30-06 to .308

[BulletFactory]

Is this the right thread?

I posted an ad to trade 150pc of 30-06 for .308 on another forum, and someone told me that I could turn a 30-06 into a .308 case.

How?

If someone wants to trade though, I'm willing to, if they are once fired. The 30-06 cases came from my friends Remington 721, and I know they are once fired cases. I intend to use them in an M1A, so I really must have once fired brass. The action in the M1A is pretty violent, and Ive never done it before, so I'm a little apprehensive about used brass.

[BT Sniper]

Try ammobrasstrader.com

I'm sure someone there will be willing to trade. I trade there often myself. Should be much easier then fomring 308 brass from it.

BT

[pdawg_shooter]

30-06 can be turned into 308s, but it is a lot of work. Shove the shoulder back, cut of the excess, trim to length, turn the necks, more work than it is worth.

[avan47]

If you compare the extractor grooves on 30-06 vs 308, you will find the 308’s to be larger. It’s my understanding that this was to prevent extractor breakage on semi auto and full auto guns.

[BulletFactory]

Just a tiny bit.

[deltaenterprizes]

I did it to make fatter necks to obtain a tighter fit in a factory chamber. The 308 brass was .013'' and the necked down 30-06 necks were .016''.
I only did one case to see if my theory was right but did read an article where a guy did a similar exercise to reach the same goal.

I did it bu removing the decapping assembly to allow the longer neck to pass through the die, the shoulder will be set back aprox 1/2''.
A good lube is important and if you have a 35 Remington die to use as an intermediate step, it would make it easier.

I would also caution you to weigh the formed cases, heavier cases have smaller internal capacity and will have higher pressures than lighter cases with the same powder charge.

[williamwaco]

30-06 can be turned into 308s, but it is a lot of work. Shove the shoulder back, cut of the excess, trim to length, turn the necks, more work than it is worth.


Amen!

I have made .308, .243, and .22-250 cases from military scrap brass.

You can do it if you are desparate but it is a LOT of work and will require some new tools to adjust case neck thickness. Either a neck reamer or a neck turner.

Trade them if you can.

You can probably buy 100 once fired for less than the tools would cost.


.

[BulletFactory]

I would also caution you to weigh the formed cases, heavier cases have smaller internal capacity and will have higher pressures than lighter cases with the same powder charge.

I was wondering about this.

Wouldn't the thicker brass give you more shots per case though?

[nicholst55]

I was wondering about this.

Wouldn't the thicker brass give you more shots per case though?

Not necessarily. What can/will happen is that the brass in the neck will be too thick; load the brass and fire it, and there won't be enough space in the neck for the brass to expand to release the bullet easily - this can cause pressure excursions. That's why you need to either inside ream or outside turn the necks.

Outside turning is the preferred method because a reamer tends to just follow the existing hole, which isn't always concentric to the outside diameter of the neck.

Back when milsurp USGI .30-06 ammo was going for 1-2 cents a round and the .308-family of cartridges was the latest thing, a lot of folks made .308 and .243 brass from .30-06 brass. I suspect that all but the absolute die-hards or maybe the extremely frugal soon gave up on it.

[DukeInFlorida]

M1A 308 brass is notorious for being subject to case head separation, and other issues that shorten the life of the brass.

Bolt action riflers are obviously kinder on bras than is semi-auto. With a bolt action you can "neck size only." Can't do that with semi auto feeding.

[BulletFactory]

I'll be turning the outside of the necks.

A good friend of mine has a 30-06, and doesn't want to reload, so I have a slow, but steady stream of 30-06 brass from him. I like reloading, and its fun for me to learn how do do this stuff, so its worth the extra tooling costs for me. Besides, If I can get a few extra shots per case that would be otherwise unavailable to me, the tooling will pay for itself.

[Reload3006]

I doubt very seriously that you will get anymore loads out of them. I do however understand the I wanna find out if I can angle I have done a lot for those very reasons. Still I would be willing to bet you can get someone to trade you even up 308 for 30-06 Good luck let us know how it works out for ya

[sargenv]

I never had to turn the necks... I'd made up 30-06 to 308 and 300 savage from 308 win by just moving back the shoulder and trimming.. was pretty easy..

[pdawg_shooter]

I never had to turn the necks... I'd made up 30-06 to 308 and 300 savage from 308 win by just moving back the shoulder and trimming.. was pretty easy..

Must have had large chambers. I had to thin all of mine. Even my 25-06 from 30-06 had to be thinned some.

[runfiverun]

i have much better luck making 25-06 from 270.
i have made 308 and almost all of my argie,8mauser etc.
brass from 0-6 also and most rifles with jaxketed do fine.
the argie does great with cast,but some cases are better than others for this.
make up a few and try them,some rifles don't care,some do.
you are reloading anyways.... so work up a load.