as heck.

Wes
:hijack:

[AF FAL]

Extra trouble maybe, but what about up sizing 5.56 blanks to .40 jackets? You'd have the extra step of trimming it of course. Only problem maybe is the slightly smaller diameter, and thicker brass. Not sure if existing 9 - 40 dies would work or not.

As for the 7.62 blank brass, what about swaging to .50 jackets maybe? To much of a stretch? Just tossing ideas out here.

Either one possible? Anyone? Have I finally lost it?

[Bollocks]

I've made excellent 9mm/.355 bullets from the bottom portion of .223 cases. Reducing a .223 case to a .30 jacket will be a challenge with that thick base.

[grullaguy]

So is there an existing caliber that the .223 case makes a suitable jacket for, without excessive swaging effort?

[AF FAL]

I don't think I would try swaging to .30 cal, inclined to think it would be more work to go down in size rather than up, more so with NATO brass.

I am curious to see if BT chimes in about the 5.56 to .40. If it can work in his one step dies, EVEN BETTER!

[AF FAL]

Stand corrected, I just saw a thread by BT that he was working on a .338 from .223, originally intended as a .308. If the .223 to .308 can be done, would be worth seeing if the thicker NATO brass can work as well then. Might not be long to find out.

[BT Sniper]

well let me think...... I have made some 338s from the 223. Shot a few too. Got like 3100 FPS ormore from a 265 grain that I made. As time permits I plan to shoot a lot more of these. Especially since I have a customer set of dies in 338 I'm finishing up soon.

For the 308..... well a 223 case is less of a reduction then the 9mm I bet. Either one is still not a lot of fun to reduce that much. The problem with the 308 jacket is that a good brass case that is of close dimensions can be hard to find or can cost nearly as much as commercial jackets. As many of you know my favorite case for a 308 jacket is the FN5.7x28. Very easy to reduce to .305ish for a jacket and the perfect size for a 180 grain bullet. Of course the results have been very good for me too. Now if you could find some the 30 carbine case would work well sized down for a heavy thicker walled jacket but 30 carbine can be hard to find and possibly expensive too. Not to mention all the 30 carbine shooters I seem to disturb any time I mention depletion of the stock pile of availble 30 carbine brass out there.

Another possiblity is the 38 spc case. It is fairly easy to derim and the web might be a bit thinner then other options like the 223????

As I have all ways said and will continue to ...... anything is possible. Just how much effort do you want to put into it? The 223 case can be sized down to .305ish I'm sure. It will take a strong press and a few steps with additional annealing. Maybe the appeal of the cheaper 223 brass will appeal and make up for the additional effort????? I certainly intend to experiment a lot with the 223 brass and my 338 edge. if it goes well maybe I'll try to take it to the next step with the .308.

IMOP the 223 case is great for calibers from .375-.338 with everything in between. I have made great .358 bullets with the cut .223. Others have had great luck with it in the .375 too. Soon I'll have some data in .338 but for 308........? maybe those of you with easy access to the 223 can trade it to those with easy access to the 5.7x28s. You would be amazed at the amount of brass out there that people have more then they now what to do with. On the mean time.... well I see what I can do. I did shoot some 9mmx308 bullets that where 176 grains and I would imagine the jacket of the sized 9mm would be very similar to the 308 sized 223. Made a heck of a hunting bullet IMOP.

BT

[greywuuf]

Yeah yeah, the .308-.338 guys have enough options allready........ on to the 50 !

(that was said with a smile and a wink BTW )

[AF FAL]

I know I just tossed the idea out there, but I'd have to buy something in .50 just because it would be to cool not to if it worked

[zuke]

Up here in Canada FN5.7x28 is next to impossible to find.
There's less then 50 rifle's that use it in country.
And with the exporting of brass getting more and more poo-pooed buy the state dept it isn't getting any better.
But 223? there's plenty around.

[DukeInFlorida]

Actually, I believe that the FN 5.7 X 28 is a handgun caliber. I've only ever seen semi auto handguns in that caliber. Not sure about rifles at all.

[Bwana]

Actually, I believe that the FN 5.7 X 28 is a handgun caliber. I've only ever seen semi auto handguns in that caliber. Not sure about rifles at all.


P90 was designed around and uses that round.

[MIBULLETS]

Savage is making one of their rifles in 5.7 X 28 now. I think it is the model 25. So maybe more brass will show up.

[AF FAL]

So far as I have seen FN offers the only commercially available weapons for it, the P90/PS90 and the 5.7 pistol.

I have seen a niche company offering an AR conversion upper that uses the P90 magazines.